Dear NJIT Innovators,

Working toward achievement of Priority 3 in the NJIT 2030 strategic plan, we are launching a new, comprehensive course through Citi: Technology Commercialization Foundations. This course will help NJIT innovators become familiar with the IP and technology transfer processes as well as expectations.

We strongly recommend that all researchers and inventors complete this course before submitting a new Invention Disclosure Form via the Inventor Portal.

What You Will Gain

This essential training will transform your working relationship with the TTO, empowering you to become a knowledgeable and equal partner in advancing your discovery.

By the end of the course, you will have a comprehensive understanding of:

• Technology Transfer and Commercialization: A full overview of the university's process from lab to market.
• Intellectual Property (IP) Protection: What it is, why it matters, and how we protect your inventions.
• Essential Agreements: Understanding the role of NDAs, MTAs, and other legal instruments.
• Pathways to Impact: The fundamentals of licensing your technology or forming a university start-up company.

This knowledge is crucial for maximizing the societal impact and commercial potential of your research. 

Use your UCID login to access the course.  Click this link to learn how.

The Technology Transfer Office is pleased to introduce a new software to our community, Inpart (www.inpart.io), a premier global platform dedicated to connecting groundbreaking NJIT inventions with leading industry partners for licensing and commercialization. This service enhancement marks a significant milestone in NJIT's commitment to advancing its research impact and bringing its cutting-edge innovations to a wider audience with increased societal benefit.

Inpart specializes in efficiently matching innovative technologies with companies actively seeking new advancements, streamlining the process of technology transfer. This service dramatically expands the visibility of NJIT's impressive invention portfolio, connecting our researchers' pioneering work with a vast network of potential licensees and buyers.

Key Benefits for NJIT Inventors:

This strategic alliance offers unprecedented opportunities for NJIT inventors to accelerate the commercialization of their research. Here’s how:

• Expanded Reach: Inventions will be showcased to a curated network of companies worldwide, significantly increasing the likelihood of successful licensing and commercialization.
• Efficient Matching: Inpart's platform intelligently matches technologies with industry partners actively looking for solutions in your area of expertise.
• Streamlined Engagement: Access to the platform simplifies the process of identifying and responding to commercialization opportunities.

How NJIT Inventors Can Engage with Inpart:

NJIT Inventors are strongly encouraged to leverage this new resource:

1. Register for an Academic Account: Sign up for your free Academic account via this link. This account will allow you to view and submit to "Campaigns" – specific industry calls for innovation.
2. Stay Informed with Weekly Updates: Once registered, navigate to settings within your Inpart account and toggle on "Weekly campaign updates" to receive regular email alerts about new opportunities.
3. Explore Active Campaigns: Preview Inpart's active Campaigns on their public Active Campaign page [here]. Remember, full details and submission capabilities require a registered academic account.

Effortless Campaign Distribution via the Campaigns Hub:

For inventors who prefer not to sign up directly, there is an alternative pathway through the Campaigns Hub. Inventors may provide their patent summaries, non-confidential research summaries, or other relevant information in Word documents or PDFs directly to the Technology Transfer Office. The office will then facilitate the upload of these files for relevant Campaigns within the NJIT dashboard on Inpart, ensuring your innovations are considered for appropriate opportunities without requiring direct platform registration from every inventor.

Valuable Resources from the Inpart Tool Kit:

To further support engagement with technology transfer, the Inpart Tool Kit provides insightful articles:

• Articles for Academics - The Benefits of Engaging with Technology Transfer
• Articles for TTOs - Engaging Academics

This service enhancement with Inpart underscores NJIT's unwavering dedication to fostering innovation, supporting our innovators, and ensuring that the impactful research conducted at our institution translates into real-world solutions and economic growth. We encourage all inventors to explore this exciting new avenue for technology commercialization.

Dear Colleagues,

The Department of Defense issued a memo signed by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on May 14, 2025 to cap indirect cost reimbursement rates for higher education institutions at 15 percent. 

The memo directed the DOD to develop the new policy within 21 days, marking the fourth federal agency—including the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation—that has enacted a plan to cap indirect cost rates at 15 percent.

So far, universities have been using their respective approved indirect cost reimbursement rates negotiated with the federal government to pay for research infrastructure support costs such as facilities maintenance and administrative personnel necessary to pursue research.

On Friday, June 13, 2025, Principal Investigators (PIs) on active research grants and contracts funded by the DoD Office of Naval Research (ONR) received emails stating that ONR is in receipt of DoD memorandum dated June 12, 2025 directing the implementation of a 15% indirect cost cap for future and existing DoD assistance awards with IHEs. The ONR email advised that an ONR representative would be contacting PIs about their ongoing ONR grant(s) in the near future.

In the DoD memo dated June 12, the following statements on negotiating the indirect costs for new and existing awards are provided:

“For all new assistance awards to IHEs, DoD Components that make financial assistance awards to IHEs are directed not to allow indirect cost rates above 15% in all new assistance awards to IHEs as of the date of publication of this memorandum. In negotiating indirect cost rates for financial assistance awards to IHEs, DoD Components should consider the criteria for identifying and computing indirect cost rates as described in Appendix III to 2 CFR Part 200. However, DoD Components must not exceed the 15% indirect cost rate cap on any award to IHEs. All notices of funding opportunity for DoD assistance awards must be updated to include information about the 15% indirect cost rate cap for IHEs. In addition, all DoD Components that make financial assistance awards to IHEs are reminded that they must ensure that all indirect costs on assistance awards are reported to the Financial Assistance Award Data Collection System, which is the Department's system of record for compliance with the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014.”

“For all existing assistance awards to IHEs, DoD Components must also apply the 15% cap on indirect cost rates. Where possible, DoD Components should renegotiate indirect cost rates on existing DoD assistance awards with IHEs to comply with the 15% indirect cost rate cap. The 15% indirect cost rate cap on existing assistance awards is not required to be retroactive to the beginning of an award but must have an effective date that is not later than November 10, 2025. DoD Components may allow existing awards to operate under their originally determined indirect cost rate until a renegotiation is completed. However, all renegotiations on indirect cost rates must be complete by no later than November 10, 2025. If a DoD Component is unable to reach an agreement with an IHE to limit the indirect cost rate under a DoD assistance award to 15%, the DoD Components shall terminate the assistance award, as allowed by statute, regulation, and the terms and conditions of the award, in accordance with 2 CFR 200.340(a).”

If you receive any such email notification to negotiate the indirect cost rate from any federal agency, or any stop order, termination letter, request for budget change or sign any attestation from, please continue to forward it to me (dhawan@njit.edu) and copy Eric Hetherington, AVP- Sponsored Research Administration (erich@njit.edu).

Please do not respond to program official or sign and submit any document on federal research grants and contracts until you are advised to do so by the Office of Research.

We will continue to carefully review at the institutional level with the provost and general counsel offices to advise and follow up. The Office for Research and the Office of General Counsel will review the request and respond with instructions for you to follow.

Please visit our website periodically for updates on this situation.

Sincerely,

Atam Dhawan

Senior Vice Provost for Research

NSF Notification: Statement of NSF Priorities 

Dear Colleagues,

NSF has posted a Statement of NSF Priorities on their website today. The following important points in this statement should be noted and considered for the current and pending NSF awards, and future proposals to be submitted. 

“NSF's broadening participation activities, including activities undertaken in fulfillment of the Broader Impacts criterion, and research on broadening participation, must aim to create opportunities for all Americans everywhere.

These efforts should not preference some groups at the expense of others, or directly/indirectly exclude individuals or groups. Research projects with more narrow impact limited to subgroups of people based on protected class or characteristics do not effectuate NSF priorities.

NSF will continue to support research with the goal of understanding or addressing participation in STEM, in accordance with all applicable statutes and mandates, with the core goal of creating opportunities for all Americans.

NSF will continue to support basic and use-inspired research in S&E fields that focus on protected characteristics when doing so is intrinsic to the research question and is aligned with Agency priorities.”

The statement posting on the website is followed by Frequently Asked Questions. We strongly encourage all researchers to carefully review all content including the FAQs. Specifically, please note Q3:

3. What types of awards are being terminated?

Awards that are not aligned with NSF's priorities have been terminated, including but not limited to those on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and misinformation/disinformation.

Additional information on NSF Implementation of Recent Executive Orders can be found here. 

If you receive any notification including a stop order, termination, budget change on indirect costs rate on your award/proposal, or request to sign any attestation from NSF or any other funding agency, please forward the notification with any attachment to me immediately at dhawan@njit.edu and copy Eric Hetherington at erich@njit.edu. 

Please do not sign any document sent to you regarding any attestation on the federal research grants. 

We will continue to carefully review at the institutional level with the provost and general counsel offices to advise and follow up. The Office for Research and the Office of General Counsel will review the request and respond with instructions for you to follow.

Please visit our website periodically for updates on this situation.

Sincerely,

Atam Dhawan

Senior Vice Provost for Research

Dear Colleagues,

NJIT received a notice from the Department of Energy titled, Adjusting Department of Energy Grant Policy for Institutions of Higher Education (IHE), dated Friday, April 11, 2025. The notice is posted here.

This notice informs that the Department of Energy, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(a)(2), is updating its policy with respect to Department grants awarded to Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs). Following are the statements from the DOE memorandum.

At present, the Department’s indirect cost rate for IHE grants is typically negotiated by either “the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) or the Department of Defense’s Office of Naval Research (DOD), normally depending on which of the two agencies (HHS or DOD) provide[d] more funds to the [relevant] educational institution for the most recent three years.” 2 C.F.R. pt. 200, app. III(C)(11)(a)(1). Though the Department generally must accept this negotiated rate, see 2 C.F.R. 200.414(c)(1), it may deviate therefrom for “a class of Federal awards” after implementing and making publicly available “the policies, procedures and general decision-making criteria” it will follow when seeking and justifying deviations. Id. 200.414(c)(1), (3). A “class of Federal awards” is defined to include “a group of Federal awards . . . to a specific type of recipient or group of recipients,” such as grants to IHEs—the class relevant to this policy update. Id. 200.1.

For the reasons set forth in this memorandum, hereinafter, the Department will no longer use the negotiated indirect cost rate for grants awarded to IHEs. Instead, it is setting a standardized 15 percent indirect cost rate for all grant awards to IHEs. This is at the high end of the “up to 15 percent” de minimis rate permitted by government-wide regulation. See, e.g., 2 C.F.R. 200.414(f). Consistent with this memorandum, the Department is undertaking action to terminate all grant awards to IHEs that do not conform with this updated policy. See 2 C.F.R. 200.340(a), (b). Recipients subject to termination will receive separate notice and guidance.

All future Department grant awards to IHEs will default to this 15 percent indirect cost rate. This system will better balance the Department’s twin aims of funding meaningful research and upholding its fiduciary duties to the American people.

Additional information can be found on the following DOE website: http://energy.gov/management/listings/policy-flashes

If you receive any notification including a stop order and budget change on indirect costs rate on your award/proposal, or request to sign any attestation from DOE or any other funding agency, please forward the notification with any attachment to me immediately at dhawan@njit.edu and copy Eric Hetherington at erich@njit.edu. 

Please do not sign any document sent to you regarding any attestation on the federal research grants. 

We will continue to carefully review at the institutional level with the provost and general counsel offices to advise and follow up. The Office for Research and the Office of General Counsel will review the request and respond with instructions for you to follow.

Please visit our website periodically for updates on this situation.

Sincerely,

Atam Dhawan
Senior Vice Provost for Research