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Policies and Guidelines FY 2008 [ RETURN TO EES POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ] The following EES policies are intended to apply during the current fiscal year. Policies may be updated at any time in response to a changing fiscal environment, other constraints, and new opportunities.
Block Allocations to Departments for Faculty Travel Each year, EES provides a modest allocation to each department for research related travel. The travel funds allocated to each department are transferred to the department and the department head has authority to allocate/utilize the funds according to the guidelines below. Requests from faculty for use of the funds should be directed to their department head. No further approval from EES is required. Each department will be asked to submit a brief report at the end of the fiscal year showing how the money was used (faculty member, purpose of trip, amount of funds used, matching sources). Departments that do not submit a report will not receive an allocation for the following year. Most faculty travel is funded by departments, projects, or other funds. EES travel allocations are modest and only intended for special situations where other funds are not available. Guidelines:
Graduate Student Recruiting Visits A recruiting visit for top potential graduate students is an effective tool in attracting those students to KSU. The Engineering Experiment Station (EES) will provide limited funding to departments in the college for this purpose according to the following guidelines.
Special Program to Support Travel to Funding Agencies With the current tight budgets, it is more critical than ever to foster growth in our extramural support for research. An important factor in developing extramural funding is establishing and maintaining close relationships with program managers and other individuals who make the funding decisions. Much of the needed communication can and should be conducted via telephone, e-mail, fax, and even postal mail. However, a key ingredient for success in many situations is a strategically planned personal visit with these individuals. Such visits can prove to be very cost effective investments. When the opportunity is created for a visit, it is important that faculty members have the resources to act. Each year EES provides a modest amount of funding to the departments for research travel (see Block Allocations to Departments for Faculty Travel). The number one priority for the use of these funds is to visit funding agencies. The reality, however, has been that the bulk of these funds goes for travel to technical meetings and conferences, which is, of course, important too. In order to assure that important opportunities are not missed, however, an additional program is in place for additional funding limited strictly for travel to visit program managers and other individuals at funding agencies, including companies. In view of the tight financial situation in the departments, no department matching will be mandatory although it is certainly encouraged and may be needed to cover the full cost of the travel in some cases. The intent is that these funds should be requested when a funding agency visit makes good sense and when there are no other sources of funds available to finance the visit. Please do not request these funds to make visits that are part of your projects or established research programs. You are also encouraged to be as economical as practical in your travel (as if you could be lavish on the amounts provided!) so that the maximum number of people can participate. A fixed amount of money is set aside each year for this program and it will be used on a first come, first served basis. When it is gone, the program will be over, at least for that fiscal year. If you are not familiar with making funding agency visits or are not quite sure how to get started, the EES Director will be glad to provide information and guidance. You are also encouraged to visit with your colleagues that are experienced in working with funding agencies for advice. Matching Support for Research Proposals Matching support for research proposals is determined on a case-by-case basis and PI's wishing to obtain matching support should discuss the request with the EES director well in advance of proposal submission. The following guidelines are generally followed when matching support is requested.
While individual faculty members are encouraged to discuss matching needs with EES, all formal requests for EES matching should come from the applicable department head(s). Unless other agreements have been made, the sponsored research overhead (SRO) generated by research projects in the College of Engineering is distributed as follows:
For instructional proposals coming from the College of Engineering, the overhead is distributed in the same proportions. The intent, within the college, is to not distinguish between extramural support for research programs and instruction programs and to give the same recognition and benefits for both. The overhead rate applied by the university may differ, however, depending on whether a project is classified as research or instruction. Current overhead rates (also referred to as indirect costs and "facilities and administrative" costs) for new proposal may be obtained from PreAward Services (PAS). The above distribution may not apply when a special agreement is in place. These agreements may occur when the proposal is submitted with a reduced overhead rate, there is an agreement to use the overhead to repay funds that have been provided, a portion of the overhead is dedicated for a another use, and other special cases. If a proposal is submitted with reduced overhead, PreAward services will require a form be filled out to show how the reduction is absorbed. In other cases, there should be a written agreement in place if SRO is not to be allocated by the standard formula. The distribution of the department's share of the overhead is at the discretion of the department head. Some departments retain all of the SRO for allocation by the department head and some departments distribute a portion directly to the PI's that generated the overhead for their use. All research and instructional proposals submitted to funding sources, including private companies, from Kansas State University must be processed through PreAward Services (PAS) . PAS is the only entity that can sign to contractually obligate Kansas State University on proposals and contracts. Colleges, departments, other units, and individual faculty members do not have this authority. An internal approval form, the Sponsored Project Transmittal Sheet (SP001), must be fully completed before a proposal will be submitted to the funding agency by PAS. The SP001 documents responsibility for any matching funds, distribution of overhead, distribution of reporting credit, and final approval of all KSU parties involved in the project. Specifically, approval signatures are required for all faculty members with time allocated to the proposed project, the department heads or unit directors for individuals with time assigned to the proposed project, and the Deans’ offices for all of the home colleges for all of the departments or units required to sign. For the College of Engineering, the Engineering Experiment Station has been delegated the authority and responsibility for signing for the Office of the Dean. It is hoped that, at least for the College of Engineering, we can soon complete the SP001 approval on the web using electronic signatures. At the present, however, the paper SP001 must be circulated for signatures. Please note that EES will not sign off on a SP001 until all of the other required signatures from the College of Engineering are present. This policy is followed to ensure that the “authority of the Dean’s Office” is not seen as overriding the right of approval by others involved in the project. Depending on the project, compliance approvals may also be required. Projects involving animals, human subjects, bio-hazardous materials, or confidential research require certain approvals before a proposal may be submitted. Contact the University Research Compliance Office for more information. Obtaining compliance approvals can take considerable time in some cases. Consequently, the Compliance Office should be contacted early in the proposal processes when compliance requirements may apply and sufficient time should be allowed to adequately address these questions. If modifications to the intellectual property (IP) agreement in the KSU standard Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) are necessary, considerable time may also be required to negotiate the wording for this section of the agreement. Generally, IP is not an issue in proposals to federal and State of Kansas funding agencies but can be important in proposals to private funding sources. If the standard MOA cannot be used, normally negotiations involving the PI and his or her home department, PAS, the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and the funding agency are required. A significant portion of the EES budget is assigned to graduate research assistant lines that are allocated to the departments. Once allocated, these lines show up on the department budget and are the responsibility of the department with the expectation that they will be used to support graduate students conducting research and not for other purposes. The Engineering Experiment Station may change the allocation of these GRA lines from fiscal year to fiscal year to reflect research activity in the respective departments and other factors. The College will provide up to $10,000 to each academic department for paying tuition for new Ph.D. graduate students. The purpose of the program is to increase Ph.D. student enrollment with top students. As with any such program, there must be some rules and guidelines. The details follow. The program is for Ph.D. students that are new to KSU and on a graduate assistantship that qualifies them for in-state tuition. The funds can only be used for tuition. The payment can be 100% of the student’s tuition or a lesser fraction, at the department’s discretion. The program starts with the Spring 2009 semester and is a one-time allocation that may be used for Spring 2009, Summer 2009, and Fall 2009 tuition. Departments will process tuition payment paperwork for students in the program as if the payment were to be made from department funds. When the tuition is billed, the department should notify Mary Tolbert in EES of the name of the student and the amount charged. EES will then transfer a like amount of funds to the department. State allocated funds may not be used for graduate student tuition. However, SRO and restricted fee funds may be used for this purpose. Reimbursement to the departments will be SRO funds unless prior arrangements are made. It is desired that this program not be used for students whose tuition could reasonably be paid from funded projects or other sources. It is intended to increase the number of students whose tuition can be paid and is not intended to replace other sources of funding. It is the department’s responsibility to manage its commitments to ensure that the $10,000 limit is not exceeded. EES will not reimburse the departments for expenditure of funds in excess of $10,000. It is possible that the program will be continued for future years. However, any commitment made to the graduate students in the program should be based on the assumption that it will be only a one-time program. |
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