ABCs of Research - Meeting Minutes February 14, 2007

	This month's meeting was conducted as a "General Session".

Welcome
Patti McCabe, Director, ORA Training and Communication

• As a research community, we should be aware of all the advances in sneeze research technology! We started the meeting off with this video.

Proposal Submission to Private Foundations, and
Anti-terrorism Grant Conditions in Awards from Private Foundations
Martha Coleman, Director of Faculty Foundation Relations, Office of the Provost

• Funding requests to certain foundations require clearance, and a clearance request must be sent to a representative of Faculty Foundation Relations in the Provost's Office or University Foundation Relations in Office of Development. A comprehensive list and the administrator to send the request to is on the Foundation Relations website.
• Instructions to use Stanford's clearance process for these select foundations.
• Some donors now include an anti-terrorism condition in their award agreement.  If you receive an award document that includes an anti-terrorism condition, contact Martha Coleman in Faculty Foundation Relations or your OSR representative.  Do not contact the donor to discuss and do not attempt to negotiate with the donor on an anti-terrorism grant agreement.

Export Control for Equipment 
Steve Eisner, Export Control Officer

• Steve discussed international property transfers and export controls with the group. He addressed specific procedures including Certifications that are required to be completed to document the shipment or hand-carry of  property overseas.   His presentation and the Stanford export control website are listed below. He also handed out three forms, which are linked on the Stanford export control Forms and Templates Page (also listed below):
• Presentation
• Website
• "Temporary Export/Reexport" (TMP) shipments (both "Annual Certifications" for Stanford-owned Laptops/PDAs/Cell-Phones ONLY and "One-time Justifications" for equipment and components)  as well as the Property Checklist for Temporary Exports are listed on the Export Controls Forms Page (scroll down).
• See the email update Steve sent on Feb. 16

Emerging Compliance Issues
Anne Hannigan, AVP for Research Administration

• Anne shared a presentation she has given to faculty groups and the University managers around current compliance "hot spots" and the WHY behind them.
  • Presentation (updated since the meeting)

Updates:  SeRA and the New SU-42 Form
Pamela Webb, Senior Director, Office of Sponsored Research

• Pamela discussed the status of the soon-to-be-developed SeRA system (Stanford's Preaward system that will replace SPIDERS and provide some new functionality). We expect to start Focus Groups in the Fall - if you would like to be part of a focus group, please email Pamela.
  • View Presentation
• Pamela also discussed the new consolidated SU42 form. You can check the new form out and even use it now by checking the SU42 Project Page. If you use the new form, please send comments to Pamela Webb directly.

Grants.gov / eSubmit Electronic Drop Box Lessons Learned
Lisa Forgatsch, ORA Training and Communication

• Overall Grants.gov submissions are going well. We strongly encourage the use of eSubmit as a file-sharing and routing tool.
• Please remind faculty to update their eCommons login and user profiles - this is still the greatest source of warnings for NIH submissions.
• Once the proposal has been routed to the Inst Rep for submission to Grants.gov, consider it gone. The PI cannot continue to work on the science and resend it "right before the deadline". Be sure the PI has reviewed the "final" application package including PDF attachments BEFORE sending it to the Institutional Rep!
• Discuss the eSubmit notifications with your PIs - if they don't want to have email every time the package is modified, the email notification should be flagged "No".
• Be sure to download the appropriate software before you try to work on the package. If you're downloading to a PC, be sure to also download the upgrade.
• Link to Grants.gov at Stanford Website
• Link to eSubmit (production site)
• Link to eSubmit Demo

Upcoming Research Training

Grants.gov Training

Grants.gov training is now available online anytime at http://ora.stanford.edu/cardinal/level_2/grantsgov/default.asp

Hands-on classes:

• ORA-1216 (Mac) February 15
• ORA-1216 (Mac) March 15
• ORA-1215 (PC) March 16

Additional PI Briefings will be scheduled in mid-April

Cardinal Curriculum

Following are some upcoming Cardinal Curriculum classes and the dates they are being offered in the classroom.  All of the classes are available on-line all the time at http://ora.stanford.edu/cardinal/.

• ORA-1101 Cost Policy and Chart of Accounts:   April 11

 Required Level II Classes

• ORA-1120 Proposal and Budget Preparation:  May 17 & 18
• ORA-1121 The Award Process:  February 21 & 23
• ORA-1121 The Award Process:  May 21 & 22

Elective Level II Classes

• ORA-1122 Subaward: Recognizing, Processing, Monitoring:  March 7 & 9
• ORA-1122 Subaward: Recognizing, Processing, Monitoring:  June 6 & 8
• ORA-1123 The NIH: A Guided Tour:  March 14
• ORA-1123 The NIH: A Guided Tour:  June 13

NCURA Satellite Workshops

Detailed information and enrollment instructions available on the web:

• March 6:  Effort Reporting
• June 12:  Conflict of Interest:  How to Spot and Manage it
• Sept 11:  Sub-awards:  A Survivor’s Guide of Key Concepts and Principles

Next ABC Meeting

Wednesday, May 9, 9 am-Noon
in Tresidder Oak Lounge

Email Statement on Export

There appears to be some confusion regarding the guidance that I conveyed to those of you who attended our most recent ABC Meeting regarding the use of export certifications for temporary shipments or hand-carries of Stanford-owned laptops, PDAs and cell phones.  Please use only the Annual Certification at http://www.stanford.edu/dept/DoR/exp_controls/TMP-annual.html for hand-carries of laptops, cell phones and PDAs.  

The One-Time Certification at http://www.stanford.edu/dept/DoR/exp_controls/TMP.html is to be used for all other equipment and software that could require an export license but will return to the US within 12 months and remain in the secure possession of Stanford personnel while overseas.  

So how can one determine if equipment (other than laptops, PDAs and cell phones) or software might require an export license?  Stanford’s Export Control Decision Tree at http://www.stanford.edu/dept/DoR/exp_controls/tree/ is an excellent tool to help you determine if Stanford-owned equipment other than laptops, PDAs and cell phones might be taken or shipped overseas without an export license.  If so, the “No License Required” (NLR) Certification at http://www.stanford.edu/dept/DoR/exp_controls/NLR.html.  If an export license could be required, the Decision Tree tells you, and I should be contacted.  I can then provide you with assistance in determining the proper Certification that needs to be completed.

We are requiring the completion of Annual TMP Certifications for laptops, PDAs and cell phones, for three primary reasons:

1. We’re trying to protect Stanford personnel from traveling abroad with laptops and other digital devices that might contain unpublished research and/or strong encryption code to countries under US trade embargoes without an export license.  Doing so would be a violation of US law.  This Certification serves as an important checkpoint as it is not just the device but what is on the device that is the issue;
2. The Certification serves as a break on travel with laptops and other digital devices containing 3rd party proprietary software or information used in satellite research or other space-based research.  Such software/information is regulated as a defense article under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR); and  
3. US citizens cannot provide goods, unpublished information (unpublished research) or services (including teaching or research collaboration) to any country, or individual in a country, under US trade embargoes or sanctions without a license or other US government approval.  This Certification outreach effort assists in educating the Stanford community about these restrictions and thus reduces compliance risk to both the University and the traveler.

I will be constructing an FAQ sheet on temporary exports over the next few days for distribution to the abc-research list, but in the interim, if anyone has questions please don’t hesitate to contact me at steve.eisner@stanford.edu.