On August 13, 2018, the President signed the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act of 2019 (NDAA). One section (Section 889) of this act restricts use of federal loan or grant funds for purchase of certain Chinese-origin equipment or services for research projects. This prohibition became effective August 13, 2020.

Chinese-origin equipment or services include telecommunications equipment or video surveillance equipment or services produced by business entities and the affiliates of these entities such as Huawei Technologies Company and ZTE Corporation. A current list of these business concerns is found on our entity screening webpage.

What should you do?

·        Reach out to your OSP representative to review language in RFAs, RFPs or other proposal submission documents you may see where a reference is made to the NDAA and/or Section 889 the “Prohibition on Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services and Equipment”. Both the OSP and the ORPC will work together with you to answer questions. 

·        Be aware the UMBC’s purchase order terms and conditions. UMBC has a responsibility of complying with all applicable U.S. export control laws and regulations in the procurement process. If you plan to procure an item or service from a non-US entity, read through Section 14 of the terms and conditions. Let the ORPC know if you have any export control questions.

·        Let the OPRC know prior to creating a requisition for purchases of this equipment or service or the planned shipment of any of the above items from these entities using federal grant funds.  We can perform a Restricted Party Screening that will determine if a foreign entity business is on any government issued restricted, blocked, or denied party lists. We have created an  entity restricted party screening form to perform this review.

This is also a good reminder that the ORPC can assist UMBC departments who plan to sponsor foreign persons/national visitors for a visit to campus in a business or technical capacity. We ask departments submit a foreign visitor restricted party screening form  before sending an invitation or submitting an unpaid or paid appointment for UMBC approval and before the Office of International Education Services (IES) applies for a visa,  Note the screening form is in a new format, but the information request in the same. Please visit the Restricted Party Screening for Foreign Visitors webpage for additional information.

Reminder: NIH Policy on Use of Hypertext in NIH Grant Applications

Notice Number:

NOT-OD-20-174

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-20-174.html

Purpose

This notice serves to remind the applicant community about existing guidance that restricts use of hypertext (e.g., hyperlinks and URLs) in NIH applications. Increasing use of unallowable hypertext in NIH grant applications raises multiple concerns, including: 

Reviewer Confidentiality: The wide availability and sophistication of web-based tracking systems may allow applicants to identify reviewers who access web sites through unallowable hypertext in an application.

“Overstuffing”: All material required for the review must be contained within the page limits of the application. Linking out to additional information, even if it is framed by the applicant as “optional” or “supplemental”, provides additional material to reviewers that may exceed the content limitations of the application, particularly in page-limited sections such as the Research Strategy. This is a matter of fairness since all applicants should submit the same amounts and types of information to be considered as part of initial peer review.

Review Consistency: If some reviewers consider information provided by unallowable hypertext and others do not, the quality of review can be negatively impacted by inconsistency among the reviewers.

 Malware: Once a reviewer clicks on a link in an application that is not on an NIH website, the possibility exists for malware or other breaches to occur on the reviewer’s computer and/or system.

Policy:

There is no change in the NIH policy on the use of hyperlinks. As a reminder, that policy as articulated in the NIH SF424 (R&R) Application Guide reads:

• Hyperlinks and URLs are only allowed when specifically noted in funding opportunity announcement (FOA) and form field instructions. The use of hyperlinks is typically limited to citing relevant publications in biosketches and publication lists. It is highly unusual for a FOA to allow links in Specific Aims, Research Strategy, and other page-limited attachments.
• Hyperlinks and URLs may not be used to provide information necessary to application review.
• Reviewers are instructed against viewing linked sites and are cautioned that they should not directly access a website (unless the link to the site was specifically requested in application instructions) as it could compromise their anonymity and allow for malware to be downloaded onto their computers.
• When allowed, you must hyperlink the actual URL text so it appears on the page rather than hiding the URL behind a specific word or phrase. Example:
• NIH (http://www.nih.gov/)

Applications that do not follow these instructions, and include unallowable hyperlinks, may be withdrawn from review and funding consideration.

Please review full notice linked above or contact your OSP representative for further assistance.

The Institutional Review Board (IRB), the formally designated UMBC committee to approve, monitor, and review research involving humans is currently accepting applications from students to join.  Graduate and undergraduate students are considered full members of the board. Student members serve for a one (1) appointment and review research protocols, attend meetings, and vote on issues with the aim to protect the rights and welfare of the research subjects. Appointments begin in October 2020. The board typically meets 5 times during the academic year: October, December, February, April and June. Meetings are currently held virtually on Mondays from 10 am-12 pm.

This is a terrific opportunity to learn about ethical issues related to research. Also, being a member of the IRB looks good on a curriculum vitae or resume. Please contact Dr. Susan Sonnenschein, IRB Chair, (sonnensc@umbc.edu) no later than October 9, 2020 if you wish to apply. Your email should include a copy of your curriculum vitae or resume and a few sentences describing your research interests and experience. We are particularly interested in people who have had research experience with human participants.

The Office of Research Protections and Compliance (ORPC) offers training and guidance throughout the protocol review process. Please contact the ORPC at compliance@umbc.edu or click on the IRB's web page for additional information.

Effective October 5, 2020, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will begin enforcing the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 20-1) requirement to use NSF-approved formats for the preparation of the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support proposal documents. The NSF-approved formats are SciENcv: Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae and an NSF fillable PDF.

All other PAPPG (NSF 20-1) changes were effective on June 1, 2020. Please refer to the complete list of PAPPG (NSF 20-1) significant changes and clarifications which include the IT system changes and other policy-related changes. A set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on proposal preparation and award administration related to NSF PAPPG (NSF 20-1) is also available and includes Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support information.

Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support Websites

·  The NSF Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support websites include links to the NSF-fillable PDF formats, updated FAQs, and instructions.

·  For the fillable PDF formats, NSF recommends users download and save the blank PDF document prior to adding content. Populating content directly into a web browser (e.g., Chrome or Safari) may result in formatting inconsistencies. The completed and saved PDF can then be uploaded via FastLane, Research.gov, or Grants.gov.

·  Beginning on October 5, 2020, links to the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support websites will also be located in FastLane (on the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support Personnel pages), in Research.gov (on the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support Upload pages), and in Grants.gov (on the NSF Senior Key Person Profile form version 2.0).

Change of Principal Investigator (PI) and Add/Change Co-PI Requests

·  Effective October 5, 2020, Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support documentation must also be in an NSF-approved format when uploaded with a Change of PI and an Add/Change co-PI request in FastLane.

Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) Submissions with Active Other Support Changes

·  Effective October 5, 2020, PIs and co-PIs must include an NSF-approved format for Current and Pending Support when notifying NSF that active other support has changed since the award was made, or since the most recent annual report.

·  This new requirement serves as NSF’s implementation of the revised RPPR, a uniform format for reporting performance progress on Federally-funded research projects and research-related activities.

·  Further details about the RPPR can be found on the Research.gov About Project Reports website.

Automated Compliance Checks for NSF-approved Formats

·  Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support documents not in an NSF-approved format will trigger a compliance error and ultimately will prevent proposal submission or completion of the post-award action. This compliance check applies to proposals, Change of PI requests, Add/Change co-PI requests, and relevant RPPR submissions.

·  The complete lists of FastLane and Research.gov automated proposal compliance checks effective October 5, 2020, are available on the Automated Compliance Checking of NSF Proposals website.

·  Note that automated compliance checks also apply when a proposal file update (PFU) is performed on a proposal. Proposers should be aware that if a proposal was previously submitted successfully, a PFU performed on the proposal will be prevented from submission if the proposal does not comply with the compliance checks in effect at the time.

NSF-approved Format Updates

Based on feedback from the research community, NSF has enhanced both approved formats, and users are encouraged to use the latest versions. Please see the system-related FAQs on using SciENcv and the system-related FAQs on using the NSF fillable PDF for a list of the improvements to each format. In particular, note the permitted use of “et al.” for publication citations in the Biographical Sketch when listing multiple authors. Senior personnel who wish to include publications in the products section of the Biographical Sketch that include multiple authors may, at their discretion, choose to list one or more of the authors and then "et al." in lieu of including the complete listing of authors' names.

SciENcv Enhancements

The SciENcv module for creating NSF Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support documents will be updated prior to October 5, 2020; however, all SciENcv-generated Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support PDF documents created on or after April 1, 2020 remain compliant in NSF systems.

Prior to the October 5th requirement to use the NSF-approved format, SciENcv will make a number of enhancements that include:

·  ability for users to reorder products and appointments in the Biographical Sketch

·  ability for users to edit long author citations imported from ORCID on the Biographical Sketch and add “et al.”

·  addition of a Current and Pending Support tool tip to provide clarification and guidance on how users should document support under a fiscal year calendar

Please see the system-related FAQs on using SciENcv for details.

As a reminder, the SciENcv tool integrates with ORCID, enabling users to populate the Biographical Sketch by importing data directly from ORCID records rather than having to manually enter all the required information. This helps reduce administrative burden associated with the Biographical Sketch preparation process. Additionally, SciENcv allows users to grant access to delegates to assist with maintaining and updating data. SciENcv also offers users a dynamic and more customized PDF. For example, users with fewer Current and Pending Support entries may elect to use SciENcv to generate their Current and Pending Support PDF document since SciENcv will produce a PDF without any blank pages. Conversely, the Current and Pending Support fillable PDF will always be 15 pages regardless of how much data is included.

Latest NSF Fillable PDF Version

·  Revised NSF fillable PDF formats were released on May 1, 2020; however, the previous versions remain compliant in NSF systems.

·  The May 1, 2020 version is indicated by "Revised 05/01/2020" printed on the first page of each form.

Additional Training Resources

To learn more about the NSF-approved formats for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support, please view the NSF PAPPG (NSF 20-1) webinar and NSF-Approved Formats for the Biographical Sketch & Current and Pending Support Sections of NSF Proposals webinar.

SciENcv has created the following materials to guide NSF users through the preparation of the NSF documents available in SciENcv:

·  NSF Biographical Sketch Video Tutorial

·  NSF Current and Pending Support Video Tutorial

·  NSF-specific Bookshelf Resource (includes screenshots and step-by-step instructions)

Other Updates for Proposers

A revised NSF Grants.gov Application Guide will be published on September 16th and effective October 5, 2020. The Guide will be updated to remove references and instructions for the Research & Related Personal Data Form. NSF will no longer require this form, and this form will no longer be included in NSF's packages effective October 5, 2020.

Questions? Policy-related questions should be directed to policy@nsf.gov. If you have IT system-related or technical questions regarding the SciENcv or NSF fillable PDF formats, please contact the NSF Help Desk at 1-800-673-6188 (7:00 AM - 9:00 PM ET; Monday - Friday except federal holidays) or via fastlane@nsf.gov.

Thanks to all who attended CS3's virtual coffee hour yesterday.  It was a wonderful opportunity for new colleagues to make connections across departments, especially since we're not able to meet casually on campus!  CS3 would like to extend a warm, UMBC welcome to the new faculty members who joined us: 

Mark your calendars for our next coffee hour on October 14th at 10am when we will meet and greet additional new faculty from the social sciences.

“Ten recent UMBC alumni are recipients of 2020 – 2021 Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards, including seven from UMBC’s Class of 2020. Each year over 11,000 students apply and just over 2,000 are selected from hundreds of colleges and universities across the United States. The award secures funding for U.S. students to pursue international graduate study, research, internships, or teaching.

While COVID-19 has presented a range of challenges and uncertainties for Fulbright recipients, UMBC is proud to celebrate their hard work and achievements.  “This year’s recipients have demonstrated great flexibility and maturity as they navigate the changes that our current global situation requires,” explains Brian Souders, M.A.‘19, TESOL and Ph.D. ’09, language, literacy and culture. He serves as associate director of global engagement opportunities in UMBC’s office of International Education Services. 

Read the full article from UMBCNews here:  UMBC celebrates 2020 – 2021 Fulbright recipients