Exciting news! Jeri Muniz has been appointed as the new interim Associate Vice President, Research Administration (AVPRA) in the USC Research and Innovation (R&I), effective July 1, 2022. Jeri’s new responsibilities include oversight of key areas of research administration, including the Department of Contracts and Grants, Office of the Protection of Research Subjects, Department of Animal Resources, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Research Technology Services, and USC Research and Innovation (R&I) Integrity. She assumes her new role while maintaining her current responsibilities in DCG.
OPRS/IRB: The wait time for exempt and expedited reviews remains at approximately 2 weeks. Investigators should check our website to monitor wait times, as we expect them to increase in the August/September time frame. Please note, investigators and study team members must have all of their certifications current at the time they submit new applications, amendments, and continuing reviews. If any member of the study team (those listed in 2.1 in iStar) has a certification that will expire within 30 days of submission (new, amendment, continuing review), that submission will not be permitted. We are excited to announce that we are developing a “Reliance Team” to handle both ceded reviews and investigator-initiated multi-site studies that require single IRB (sIRB). We recently completed a pilot of several investigator-initiated multi-site studies in order to ensure that we have the necessary materials, infrastructure, and support for researchers who are undertaking multi-site studies with USC as the IRB of record. We will be launching a Reliance page on our website in the August/September time frame. Please reach out if you are considering submitting an investigator-initiated multi-site study so that we can provide you with guidance and support.
FACULTY ENGAGEMENT:
Call for nominations!
Forbes 30-Under-30: The Forbes annual 30-Under-30 competition is open for nominations in Science and Healthcare categories. We would love to see USC candidates nominated this year! Click here for more information. Nominees must be 29 or younger on December 31, 2022. The deadline for North America nominations is September 1, 2022.
2023 Alan T. Waterman Award: The National Science Foundation (NSF) is pleased to accept nominations for the 2023 Alan T. Waterman Award from July 17 – September 16, 2022. Established in 1975 to commemorate the Foundation’s first Director, the Waterman Award is NSF’s highest honor for promising, early-career researchers. Nominees are accepted from any field of science and engineering that NSF supports. Click here for more information.
Research-Related Travel Sponsored by the State of California: In 2016 the California legislature passed a bill (AB 1887) that went into effect on January 1, 2017. Under this legislation, the State of California generally will not sponsor or fund travel to a state that the legislature has concluded engages in discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. Notwithstanding this general prohibition, AB 1887 does allow the state to sponsor travel to one of the states listed below in connection with meetings or training required by a grant or required to maintain grant funding. All researchers either seeking or who currently maintain grant support from the State of California should explicitly disclose planned travel to any of the states listed below in grant applications and progress reports, particularly if the travel is not in connection with meetings or training required by the grant (e.g. fieldwork).
In addition, researchers who may be organizing conferences as part of their grant activity should keep in mind that attendees who are employed by the State of California (e.g. colleagues who work for the UC system) may not be able to receive reimbursement for their travel expenses if the conference will be held in one of the states listed below. If you have questions, please contact the Office of Culture, Ethics, and Compliance at compliance@usc.edu. States Subject to AB 1887 Travel Restrictions (as of July 2022): AL, AK, FL, ID, IN, IA, KS, KY, MS, MT, NC, ND, OH, OK, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, WV
Open Science: You can no longer sign into Open Science Framework (OSF) using your institution’s SSO. However, you will not lose access to your account or your OSF content. You can access your OSF account using your institutional email by adding a password, or using your ORCID credentials (if your institutional email address is associated with your ORCID record). We also recommend having multiple ways to access your account by connecting your ORCID or alternate email addresses with your account. Click here to set a password.
Navigating Research & Scholarship at USC 2022: Faculty, staff, postdocs, and PhD and graduate students from all areas are invited to attend on Friday, Aug 26, from 9:15am-3:30pm. Whether you are new or need a refresher, this annual virtual event is an opportunity to learn and ask questions about campus-wide resources available to support your research and scholarly work. Topics will include diversity, equity and inclusion; networking, collaboration and mentorship; promoting your work; innovation and intellectual property; internal and external funding; safety, integrity, and compliance; proposal development and writing resources; data management, grants management, and financial management. Register now.
Research and Scholarship Training Workshops: The Center for Excellence in Research fall 2022 workshops are now open for registration on our website. More will be added throughout the semester. If you would like to be updated about upcoming workshops, join our mailing list.
FEDERAL LANDSCAPE UPDATES: Adam H. Russell, DPhil, has joined ARPA-H as acting deputy director. Russell was the chief scientist at the University of Maryland’s Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security and held previous program management roles at the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
STEVENS CENTER FOR INNOVATION: We are pleased to announce two new members of our USC Stevens licensing team – Benjamin Wild and Larry Cabral.
Benjamin Wild was hired in June. Having over 8 years of experience in the intellectual property sector, Wild has trained and qualified as a European Patent Attorney (EPA) in 2018 and worked at a highly ranked UK-based patent and trademark firm. He’s handled technologies spanning the physical and life sciences, but with a particular focus on the applied chemistry, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology fields. Wild earned his Master of Science in Chemistry from Imperial College London, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Intellectual Property Law from Queen Mary, University of London. He is also named on the list of professional representatives entitled to act before the European Patent Office.
Larry Cabral began work at USC Stevens in early July. Cabral has 7 years of experience developing collaborations between academia and industry and 15 years of experience teaching undergraduate biology, anatomy, and physiology. He founded a biotech start-up called Lyceum Pharmaceuticals, which is a multi-omic drug discovery company based on the research and intellectual property he helped develop as a graduate student. Cabral received his Ph.D. in Biology from UC Irvine, Master of Science in Biology from California State University, Sacramento, and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from California State University, Stanislaus.
USC Stevens Center for Innovation is proud to welcome both Benjamin and Larry to the Licensing team.
CONTRACTS & GRANTS: The Department of Contracts and Grants recently distributed a NewsFlash detailing two forthcoming online webinars that will focus on the new NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy, which goes into effect on January 25, 2023. The first webinar will discuss DMS policy expectations, the applicability of the policy, how to prepare a Data Management and Sharing Plan, and considerations for sharing data responsibly. The second webinar will expand upon the information presented in the first webinar and dive deeper into topics including privacy protections for data from human participants and justifiable limitations on sharing data. DCG is encouraging researchers and research administrators not to miss this valuable opportunity to hear from policy experts and have your questions answered.
DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL RESOURCES: DAR is collaborating with EH&S to assure safety in the animal facilities and when working with laboratory animal species. On August 8, at 10am in the Norris Lecture Hall there will be a Workshop/Training session about lab animal safety practices. Refreshments will be provided.
This is a reminder that Per Diem rates and service charges have increased by 9% effective July 1st. Please go to the billing page of dar.usc.edu for more information and a list of the charge schedule. A Space Utilization charge of 5% will also go into effect January 1st of 2022 for animal facility locations where animals are not housed or where the space must still be cleaned and maintained by DAR. Additional information will be forthcoming.
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH & SAFETY: EH&S is pleased to announce the launch of a new Online Radiation Safety Training, available via Trojan Learn. The course covers radioactive materials (RAM), radiation sources, and radiation-producing devices, safe work practices, personal protective equipment (PPE), and radioactive waste management. Anyone working with or has the potential to be exposed to radiation, radioactive materials, or radiation-producing devices must attend.
EH&S has also recently published the Animal Research Biosafety Manual which pertains to all researchers, students, and any individuals who have direct contact with laboratory animals, non-sanitized animal cages, non-sterilized animal tissues, fluids, or biological/chemical wastes. Additionally, a new Animal Biosafety Level 2 (ABSL2) training is available via Zoom. Participants may register via the EH&S Training Registration website.
Thank you for your commitment to the health and safety of the USC community.