Background: The UMBC Office of Technology Development (OTD), under the Office of the Vice President for Research, is continually seeking ways to help bridge the funding gap - support that can be difficult to obtain from traditional funding sources. With support provided by the State of Maryland, we are happy to announce our annual Request for Proposals for the UMBC Technology Catalyst Fund, a source designed to advance innovations originating from UMBC research to more commercially viable technologies. Additional proof-of-concept studies, extending data collection and prototype development are examples of the essential steps needed to demonstrate commercial potential.

A total of $100,000 is available annually for this initiative. UMBC plans to make several awards up to $25,000. Projects will be funded at the level deemed necessary to achieve the goals outlined in the proposal. Awards will be for a six- to twelve- month period and only proposals that can demonstrate achievable milestones within that time period will be selected for funding.  One-time, no-cost extensions may be granted, subject to approval by the review committee. No overhead will apply.

Requirements: All UMBC members with Principal Investigator status are eligible to apply as long as the technology to be developed has been previously disclosed to OTD. We welcome projects from all disciplines and encourage interdisciplinary collaborations.

Criteria:  All proposals will be reviewed by a committee comprised of internal and outside reviewers from the business community, and will be held confidential. PI's whose proposals are selected to continue onto the final round of evaluation will be notified, and the PI will be invited to give a presentation to the Review Committee.

The evaluation criteria will include factors such as:

-Significance of the market need and opportunity to impact the public.

-Competitive advantage the technology presents over current solutions.

-Probability that the project will result in additional funding or licensing.

- Probability that the research results will strengthen the patent position.

- Probability of reaching milestones within the time frame and budget.

Deadlines: OTD must be notified of your intent to submit a proposal by Friday, September 22, 2023.  The final deadline for proposal submissions is Friday, October 13, 2023. Please be advised that several preliminary steps must be completed prior to final submission. Finalists must be available to present their proposals to the review committee on Friday, November 3, 2023. Awardees will be notified by the end of the year, with an anticipated starting date of January 8, 2024.

Contact: Interested applicants should contact Wendy Martin, Director, OTD at wmartin@umbc.edu  to request the Proposal Process and Executive Summary Checklist and the Cover Form

To the UMBC Grant Community,

Effort Reports for Spring 2023 are available and ready for certification. The Spring 2023 period includes Payroll 2023 015 through Payroll 2023 026 (from January 1, 2023 through June 17, 2023). Certifications are due September 30, 2023.

Please remember that Effort Reports are both a Compliance Tool and a Grants Management Tool. After reviewing payroll charges, work with your business managers if any changes are needed. Payroll cost transfers (retros) should be processed prior to certification of Effort Reports as retros will reopen any previously certified effort due to adjustments.

To find out whether you have open effort reports for Spring 2023 (see page 6, Year: 2023 Period: Spring) and to learn how to certify them, see the attached Effort Report Quick Guide with screenshots for your convenience. This guide provides instructions on how to access the Effort Reports.

*NOTE: All Effort Reports for periods prior to Spring 2023, including Fall and Spring 2022 and 2021 should be reviewed to make sure they are in Finalized status. In order for UMBC to be in compliance, please check Open effort reports for these previous periods under your name to ensure they have been Finalized. Any payroll cost transfers (retros) for previous periods will reopen effort reports and they need to be certified and finalized again.

*NOTE: If you are new to Effort Report certification, please see page 10, #1 in the Quick Guide for information on how to gain certification access. You will not be able to certify without proper access.

Additional resource: Effort Report Certification Guidance webpage, which includes definitions of Effort

Your timely commitment to this process is appreciated.

• All PI Transfer requests will now be prepared and submitted in Research.gov.
• In-progress PI Transfer requests in FastLane as of June 23, 2023, were moved to Research.gov.
• All notifications and requests previously submitted in FastLane are accessible in Research.gov.
• Award recipients can access the notifications and requests module in Research.gov via the Notifications & Requests link under Awards & Reporting on the Research.gov homepage (formerly known as the Research.gov "My Desktop" page) after signing into Research.gov.
• Please see the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) Chapter VII, Research.gov About Notifications and Requests page, and FastLane System Decommissioning page for additional information.

• Friday, September 29, 2023 (5:00 PM submitter’s local time) is the last day to submit proposal file updates and budget revisions in FastLane, withdraw FastLane submitted proposals, and withdraw supplemental funding requests submitted in FastLane. Please see the FastLane System Decommissioning page for additional information.
• Friday, September 29, 2023 (11:00 PM Eastern Time) is the last day to access FastLane submitted and in-progress letters of intent, proposals, and supplemental funding requests.
• FastLane submitted and in-progress letters of intent, proposals, and supplemental funding requests will not be transferred to Research.gov; however, the reviews and summaries for proposals submitted in FastLane will remain available in Research.gov.
• Refer to the Instructions to Access and Download/Print FastLane Letters of Intent, Proposals and Supplemental Funding Requests.
• Friday, September 29, 2023 (11:00 PM Eastern Time) is the last day to access the FastLane Proposals, Awards and Status tab; Research Administration tab; and Honorary Awards tab on the FastLane homepage. These tabs will be removed from the FastLane homepage as of September 30, 2023, and the functionality will be decommissioned in FastLane.

• Friday, October 20, 2023 (5:00 PM submitter’s local time) is the last day to upload the NSF fillable PDF format for the biographical sketch and current and pending (other) support.
• Proposers currently may prepare the biographical sketch and current and pending (other) support using either SciENcv or the NSF fillable PDFs.
• The mandate to use SciENcv only for preparation of the biographical sketch and current and pending (other) support will go into effect for new proposals submitted or due on or after October 23, 2023.
• Please see PAPPG Chapters II.D.2.h.(i). and II.D.2.h.(ii). as well as the NSF biographical sketch and current and pending (other) support websites for more information.

To: UMBC Researchers

From: Office of Research & Creative Achievement (ORCA) and Department of Information Technology (DoIT)

Re: Implementation of FAR 52.204-27

There has been a growing call for restrictions and regulations, on both the State and Federal levels, in regards to some social media and digital content applications, specifically (but not limited to) TikTok.  In some instances, restrictions on usage of TikTok and some of its affiliated/associated "apps" have, in fact, been implemented.

In December 2022, the No TikTok on Government Devices Act that was included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 [Pub. L. No. 117-328] and addressed in Office of Management and Budget Memorandum M-23-13 was passed and became federal law.

In June 2023, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council published an interim rule, effective as of June 2, 2023, that implemented a new FAR contract clause -- FAR 52.204-27. Prohibition on a ByteDance Covered Application[1]

The rule prohibits the use of TikTok or other applications by ByteDance on contractors' information technology, including employee-owned devices that are used as part of a bring-your-own-device (BYOD)program. The interim rule adds a new contract clause at FAR 52.204-27, Prohibition on a ByteDance Covered Application, which states: "The Contractor is prohibited from having or using a covered application on any information technology owned or managed by the Government, or on any information technology used or provided by the Contractor under this contract, including equipment provided by the Contractor's employees."

Thus far, there is NOT a state ban on using TikTok or ByteDance. There is an Executive Order (under then-Governor Larry Hogan) which bans their use that applies to State departments, but does not apply, per the State Attorney General and USM,  to institutions in the USM.

,

UMBC has not yet seen the new FAR clause incorporated into a federal contract. However, we highly expect to see that clause appear in contracts moving forward. Therefore, UMBC is advising and highly encouraging that anyone in a department/unit who handles sensitive material/information NOT install TikTok on UMBC/State-owned computers and machines.  If a researcher uses any personal devices for their research, UMBC also advises and highly encourages to NOT have TikTok or other noted program applications installed on those machines as well.

This regulation is very new. As such, there are indeed many open questions about the breadth of the restrictions.  Public comment on the clause can be made up until August 1, 2023 and thus changes to the clause could theoretically occur as well, as is the nature of an interim rule.  We certainly will know more as well once we see it incorporated into a new award or issued as part of an award modification.

Please see the list below on current companies (as of June 2023) whose programs and applications should not be installed on devices -University or personal- that are being used for UMBC research. Do note that TikTok is just one example and the list is far more extensive.  For example, ByteDanceis aconglomerateofcompaniesthatoperateavastarray of applications and websites.Beyond TikTok, the following are examples of the websitesandapplicationsoperatedbycompaniesassociatedwithByteDance:

Student Wage Guidelines - Effective July 1, 2023

The Office of Research and Creative Achievement (ORCA) is once again offering to cover the costs of a UMBC research administrator to attend the 65^th Annual NCURA National Meeting in Washington D.C. from August 6^th - 9^th, 2023.  These covered costs will include a one (1) year membership to NCURA as well!

Please click on the following link for full details about the National conference:https://www.ncura.edu/annualmeeting/Home.aspx

But that's not all folks!  ORCA is also going to cover the costs for a fellow Retriever to attend the NCURA Regional Meeting, and the virtual Departmental Research Administration DRA Workshop!  The NCURA Region II Meeting is convening from November 12^th - 15^th, 2023 in Annapolis, Maryland.  The DRA virtual Workshop is being held from June 26^th - 29^th, 2023.

Please click on the following link for the most up-to-date details about the Region II conference: https://www.ncuraregion2.org/regional-meeting

Please click on the following link for the most up-t0-date details about the Virtual DRA Workshop: https://www.ncura.edu/travelingworkshops/DRA.aspx

See below for instructions and directions to qualify for this exciting opportunity!

To Qualify:

With the exception of ESRA and OCAM staff members, ORCA staff are not eligible to be included in this contest.  

 The individual must be relatively new -- a novice -- to the Research Administration field and should not have attended an NCURA National Meeting, Regional Meeting or DRA Workshop in the past. 

 Please submit a short (half page at most) justification of why you want to attend and should be chosen to attend one of these conferences. Please include your conference of choice in this justification.

 The winning entrant must also agree to summarize what they learned and/or summarize a session they attended at these meetings at a future Expanded Research Administrators Group meeting (Expanded RAG).

 Please submit this short narrative to Associate Vice President of Research (AVPR) Dean Drake (ddrake@umbc.edu) by Friday June 9^th.

 Congratulations again to our 2022 winner, Emma Wheatley from CAHSS. 

Registration:

The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP)is once again coordinating Early Bird and Bulk Registration payments for the  NCURA National Meeting in August.    

Bulk registration discounts offered in increments of 5 and 10 attendees. 

Early Bird registration ends on June 26, 2023.

There were thirteen (13) UMBC Research Administrators who attended NCURA's National Meeting in 2022. If we obtain similar numbers/attendees this year, significant savings are available through bulk registration (well over $1,100.00)!

If you are interested in attending, please contact OSP Director Michael Walsh (mwalsh3@umbc.edu) by COB Tuesday June 20^th.

Links to Meetings/Conferences:

NCURA 65^th National Annual Meeting August 6-9, 2023-- In Washington DC.

NCURA Region II Meeting Nov 12-15, 2023-- In Annapolis MD.

DRA Workshop:  June 26-29, 2023 -- Virtual