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Dear Colleagues

Welcome to our final ORI newsletter for 2020. It’s been quite a year, and I think we are all looking forward to 2021. While research advancements are soon bringing us a vaccine for COVID-19, research advancement continues to happen at WMU. We ask you to keep working on your research and creative scholarship restart plans, and if you don’t have one in place yet or need to make any changes please contact me or Amy Naugle with any questions.  One exciting announcement as we move into 2021 is the call for applications for our Presidential Innovation Professorships, the program that started out as the named professor program. We are again looking for innovative forward-thinking ideas to celebrate and recognize faculty at WMU with these prestigious awards. I hope you will take a look at the program in  and consider applying.  Or recommend the program to a colleague who you feel embodies the spirit of innovation in all of our disciplines at WMU. From all of us at ORI we congratulate you on all that you have done this semester in your research, teaching and service, and we look forward to working with you in 2021. Best wishes for a safe and happy holiday season.

Upjohn Institute Accepting Proposals for 2021- Early Career Research Awards
The Upjohn Institute is now accepting proposals for its . These grants are intended to provide resources to junior faculty (untenured and within six years of having earned a Ph.D.) to carry out policy-related research on labor market issues. The Institute encourages research proposals on all issues related to labor markets and public workforce policy.

The deadline to apply for the 2021 awards is January 22, 2021.

NIH Announces new Early Stage Investigator Funding Opportunities
NIH recently  the publication of Funding Opportunity Announcements for the Stephen I. Katz Early Stage Investigator Research Project Grant program   and  .The new Katz R01 award program will build on these successful NGRI efforts. ESIs may apply for this new opportunity to support their innovative ideas if they are proposing research that is a change in direction from their past work and experience, and for which they have no preliminary data.  

Research Restart Plan

The University requires a Research Restart Plan from all researchers conducting research involving in-person data collection.   Please see information on our website and submit your restart plan on  

Spring Release Time for Grants
Please make sure Planned Effort forms for spring have been submitted to Grants and Contracts. Please refer to Grants and Contracts website in the forms section. If the forms are not turned in by January 6, 2021 the department will be responsible for completing the JES for each pay period missed.

Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) is Changing

The Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) is Changing. All new graduate students are required to complete the RCR ethics and integrity course through WMU's eLearning system. This is a university-wide requirement and is not directly associated with any specific graduate program.

Students admitted Spring, Summer I and II, and Fall 2020 are required to complete the RCR by December 14 to prevent a registration hold from being placed on their student account. As of December 31, the current RCR course is being replaced with a new course, and students who are in-progress will be required to start over in the new system, so please encourage your students to complete the course by the deadline.

Newly admitted students for Spring 2021 and beyond will complete the RCR requirement using the CITI program. This will reduce duplication for students who are on a NIH or NSF-funded grant or who must obtain research compliance approval. The required modules include:

Introduction to RCR, Authorship, Collaborative Research, Conflicts of Interest, Data Management, Mentoring, Peer Review, Plagiarism New, Research Misconduct.

Optional modules include: Research Involving Human Subjects, Research, Ethics, and Society, Using Animal Subjects in Research.

Guidelines for the new CITI RCR course:
-Students are automatically enrolled during their first semester in the course in eLearning where further instructions are available.
-Each module includes a short quiz, and students must earn a passing score of at least 70%
-Upon completion, students will receive a digital certificate.
-Holds will be placed on the student accounts for those who do not complete the RCR by the designated deadline, restricting them from registering for future classes. The hold will be lifted when the course is completed successfully.

3 Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition | New Dates

The 3MT Competition celebrates the exciting research conducted by WMU graduate students. Presenting to a lay audience, students share their research in three minutes with the use of just one PowerPoint slide. The competition has been rescheduled for spring 2021 with the following revised dates: -Video submissions due: January 11, 2021 to gsa-gtalks@wmich.edu - Potential candidates receive feedback: January 25, 2021 -Finalists announced: February 8, 2021 -Prizes will be given to the students receiving the highest scores Please encourage your students to participate!

Keep Us in the Loop

ORI is very interested in hearing about the accomplishments of our faculty in the area of research and creative activities.  For example, we are starting a wall with copies of journal covers highlighting the work of our faculty, students and staff.  If your work has been featured please print a high-quality 8 1/2 x 11 inch copy of the cover, sign it and send it to me for inclusion on the wall.  In addition, we love to hear about awarded fellowships, notable awards outside of the University, Honorary Society Memberships and special activities that we can highlight.  It's easy for us to know grants, but it's very important for us to highlight all of the achievements at WMU.  Don't forget, the Provost would also like copies of your books! 

• ORAU's 76th Annual Meeting of the Council of Sponsoring Institution
  • March 8 -11, 2021
• 2021 Discovery Acceleration Workshops - Noon to 1 p.m.
  • January 25 - Focusing on Early Career Funding Opportunities
  • February 22 - Pursuing Funding From the Department of Defense 
  • March 22 - Grants and Contracts - Appointments on Grants