What We Do & How We Do It By Gil Harootunian, PhD Director, ORSP

 Share common goal: success in landing external funding.

 Support your journey to become a lifelong and successful grant getter.

 Develop resources—and more resources.

Come To Us….

 The sooner you come to us, the sooner we can provide services.  On the rare occasions when bumps happen, often we have not been approached early enough.  Come to us early, and here’s what we can do to help deliver an on-time, fundable grant application to a sponsor….



Question:

What is one of the most common reasons for declension of a grant?



Answer:

An excessive or poorly justified budget.



Why?:

Allocation of resources is a critical leadership skill.



What else?:

Bumps in budget slow down award process.

 Translate ‘federal-ese’ into plain English  Interpret and clarify any sponsor’s language  Explain terms, contexts, and regulations

 Technical requirements  Financial policies  Project priorities  A compliant application is a

fundable

application.

 Having the application early allows us to do a thoughtful and meticulous review.

 Having the application late means that we can verify only the most basic information.



NIH

: We recommend two-day business window to view submissions (e.g., graphics).

  

Grants.gov

: 4-day early submission is narrowest window to successfully re submit if necessary.

E-Grants

: We can give “viewer” privileges.

NSF

: We can ‘create a copy’ in Fastlane to re-submit if necessary.

 Partner can’t deliver on promised letter of commitment.

   No one is available to sign off.

‘Bump’ in complex application = rejection in electronic submission system.

Application just ‘falls through the cracks.’

 Program officers are informative and dedicated so … keep in touch w/ them.

 Program officers are also rotated from program to program.

 Program officers must keep external constituents happy (translation: butter can melt in their mouths).

 Program officers have prescribed duties and authority.

 We have an entire session dedicated to this today.



Question:

What is the result of sharing best practices ?



Answer:

Increased chances of submitting an on-time, error-free, highly competitive grant application.

 ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ Human Resources (a.k.a., the ORSP Team) Tom McClanahan, PhD, AVPRSP Gil Harootunian, PhD, Director, ORSP Nancy Myers Sims, Grants and Contracts Development Specialist Daniel Griffin, EdD, Associate Director Douglas Carey, Grants Administrator Grace Liu, IP Attorney Maral Kismetian, Administrative Analyst Rocio Qui ñ onez Monta ñ o, Dept. Secretary

 ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦

ORSP website

Guidelines and samples Disciplinary resources Policies and regulations

PI Handbook

Forms FAQs Twitter



Faculty awards provide seed money

and

track record.

◦ RSCA : $5,000 competitive awards, primarily for release time or summer pay 

Note: Temporarily suspended

◦ One criteria = likelihood that work will lead to successful grants

 Laval : The Claude C. Laval Award for Innovative Technology & Research supports development of innovative technology and related research at Fresno State.

 Student awards enhance the ‘pipeline’ that most sponsors value highly.

◦ NSF ◦ NIH ◦ USDA  Sponsors want to fund the future.

◦

California State University Student Research Competition

— both undergraduate and graduate students eligible ◦

Central California Research Symposium

— a forum to share recent research as well as to encourage research activities in the Central Valley

◦ ◦

Grant Development Workshop

…and we do lots more that can be ‘invisible’ to   Fresno State stakeholders.

Hispanic-serving Institution status  Example: NEH or USDE RUI status  Example: NSF

 We guide you through required institutional review  and approval (a.k.a., joining the Fresno State Team).

Who must review and approve?

 Your Chair  Your Dean  Your Grants Manager  Provost

or

AVPRSP

or

Designee  VP of Admin/Univ CFO

or

AVP Finance

Note: Co-PIs in different colleges need to secure approvals from their own Chairs and Deans.

  What is the absolutely best practice here?

Start early!

 Intent to Apply form—gives all interested parties a heads up about your grant application  Project Information Form (“PIF”)—abstracts the key information needed for parties to review and sign off

 Spring 2012: Begin transition to automated  workflow system Benefits  Access 24/7/365 from anywhere in the world  Track with accuracy o Good-bye to endless email and phone tag  “Bolts” onto e-systems already in place  Generates reports with increased ease

Contact Information: Gil Harootunian, PhD Director, ORSP 8-0863 [email protected]