Research NewsletterIssue: ORN-2021-48

Office of Research Staff Appointments

We are very pleased to announce the following promotions and appointments of Office of Research staff to support the NJIT research enterprise.

Assistant Director for Research Operations: Kathleen O'Neill has been promoted to be the assistant director for research operations. Kathleen's responsibilities will involve overseeing all routine administrative operations and coordinating workflow across all departments in the Office of Research.  She will manage finances for the unit’s operating budgets (including research centers and institutes budgets, faculty seed grant budgets, URI student seed grant budgets, research initiatives budgets, and assisting with grant match budgeting) and coordinate with other university offices as needed.  She will provide executive coordination for Office of Research events and programs, including research showcases, URI events, NAI events, and assist the executive director and senior vice provost with special projects as needed.

Director of Pre-Award Services: Jesus Novoa has been appointed as the Director of Pre-Award Services. Jesus has the responsibility for overseeing and managing all administration, workflow, and systems related to pre-award services across multiple platforms and formats. Acting as System Administrator to the Streamlyne platform encompassing a multitude of pre-award functions. Consolidating Pre-Award data from multiple sources and systems to develop consistent reporting and analytics enhancing efficiencies for pre-award processes.

Assistant Director of Sponsored Research Administration: Iris Pantoja has been appointed as the Assistant Director of Sponsored Research Administration. Iris has the responsibility for proposal submission services to MTSOM, HCoAD, and institutional-level proposals not associated with academic units.  She also performs pre- and post-award administration for several high profile and high value projects including collaborations between NJIT and NJII, all projects related to Picatinny Arsenal, and NJ ACTS.

Senior Director of Sponsored Research Management and Finance: Mariel Diaz has been appointed as the Senior Director of Sponsored Research Management and Finance. Mariel has the responsibility for overseeing the financial administration and accounting related to all sponsored research at NJIT.  She will be responsible for developing and maintaining effective and efficient policies, business processes, tools, and technology to sponsored research financial administration and compliance at NJIT. 

Assistant Director of Post Award Management: Brenda Garcia has been appointed as the Assistant Director of Post Award Management. Brenda has the responsibility for financial management oversight and monitoring for sponsored research awards. This includes financial reporting, audit management, research accounting, and compliance. This position works closely with the financial and administrative units throughout the university. 

Please join me to congratulate our colleagues for their very well deserving promotions and appointments for their leadership roles. Their contact information is posted on the NJIT Research website https://research.njit.edu/contact.

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NIH Technology Accelerator Challenge (NTAC) Prize Competition

for Maternal Health

https://www.nibib.nih.gov/research-program/NIH-Technology-Accelerator-Challenge

NIBIB launched the NIH Technology Accelerator Challenge (NTAC) series of prize competitions to stimulate the design of new diagnostic technologies to transform public and global health and to accelerate the full development of those products for use in low-resource settings. This iteration of NTAC intends to award cash prizes for innovative diagnostic technologies to help improve maternal health by diagnosing conditions related to maternal morbidity and mortality. Pregnancy and childbirth complications are a major global health problem resulting in the deaths of more than 800 women and 7,000 newborns each day. Contributing to the high rates of maternal morbidity and mortality in low-resource settings is the lack of low-cost diagnostics that operate at the point-of-care and are capable of detecting and differentiating common conditions during antenatal and intrapartum periods of pregnancy. Therefore, the intended purpose of NTAC: Maternal Health is to spur and reward the development of low-cost, point-of-care molecular, cellular, and/or metabolic sensing and diagnostic technologies integrated with a digital platform to guide rapid clinical decision-making, improve patient outcomes, and ultimately prevent maternal morbidity and mortality.

Important Dates

● Challenge Launch: December 7, 2021

● Submission Start: January 5, 2022

● Registration Deadline: April 1, 2022

● Submission Deadline: April 22, 2022

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Save the Date

NAI-NJIT Chapter Workshop

Sustainable Societies: Global Healthcare

Innovations to Global Solutions

In Conjunction with

President’s Forum

and

NJIT 2022 Research Institutes, Centers and Laboratories Showcase

February 21, 2022; 9.00 AM – 2.00 PM; Ballroom, Campus Center, NJIT

NSF: NSF/CASIS Collaboration on Tissue Engineering and Mechanobiology on the International Space Station (ISS) to Benefit Life on Earth; Addressing Systems Challenges through Engineering Teams (ASCENT); Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier: Core Research (FW-HTF); Opportunities for Research and Education in the Critical-Zone (ORE-CZ); Mathematical and Scientific Foundations of Deep Learning and Related Areas (MoDL+); Cloud Computing and High-Throughput Computing Resources for Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience (CRCNS) Grantees; Understanding the Rules of Life: Emergent Networks (URoL:EN); Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (STEM Ed PRF); Smart and Connected Communities (S&CC); NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM); Ethical and Responsible Research (ER2); Open Knowledge Networks; Organismal Systems and Infection Biology (OSIB)

NIH: Supporting Talented Early Career Researchers in Genomics (R01), BRAIN Initiative-Related Research Education: Short Courses (R25), BRAIN Initiative: Research Resource Grants for Technology Integration and Dissemination (U24 High Impact, Interdisciplinary Science in NIDDK Research Areas (RC2); Innovation Corps (I-Corps™) at NIH Program for NIH and CDC Translational Research;  Basic Neurodevelopmental Biology of Circuits and Behavior (R21)

Department of Defense/US Army/DARPA/ONR: Science & Technology for Advanced Manufacturing Projects (STAMP); Automating Scientific Knowledge Extraction and Modeling (ASKEM); Advanced Graphic Intelligence Logical Computing Environment (AGILE); Strategic Technology Office (STO) Office-wide; Information Innovation Office (I2O) Office-Wide; Environmental Literacy Program: Increasing community resilience to extreme weather & climate change; Long Range Broad Agency Announcement for Navy and Marine Corps Science and Technology; MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURE SYSTEMS (MCS) BAA

Department of Transportation: FY 2021 Competitive Funding Opportunity: Enhancing Mobility Innovation

Department of Agriculture: Biotechnology Risk Assessment Research Grants Program; Solid Waste Management Grant Program

Department of Labor: Apprenticeship Building America (ABA) Grant Program

Department of Commerce/EDA:  Proposed Cooperative Institute for Earth System Research and Data Science; Precision Measurement Grant Program (PMGP); Environmental Literacy Program; FY2021 to FY2023 NOAA Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)

EPA: National Priorities: Innovative Sampling Designs for Public Health Surveillance of Coronaviruses and Other Pathogens in Wastewater

Department of Energy: Biosystems Design to Enable Safe Production of Next-Generation Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biomaterials; High-Energy-Density Plasma Laboratory Science; Fiscal Year 2022 Distinguished Early Career Program; SciDAC: Partnerships in Earth System Model Development; ASCR Leadership Computing Challenge (ALCC)

NASA: ROSES 2021: Astrophysics Pioneers; ROSES: Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology; ROSES 2021: Land-Cover/Land-Use Change:SARI Synthesis

National Endowment of Humanities: Digital Humanities Advancement Grants

Private Foundations: L'Oréal: L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Fellowships program

DOD to Hire First-Ever Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer, Form New Office: The Defense Department will hire its first chief digital and artificial intelligence officer and formally establish a new office under their purview—by next summer—via an organizational restructure it deems necessary to advance data and technology integration and innovation across its massive enterprise. That to-be-selected executive, the CDAO, will report directly to Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, according to a memo published on Wednesday.  Once the office is formed, the senior official will supervise and support the meshing of all data-centered and AI-aligned work led by the Defense Department’s Joint AI Center, office of the chief data officer and Defense Digital Service. “The intent here is not actually to create a new management layer—it's to shift the organizational construct to get greater integration and unity of mission, so that we can move faster and farther in the face of digital and AI innovation. So what that means in practice: the CDO, DDS and JAIC are each going to report up to the CDAO and create a tech stack that lets us integrate data, software and AI,” a senior DOD official told reporters on a call ahead of the announcement. “The goal there is to optimize their value and try to consider them more holistically.” More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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$75K Prize Competition Announced to Help Fight Disinformation on the Internet: Just a few weeks ago, the Aspen Institute Commission on Information Disorder released its final report on the dangers and consequences of internet dis- and misinformation. The report made 15 recommendations that would help government, the private sector and society at large increase transparency and understanding, build trust and reduce the harms caused by untrustworthy information. The institute has now announced a prize competition for proposals that implement one of those recommendations to alleviate the crisis of dis- and misinformation in the United States. Semi-finalists will be awarded $5,000, with the $75,000 grand prize going to the winner. The deadline for proposal applications is Jan. 10, 2022. The Aspen Institute is hosting a Q&A webinar at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 8; a recording will be made available afterward. Project teams are invited to propose a new, untested solution that specifically helps a particular recommendation of the report. The range of deliverables could be anything from new technologies and inventions to research projects and policy proposals. “Creativity is welcomed; projects should not feel constrained by these deliverables,” the institute stated in the press release announcing the competition. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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House Science Committee Ponders Ways to Strengthen U.S. Semiconductor Industry: The same day that the Federal Trade Commission sued to block a $40 billion merger between two American semiconductor companies, the House Science Committee held a hearing on the topic of reinvigorating the U.S. semiconductor industry. The supply chain woes of the industry have been on full display during the pandemic. From automobiles to cellphones, smart household appliances to electronic toys and games, consumers have discovered things that they want to purchase are simply unavailable, whether because of shipping bottlenecks, semiconductor plants closed by climate events or workers sheltering at home, among other factors. The problem is exacerbated by a lack of U.S. chip manufacturers. In 1996, 37% of the world’s semiconductors were manufactured in the United States; by 2019, it had fallen to 12%. That statistic and other equally depressing figures were often cited by the witnesses called to testify at the hearing. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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Biden Order Will Make Federal Operations Carbon-Neutral by 2050: President Biden will sign an executive order on Wednesday to drastically change how federal agencies conduct their business, pledging government operations will no longer have a net impact on carbon emissions by 2050.  The order sets specific deadlines for agencies to meet: by 2030 their net annual electricity use must be free of carbon pollution; by 2035 they must stop purchasing emission vehicles; and by 2045 they must establish net-zero emission buildings. Federal agencies face "broad exposure" to the risks of climate change, the Biden administration said on Wednesday, and should lead by example in mitigating those risks, protecting public health and creating new economic opportunities. “The executive order will reduce emissions across federal operations, invest in American clean energy industries and manufacturing, and create clean, healthy, and resilient communities,” the White House said on Wednesday. “The president is building on his whole-of-government effort to tackle the climate crisis in a way that creates well-paying jobs, grows industries, and makes the country more economically competitive.” Each agency will have to set annual targets to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, with the goal of slashing those most directly in their control by 65% by 2030. The Office of Management and Budget will soon issue detailed guidance for setting those goals and agencies will then have 90 days to create them. Agencies will similarly have three months to develop their carbon-free electricity plans, with OMB leading a working group to help craft benchmarks to reach the administration’s targets. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

Question:  I need to change my budget - Do I need to change it in Streamlyne?

Answer:  You can change your budget at any point before submitting the proposal into workflow approval. For more information, please contact your college ambassador, or see New User Manual posted on the Research website

http://www.njit.edu/research/sites/research/files/StreamlyneNewUserManualCommonElements.pdf ).

More FAQs on Streamlyne: Please visit http://www.njit.edu/research/streamlyne/