Cal Poly Humboldt Office of Research Newsletter - Spring 2023

Spring 2023

OFFICE OF RESEARCH & SPONSORED PROGRAMS Phone: 707-826-4189 Fax: 707-826-4783 research.humboldt.edu

SAVE THE DATE: IDEAFEST 2023!

Sponsored Programs Foundation, Marketing & Communications (Marcom), and the Cal Poly Humboldt Library invite you to participate in the 10th Annual ideaFest!

In this issue: RCPEJ Awards Announced

Each year, more than 400 students, staff, and faculty from Humboldt showcase research, performances, digital projects, and more. New or previously presented professional posters or multimedia presentations are welcome. If needed, Marcom will print your poster for free after you register online.

Featured Funding Opportunities Frequently Asked Reimbursement Questions Answered

Featured articles: Get More Done With Strategic Doing - pg. 4 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program - pg. 8

Newsletter

This year's ideaFest will be on Friday, May 5th.

The deadline to register is Monday, April 24th.

Resources for preparing for ideaFest and putting together presentations can be found at this link.

Photo from ideaFest 2019. Courtesy of Cal Poly Humboldt Photographer, Kellie Jo Brown.

2023 MCCRONE AWARDEES ANNOUNCED!

Hiring Employees this Summer?

Complete These Checklist Items First - pg, 10

For info about project submissions, check out the ideaFest website or contact the ideaFest Committee at ideafest@humboldt.edu or (707) 826-4189.

Three distinguished faculty members have been selected as recipients of the 2023 McCrone Promising Faculty Scholars Award. Join us in congratulating Dr. Oscar Vargas (Biological Sciences), Dr. Rouhollah Aghasaleh (Education), Dr. Paul Michael Leonardo Atienza (Critical Race & Gender Studies)! In addition, Regina Khoury (Geology) is this year's Graduate Fellowship recipient.

The McCrone award recognizes Humboldt’s junior faculty, acknowledges their potential in their field of research, and encourages their continued achievement.

Judith and Alistair McCrone, courtesy of Kellie Jo Brown.

All of this year's recipients will be honored at a reception during the fall semester. Stay tuned for more information.

Executive Director Corner Cal Poly Humboldt’s grant & contract portfolio has continued to experience exponential growth these past few years. In the last six months alone, Sponsored Programs helped submit 157 proposals with our PI’s requesting $72 million in potential funding. In that same time, we received 131 new awards totaling $37.4 million. Both were record highs for the campus.

With this type of success, it’s easy to see how we’ve outgrown many of the support systems that once worked well. Projects have become larger, more complex, and often have more complicated financial and compliance requirements than in previous years. Looking ahead, the sustainability of our research infrastructure is one of our main priorities to ensure we can continue to support additional growth.

As always, your feedback counts and we want to know what has been working well, along with what services are not currently meeting your needs. You can provide instant feedback here at any time, or feel free to schedule an appointment with me directly. We take pride in our ability to resolve issues quickly and efficiently, and will use every opportunity we can to continually improve our services.

Thank you in advance for your understanding and willingness to grow with us into this next chapter.

Sponsored Programs Executive Director, Kacie Flynn. Photographer: Kellie Jo Brown.

-Executive Director, Kacie Flynn

RESEARCH AND CREATIVE PROJECTS FOR EQUITY AND JUSTICE AWARDS This year's Research and Creative Projects for Equity and Justice (RCPEJ) competition awarded Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty a total of $65,000 to support one-time mini grants.

Dr. Jose Marin Jarrin, Fisheries Biology Project: Baseline characterization of the fish community in the Lower Klamath River estuary

This initiative, funded by Sponsored Programs Foundation and the Cal Poly Humboldt Foundation, supports research and scholarship that benefits historically marginalized communities served by the university, with a focus on Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC).

Dr. Cinthya Ammerman Muñoz, Native American Studies Project: Echando Raíz in Humboldt County: Stories from our Latinx and Indigenous Immigrant Community

We would like to thank everyone that participated in RCPEJ this year, and wish you luck in your future research and creative endeavors! Please help us in congratulating the three faculty awardees.

Dr. Ronnie Swartz, Social Work Project: Ethical Research in Northwestern California Tribal Communities

Featured Funding Opportunities NEH | Media Projects

NEH | Public Humanities Projects

Supports the development and distribution of radio programs, podcasts, documentary films, and documentary film series that engage general audiences with humanities ideas in creative ways.

Projects must be grounded in humanities scholarship and demonstrate an approach that is thoughtful, balanced, and analytical. There are two levels of funding within this program: Development (up to $75,000) and Production (up to $700,000).

Supports projects that bring the ideas of the humanities to life for general audiences through public programming. Projects must engage humanities scholarship to analyze significant themes in disciplines such as history, literature, ethics, and art history and must reach broad and diverse public audiences in non-classroom settings. Projects should engage with ideas that are accessible to the general public and employ appealing interpretive formats. Categories include Exhibitions, Historic Places, and Humanities Discussions, at two funding levels (Planning: up to $75,000; Implementation: up to $400,000).

Application Deadline: August 9, 2023

NEA | Grants for Arts Projects Supports opportunities for public engagement with the arts and arts education, for the integration of the arts with strategies promoting the health and well-being of people and communities, and for the improvement of overall capacity and capabilities within the arts sector.

They fund arts projects in the following disciplines: Artist Communities, Arts Education, Dance, Design, Folk & Traditional Arts, Literary Arts, Local Arts Agencies, Media Arts, Museums, Music, Musical Theater, Opera, Presenting & Multidisciplinary Arts, Theater, and Visual Arts.

Application Deadline: July 6, 2023

Dept. of ED | Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Competitions Supports programs that create, develop, implement, replicate, or take to scale entrepreneurial, evidence-based, field-initiated innovations to improve student achievement and attainment for high-need students and rigorously evaluate such innovations. EIR Program offers three levels of funding (Earlyphase; Mid-phase; Expansion) Application Deadline: To Be Determined

Application Deadline: August 9, 2023

NSF | Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: HSI Program Supports projects that improve undergraduate STEM education and increase the rates of recruitment, retention and graduation of undergraduate STEM students at Hispanicserving institutions. The goals of the HSI program are to enhance the quality of undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and to increase the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate's or baccalaureate degrees in STEM. The HSI Program offers three levels of funding (Planning or Pilot: up to $300,000; Implementation and Evaluation: up to $800,000; Institutional Transformation: up to $3,000,000).

Application Deadline: August 30, 2023

Please note: Summer schedules may make it more difficult to coordinate and obtain approvals for summer deadlines, so please contact your Pre-Award Specialist early!

Research Development Corner Looking for funding?

We conduct tailored funding searches, help with the early stages of proposal development, and provide final editing services. We also offer Pivot trainings, team review facilitation, and much more!

Find contact info for the Research Development team on our website.

Curated Grant Lists The Research Development team maintains curated grant lists that contain funding opportunities organized by theme or college, including CAHSS grants, CPS grants, CNRS grants, social justice/equity grants, interdisciplinary grants, and more.

Our curated lists can be found under the home icon tab in Pivot. In order to access them, you’ll need to sign into Pivot using your institutional login.

DON'T JUST PLAN, DO! According to a McKinsey study, 70% of all strategic plans fail to be implemented. Born out of frustration with meetings that generate great ideas but don’t always move projects forward, Erika Wright recently completed the training to become a Certified Strategic Doing Practitioner.

Strategic planning is a linear process, whereas strategic doing is described as an agile, interactive, participatory method. Strategic Doing workshops allow people to form action-oriented collaborations quickly, move them toward measurable outcomes, and create a plan for accountability and making adjustments along the way with regular check-ins. Workshops accomplish this by taking participants through a ten step process in three hours or less.

Our primary goal is to use this process to help form teams quickly and create a plan for writing or launching large scale grants, but the process has wide applicability. You can learn more through this quick introductory video.

Please reach out if you’re interested!

ALL ABOUT FOOD Our second bi-annual speed networking event was a small but mighty group that made exciting and meaningful connections. We were thrilled to be joined

by Nick Bown-Crawford of Humboldt Made, Thomas Stratton of Foggy Bottoms Boys, and Ashley Vellis of Ashley’s Seafood.

The main takeaway was that our local food producers are excited at the prospect of working with Humboldt faculty on projects that can benefit students, faculty, local food producers, and the wider community.

Research Development Lead, Erika Wright, has also been working with North Coast Grower’s Association on next steps with their Food Hub, and one of their primary goals is also to develop stronger ties with Cal Poly Humboldt. If you are a faculty member (in any discipline) interested in developing projects with our local food producers, reach out!

GRANT WRITING WORKSHOP Last summer, we hosted a 6-part grant writing workshop with CAHSS and we’re pleased to report that many of those faculty have successfully submitted a grant within the last year! This semester, we’re working with a CPS cohort and we look forward to seeing what they do next!

If you’re interested in participating, please watch for future opportunities.

It's been a pleasure helping these groups of faculty develop their grant writing confidence and skills, and we look forward to assisting with their future research projects!

Pre-Award Corner Are you thinking about submitting a grant?

CHOOSING BETWEEN PAYROLL OR STIPENDS There are two main mechanisms for paying students through grants or contracts: payroll or stipends. When deciding how to budget for student participation, the most important consideration is the student’s role on the project: Employment (Payroll): If the student is contributing services and deliverables to a project under the direction of a principal investigator, they should be paid as an employee.

Traineeship/Participant Support (Stipend): If the student performs no work or services for the project other than for their own benefit and are not involved in providing any deliverables to the project, they should be paid through a stipend.

Indirect Cost Impacts Stipends are considered a participant support cost and are excluded from the direct cost base, which results in lower indirect cost.

However, this should never be the main reason to consider paying students stipends. The important question to ask yourself is, “Does this payment primarily benefit the student and their training, or is it

payment for work that directly benefits the project?”

Financial Aid Implications Payroll does not affect a student’s Financial Aid packet. In contrast, participant support costs (i.e. stipends) are financial assistance; therefore, the budgeted payment is sent to the Financial Aid office.

Payment may need to be applied against debt, offset existing loans, or reduce the Federal Pell grant payment. If the cost is specific (e.g. tuition remission), the payment may not be applicable in full, as many students already have tuition waivers or grants. In these situations, the student will still benefit but may never see a check.

SPF is available to assist you at each step of the way. We will help develop a budget, create a strong proposal, navigate funder requirements, and submit to the funding agency.

Find the contact information for your Pre-Award Specialists on our website.

SUCCESS SNAPSHOT Number of

304

Other Considerations In general, a student must be legally employable in the United States to receive payroll through SPF. Stipend payments may be a possible alternative in cases where the student can’t be legally employed.

However, some grant opportunities limit these possibilities, so reading the fine print in a funding announcement is paramount. For more details on this topic, check out this video.

proposals submitted FY 21/22

Number of

205

awards received in FY 21/22 Dollar amount

61m

of awards received in FY 21/22

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES RESPONDS TO FACULTY RESEARCH NEEDS Cal Poly Humboldt Information Technology Services (ITS) is committed to supporting faculty and staff as they explore grant opportunities for research, creative activities, and program development.

Many times these projects may require computing or software purchases. Other times, faculty and staff may be uncertain about the information technology needs of their projects. In 2022, faculty fellows completed 33 listening and information sharing sessions with faculty from almost every major on campus. These meetings along with survey data generated 120 communications, help tickets, and actions. A few results include the following:

For these reasons, ITS has built resources for early consultation and planning. Please check out the new Research Support FAQs to learn more about the steps ITS is taking to support faculty and staff conducting research and creative activities. Faculty can continue to submit an ITS help ticket and receive direct ITS support on ITS related research and creative activities needs and questions.

Expanded campus Wi-fi SPF IT Pre-Award guidance New Research FAQs on ITS website Mitigation of automatic reboot challenges Access to expanded storage and processing IT submitted NSF Cyber Infrastructure Grant Administrator access on field devices

CONGRATULATIONS TO FACULTY RESEARCH INCENTIVES AWARDEES! The Faculty Research Incentives Program awarded Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty a total of $38,952 in assigned time and $8,000 in summer salary for a total Incentives Award of $46,952 this academic year.

Recipients of awards are to use their assigned time/summer salary to develop full proposals to external funding agencies or organizations that will further Cal Poly Humboldt’s strategic goals and objectives.

We look forward to working with them in the coming year! Please help us in congratulating the eight faculty awardees.

Dr. Karen Kiemnec-Tyburczy, Biological Sciences Dr. Laura Levy, Geology Dr. Amanda Hahn, Psychology Dr. Sara Hart, Religious Studies Dr. Andrea Delgado, English Dr. Michelle Cartier, Art & Film Dr. Jacky Baughman, Geology Dr. Silvia Pavan, Biological Sciences

Post-Award Corner Our focus for Post-Award grants management encompasses three areas: training, monitoring, and reporting.

Post-Award services provide support to your project throughout the life span of your grant.

REIMBURSEMENT QUESTIONS? WE HAVE ANSWERS! You are not alone if you're wondering how to navigate the world of payment requests, SPF ProCards, and reimbursements. You may find information and resources located on our SPF Webpage, but sometimes you want to talk to someone. We hear you! In response, SPF offers open zoom hours from M-F 2:00-3:00 to answer your questions. Your Grant Analyst is also available to answer your questions.

Here are some common questions we hear: I need to pay for a class at a training center at another university for one of my grad students, how do I pay?

If the organization offering the course does not accept a ProCard payment, ask for an invoice, and submit a payment request form. You may find directions detailing payment request submissions here, or you may drop in the daily zoom hours for help here.

Find contact info for your Grant Analyst on our website.

I think I have an SPF ProCard but I am not sure.

Fun fact, the SPF ProCard looks just like your stateside card! It helps to mark your SPF ProCard with a sticker or other identifying symbol so that you can differentiate your cards. If you are not sure if you have an SPF card you can ask your grant analyst. You may only purchase your award funded items with your SPF ProCard, not your stateside card.

I want to travel and it’s too late to request a travel advance. How do I get reimbursed for my hotel and airfare within a reasonable amount of time?

Anytime you are submitting a payment request form and travel claim you must submit the correct documents for a timely reimbursement. If you are not certain that you have everything you need for reimbursement, please take advantage of our help hours for assistance.

SUCCESS SNAPSHOT Current total

140m value of all

active projects Number of

632

active projects currently managed Faculty and student travel

540k funds

received in FY 21/22

Student Corner Swainson’s Hawks are a state-threatened species facing increasing habitat loss as land is being converted by urban development and for agricultural use to meet rising food demands. These changes in habitat quality may pose serious risk to population viability, since Swainson’s Hawks are a long-lived species that exhibit strong site fidelity.

Lizzi holds a nestling Swainson's Hawk after safely banding it.

Courtesy of Dr. Chris Vennum.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: LIZZI MEISMAN Lizzi Meisman is a Wildlife grad student in Dr. Matt Johnson’s Habitat Ecology Lab, a current National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, and a local biologist. As part of her graduate studies, Lizzi plans to continue one of the longest running raptor studies in North America, which has monitored breeding in a population of Swainson’s Hawks in Butte Valley, CA since 1979.

Lizzi’s research will investigate how shifting agricultural practices in Butte Valley influence Swainson's Hawk territory selection and reproductive success. Research findings will help inform land managers on agricultural systems and practices that can benefit Swainson’s Hawks, and are less environmentally degrading.

Outside of her studies, Lizzi is extremely active in the local community. She currently serves on five nonprofit boards, and contributes to long-term monitoring in the area in a variety of ways, including volunteering at the Humboldt Bay Bird Observatory, the California Bumble Bee Atlas, and leading birding trips with the Redwood Region Audubon Society.

She’s also very passionate about mentoring earlycareer professionals and students, and is the cofounder of a workshop series for students and early career professionals in the wildlife profession. These workshops are free, and open to anyone regardless of membership. Find out more here!

GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM The Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is a National Science Foundation program that supports graduate students pursuing research-based masters and doctoral degrees in traditional STEM, social sciences, and STEM education.

SPF is providing an opportunity for up to ten students to enroll in a paid course, which includes videos, feedback on drafts, a flipped classroom, and one-on-one advising, to support completion of GRFP applications. If you are interested you can find the application for the course on our Engagement Hub. On February 17th, we hosted a panel with current and previous GRFP fellows (including Lizzi featured above) from Cal Poly Humboldt. They discussed the application process and their current experiences. To view a recording of the panel on our YouTube

channel, click here. We’ve also recorded a discussion with NSF program officers who zoomed in on April 6th to provide a program overview and tips on how to write a competitive proposal. This recording is also available on our YouTube page.

PI Spotlight DIGITIZING CAL POLY HUMBOLDT'S VERTEBRATE MUSEUM COLLECTION: DR. SILVIA PAVAN Dr. Silvia Pavan, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to digitize and georeference Cal Poly Humboldt’s mammal collection.

The project is part of a collaborative effort under the Ranges Thematic Collections Network, an initiative lead by the University of North Carolina, to digitize and mobilize trait data from mammalian museum specimens from across the American West, including standard external morphological measurements, reproductive and life history observations, and information on ecological associations.

Resulting trait datasets will support next-generation anatomical and evolutionary research, and provide baselines for future population monitoring efforts.

Silvia Pavan studies mammal specimens in a collection at the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, a Brazilian research institution and museum where she formerly worked.

WRITING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM: DRS. ELIZABETH ESCHENBACH & LISA TREMAIN Dr. Lisa Tremain, Associate Professor of English, and Dr. Elizabeth Eschenbach, Professor of Engineering, were awarded $98,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support a program that will develop, support, and measure STEM instructor understanding and application of antiracist approaches to writing pedagogy and assessment in STEM disciplines. Approximately 100 STEM faculty will be involved in the program.

The project integrates cultural foundations to learning, antiracist writing assessment, and culturally sustaining pedagogies. Activities include a year-long Faculty Learning Community (FLC) of Engineering faculty and a spring semester series of workshops.

Findings will result in foundational data that will benchmark the impacts of the model on teacher learning and curricular designs.

Elizabeth Eschenbach, Professor of Engineering (right) and Lisa Tremain, Associate Professor of English (left). Courtesy of Cal Poly Humboldt Photographer, Kellie Jo Brown.

Front Office Corner Front Office staff act as the first point of contact to assist faculty, staff, and students.

We strive to offer excellent customer support to direct you in whichever services you may be seeking from our office.

Find contact info for the Front Office staff on our website.

Sign up for Research Portal Announcements!

If you'd like to receive emails regarding upcoming internal and external funding opportunities, webinars, workshops, and other grant related events, please sign up for our portal announcements by clicking this link and selecting "research" in the list of portals.

HIRING EMPLOYEES FOR THE SUMMER? WE’RE HERE TO HELP! Friendly reminder that before giving your employees the ‘OK’ to start working, you should submit an HR Action for hire in Kronos and allow time for the employee’s portion of the hire to be completed.

Once you submit the action, your prospective employee should immediately begin the onboarding process aka “New Hire Checklist” in order to avoid a delay of their start date. In this checklist, they’ll update personal information as well as complete legal documents such as their income tax withholding forms and federal form I-9.

We will accept appointments for groups to verify their I-9s at the same time as well as for orientation regarding timesheet submission and payroll deadlines. If you have any questions concerning hiring, please contact Lizzy Peterson at lp216@humboldt.edu.

Once their I-9 is complete, they can come into our main office to verify their identity and authorization to work in the United States.

HEADS UP! KRONOS IS GETTING A NEW LOOK If you’re in the KRONOS system, whether as an employee of SPF or as a supervisor/approver of time, you’ve very likely gotten used to the appearance of your KRONOS dashboard. However, SPF recently got word of an upcoming new release which is set to potentially change this view. The previous “classic dashboard experience” will be gone by June 2023.

It’s important to note that the new setup likely won’t be drastically different from what you see today but rather, you may notice subtle changes such as additional tabs and customization options.

If you notice new buttons, don’t be alarmed and if you have any questions about settings that contrast from what you’re used to, please feel free to reach out to Lizzy Peterson at lp216@humboldt.edu.

Compliance Corner

KEEPING EVERYTHING ON THE ‘UP AND UP’ SINCE 1952: Did you know that the Sponsored Programs Foundation is audited multiple times a year? We are required by law to hire an external auditor to review our financial statements and program compliance annually. This is one of the many things that indirect costs are used to pay for. Audits are both expensive and time consuming for our staff, often taking between 6-8 weeks to complete.

In addition to our external auditor, we are also regularly audited by the CSU Chancellor’s Office to ensure we are following CSU policies and procedures.

And, as if that’s not enough, funders such as the USDA or the NSF also occasionally perform audits (a.k.a. “Desk Reviews”) randomly. So, if you ever wondered why we chase down every signature and receipt, and why we are so concerned about following all those rules to the tee – it’s because we must account for every one of those $140 million dollars in our award portfolio. One audit finding can have negative repercussions not only for our institution, but also for every current and future awardee who submits grants through us.

NEW AND EXPANSIVE NSF AND USDANIFA TRAINING REQUIREMENTS Beginning in 2023, all Cal Poly Humboldt Sponsored Programs Foundation (SPF) staff, including PIs and senior personnel, working on either NSF or USDA-NIFA funded awards will be required to take a mandated Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research (RECR) training. This RECR training course lasts 2.5 – 3 hours and is offered free through the CITI Program on SPF’s website.

The RECR training should take place within the first three months of beginning work on the award. This training does not expire and is only required once for SPF employees working on NSF and USDA-NIFA awards.

(Please note: this requirement could change in the future based on the funders’ requirements.)

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact SPF Compliance Officer William Cook, william.cook@humboldt.edu or (707)826-5162.

The primary objective of the SPF Compliance Office is to provide information, training, and internal controls that are needed to meet the laws, rules, and policies governing sponsored research at Cal Poly Humboldt.

Find the contact information for the Compliance staff on our website.

The Office of Research wants to congratulate all of our PI's and their amazing Staff on their many accomplishments and notable awards this year.

1 Harpst Street, SBS 427 Phone: 707-826-4189 Fax: 707-826-4783 https://research.humboldt.edu/

CAL POLY HUMBOLDT SPONSORED PROGRAMS FOUNDATION