eRA Information: Reminder to “Flatten” PDFs for Just-in-Time and RPPR Before Uploading to eRA Commons

In preparation for the required use of the new biosketch and other support format templates for due dates on or after January 25, 2022, NIH is encouraging applicants and recipients to start using updated templates for applications, Just-in-Time Reports, and Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPRs) submitted for due dates on or after May 25, 2021. For specifics on these changes, please see Guide Notices NOT-OD-21-073 and NOT-OD-21-110.

Because of these changes, we want to remind you of the requirements for uploading PDF documents to eRA Commons. It is important that all PDFs are flattened before upload. PDF files uploaded to Just-in-Time and RPPR in the following sections are now required to be flattened PDFs:

          ·       JIT Other Support File section

          ·       RPPR Participants section D.2.b New Senior/Key Personnel

          ·       RPPR Participants section D.2.c Changes in Other Support

If a PDF for these submissions on or after May 25, 2021 is not flattened before the upload to eRA Commons, this may lead to an error.

PDFs that have fillable fields, electronic signatures, text boxes or images inserted, become layered, with each of these elements representing a layer. Flattening a PDF merges these separate elements into one flat layer.

There are a number of methods to flatten a PDF, the easiest of which is to print it as a PDF (also see instructions).

To do this, go to File>Print, select the printer option from the menu that has a PDF option. Click the Print button and name the file.

Figure 1: A print dialog box with the Printer field set to Adobe PDF

In this process, you are exporting the layered PDF to the printer and saving it as a simple (flattened) PDF.

Depending on the software available to you, your options may vary from the one shown above. Other options are available with an Internet search.

Should you have any questions, please contact the Office of Sponsored Programs.

• Implementation of Changes to the Biographical Sketch and Other Support Format Page
• Notice Number: NOT-OD-21-110
• https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-21-110.html

Purpose

This notice describes implementation of the updated Other Support and Biosketch format pages and associated instructions, as outlined in NOT-OD-21-073.

To align applicant and recipient systems with NIH's longstanding policy requirements and application requirement updates, NIH expects applicants and recipients to use the updated biosketch and other support format for applications, Just-in-Time (JIT) Reports, and Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPRs) as of May 25, 2021. NIH will require the use of the updated format pages for the previously mentioned submissions for anything on and after January 25, 2022. Failure to follow the appropriate formats on or after January 25, 2022 may cause NIH to withdraw applications from or delay consideration of funding.

Please note, applicants and recipients remain responsible for disclosing all research endeavors regardless of the version of the forms used. Therefore, if applicants and recipients choose not to use the updated format pages before they are required, applicants and reecipients must still capture all the necessary information. NIH is fully committed to implementing the SciENcv template for Other Support in early FY 2022.

Should you have any questions, please contact OSP.

This is a re-post from ORPC

We wanted to provide a reminder to investigators who plan to engage with international sponsors or entities.  The ORPC uses restricted party screening to determine if a sponsor or entity, with whom you desire to do business with, have any “red flags” that would prevent UMBC from engaging in a collaboration. Examples include industry, non-profits and higher education institution.

Screening is performed to identify whether or not the sponsor or entity is on any federal government issued restricted, blocked, or denied party lists. Screening also assists us to determine if an export control license is required.

Please complete this entity restricted party screening form or contact us at compliance@umbc.edu before you have a conversation, want to collaborate or get involved with international sponsors or entities. Additional information is found on the below website.  Thank you for working with us to ensure UMBC’s compliance with federal export control regulations.

The Dresher Center is pleased to announce our Summer and Fall 2021 Research Fellows:

Congratulations to the 2021
Center for Social Science Scholarship
Summer Fellows!

Camee Maddox-Wingfield

Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health

“Rhythmic Consolation:  An Ethnography of Bèlè’s Rebirth in Contemporary Martinique”

The purpose of Rhythmic Consolation is to examine the ways in which contemporary bèlè cultural activists in Martinique have shifted the perception of bèlè as a secular expression to one with significant spiritual and sacred meaning. By examining the cultural politics of spirituality and secularity at work in Martinique’s bèlè revival, the book analyzes the role that spiritual healing plays in managing emotional wellness and coping with distress among bèlè practitioners. In contemporary Martinique, bèlè is not simply the name of an ancestral dance practice; the term bèlè is used to describe “a way of life,” or a subculture that is organized around a rich complex of Afro-Creole dance traditions, all of which are performed to the island’s tambour bèlè (bèlèdrum). Although bèlè has been commonly understood as a secular, non-religious drum-dance tradition, debates have emerged among bèlè community members over its spiritual functions in the everyday lives of practitioners.

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Nianshen Song

Associate Professor, Department of History

“Neighborhood: Space, State, and Society in a Manchurian City, 1644-2019”

Neighborhood: Space, State, and Society in a Manchurian City, 1644-2019 examines how political, religious, and economic forces reshaped and remade a Chinese urban space over 370 years. Xita (West Stupa) is a thriving commercial neighborhood in Shenyang, the largest city in Northeast China. In 1644, the Qing emperor erected a Tibetan-Buddhist stupa in the western suburb, making Xita a symbol of the trans-frontier political/spiritual alliance between the Manchu, Mongols, and Tibetans. In the early twentieth century, colonial powers (first Russia then Japan) and local warlords constructed competing railways that intersected in Xita. The railway not only brought capitalist modernity to the city but also created a Korean diasporic enclave in the rapidly urbanizing and industrializing city. In the 1990s Shenyang, socialist China’s capital of heavy industry, turned into a “rust city.” But Xita, in contrast, flourished as a dynamic ethnic/international commercial district due to Korean investment. The multiple reincarnations of Xita—from a Tibetan Buddhist space, a railway capitalist space, a colonial tourist space, a socialist ethnic space, and all the way to a post-industrial consumerist space—manifests China’s dramatic modern transitions within a dynamic trans-Asian network. Employing multilingual materials and extensive interviews, this micro-history research simultaneously engages with academic conversations in many fields, including (but not exclusive to) the social history, religious study, urban study, railway capitalism, architectural history, empire and colonialism, tourism, ethnic history, and contemporary China study.

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Fernando Tormos-Aponte

Assistant Professor, School of Public Policy

“Island Strife: The Politics of Survival in Puerto Rico”

During the summer of 2019, an unprecedented number of citizens demanded the resignation of the governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rosselló. They flooded the streets to express their disdain for the governor and his top aides. Puerto Ricans had not seen this kind of popular, cross-sectoral protest since they called for ceasing US military operations in the island municipality of Vieques. What led to this outrage and how did demonstrators channel their indignation into successful mobilization? What are the long-term consequences of this protest cycle and how can it shape Puerto Rico’s relationship to the United States? This book project will examine the precursors, internal dynamics, and the political consequences of the summer 2019 protest cycle in Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans channeled the trauma felt in the wake of hurricane María in various ways, seizing opportunities for critical thinking, building democratic practices, and resist their depiction as helpless victims.

• Implementation of Changes to the Biographical Sketch and Other Support Format Page
• Notice Number: NOT-OD-21-110
• https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-21-110.html

Purpose

This notice describes implementation of the updated Other Support and Biosketch format pages and associated instructions, as outlined in NOT-OD-21-073.

To align applicant and recipient systems with NIH's longstanding policy requirements and application requirement updates, NIH expects applicants and recipients to use the updated biosketch and other support format for applications, Just-in-Time (JIT) Reports, and Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPRs) as of May 25, 2021. NIH will require the use of the updated format pages for the previously mentioned submissions for anything on and after January 25, 2022. Failure to follow the appropriate formats on or after January 25, 2022 may cause NIH to withdraw applications from or delay consideration of funding.

Please note, applicants and recipients remain responsible for disclosing all research endeavors regardless of the version of the forms used. Therefore, if applicants and recipients choose not to use the updated format pages before they are required, applicants and reecipients must still capture all the necessary information. NIH is fully committed to implementing the SciENcv template for Other Support in early FY 2022.

Should you have any questions, please contact OSP.

• Expanding Requirement for eRA Commons IDs to All Senior/Key Personnel
• Notice Number: NOT-OD-21-109
• https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-21-109.html

Purpose

Targeting due dates on or after January 25, 2022, NIH, AHRQ, FDA, and ORD/VA will require all individuals listed on the R&R Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Form to have an eRA Commons username (Commons ID). Extension of the existing eRA Commons ID requirement to include all senior/key personnel will facilitate better data collection for individuals contributing to federally funded research as well as assist in disambiguating data on applications and facilitating the identification of conflicts of interest in peer review.

Background

eRA Commons IDs are already required as part of application submission for PD/PIs, multiple PD/PIs, sponsors on fellowship applications, component leads on multi-project applications, candidates for diversity supplement support, and the primary mentor identified on individual mentored career development applications. While it has always been strongly encouraged that all other senior/key personnel to obtain eRA Commons IDs, it has not been required. Without a unique personnel credential, it is difficult to correctly identify conflicts of interest in peer review as well as gather unambiguous data on personnel involved in federally funded research.

Implementation

Targeting due dates on or after January 25, 2022, an eRA Commons ID must be entered in the “Credential, e.g. agency login” field for all Senior/Key Personnel (as defined in NIH GPS 1.2) listed on the R&R Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Form.  An eRA system validation will be implemented to check for a valid eRA Commons ID. For multi-project applications, this requirement also applies to the individual components of the application and not to just the Overall component.

To facilitate awareness of this policy change, starting late April, applicants will encounter an eRA system validation if the “Credential, e.g. agency login” field is blank or does not contain a valid eRA Commons ID. This validation will be a warning for no less than 2 council rounds before being escalated to an error that must be corrected before the application can be submitted to the agency.

Should you have any questions, please contact OSP.

• Embed in one of Urban’s policy centers and develop and execute research with colleagues in that center.
• Partner with the director of Urban’s soon to be launched Office of Race and Equity Research to support research on race and equity taking place across Urban’s policy centers and through our Racial Equity Analytics Lab.
• Work to build bodies of work on areas of specific interest.
• Write and publish scholarly papers, op-eds, Urban Wire blog posts, or other research products in collaboration with Urban colleagues.
• Organize two or more events per year for Urban colleagues and/or external audiences.