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The Changing Nature of Research at MIT

Julie Norris

[Julie Norris, director of the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), discusses how changing regulations from research funding sources affect MIT faculty.]

MIT's research activities are wide ranging and ever changing. The distribution of funds between and among the various sponsoring organizations indicates how some of these activities have changed. [See MIT Numbers.]

The most dramatic shift has been the increase in research volume from non-federal sources, particularly that from industry and other for-profit entities. In FY 2002, non-federal sources accounted for 38% of the total research volume at MIT; the 62% from federal sources is lower than that of most other large colleges and universities. This is partially due to the fact that MIT does not have a medical school, but it is also partially responsive to the emphasis the Institute has placed recently on expanding its research base and encouraging the development of large partnerships and collaborations (such as DuPont, Ford, CMI, and Singapore). At the same time, MIT continues to support and encourage the development of multi- and interdisciplinary laboratories to address cross-cutting research issues from multiple perspectives.

While MIT has grown its industrial research enterprise, the federal government has provided significantly increased funding to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and has provided selective increases to the National Science Foundation (NSF). MIT's strong growth in both these agencies in FY02 testifies to the broad base of funding for the research enterprise at the Institute.

This increased funding has, however, also meant an increase in the complexity of the rules and regulations that govern federally funded (and some corporate funded) research. Increased oversight is certainly a by-product of this growth in research. Changes seen just in the last few years demonstrate the point. For example, researchers submitting proposals to the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health now must submit formal disclosures of certain financial relationships; individuals utilizing human subjects in research must demonstrate via an on-line examination knowledge of the federal regulations relating to humans as subjects; individuals seeking to export certain technology, software, or information abroad must be aware of and comply with regulations relating to export controls. These are all time-consuming activities that detract from the time researchers have to do research.

However, the good news is that electronic research administration has provided some significant reductions in time needed to accomplish certain research-related tasks. For example, the search for research opportunities is now automated; individuals may receive information about research opportunities in fields they designate via e-mail every day of the year. Additionally, led by the NSF's FastLane System, the major research agencies have embarked on the development of automated proposal submission systems. Federal regulations require that agencies be able to accept electronic proposals by the end of CY 2003, and many agencies are developing systems (or have systems in place) to do so this year. Required annual and final technical reports are now routinely submitted electronically by researchers, and agencies are beginning to make awards electronically.

MIT is viewed as a national leader in the area of electronic research administration. Our COEUS system (for award management and as the Institute's feed to the accounting system) has been licensed by more than 80 other higher education institutions across the country. It is the model for the data included in awards now made by the Office of Naval Research. At the present time, MIT is piloting a research proposal development, routing, and submission component of COEUS that will allow MIT faculty to develop proposals, multi-year budgets, route those proposals through necessary Institute offices, and have OSP submit them to the agency electronically.

This system allows faculty and researchers to create the technical and scientific part of a proposal, letting administrative personnel in the originator's department create one or multiple versions of the budget. Once the technical proposal and budget are completed, the researcher "submits" the proposal electronically to the Institute. At the time of submission, the investigator responds to certain questions (about humans, animals, conflicts of interest, need for space, etc.) that replace the current routing sheet. Once completed, the persons who need to review the proposal (and this may vary depending on the specific proposal) are notified that a proposal is ready for review. These individuals can access the proposal electronically for review and approval. Once the proposal has all required reviews completed, it reaches the Sponsored Programs Office for final review and electronic submission to the sponsor (or for printing, if necessary). More information on this system, and requests for additional pilot units, will reach departments shortly.

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