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January 2020 Newsletter
In this issue:
  • Director's Announcement - New Grants Technician; Off-Campus IDC Rate
  • National Science Foundation - Proposal and Policy Award Update; IUSE Seeking Potential Reviewers
  • National Institutes of Health - Data Available on NIH Funding Programs; Revised NIH Grants Policy Statement for FY2020
Director's Announcement
New Grants Technician
The Office of Sponsored Programs said goodbye to Esmeralda Cortes in late November. At the beginning of the new year, we welcomed Kelly Hill as our new Grants Technician. Kelly is no stranger to JMU, having joined us from Procurement where she worked for about six years. Kelly looks forward to learning more about external funding activity at the university and is eager to begin working with our faculty members.
Off-Campus IDC Rate
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The off-campus indirect cost rate can be used if the majority of your project takes place off campus. When making this determination, consider where you will physically be when you are working on your project. JMU offices separate from the main campus, such as Technology Drive, are still considered on-campus. When collaborating with colleagues from other institutions, make sure you are only considering your portion of the work, rather than the project as a whole, when determining which indirect cost rate to use.

If you have any questions regarding which indirect cost rate to use, please reach out to us at jmu_grants@jmu.edu or 8-6872.
National Science Foundation
Proposal and Award Policy Update
In the October 2019 issue of the NSF Proposal and Awards Policy Update, the National Science Foundation (NSF) highlighted several policy clarifications and updates of interest. The Office of Sponsored Programs has highlighted the following items to bring to the forefront:

  • There will not be an January 2020 PAPPG effective date due to the delay in the release of the PAPPG. Concerns over the reporting of current and pending support are still being ironed out.
  • NSF has selected SciENcv as an NSF approved format for the biosketch. NSF encourages applicants to being using the NSF template in SciENcv as the foundation is moving towards only accepting biosketches in the NSF approved format.
  • NSF and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are collaborating to develop a template to use for Current and Pending information.
  • NSF would like applicants to phase out FastLane and begin using Research.gov for proposal submissions. Benefits of using Research.gov include compliance checks for fonts, margins, and line spacing, real-time compliance feedback and alerts, specific checks for the budget and Collaborator and Other Affiliations uploads, and embedded guidance and video job aids.

You may view the full update here.
IUSE Seeking Potential Reviewers
The Division of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation is in the process of identifying potential reviewers for FY 2020 for the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) Program under program solicitation NSF 19-601. If you are interested in serving as a reviewer in the current fiscal year (October 1, 2019 – September 30, 2020), please complete the survey at the following link:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/IUSE20

This is a great opportunity for newer faculty to gain experience with grant writing and to become familiar with the NSF proposal expectations!
National Institutes of Health
Data Available on NIH Funding Plans
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A recent Open Mike highlighted fiscal year 2018 data on R01-equivalent applications and R56-Bridge awards, showing both data for funded and unfunded applications. The blog post indicates that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) considers peer review scores, unmet scientific needs, and the agency's research portfolio when considering funding decisions. NIH Institutes and Centers set percentile-based paylines each fiscal year to assist with funding decisions as well. In fiscal year 18, 5,710 R01-equivalent grant awards were made while there were 9,309 unfunded applications.

Check out the entire post for additional data and information on how funding decisions are made at NIH.
Revised NIH Grants Policy Statement for FY 2020
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has published the revised NIH Grants Policy Statement for fiscal year 2020, which applies to all applications with budget periods beginning on or after October 1, 2019. The full policy statement may be found here and a summary of significant changes can be found here. Some of the highlights include additional clarification on research misconduct issues, ORCID ID requirements, and several updates to the SBIR/STTR policy.