Research Advisory Council Minutes
April 15, 2008
Two CEG applications were reviewed, discussed and designated. One was awarded. The second was referred back to the applicant and chair with suggested changes to be made for the purpose of resubmission.
Members Present: William Bush, Michele Pisano, Jill Suttles, Stephan Gohmann, Chakram Jayanthi, Beth Boehm, Tim Dowling, Eleanor Lederer, Roland Valdes, Russ Weaver, Manuel Martinez and Pam Feldhoff
New items of business:
Fund for Arts and Humanities: Beth Boehm will look up the draft that she created for this purpose
and committee will revive the action.
Information items:
1. GE Capital Public Finance: Grants Management has drafted a form by which themselves, investigators and post award management will be aware of leases from grants so that F&A reporting/recording expectations will occur and late charges of the F&A accrued by the lease are not charged later on to the particular grant they are due and create problems with closeout of the grant.
2. DoD’s Experimental Competitive Research awards: only two awarded in KY and U of L received both. Fredric Wightman, A&S- psychology and Hichem Frigui, Speed -computer eng and comp sci.
3. University celebration of diversity booklet: being distributed this week.
4. Dr. Kevin Chapman- Psychological and Brain Science; new book. It is available on Amazon.com.
5. Lab-on-a-chip patent award.
6. Howard Hughes Medical Institute biomedical research competition: strict regulations for (young) age of applicants.
7. Ohio Valley Affiliates for Life Sciences-OTT Business Bootcamp: successful turnout- about 85 attendees to Bootcamp, about 50-60 at the OVALS conference sessions.
8. IDEA Festival September 25-27. Information for events covering a wide range of interests at http://www.ideafestival.com/
9. State Department grant for the Contemporary Literature Institute for summer 2008 under the direction of Tom Byers was renewed. Can accommodate about 25 foreign students and young professors. Faculty from UofL’s Contemporary (American) Literature area provide guidance as mentors to attendees. http://louisville.edu/cchs/2007-department-of-state-institute-on-contemporary-american-literature/resources-for-2008-institute-participants
10. Emergency power generation systems on campuses: appliances requiring power from emergency generators must be plugged into the red electrical outlets. Please help advise new faculty.
11. IRB fee structure.
--- Research with corporate/private sponsorship for an amount more than $10,000, requires a $2,000 IRB fee.
--- Research with corporate/private sponsorship for an amount less than $10,000, requires $500 fee.
--- Unsponsored or unfunded research requires no IRB fee.
12. Large or small animal research proposal clearance. Dr. Bill King, head research resources will now have early notice of grants requiring large animals so he can determine in advance caging, housing and feeding needs.
13. Post Doc changes are slated to begin this fiscal year. Dr. Martinez met again with Dr. Pamela
Feldhoff. He advised her of the areas of concern raised at the meeting. Dr. Feldhoff has spearheaded
this reform. Some problems with foreign applicants were brought up that require attention and solution.
a. Many of these subjects misrepresenting their abilities before their hire and subsequently need to be
let go.
b. We should have a committee of our faculty that know the major recognized institutions in India and
China were the majority of applicants come from and we should develop a network of ex-fellows and trainees
in those countries that might be able to interview some of these for us and so we can make better
judgments in employing them.
c. Provide some help (that does not cost the University) for change in visa status for successful post
docs
d. What happens with accrued vacation or benefits funds when post docs move on or go home and who pays
and its effect is of concern given the limited NIH budget and difficulties in getting funded.
e. We must have a probationary period even if there is staff designation in case the appointment is
unsuitable (as determined by established metrics).
14. College of Education and Human Development’s rise in National ranking: among 3,000 educator programs nationwide to # 56 in the nation and is # 1 in Kentucky.
Minutes submitted by Kathy Ward
Office of the EVPR