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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>To:
NSF Principal Investigators and Department Contract and Grant Analysts<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>From:
Vice Chancellor for Research Charles Louis<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Two
years after President George W. Bush signed into law the America Competes Act
(ACA), which was designed to improve U.S. competitiveness in mathematics and
science, the National Science Foundation has announced its plans for requiring
that grantees implement a training program for the "responsible and
ethical conduct" of research. This requirement mandates that all
undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs supported in whole or in part
with NSF awards receive this training. It is important to note that the
research administration community vigorously protested to Congress because it
was recognized that this requirement is a mandate with real costs but without
any increase in indirect cost funds to enable implementation and compliance.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>At
a meeting in April hosted by the Office of Research, to which all NSF Principal
Investigators were invited, I learned that some graduate programs already have
a one credit course for all new graduate students and it appears that these
courses could form a part of the required training program. I attach the
slides I had for that meeting. As you can see, the content of what this
program <span style='color:black'>c</span>ould include is much broader than
just “research ethics” <span style='color:black'>that could be delivered by an</span>
online course/power point presentation plus a test. In fact, NSF officials
have made public statements to the effect that a web-based only solution to
this requirement would not be sufficient.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The
NSF published its rule for complying with Section 7009 of the ACA in the August
20, 2009 <i>Federal Register </i>(<span style='color:blue'><a
href="http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-19930.htm">http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-19930.htm</a></span>).
The rule applies to all proposals submitted to NSF on or after January 4, 2010,
and requires that institutions certify that they have a research ethics training
program in place and that all undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs
supported in whole or in part with NSF awards receive this training. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The
Office of Research will continue to sponsor some activities such as the grant
writing workshop this year by a former NIH program officer - and we will
provide links to all the materials NSF has committed to make available through
their Web site. We will also develop a listing of other on-line and text
materials that units could use in meeting this requirement. However,
training needs may vary between academic disciplines, specific circumstances of
research<span style='color:black'>,</span> or the needs of <span
style='color:black'>undergraduates versus graduate students and postdocs.
</span>Consequently, the responsibility for developing such a training program
and maintaining information on the students and postdocs who have completed a
program will largely rest with departments<span style='color:black'> and
programs</span>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>To
comply with this new regulation, all proposals submitted to NSF on or after
January 4, 2010 must include the required certification. To ensure that
the Office of Research is appropriately making this certification, proposal<span
style='color:black'>s</span> submitted to Sponsored Programs will need to be
accompanied by a brief <span style='color:black'>description</span> of the
research ethics training program the PI/department/program has developed or
plans to develop by the time of the award for all undergraduates, graduate
students, and postdocs that will be supported by this NSF award, and the
procedures that will be used to track that this training has occurred.
This documentation should be uploaded to the eCAF for each NSF proposal and
should be appropriately labeled (e.g., research ethics training.doc, ethics
training.doc, etc.). Without this documentation, the Office of Research
will not be able to make the required certification to the NSF<span
style='color:black'>, </span>nor will they be able to submit <span
style='color:black'>the</span> proposal <span style='color:black'>to NSF </span>until
the documentation is received. In addition, Principal Investigators and
the units administering their NSF awards will be responsible for maintaining
and retaining documentation <span style='color:black'>that provides evidence
that</span> the research ethics training <span style='color:black'>was </span>received
by all undergraduates, graduate students and postdocs supported in whole or in
part with NSF funds. This documentation will be essential for demonstrating
compliance with this new requirement to internal or external audits of this new
certification.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The
Office of Research will be updating PIs and units as the NSF provides
additional information about this new requirement and its implementation.
In addition, <span style='color:black'>we will be announcing </span>another
meeting to be held <span style='color:black'>later in September </span>for all
NSF Principal Investigators (applicants and awardees)<span style='color:black'>
and department analysts</span> to answer questions about this new NSF
requirement.<span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
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