Research NewsletterIssue: ORN-2025-09

Office of Research Open House and Faculty Research Advisory Board (FRAB) Meeting

on

Enhancing NJIT Research and Innovation Enterprise and Infrastructure Support

March 5, 2025; 11.00 AM – 1.00 PM; Campus Center Ballroom

(Light Lunch will be served)

Please join us at the Office of Research Open House and FRAB Meeting to learn about recent initiatives in providing support services to enhance NJIT research and innovation enterprise in an interactive forum. An overview on recent developments on funded research and research office support services will be provided with a Q&A session to address queries from the attendees. The attendees will be able to visit Office of Research department tables to personally interact with staff in the following areas:

• Pre-Award Services
• Post Award Grant Management
• Research Compliance
• Intellectual Property and Licensing Agreements
• Research, Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship (RITE) Ecosystem

Agenda

1. Welcome and Introduction (10 minutes)

• Speaker: Atam Dhawan
• Purpose: Welcome attendees, introduce the objectives of the open house, and emphasize the importance of collaboration between faculty and the research office.  Provide a brief update on NJIT's response to federal funding issues.

2. Demonstration of InfoReady (10 minutes)

• Presenter: Shawn Chester
• Content: Provide a demonstration of InfoReady and a review of the processes that are transitioning to this digital tool.

3. Overview of Research Office Services and New Required Training (10 minutes)

• Presenter: Eric Hetherington
• Content: Provide an overview of the research office structure and its mission. Highlight how each department plays a role in supporting faculty research.  Discuss newly required research security training.

4. Departmental Breakout Sessions (90 minutes)

• Facilitator: Each department’s most senior representative
• Purpose: Break out into smaller, interactive groups where faculty can rotate between stations to engage with each department more personally.
• Stations:
  • Pre-Award Consultation (e.g., Funding Search, Proposal Development)
  • Post-Award Challenges (e.g., Financial Reporting, Budgeting)
  • Compliance Questions (e.g., Navigating the IRB, Export Control)
  • Tech Transfer Discussions (e.g., IP Protection, Licensing, Commercialization)
  • Office of Research Leadership (e.g., Feedback, RITE, CTR)

Interactive Element: Faculty can bring specific issues or questions to each station and get tailored advice. Staff will be available for one-on-one consultations.

Total Time: 2 hours

This agenda ensures that each department is showcased while allowing ample time for faculty to engage, ask questions, and provide feedback. The interactive elements will keep the session dynamic and productive, fostering meaningful discussions around the services offered and how the research office can better support faculty.

Please join us to learn about ongoing initiatives and give your feedback!

Looking forward to seeing you on March 5!

NSF: Launching Early-Career Academic Pathways in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences

NIH: Investigator Gateway Awards for Collaborative T1D Research (R03)

Department of Defense/US Army/DARPA/ONR: Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Department of Defense (DoD) Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP)

Department of Energy: 2025 Exploratory Research for Extreme-Scale Science

NASA: Several Pending ROSES 2025 RFPs

National Endowment of Humanities: Humanities Initiatives

Microsoft debuts new superconductor chip designed for quantum computing: Microsoft unveiled a new type of computing chip on Wednesday that will specifically help enable advancements in practical, fault-tolerant quantum computing. The chip, called Majorana 1, is the world’s first quantum chip powered by a specific Topological Core architecture. The proprietary technology is designed to leverage Majorana particles to create robust topological qubits that are resilient to external errors, often referred to as “noise.”

“In a regular chip the computation is done using electrons. We don't use electrons. We use majoranas for computing. It's [an] entirely new particle, it’s half electron.” The detection of Majorana particles is key to the function of Microsoft’s new chip, as the particles are notoriously elusive. Microsoft’s technology measures the presence of Majorana particles to act as reliable and scalable qubits. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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National Labs have seen mixed impacts from Trump spending freeze: Leaders of four of U.S. national laboratories testified before a House committee on Wednesday about the future of research amid the Trump administration’s recent changes to federal funding and grants. Speaking before the lower chamber’s Subcommittee on Energy were John Wagner, director at Idaho National Laboratory; Thom Mason, director at Los Alamos National Laboratory; Paul Kearns, director of Argonne National Laboratory; and Kimberly Budil, director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The 17 national laboratories operating within the U.S. are overseen by and funded through the U.S. Department of Energy, primarily through reviewing research proposals for funding opportunity announcements. Two bills passed during the Biden administration — the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — allocated additional funding for national lab work. Both bills and their funding provisions have been caught in the crossfire of President Donald Trump’s freeze of federal spending that has halted some national lab projects. More information is posted on the NextGov website.