Does Degree Matter for NIH Funding?

Haven't posted in a while, but this was just too interesting not to post.  The National Institute of Health (NIH) Office of Extramural Research (OER) conducted a study to determine if the degree status of applicants made a difference in the rate of funding success.  Turns out the answer is -- not really.  In 2011, those with an MD were funded 26% of the time, Ph.D. (24%), and MD/Ph.D. combo (27%).  These stats hold relatively constant regardless of whether the proposal is coming from a university, medical school or independent hospital.  For complete analysis, visit the Extramural Nexus.

Letters of Support for Grants

There's an excellent blog post on the Thompson Funding Attractions website about the importance of letters of support. While we all include this valuable information it is good to be reminded that letters of support should include concrete information about what the partner will support and the value of that support (either in real dollars or in-kind). To read the blog, click here.

Increased scrutiny of grants on the horizon

Two pieces of legislation working their way through the U.S. Congress will have significant impact on grants management of federal awards. The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act, H.R. 2146/S.B. 1222) will require all grant projects to report quarterly expenditures in relation to quarterly budgets. In essence, this extends the ARRA accountability measures to ALL federally awarded grants and contracts. Both the House and Senate versions are moving rapidly to becoming law. Likewise, the Grants Reform and New Transparency Act (GRANT Act, H.R. 3433) will mandate the posting and disclosure of grants-related information including the names of peer reviewers and full copies of funded applications. This bill has cleared the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, but does not appear to have a Senate companion bill yet.

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Inspector General will continue audits of FY 2012 grantees. In particular, the OIG will be evaluating grantees final reports to determine if the report meets requirements, is used to evaluate the success of the project, and is disseminated so that others can replicate the project. (From Federal Grants News for Colleges & Universities, February 2012).

Tribal Education Agency Pilot

The U.S. Department of Education is asking for comments about a proposed new grant competition promoting partnerships between Tribal Education Agencies (TEA) and State Educations Agencies (SEA). Tentatively entitled State-Tribal Education Partnership (STEP), the proposed RFP will call for "breakthrough work that can dramatically improve educational outcomes for American Indian/Alaskan Native children." The competition will fund collaborative agreements in which the TEA would perform state-level functions under ESEA formula grants for schools located on reservations or former reservations. For more information or to provide comments, click here.

Status of accessible materials in postsecondary education released to Congress

The Advisory Commission on Accessible Instructional Materials in Postsecondary Education for Students with Disabilities released its Congressional report examining the state of accessible materials for students with disabilities in postsecondary education, including barriers and systemic issues that affect delivery of materials.

The report identified five key topic areas which include:

• Review the Copyright Act (section 121, the Chafee Amendment) to determine whether it should be updated to address the needs of visually impaired students.
• Consider incentives to accelerate innovation by publishers and producers of accessible course materials, hardware, and software.
• Support the development of coordinated search capabilities that let students make a single online search to easily locate accessible resources.
• Sponsor projects and programs to support professional development to help faculty and staff members select, produce, and deliver accessible instructional materials.
• Appropriate funds to the Department of Education to support projects to develop instructional materials in science and engineering courses and laboratory classes.

For the complete report and PowerPoint slides from the presentation, click here.

Could STEM become STEAM?

The U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation (NSF) are exploring the contribution the arts make to STEM learning. NSF has provided research grants and underwritten a number of conferences and workshops around the nation, including a forum hosted by the Rhode Island School of Design, titled “Bridging STEM to STEAM: Developing New Frameworks for Art-Science-Design Pedagogy.” To learn more about this innovation, visit the Education Week article here.

"Rebuilding the Mosaic" sets new NSF direction

The National Science Foundation (NSF) just released a new vision for research in the social, behavioral and economic sciences. The report, entitled Rebuilding the Mosiac: Fostering Research in the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences at the National Science Foundation in the Next Decade, analyzes 252 white papers submitted in response to the agency's request for "decadal scale research needs and opportunities". The report highlights that "future research will be interdisciplinary, data-intensive, and collaborative" (p. 5). Using a type of cluster analysis, NSF identified four major topic areas: population change; sources of disparities; communication, language, and linguistics; and technology, new media and social networks. NSF clearly indicates that exploration of these four areas will involve research that is "data intensive, multidisciplinary, collaborative, and frequently problem-oriented" (p. 16). To read the full report and the 252 white papers, click here.