Billy C. Covington, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President for Research and Federal Relations
The primary commitment of the Office of the Associate Vice President for Research (AVPR) and Federal Relations is to support and promote the research and scholarship needs of the faculty and staff while promoting shared responsibility, compliance and scholarly integrity. Toward that end, the AVPR assists faculty members in their research endeavors, encourages interdisciplinary activities across campus and provides matching funds to support new programs and initiatives. In addition, this office provides administrative support for research activities through the Office of Sponsored Programs, the Office of Research Compliance and the Office of Electronic Research Administration. Six multidisciplinary centers and institutes also report to the AVPR.
The 2013 Texas SBIR/STTR Summit & Conference, June 12 at the AT&T Conference Center in Austin, Texas is a one-day conference designed to provide all of the key resources for winning SBIR/STTR awards. You can meet SBIR program managers from all major SBIR funding agencies, plus build your team with investors, researchers, prime contractors, and other key resources. Featuring one-on-one interaction and meetings with program managers from the biggest SBIR/STTR granting agencies. Hear direct from the agencies about their pressing technical needs and promote your technologies and capabilities. Learn how your company can access this $3 billion resource across 11 federal agencies. Network with industry experts, potential research partners, and other small business owners who have been successful at winning numerous SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) and STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) awards. Click here for more details and to register.
Beginning March 18, 2013, the NSF will enhance the FastLane system to begin automated compliance checking of all required sections of proposals. This will bring NSF systems in line with long-standing proposal preparation requirements as outlined in the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) ( Chapter II.C.1 of the Grant Proposal Guide (GPG)).
The GPG-required sections of a proposal include:
| Project Summary * | Budget Justification |
| Project Description | Current and Pending Support |
| References Cited | Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources |
| Biographical Sketch(es) | Data Management Plan * |
| Budget | Postdoctoral Mentoring Plan (if applicable)* |
* These proposal sections are already being auto-compliance checked by FastLane.
Proposal submission instructions for conferences, symposia or workshops; international travel grants; or program solicitations may deviate from the GPG instructions. If the submission instructions do not require one of the above sections to be provided, proposers will need to insert text or upload a document in that section of the proposal that states, “Not Applicable.” Doing so will enable FastLane to accept the proposal.
Additionally, proposers providing Biographical Sketches and/or Current and Pending Support information for Principal Investigators (PIs), co-PI(s) or Senior Personnel in a single PDF file associated with the PI, must insert text or upload a document in that section of the proposal that states, “Not Applicable,” for any co-PI or Senior Personnel so that FastLane will accept the proposal.
PIs will receive a warning message if any of the GPG-required sections is missing, however, the PI will still be able to submit the proposal to the organization’s Sponsored Project Office (SPO). If the SPO attempts to submit proposal that is missing any of the GPG required sections, they will receive an error message identifying the missing section(s), and FastLane will prevent submission to NSF. After obtaining all required sections, the SPO may submit the proposal to NSF in accordance with the established deadline date policy.
Proposals submitted through Grants.gov must include all GPG required sections or include a document stating that the section is “Not Applicable.”
We encourage you to share this information with your respective communities so that they are aware of this system enhancement. Additional information will be posted on the NSF website at:
www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/autocompliance.jsp
Please contact policy@nsf.gov for any further questions.
| Project Name | Sponsor | Award Amount | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Micropower Chip Prototype Development Plan2 | MicroPower Global Corporation | $342,270.00 | ||
| STTR Phase I: High Effienciency Separations of Rare Earth Elements | Chemtor, LP | $48,014.00 | ||
| Tx Blind Salamander and San Marcos Salamander: An Ideal System for Studying | Herpetologists’ League | $1,000.00 | ||
| Master of Science in Nursing: Major in Family Nurse Practitioner Program | St. David’s Foundation | $2,000,000.00 | ||
| Manual Revisions and E-Learning Materials | Tx Department of Public Safety | $195,000.00 | ||
| Honors Summer Merit Math Camp 2013 | Tx Workforce Commission | $60,189.00 | ||
| Trauma Informed Adventure Therapy with Families Affected by Abuse and Neglect | Hogg Foundation for Mental Health | $19,246.00 | ||
| Technical Assistance for Habitat Conservation Plan Work Development | City of New Braunfels | $11,000.00 | ||
| Coordinating Sustainability Development in the South Texas Region | Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi | $16,706.00 | ||
| Environmental Assistance for Lake Marble Falls Bridge Demolition | Bio-West, Inc. | $27,861.00 | ||
| Little Paint Site Outreach | SWCA Environmental Consultants | $8,000.00 |
A team of students from Texas State University-San Marcos and South China University of Technology has been named one of 15 college teams nationally to receive the prestigious P3 (People, Prosperity and the Planet) Award from the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Following an initial peer review process, this year’s winners were selected from 45 competing teams after two days of judging by a panel of national experts convened in Washington, D.C., April 21-23 to provide recommendations to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
EPA selected the award-winning projects from the most competitive pool of teams ever, basing its decisions on the potential to provide innovative, cutting-edge sustainable solutions to worldwide environmental problems.
“The competition and expo are not only about EPA’s prestigious P3 Award, but also about supporting the next generation of this country’s innovators and entrepreneurs who are entering the environmental and public health field with passion to make a difference,” said Lek Kadeli, acting assistant administrator for the EPA's Office of Research and Development. “The P3 program gives these students the opportunity to bring those ideas to realization and many have the potential to make significant impacts on our nation’s sustainable future and development of environmental technologies.”
Each P3 award-winning team will receive a grant of up to $90,000 to further develop their design, apply it to real world applications or move it to the marketplace. Previous P3 award winners have started successful businesses and are marketing the technologies in the U.S. and around the world.
Texas State’s team was honored for its project that converts rice husks, a byproduct of agriculture, into a starter material called lignocellulose for producing fabrics, biofuel and silica nanoparticles.
Other teams receiving the P3 Award represented Appalachian State Universiy, Butte College, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Gonzaga University, Oregon State University, Princeton University, Santa Clara University, Southern Illinois University, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Engineering, University of California-Riverside, University of Cincinnati, University of Connecticut, University of Oklahoma and Vanderbilt University.
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