To the UConn Research Community:

As we approach the beginning of another unprecedented time in UConn’s history, my team and I have provided guidance on several topics related to the continued resumption of research. Since May, researchers have shown that with proper procedures, adherence to guidelines, and community commitment, it was possible to return to the critically important research projects happening throughout UConn. Throughout this process, the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) has adhered to President Katsouleas’ message that in order to educate our students in a pandemic, we must all work together and to provide a safe learning environment. Students returning to UConn campuses must also commit to the “UConn Promise” to help keep the UConn community safe, including strictly abiding by rules that require a campus quarantine to start the semester, face mask usage at all times, and keeping physical distance from one another. Similar requirements of masking and distancing are mandated by the state for off-campus residents, as well as quarantines for those from most outside states. These guidelines will not only help to keep our students in the classroom, they will help to keep researchers in the lab, field, and clinic.

While most labs have already resumed activities under the current process, which requires approval from the OVPR, some faculty and students may have questions about what is required to continue or initiate new research projects in the fall. As of August 31, 2020 when the campus reopens, obtaining written approval from the OVPR for Resuming Research Activity is no longer necessary to engage in research on any of UConn’s campuses. The following guidance outlines additional aspects of conducting research at UConn for the Fall Re-Opening.

Guidance for Fall 2020 Lab, Field, and Human Subjects Research

• Approval from the OVPR for “Resuming Research Activity” will no longer be required for conducting research at any UConn campus.
• Labs and research programs must continue to develop and maintain a written COVID-19 Research Safety Plan (Lab and Field Research COVID-19 Safety Plan or Human Subjects COVID-19 Safety Plan), but submission and approval of Research Safety Plans to the OVPR will no longer be required. Departments and administrative offices are required to perform a detailed risk assessment, set site-specific prevention protocols, and to have the resulting safety plan approved by their leadership. If your department does not already have an approved COVID-19 safety plan in place, please use the Return to Campus COVID-19 Protection Plan template to prepare to return to work on campus.
• Research personnel must continue to be trained on the plan and documentation of the training must be maintained.
• Research personnel must continue to complete COVID-19 Research Safety Training from the Division of Environmental Health and Safety. Documentation of completion must be retained as part of Research Safety Plan documentation.
• Research Safety Plans may be amended as necessary. If a plan is amended, all personnel must be retrained on the amended plan and training must be documented.
• Research Safety Plans should continue to address federal and state guidelines and requirements.
• Lab and research personnel must follow University wide and campus specific COVID-19 requirements.
• Research Safety Plans must allow for distancing of at least six feet, with the goal of maintaining an overall personnel density of 50% or less of the pre-COVID occupancy/density. If this is not possible then the Safety Plan must justify why and specify what measures will be put in place to minimize the potential of exposure.
• For research involving human subjects, Research Safety Plans should follow the clinical requirements of UConn Health, even if those projects take place on another UConn campus. If this is not possible, the Research Safety Plan must justify why and specify what measures will be put in place to minimize the potential of exposure.
• Labs and research programs should maintain a process to know when personnel are working in the labs or research areas. Labs and research programs may develop their own methods to achieve this goal. Signed daily logs will no longer be required as the only acceptable method. Other acceptable methods include key card access, electronic check-ins, or use of location-based apps. Some schools and colleges may also have processes in place for monitoring building density and access.
• Labs and research programs should continue to have and refine plans to immediately halt or ramp down research activities, if required.
• The summer requirements/processes for undergraduates to participate in research will no longer be required. Guidance for Fall Undergraduate Research and Independent Study Courses has been issued.

While we reopen UConn for academic activities, we thank you for your dedication to the health and safety of your labs and the UConn community. If you have additional questions, more information can be found on the OVPR website or by emailing ovpr@uconn.edu.

SAVE THE DATE: The Office of the Vice President for Research will join President Thomas Katsouleas in hosting a virtual informational session for UConn & UConn Health researchers on Monday, April 20 from 11:00am to 12:30pm. The purpose of the session is to update the UConn research community on critical information related to research on campus during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as answer questions from UConn faculty and staff. A number of questions have already been submitted via the University Senate. If you would like to pose a question regarding our research activities or share a comment, please send it to ovpr@uconn.edu before Monday, April 20.

While the world is still in the midst of the ongoing crisis, there are a great many unknowns when it comes to research and our other operations, but participants will endeavor to answer every question they are able to and discuss what is known with respect to research as of April 20.

A communication with a web address on how to watch and participate in the town hall will be sent later this week.

Dear Colleagues,

I hope this message finds you well, as we have all been facing many challenges related to the COVID-19 epidemic over the last several weeks. While our focus has been on rapidly shifting to new methods for teaching and conducting research, the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) is pleased to announce that decisions for several of our internal funding programs have been finalized. These programs support a variety of high impact research, scholarship, and artistic pursuits across UConn and UConn Health’s departments. The OVPR is thrilled to support these diverse projects, which will lead to additional extramural funding and increase the reputation of UConn amongst peers. Funding for the following recipients will be made available now for projects that can be conducted remotely, and will be on hold for other recipients until the University resumes normal operations after the COVID-19 pandemic. Decisions regarding other internal funding programs including the Research Excellence Program (REP) and Scholarship and Collaboration in Humanities and Arts Research (SCHARP) are expected to be announced in May.

Please join me in congratulating winners for the following funding programs and visit the OVPR’s Internal Funding website to learn more about these programs:

Convergence Awards for Research in Interdisciplinary Centers (CARIC)

CARIC is an initiative of the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) that provides support of up to $150,000 for the development of collaborative interdisciplinary teams to bid for major (>$5M) federally funded initiatives, such as research centers. CARIC provides funding for planning, outreach to strategic partners, and proof-of-concept research activities that will prepare the team to bid competitively for these prestigious federal awards.

Puxian Gao, Material Science and Engineering
Mapping Catalytic Energy Transformations: Convergence of Nanoarray Catalysis, In Situ Microscopy, and Data Science

Jeffrey Hoch, Molecular Biology and Biophysics
Biomolecular Digital Commons

Cato Laurencin, Connecticut Convergence Institute
Convergence Center for Regenerative Engineering- A Science and Technology Center

Mark Urban, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
241: Reintegrating Biology & Harnessing the Data Revolution to Predict and Prevent Global Ecosystem Change

Microbiome Seed Fund Recipients
Through this program, the OVPR is able to provide up to $50,000 to UConn faculty to support innovative and collaborative research projects that will lead to new proposals for extramural funding in microbiome research.

Jonathan Klassen, Molecular and Cell Biology
Metal-Binding Antimicrobial Peptide Mediation of a Fungus-Growing Ant Symbiosis

Co-PIs: Alfredo Angeles-Boza

Mark Peczuh, Chemistry
Characterizing the Role of Siderophores in the Euprymna Scolopes – Vibrio Fischeri Symbiosis
Co-PIs: Spencer Nyholm

J Evan Ward, Marine Sciences
The Effect of a Common Anthropogenic Pollutant on the Microbiome of an Ecologically and Commercially Important Bivalve
Co-PIs: Penny Vlahos, Lisa Nigro

Wing Ki Mok, Molecular Biology and Biophysics
Friend or Foe? Impact of Chronic Infection Microbiome Constituents on Persistence of Staphylococcus Aureus toward Antifolate Antibiotics
Co-PIs: Dennis Wright, Maria Rocha Granados, Debjani Si

Spring 2020 Scholarship Facilitation Fund Program

Through this program, the OVPR is able to provide up to $2,000 to UConn faculty across all disciplines, on a competitive basis, to foster, support, and enhance research, scholarship, and creative endeavors. (Please visit the site for the full list of recipients.)

START Preliminary Proof-of-Concept Q1-3

Through this program, the OVPR is able to provide up to $10,000 to Central Connecticut State University, Southern Connecticut State University, University of Bridgeport, and UConn faculty to foster and bolster the initial validation of innovative early stage technologies that have possible commercial potential. The program is designed to bring these promising technologies to a stage that may be more attractive for additional later stage translational funding support. (Please visit the site for the full list of recipients.)

Cheers,

Radenka

Dear Colleagues,

I hope that this message finds you well, safely at home with family and seeing friends and loved ones virtually. The last several weeks have been challenging, disruptive, and anxiety inducing, but I have been so encouraged by seeing the UConn community band together to support our students, faculty, staff, and citizens of our state. We have all had to adjust to this new normal, while ensuring that the safety and health of our research workforce, students, faculty, staff, and animals remain our highest priority. While the timeline for resuming research remains unclear due to the ever-changing COVID-19 situation, our office is working closely with University leadership to ensure a process is in place to transition back to normal research operations and we will be providing regular updates to the University community. We also encourage you to check for updates on the OVPR’s COVID-19 Resource page where you will find additional information, guidance, and FAQs related to research. For general guidance and updates, visit the Coronavirus information pages for UConn and UConn Health.

Office of Management and Budget, OMB M-20-17 Memorandum Issued March 19, 2020

Earlier this week at the Council of Deans meeting, I shared that the OVPR has been working with other university offices to fully take advantage of flexibilities provided by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to federal agencies in their memorandum OMB M-20-17 Administrative Relief for Applicants of Federal Financial Assistance Directly impacted by COVID 19 due to Loss of Operation. The OMB memorandum authorizes agencies to take certain actions to provide flexibility for recipients directly impacted by COVID-19. Over the weeks following the issuance of the memo, I am pleased to share that most federal agencies have adopted the flexibilities provided for by the OMB for grants. These flexibilities include applicant deadlines, no-cost extensions, allowability of salaries and other project costs, and certain waivers of prior approvals and extension of close-outs. You may find individual sponsor updates on the OVPR website and guidance is also provided in the OVPR FAQs. Of course, you may always reach out to staff in Sponsored Program Services with any questions and we recommend you also sign up for alerts directly from the sponsors from whom you have funding.

According to the memo, the exceptions are time-limited and will be reassessed by OMB within 90 days of the memo. We do not have an estimate of when to expect a “return to normal,” hence we do not know when federal agencies will end the flexibilities adopted under the OMB memo. Although, we think they will listen to the research community and try to understand whether the circumstances still warrant exceptions.

Critical Research Infrastructure Inventory

To ensure the long-term viability of many research programs during the shutdown, the OVPR quickly assembled a cross-campus team to assess critical research infrastructure, as submitted by faculty. Critical research infrastructure includes unique reagents, unique cell lines, equipment, liquid nitrogen stocks, COVID-19 targeted research, and certain long-term experiments. This was a complex and very time-sensitive endeavor, which is still ongoing as needs evolve. The OVPR would like to express our sincere thanks to the review committee members who met virtually several times a day to evaluate these requests in order to ensure proper maintenance of the research infrastructure and the safety of research teams. Please join me in thanking them.

• Lisa Park-Boush, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Affairs, Professor and Department Head
• Rajesh Lalla, School of Dental Medicine, Associate Dean for Research, Professor
• Leslie Shor, School of Engineering, Associate Dean for Research & Graduate Education, Associate Professor
• Anthony Vella, School of Medicine, Senior Associate Dean for Research Planning and Development, Professor and Chair
• Kumar Venkitanarayanan, College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, Professor

If you still need to submit critical research infrastructure inventory for review or amend an approved form, complete the Critical Research Infrastructure Inventory form.

Animal Care at UConn and UConn Health

UConn’s dedication to exemplary animal care services has never wavered, even during these challenging times. Animal care staff at both Storrs and UConn Health in Farmington had extensive plans in place well ahead of this crisis, allowing them to continue to support researchers as they ramped down their projects. The operations of Animal Care Services at Storrs and the Center for Comparative Medicine at UConn Health are running as normal, as activity has ceased in most cases and slowed in certain exceptional cases. All staff are healthy and continuing to maintain animal care. All animal orders and transfers have been halted. Any ongoing research should have submitted a Critical Research Infrastructure form for both lab and animal work that needs to continue. At this time, food and bedding have not been impacted and there is a sufficient reserve of supplies to continue at this level for several months. The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC) continue to run as normal, with staff working from home. Semi-annual inspections scheduled for April in Storrs were granted a six-month extension. These inspections will be rescheduled as soon as possible after the shutdown.

Human Subjects Research and Environment Health and Safety

The IRBs, Biosafety Committees, and Radiation Safety Committees continue to run as normal, with staff working from home.

Guidance on Proposals Submission

Due to increased proposal submissions and a desire to provide strong service in support of proposal submissions, sponsored project proposals (including the final budget and application, science in draft) must be submitted well in advance of the deadline and in accordance with Sponsored Program Services’ (SPS) five-day minimum processing policy. Additionally, the final application, ready for submission, must be submitted the day before the deadline. With staff working remotely and the challenges this may present, SPS cannot promise that proposals received less than 48 hours before the deadline or final applications received on the day of the deadline will be reviewed and submitted on time. See OVPR FAQ on Proposal submissions for more information.

Guidance on Salary & Stipends charged to Sponsored Programs

Following guidance from Human Resources on 2020-04-03 FAQs related to salaries and stipends on research grants and contracts were released. Sponsored Projects Salary and Stipend FAQs address questions for Principal Investigators (PIs) and full- and part-time salaried employees paid on sponsored projects, including postdoctoral research associates and graduate assistants. Visit the HR COVID-19 sites for UConn Information and UConn Health Information.

Donating Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) from Research Grants & Contracts

We want to make sure UConn researchers know that residual supplies purchased from a grant or contract that has ended may be donated to UConn Health. In addition, the NIH is allowing recipients to donate PPE and other lab supplies in support of efforts related to COVID-19. Recipients may re-budget grant funds to repurchase supplies at a later date. As of this writing, the NSF just released their guidance for donation (see NSF April 10 implementing guidance). We anticipate that other federal sponsors will follow the NIH. Sponsor Guidance will be updated on the COVID-19 Sponsor Issued Guidance website.  Note that in the case of NSF, prior sponsor approval is required.

For information on how to make a donation, please see the “Personal Protective Equipment FAQs.”

COVID-19 Research

UConn Research Tackling COVID-19

As mentioned before, it has been incredibly heartening to see how swiftly UConn’s researchers have taken action to help tackle this global crisis. There has been regular coverage in UConn Today and the media about UConn research collaborations to quickly produce Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), new research grants focused on COVID-19, and scholarship that addresses the impact of this pandemic on education, the economy, and society. I encourage you to visit UConn Today to read about the many new projects, publications, and partnerships that are already yielding encouraging results.

COVID-19 Funding Opportunities

The OVPR has created a webpage to share external and internal funding opportunities related to COVID-19 research. You can also contact research@uconn.edu to request that additional opportunities be added to the site and shared with the UConn research community.

Supplemental Federal Support for Sponsored Programs

The OVPR recognizes that each month of the shutdown represents significant lost productivity toward research objectives and milestones. As such, the OVPR is working in close collaboration with UConn’s Office of Governmental Relations, the Connecticut Congressional Delegation, and other APLU universities to request that supplemental federal funding be made available to federal agencies to provide to grantees at institutions of higher education to address the unprecedented disruption to research caused by the COVID-19 crisis. This is an ongoing process, and updates will be provided as they become available.

In Closing

The President and the OVPR will hold an informational session specific to research. The date and time of this informational session will be forthcoming. We have received a number of questions from faculty, administrators and the Faculty Senate and plan to address all of them and point to guidance as applicable. The session will be divided into two parts: the first will offer an update from the OVPR on all the available information that we have at this time, with an understanding that there remain many unknowns. This update will be followed by a Q&A period.

As always, my team and I thank you for your continued support and dedication to UConn and UConn Health. We will continue to keep you updated as the situation evolves. If you have any questions, please visit the OVPR COVID-19 Resource page, the Coronavirus information pages for UConn and UConn Health, or email ovpr@uconn.edu.

Sincerely,

Radenka

Radenka Maric, PhD

Vice President for Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

UConn/UConn Health

Dear Colleagues,

While we all face turmoil caused by the global coronavirus pandemic, I wanted to make sure that all faculty are aware of unique funding opportunities through the National Science Foundation with the specific aim of helping address COVID-19. Specifically NSF’s RAPID funding mechanism allows for a drastically reduced submission/award timeline to address this urgent need. Please see the Dear Colleague letter below from NSF Director, Dr. France A. Córdova for more information and consider applying through this mechanism if you are conducting applicable research.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support of UConn and our research community.

Sincerely,
Radenka

NSF 20-052

Dear Colleague Letter on the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

March 4, 2020

Dear Colleague,

In light of the emergence and spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the United States and abroad, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is accepting proposals to conduct non-medical, non-clinical-care research that can be used immediately to explore how to model and understand the spread of COVID-19, to inform and educate about the science of virus transmission and prevention, and to encourage the development of processes and actions to address this global challenge.

NSF encourages the research community to respond to this challenge through existing funding opportunities. In addition, we invite researchers to use the Rapid Response Research (RAPID) funding mechanism, which allows NSF to receive and review proposals having a severe urgency with regard to availability of or access to data, facilities or specialized equipment as well as quick-response research on natural or anthropogenic disasters and similar unanticipated events. Requests for RAPID proposals may be for up to $200K and up to one year in duration. Well-justified proposals that exceed these limits may be entertained. All questions should be directed either to a program officer managing an NSF program with which the research would be aligned or to rapid-covid19@nsf.gov.

Complete guidance on submitting a RAPID proposal may be found in Chapter II.E.1 of the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide.

We ask that all investigators and organizations maintain awareness of the dynamic nature of this event through regular monitoring of official communications from the Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization.

NSF has also provided Frequently Asked Questions that address questions associated with NSF proposal submission and award management relevant to research proposals relating to COVID-19 as well as possible impacts of COVID-19 on activities under existing awards and on participation in NSF’s merit review panels; that website will be updated as appropriate.

Sincerely,

Dr. France A. Córdova
Director

With Governor Lamont’s order for all non-essential businesses to suspend operations, the president, provost and vice president for research have determined that all on-campus research activities on ALL CAMPUSES – UConn, regional and UConn Health – must stop and labs must
close by 8 p.m. on Monday March 23.

In addition to faculty, this includes research being conducted by undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars. The only exceptions to this are human subjects clinical trials, research where continued in-person interaction or intervention is needed for the safety and welfare of enrolled subjects, research that is directly connected to addressing the COVID-19 crisis, and research that can be conducted remotely by faculty, staff, and/or students without in-person intervention or interaction with research subjects.

We understand the enormous impact this decision will have on faculty and students. But as we deal with the challenges of a global pandemic as well as the uncertainty of its impact on all aspects of the University and surrounding communities, we must make difficult decisions guided
by the principles of health and safety.

• Faculty and research staff should follow the Laboratory Ramp-Down Checklist: Procedures for Safely Vacating a Laboratory (updated March 22, 2020) to close down their research and labs.
• Research related to COVID-19 can continue, but faculty must submit a Critical Research Infrastructure Inventory form indicating they need to begin or continue this work and describe the work (see last question on the form).
• Faculty with animals must contact the attending veterinarian for their campus regarding steps to immediately reduce animal numbers and number of cages. Breeding must be reduced to the minimum possible; no increases in cage counts will be permitted and plans should be in place for reductions of cage counts in the future. Labs using aquatic, avian, or other species that are housed outside the vivarium must contact the attending veterinarian regarding how animal care and husbandry operations will be maintained.
• Any faculty with critical research infrastructure, such as unique reagents, unique cell lines, equipment, liquid nitrogen stocks, and certain long-term experiments should complete the Critical Research Infrastructure Inventory form (updated March 22, 2020). These will be reviewed and the faculty
  member will then be advised on how to proceed based on their individual situation.
• Any researcher or faculty member who is unable to halt their research by Monday’s deadline or who has a unique situation that needs to be considered should email ovpr@uconn.edu with a description of the situation or need and their recommendation for how it can best be met or addressed. The email should include a phone number(s) where the faculty member can be reached.
• Any student or employee who feels they have been asked unreasonably to continue on campus research beyond Monday’s deadline should contact the dean of their school or college and the OVPR without fear of retaliation.

For now, the shut-down of labs will be in effect until April 22, 2020. We will assess and monitor the status as events change daily. However, you should plan for a remote-work research operation and lab closure that could last for several weeks or months.

Dear UConn Community,

Research!America is hosting a conference call on Monday, March 16th from 1:30 to 2:30 PM with NIH Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak. Dr. Tabak will discuss NIH’s efforts to ensure research institutions and scientists are accorded the flexibility needed as they confront COVID-19-related research disruptions. No need to RSVP for the call (call number below). To dial in:

What: Teleconference with Dr. Larry Tabak
When: 1:30-2:30 p.m. ET, Monday, March 16, 2020
Call-In: 866-876-6756 (toll-free) or 704-288-1165 (U.S.)
Passcode: 737857

The following are additional updates and guidance from the NIH and NSF

o   Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about COVID-19 for the National Science Foundation

o   NSF website for the research community with detailed guidance on the Coronavirus (COVID-19)

o   Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about COVID-19 for the National Institutes of Health

o   Flexibilities Available to Applicants and Recipients of Federal Financial Assistance Affected by COVID-19

Cheers,
Radenka