Research Enterprise Newsletter - October 2008: Grants & Contracts News
New procedure for documents routed to Grants & Contracts
Recent months have seen an increase in mail intended for GCM being dropped at Medical Payroll in the 'Crystal Terrace' box. That box is for mail going to the Dept. of Finance in Crystal Terrace and that is where it is taken. GCM mail placed in this box will obviously be delayed in reaching our office, if it reaches us at all. We wish to remind departmental staff that documents should be sent to GCM via the two options below.
- The Courier Service drop in MCN CCC-3322 (specifically set up to bring mail directly to our office 4 times daily)
- Campus Mail Address:
Grants & Contracts Mgmt
CT 100 (zip 8353)
NIH offers $35K repayment toward scientist student loans
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will repay outstanding student loans through its extramural Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs) to those who are or will be conducting nonprofit biomedical or behavioral research and meet eligibility requirements. The application cycle for the extramural LRPs includes programs for Clinical Research, Pediatric Research, Health Disparities Research, Contraception and Infertility Research, and Clinical Research for Individuals from Disadvantaged Backgrounds. Applications will be accepted online until 8:00 PM on December 1, 2008 at lrp.nih.gov.
New LRP contracts are awarded for a two-year period and repay up to $35,000 of qualified educational debt annually. Tax offsets also are provided. Participants may apply for competitive renewals for one or two years. Undergraduate, graduate, medical school and other health professional school loans qualify for repayment. An NIH grant or other NIH funding is not required to apply for or participate in the LRPs.
Applicants must possess a doctoral-level degree (except for the Contraception and Infertility Research LRP); be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident; devote 20 hours or more per week to conducting qualified research funded by a university, nonprofit organization, or federal, state, or local government entity; and have qualified educational loan debt equal to or exceeding 20 percent of their institutional base salary.
Visit the LRP website for more information and to access the online application. For additional assistance, call or e-mail the DLR Information Center at (866) 849-4047 or lrp@nih.gov.
GCM looking for input through satisfaction survey
Vanderbilt's Office of Grants & Contracts Management wants your input. If you are a faculty or staff member who has contact with the GCM office, please take the time to fill out a quick customer satisfaction survey at: surveymonkey.com.
VUMC joins federal demonstration partnership initiative
In May 2008 Vanderbilt was accepted as a member of the Phase V Federal Demonstration Partnership Initiative. The FDP is a cooperative initiative among nine federal agencies and over 100 institutions. It offers a forum to work collaboratively to improve the national research enterprise. eRA Commons and Expanded Authority are two outcomes of previous phases. In September, three representatives from Grants and Contracts Management attended their first meeting as a member of the initiative and learned great information, which was then conveyed to GCM staff. Continued involvement in this group will to facilitate research activities at Vanderbilt.
