3. Support for Scholarship and Research through the School of Public Health and Health Sciences

Internal Grants

Faculty in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences (SPHHS) may apply to the Dean’s office for funding to enhance an existing or new research program. The goal of this award program is to assist award recipients to generate preliminary data needed to strengthen larger extramural grant applications. Applications that represent a new collaboration between SPHHS faculty members are particularly encouraged. We anticipate that the average size of these awards will be $10,000 and we will fund about 4 awards.

School of Public Health and Health Sciences’ Research Administration Office

The Research Administration Office(RAO)for the School of Public Health and Health Sciences is located in the second floor of Arnold House. This office assists with pre-award and post-award functions and work as one unit in the grant process and is jointly overseen by the Associate Dean for Research and the Associate Dean for Administration and Finance. Each SPHHS faculty member is assigned a RAO research specialist who will serve as the faculty’s primary point of contact for both pre-award and post-award research administration needs. In the pre-award area, the SPHHS Research Administration Office helps in preparing the grant or contract for submission. All externally funded proposals as well as Letters of Intent (LOI) must be vetted first through RAO and then the University’s Office of Pre-Award Services (OPAS).RAO Research Specialists will help faculty with application guidelines, confirm that faculty are eligible to apply, work with faculty to create an appropriate budget and verifies that the forms are completed properly. If faculty are applying for grant or contract funding for a project, they must start with a pre-award consultation requested through the webform below preferably 6 to 8 weeks in advance of the sponsor due date. In the post-award area, the SPHHS Research Administration Office handles all requests once the proposal has been forwarded to the granting agency, including once the grant is funded. All internally and externally funded proposals are set up through the University accounting system. The Principal Investigators(PI) receive a project grant number and a speed type with which they can order materials and pay for personnel. The RAO staff will meet with the PI regularly, according to need, to review award spending and to discuss both academic year salary recovery (AYSR; used to fund teaching and research buyouts) and summer compensation from their research grants. Faculty should also request a meeting with their RAO Research Specialist if they need to re-budget an award. RAO staff also assist in submitting annual reports and award close-outs. For further information and to request RAO pre-award or post-award services, please use the webform: SPHHS Proposal Assistance Request Form

Additionally, the RAO teams maintains a Teams channel.

SPHHS Office of Administration and Finance

The HR and Finance staff in SPHHS are responsible for processing a variety of expenditure, budget, and revenue transactions as well as for ensuring the completion of personnel paperwork. Staff are located on the second floor of Arnold House.

SPHHS Information Technology (IT) Services and Support

Computing support for SPHHS faculty, staff and students is available through the SPHHS IT Services. The SPHHS maintains a server, which provides secure hard disk space for research projects. Data stored on the server can be shared with research collaborators, and is backed up daily, with tapes stored off-site. The IT unit also maintains IT equipment available for shared use, including Windows laptops and portable digital projectors. The SPHHS IT unit also facilitates site licenses and hosts a computer lab available for faculty, staff and student use.