Publication of the Revised NIH Grants Policy Statement (Rev. April 2024) for Fiscal Year 2024

Notice Number: NOT-OD-24-115

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-24-115.html

Purpose:

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announces publication of the updated NIH Grants Policy Statement (NIHGPS, rev. April 2024). The NIHGPS provides both up-to-date policy guidance that serves as NIH standard terms and conditions of award for all NIH grants and cooperative agreements, and extensive guidance to those who are interested in pursuing NIH grants.

This update is applicable to all NIH grants and cooperative agreements with budget periods beginning on or after October 1, 2023. This update supersedes, in its entirety, the NIHGPS dated December 2022. Previous versions of the NIHGPS remain applicable as standard terms and conditions of award for all NIH grants and cooperative agreements with budget periods that began prior to October 1, 2023.

This update incorporates new and modified requirements, clarifies certain policies, and implements changes in statutes, regulations, and policies that have been implemented through appropriate legal and/or policy processes (e.g., Federal Register Notices, where appropriate) since the previous version of the NIHGPS dated December 2022.

As noted in NOT-OD-24-069, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued updates to 2 CFR Part 200, with an implementation date of October 1, 2024. NIH will include the changes to 2 CFR Part 200 in the FY 2025 release of the NIHGPS, in line with the implementation date set by OMB.

The current version of the NIHGPS, in both HTML and PDF formats, as well as previous versions of the NIHGPS and documents summarizing significant changes implemented with each revision, are available on the NIH Grants Policy website.

NIH will continue to publish interim grants policy changes and/or clarifications through the issuance of NIH Guide Notices, available on the Notices of NIH Policy Changes website, and Federal Register Notices as appropriate.

Please refer to the full notice linked above for further details.

Should you have any questions, please contact the Office of Sponsored Programs.

Notice of Fiscal Policies in Effect for FY 2024

Notice Number: NOT-OD-24-109

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-24-109.html

Purpose:

This Notice provides guidance about the NIH Fiscal Operations for Fiscal Year 2024 and implements the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law 118-47), signed into law on March 23, 2024.

FY 2024 Funding Levels: Non-competing continuation awards made in FY 2024 will generally be issued at the commitment level indicated on the Notice of Award with exceptions posted on the NIH Funding Strategies webpage. Subsequent budget periods are funded based on the availability of appropriations, satisfactory performance, compliance with the terms and conditions of the award, and the continued best interest of the Federal government. The NIH awarding Institutes/Centers (ICs) will develop and post their fiscal policies consistent with overall NIH goals and available FY 2024 funds.

Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA): Consistent with the recommendations of the Advisory Committee to the Director regarding the Biomedical Research Workforce, the NIH will increase NRSA stipends by approximately four percent for predocs and eight percent for postdocs. The full range of stipend adjustments for FY 2024 is described in NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-24-104.

Salary Limits: Section 202 of PL 118-47 restricts the amount of direct salary to Executive Level II of the Federal Executive pay scale. Effective January 1, 2024, the salary limitation for Executive Level II is $221,900. Further information is described in NIH Guide Notice  NOT-OD-24-057.

Additional Information: Additional details on Fiscal Operations, including specific funding strategies for ICs, will be posted on the NIH Funding Strategies webpage.

Please refer to the full notice linked above for further details.

Should you have any questions, please contact the Office of Sponsored Programs.

Reporting Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Plan Activities in the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR)

Notice Number: NOT-OD-24-123

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-24-123.html

Purpose:

This Notice informs the extramural research community of planned changes to the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) instructions to address the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy. Upon receiving approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), NIH will issue new DMS RPPR questions that align with the NIH Final Policy on Data Management and Sharing, to include updates on the status of data sharing, repositories and unique identifiers for data that have been shared.

Availability of Additional Guidance

The updated NIH RPPR Instruction Guide will be posted to the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) page upon approval from OIRA. NIH plans to implement the new questions for RPPRs submitted on or after October 1, 2024.

Please refer to the full notice linked above for further details.

Should you have any questions, please contact the Office of Sponsored Programs.

Congratulations to the AIChE Student Chapter on receiving the Event of the Year Winner during UMBC Office of Student Affairs annual end of the year event, CelebratingOrgs which honors and recognizes student organizations for their valuable work at UMBC. 

Event of the Year Winner - AIChE Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference

Event of the Year Award Description - While events are made to better the UMBC community and celebrate our grit and greatness as a campus, the events made by student organizations are like no other. Student organization events celebrate the diversity of our cultures and beliefs, educate the community, and provide a space to unwind from the stress of the school year. This award recognizes the student organization for the Event of the Year. 

AIChE Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference details - As the premier chemical engineering student conference in the region, this event brought over 350 attendees from 30+ different universities and industry sponsors to the UMBC campus. While the conference is geared toward undergraduate students, the conference hosted several graduate students, post-docs, faculty and staff, and industry professionals. The conference was a hub for extensive student networking, professional development opportunities, and friendly competition. Specifically, the event included a career fair alongside several industry-sponsored workshops and keynote addresses which helped attendees build their networks and shape their careers. A committee of 13 undergraduate students planned the event, which allowed numerous students to gain invaluable leadership and project management experience. These students worked tirelessly to connect with and coordinate the efforts of numerous UMBC departments and services including the CBEE Department (Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering), COEIT College of Engineering and Information Technology), OIA (Office of Institutional Advancement), Career Center, UMBC Graduate School, and ECS (Event and Conference Services). Through these efforts, over $60,000 in total was raised. 

Committee Members: 

Sponsorship & Funding Sub-Chair                      Raey Hunde

Corporate & University Relations Sub-Chair      An Dang

Corporate & University Relations Sub-Chair      Danny Sebrosky

ChemE Car Sub-Chair                                         Afrah Ahmed

ChemE Car Sub-Chair                                         Ahmed Al-Anesi

ChemE Car Sub-Chair                                         Jacob Craft

ChemE Jeopardy Sub-Chair                               Anh Bui

Workshops Sub-Chair                                         Nelanne Bolima

Workshops Sub-Chair                                         Meredith Morse

Research Presentations Sub-Chair                   Sarah Yoda

Logistics Sub-Chair                                            John Velkey

Communications Sub-Chair                               Terra Miley

Committee Chair                                                 Pavan Umashankar

Beginning on Monday, May 13, 2024 through Friday, August 16, 2024, the exterior ramp area adjacent to Lecture Hall 1, which connects the Quad and the Commons Courtyard, will be temporarily closed for renovations. Signage will be provided at the impacted areas to help redirect pedestrians to alternate accessible routes. Please refer to the accompanying graphic for additional information including the alternate routes through The Commons, Math/Psych and Sondheim Hall.

Accessibility is part of the design process, and we work in partnership with Accessibility and Disability Services which supports faculty, staff, students and visitors with disabilities. If you have a concern about accessibility or want to inquire about a disability-based accommodation, please do so through their website.

Thank you for your patience as we work to maintain and enhance the UMBC campus.

Facilities Management

Congratulations to Dr. Lee Blaney, professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering for Marilyn E. Demorest Award for Faculty Advancement at annual Presidential Faculty and Staff Awards.

Click here to view more

This April 22, as the campus community celebrated Earth Day, the feel of spring’s natural reawakening was in the air. Birds chirped from newly leafed trees and students strolled in the bright sunshine. But the pleasant day belied a concerning trend: In Maryland and beyond, the balance of Earth’s life-supporting systems is shifting, driven in large part by the heat-trapping greenhouse gasses we humans send into the atmosphere. The Earth is getting hotter; weather patterns are changing; and ecosystems are under stress. 

“Climate change is pressing us to adopt a more Earth-friendly lifestyle, to develop renewable energy,” says Özgür Çapraz, an associate professor in the department of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering at UMBC, who studies advanced battery technologies. Çapraz, who joined UMBC in fall 2023 from a faculty position at Oklahoma State University, was one of three recent faculty hires in the College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT) who all specialize in different aspects of sustainability and renewable energy-related research. 

The three hires were part of a COEIT effort to build off recognized strength in the environmental domain, while expanding expertise in important areas such as energy, says Lee Blaney, a professor in the department of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering who chaired the search.

The other two hires are Alok Ghanekar, an assistant professor in mechanical engineering, who studies materials that can improve some solar energy harvesting systems, turn waste heat into electricity, and better cool buildings; and Rajasekhar Anguluri, an assistant professor in computer science and electrical engineering, who specializes in the math describing large, complex systems such as the power grid.

The energy conundrum

“Ever since I studied science in high school, I have been interested in energy,” says Ghanekar, who was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Southern California prior to joining UMBC this spring semester. “Growing up in India, there were regular power outages every week. It is less of a problem now, but energy demand is still growing.” 

Across the world, in many ways, energy consumption drives progress and improves people’s lives. But the burning of fossil fuels to produce much of that energy is increasing the concentration of heat-trapping gasses in the atmosphere. While the exact consequences of this change are uncertain, it’s clear the Earth is warming, and that trend is likely to put extreme pressures on societies in the decades to come.  

A big shift toward clean and renewable sources of energy could be part of the solution. Each of the new hires’ research touches this goal in some ways. In Ghanekar’s case, he studies human-designed materials called metamaterials that, among other potential uses, might one day help significantly increase the amount of energy from the sun that we are able to efficiently turn into electricity.

Getting more energy from the sun could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but since the sun doesn’t always shine, we also need ways to store that energy (perhaps with new battery technologies, the expertise of Çapraz) and ways to share that energy on the power grid without disrupting its delicate balance (a challenge that Anguluri has explored). 

As academic researchers, they operate at the frontiers of knowledge, asking and seeking to answer fundamental questions that could push the technology forward: How exactly do batteries with new chemistries work, for example, or why does a material degrade over time? Anguluri’s math expertise spans a range of engineering disciplines. He and Ghanekar have already talked about collaborating to mathematically model the behavior of Ghanekar’s metamaterials.

No scientific “Eureka!” moment or technical advance by itself is likely to be a panacea to a problem as complex as global warming, but these incremental steps do offer people more tools.

 “As scholars, we like to think, to solve interesting problems,” says Anguluri, who was a postdoc at Arizona State University before arriving at UMBC this year. “As citizens of the world, we must also look at our values and make wise choices.”

Building on a long-standing commitment

Studying people’s impact on the Earth, and working to mitigate environmental harms, is nothing new for researchers at UMBC. 

The university boasts multiple research centers that advance environmental research, from the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education to the Institute for Harnessing Data and Model Revolution in the Polar Regions. The university also has long-standing partnerships with NASA to develop new technology for environmental remote sensing. 

Çapraz, Ghanekar, and Anguluri will join faculty at the university who study sustainable aquaculture, wildfire smoke, water and sediment pollution, fusion energy, and more. 

“Sustainability research is an area of strength in COEIT,” says Vandana Janeja, the associate dean for research and faculty development in COEIT. “Now there’s a new sense of urgency about it and our recent hires are a testament to that.” 

“Climate change is an issue that so many of our students are tapped into,” adds Blaney. “They’re really worried about the impacts of climate change and want to do something to address this global challenge.”

As the new UMBC faculty launch research projects and expand their labs, there will be growing opportunities for interested students to learn about and join their important work. And that’s good news, because as the Earth Day festivities on campus showcased, safeguarding our shared home is a duty shared by all of us.