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Welcome from VP for Research, Terri Goss Kinzy

Welcome to our new digital newsletter, Research and Innovation, where we will provide you with news and updates on our research and commercialization efforts at WMU.

We are committed to promoting research by providing you with opportunities to develop new partnerships and collaborations that intersect with some of the serious challenges facing our nation. Here’s a great example: our recent Innovation Networking event on Opioids brought researchers together from across disciplines to see how together we can address this crisis. We are working with this group to identify funding opportunities where they exist at the local, state and national level.  And our GrantForward system can help you find funding too.

We are working on efficiencies in our office and ways to offer you multiple research development tools to support research and creative activities. You'll find process and system updates on compliance, grant submission, grant management and other topics in the newsletter. You'll also get information on upcoming events, like our completely revamped and focused Discovery Acceleration workshops for all faculty.

In short, we are here to assist you in any way we can. Please, reach out to me or our team in OVPR. We want to hear from you how best to serve you. Let’s start the conversation. 

Grants and Contracts moves to OVPR, effective Sept. 15

As part of our ongoing efforts to support research at WMU, Grants and Contracts will soon be a part of OVPR in order to enable closer alignment of the pre-award and post-award processes. You may direct specific questions to the Vice President for Research, Dr. Terri Goss Kinzy.

Software update to PAF scheduled for Sept. 17

OVPR announces new enhanced features for its grant proposal management system, the PAF System. These new features include: an Intellectual Credit Section, which allows WMU to assign credit for submissions and awards to all principal and co-principal investigators and their associated units; and an Information Technology Resource Section, to collect information to help the university understand and plan for information technology resources needed to complete a project. This software update will require the PAF system to be down from approximately 1 to 2 p.m. on Monday, September 17. This software update has been thoroughly tested, but if you experience any problems, please contact Jay Hoinville.

Sept. 18 Discovery Acceleration Workshop: "Finding Funding to Support Your Research and Creative Scholarship"

Join us on Sept. 18 to learn about the various tools available to WMU faculty and staff for finding funding opportunities and get tips on how to use them to conduct effective funding searches. This new series of monthly workshops launches on Sept. 18 and is focused on outcomes for all. The Discovery Acceleration Workshops will be held at the Fetzer Center, noon to 2 p.m. Learn more about the workshops and .

Full launch of the Proposal Submission Policy in effect 

The new proposal submission policy and its procedures went into full effect on Sept. 1 and establishes a specific timeline for when major elements of a proposal must be completed and submitted to OVPR. Learn about the policy and deadlines: 

Introduction to Customer Discovery Training - deadline to apply: Sept. 28

ICD training provides entrepreneurs an opportunity to learn about the customer discovery interview process, which is the first step to commercializing your research and discovery. The course runs four weeks, Oct. 9 through Nov. 9. More

Electronic certification (ecrt) Begins

Western ¾ÅÒ»Â鶹ÖÆƬ³§ University has collaborated with Huron Consultants to implement ecrt, a web based application enabling electronic effort confirmation.  The new ecrt system replaces the previous paper based time and effort certification process.  Ecrt integrates data from the University’s general ledger and payroll systems to enhance compliance management, improve financial information available to departments, and significantly reduce the administrative burden of the effort reporting confirmation process. More. 

Recent Opioids Innovation Networking Session a Success, with more to come in this series

Faculty and research staff from across WMU and WMed gathered in mid-August to share their research and learn about the efforts of others. The OVPR team is working with Government Affairs to help this research community find funding going forward. We are exploring other topics for future Innovation Networking events, topics like PFAS and safe drinking water, challenges impacting our community. 

Upcoming events to watch for more information

•  Export Control Training Workshops
• Compliance Updates and Policy Changes
• Next Innovation Networking Opportunity