Research Support Services

We assist faculty and students in the identification of funding opportunities, initial proposal development and submission of proposals for external funds to support their research. This office also oversees the research funds once they have been awarded.

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Pre-Award Support

We provide support and guidance for preparation of applications for external funds to support research. Two key things to keep in mind:

 

1. Individual faculty may not directly submit a proposal to a funding agency. All funding from outside sources must go through the university's grants/contracts routing process. 
2. Faculty are encouraged to notify the Research and Graduate Studies Office that they are working on a proposal. The grant manager will then obtain the Request for Proposal (RFP) and review it to be aware of issues that may impact the budget or the documents required for a complete submission. 

• Proposal Preparation

  Proposal preparation and submission in our college typically follows this process: PI meets with department/school head to discuss the proposed research; PI makes intent known to the Research and Graduate Studies Office by submitting the required intent form; PI meets with grant manager to discuss nuances of the proposed project; grant manager prepares required agency forms with university and college information; grant manager develops project budget; grant manager initiates proposal routing for necessary college and university signatures, including institutional approval by VPR; PI completes technical content; grant manager submits proposal.

   

  PI Responsibilities:

  • Identify the most likely sponsor/funding agency
  • Discuss planned effort with department/school head
  • Make submission intent known to the Research and Graduate Studies Office by submitting the required intent form
  • Prepare the proposal content

   

  Research and Graduate Studies Support:

  • Provide information on potential sponsors and funding opportunities
  • Prepare agency forms and provide university information as required by the sponsor
  • Prepare the budget in the format required by the sponsor
  • Review the final proposal
  • Route for necessary signatures within the college and university (see OSU Routing Flow Chart)
  • Submit the proposal
• Budget Development

  Once you have visited with the grant manager, he/she will create a template that fits the budget requirements for your particular grant. The grant manager will customize the budget to your specifications and help with your budget justification/narrative document.

• Current Rates
  • FY21 Facilities & Administration (F&A) Rates
  • FY21 Fringe Benefits Rates
  • AY20-21 Tuition Rates
  • AY20-21 Graduate Assistant Stipend Rates
• Proposal Routing

  The routing process requires that these items be routed NO LESS THAN ONE FULL WEEK before the grant submission deadline:

   

  1. Final budget
  2. Final budget justification/narrative
     
  3. Project summary/abstract (less than one page)

   

  If the proposal includes subcontractors, cost share, and/or other college personnel, additional time will be needed for the proposal routing.

   

  • More documents may be required depending on the requirements of the RFP. 
  • Your budget should be finalized NO LESS THAN ONE FULL WEEK before the grant submission deadline. No edits to the budget or the budget narrative may be made once the routing has begun.
• Proposal Submission

  Proposals for external research funding are submitted by OSU (via the college’s Research and Graduate Studies Office), not by the PI. Oklahoma State University requires that all proposals receive institutional approval prior to formal submission. The college facilitates this approval process. Faculty must submit all proposals and awards through the college's Research and Graduate Studies Office to avoid contractual and budget problems prior to submission.

• Contract Development

  When a proposal becomes funded, the Research and Graduate Studies Office will assist the PI with contract negotiations, including reviewing the new grant/contract for adherence to university policies and procedures.

 

Post-Award Support

We provide support and resources for post-award administration activities.

 

• Post-Award Support

  Post-award administration of a sponsored research project typically involves financial management, allowable costs, cost sharing, sub-award agreements, audits, and project close out procedures. The Research and Graduate Studies Office works along with support staff from the PI’s department/school to provide support in these areas.

   

  PI Responsibilities:

  • Meet the ethical and regulatory requirements for the responsible conduct of research.
  • Obtain necessary certifications and assurances (e.g., human subjects protection, animal care, hazardous chemicals, biological safety protections, laser safety, and x-ray) to conduct the research.
  • Adhere to university, state, and sponsoring agency policies regarding the administration of the research.
  • Notify the department/school any time there is a change in personnel so that appropriate forms can be processed.
  • Verify personnel time and effort (monthly).
  • Review monthly financial statements for verification of expenses.
  • Complete reports (e.g., progress, final) required by agency.

   

  Department/School Support:

  • Maintain financial records of project expenditures and fund code balances.
  • Monitor all project expenditures to avoid deficit spending and to ensure expenditures are appropriate.
  • Answer budget questions.
  • Issue monthly financial statements to the project PI.

   

  Research and Graduate Studies Support:

  • New Fund Code Creation: When a proposal is funded, the Research and Graduate Studies Office will acquire and provide the PI an assigned fund code number. After receiving this fund code the investigators can make charges on the project.
  • Subcontract Negotiations: If your project includes subcontracted services to an outside entity, the Research and Graduate Studies Office will help with subcontract negotiations.
  • Project Changes: If the PI determines that project revisions are necessary (e.g., revised statement of work, budget modifications, time extensions), the Research and Graduate Studies Office will assist with contract modifications and extensions.
  • Financial Oversight: The Research and Graduate Studies Office provides oversight for allowable (vs. unallowable) charges given agency and budget requirements, monitors appropriate use of purchases and initiates budget corrections.
  • Audits of Project Accounts: If a project is audited, the Research and Graduate Studies Office will facilitate and serve as a liaison between the university’s Grants and Contracts Financial Administration (GCFA) Office and the auditing agency.
  • Progress and Final Reports to Funding Agency: The Research and Graduate Studies Office will submit copies of agency reports (technical and financial) to the university’ Grants and Contracts Financial Administration (GCFA) Office.
  • Project Closeout Procedures: The Research and Graduate Studies Office facilitates project closeout issues between the PI and the university’s Grants and Contracts Financial Administration (GCFA) Office.
• Post-Award Policies

  Pertinent university policies regarding research and sponsored research are given below.  Please refer to the OSU Grants and Contracts Financial Administration (GCFA) Office for additional university policies related to post-award sponsored program policies.

   

  OSU Policy Number	Description
  1-0113	Cost Sharing in Sponsored Research and Service Projects
  1-0116	Transfer or Termination of Sponsored Research and Service Projects
  1-0305	Routing System for Proposals, Contracts, Grants, Agreements
  1-0505	Use and Maintenance of Laboratory Animals
  2-0111	Guidelines to Govern Overload Assignments, Outside Professional Activities, and Other Outside Activities of Faculty Members
  3-0146	Purchasing Equipment on Sponsored Agreements
  3-0321	Monthly Time and Effort Confirmation in Compliance with OMB Circular A-21
  3-0420	Purchase of Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages on Sponsored Project Funding
  4-0105	University Research
  4-0115	Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects in Research
  4-0120	Rights to Results of Sponsored Research Projects or Programs
  4-0125	Complaints of Research Misconduct
  4-0130	Conflict of Interest
  4-0135	Costing Practices for Sponsored Research and Service Projects
  4-0401	Compensation to Human Subjects

• Subcontract Monitoring

  If your project includes subcontracted services to an outside entity, there are several additional responsibilities that are shared by the PI, department/school staff, and the college's Research and Graduate Studies Office.

   

  *Communication and coordination is essential between multiple parties listed to ensure compliance with responsibilities.

   

  Description	Role	Responsibility
  Technical performance	Principal Investigator	Informs departmental staff and college Research and Graduate Studies office that he/she is not satisfied with performance and will not approve invoices.
  Appropriateness of costs	Principal Investigator/ Departmental Staff/ R&GS*	Reviews invoices received from subrecipient for allocability, allowability and reasonableness of costs and that charges are within the period of performance of the award. Requests additional backup documentation for questioned items.
  Approved total cost and carryover amount	R&GS	Ensures invoiced amount is within the total cost of the subcontract agreement and any carryover amount has been approved.
  Effort certification	R&GS	Requests effort reports when needed.
  Documentation of cost sharing	R&GS	Reviews the invoice for indication that subrecipient is meeting any cost sharing commitments.
  Timeliness of invoicing	Principal Investigator/ Departmental Staff	Monitors invoicing and contacts subrecipient if invoices are not received in a timely manner.
  Technical reports and other deliverables	Principal Investigator	Ensures technical reports and any other deliverables are submitted in a timely manner.
  A-133 audit (completion, findings, corrective action plan)	R&GS	Works with auditors to ensure compliance with OMB A-133 report.
  Debarred and suspended list	R&GS	Ensures subrecipient is not on list via subaward certification.
  Subcontract termination	Principal Investigator	Contacts departmental staff and college Research and Graduate Studies office if subcontract should be terminated.
  Necessary changes to the subcontract	Principal Investigator	Informs departmental staff and college Research and Graduate Studies office of any necessary changes to the subcontract (e.g., amount, award period).
  Certification of invoices	Principal Investigator	Reviews the subrecipient’s invoice and if acceptable, signs, dates and forwards to departmental staff for payment. Ensures that reports and other material requested from subrecipient have been collected prior to payment of invoices. Monitors the subrecipient’s progress and determines that payments are in line with the terms of the subcontract.
  Site visits	Principal Investigator/ R&GS*	Coordinates site visits to subrecipient if necessary to determine progress of the work or appropriateness of invoiced costs.

 

Research Support – General

We facilitate and provide administrative oversight for research and grant issues.

 

• Conflict of Interest Disclosure

  Conflict of Interest (COI) disclosures need to be submitted yearly for all faculty, and the college's Research and Graduate Studies Office facilitates the process. The university's COI policy and required forms are available here.

  • Standard OSU Conflict of Interest Reporting Form
  • Conflict of Interest Reporting Form - for disclosures required by PHS regulations
• Research Compliance (IRB, IACUC, biological safety protections, laser safety, and x-ray)

  The college's Research and Graduate Studies Office assists faculty, students and staff in obtaining the necessary approvals to ensure compliance with all federal, state and University regulations governing the responsible conduct of research.

   

  Institutional Review Board (IRB): For research involving human subjects, please refer to the IRB Office for information regarding required investigator training and application forms. An electronic signature is required on the application for the main PI. (If the PI is a student, then the electronic signature of the advisor is also required.) Electronic signatures are created using your Okey credentials.

   

  Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC): All animal research, teaching, research training, and testing must be approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).  Please refer to the IACUC Office for information regarding required investigator training and application forms.

   

  Research Compliance also includes necessary certifications an assurances including biological safety protections, laser safety, and x-ray.

• Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)

  Oklahoma State University has a policy requiring degree-seeking graduate students, postdoctoral fellows/ associates, and undergraduate students who are engaged in research to receive appropriate, institutionally-endorsed education and training in the responsible conduct of research.  For additional information on the university policy please refer to the university’s RCR website.  In addition to the university policy, in recent years funding agencies (e.g., NSF, USDA-NIFA) have enacted new policies that require everyone conducting research to receive training in core areas of RCR.  An online RCR training course (provided by CITI) is available to OSU faculty, students and staff.

• Research Start-up Support

  Internal funds for research start-up are often provided for new college faculty.

• Collected F&A Distribution

  The college currently receives 45% of the facilities and administrative costs (F&A) recovered from sponsored programs collected by the university. The university’s federal agency for F&A rate negotiation and agreement is the Office of Naval Research (ONR). 

   

  Please refer to the College of Education and Human Sciences F&A Distribution Policy for additional information

• Imprest Cash for Human Subject Payments

  The college's Business Operations Office facilitates payments to participants in human subjects research.  Please refer to the Guide to Compensating Human Subject Research Participants for information regarding college procedures.

 

Helpful Links

• College Proposal Request Form
• Education and Human Sciences Technology
• Protocols for Partnering, Contracting and MOU Agreements
• Qualtrics User Account Request
• OSU Research Services Office
• OSU Research Compliance Office
• OSU Vice President for Research
• OSU Center for Strategic Proposal Development
• OSU Technology Development Center