Dear Colleagues:

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is making major changes to the way the research community registers for NSF accounts and maintains account and user profile information in FastLane and Research.gov. Effective March 26, 2018, NSF is introducing a new centralized and streamlined account registration process in Research.gov for the research community that will provide each new user with a single profile and unique identifier (i.e., NSF ID) for signing in to FastLane and Research.gov for proposal and award activities.

New Functionality

The new account management functionality will:

• Allow users to create and self-manage accounts, including personal information and role requests;
• Eliminate the need for organizational Administrators to create accounts and maintain profile information for their users, allowing Administrators to focus on managing roles for their organizations through a dashboard with functions to approve, disapprove, assign, and remove roles; and
• Replace the existing FastLane and Research.gov account management functions.

Existing NSF Accounts

Existing NSF account holders, including Grants.gov and Application Submission Web Service (ASWS) users, will be migrated to the new account management system through a simple, one-time operation when initially signing in to FastLane or Research.gov after the new functionality is released. Account holders will be required to verify information to transfer it to the new system. Each user will have one NSF ID per the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (NSF 18-1), Chapter I.G.4.

Helpful Links

• Users with existing NSF accounts can access the NSF ID Lookup page for their NSF ID. Forgotten passwords for established NSF accounts may be retrieved here.
• New users will be able to register directly with NSF through Research.gov on or after March 26, 2018, via this link: https://www.research.gov/accountmgmt/#/registration . Note that this link will not work until March 26, 2018.

Notes About Grants.gov and ASWS

• Beginning on March 26, 2018, the Principal Investigator (PI), all co-PIs, and the Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) listed on a Grants.gov proposal must all be registered with NSF prior to proposal submission. NSF IDs for the PI, all co-PIs, and the AOR listed will need to be included in the proposal submission.

• When a proposal is submitted to NSF on or after March 26, 2018, through Grants.gov and ASWS, the NSF system will cross-check the DUNS number and organization name with NSF records.
• If there is no match to the DUNS number and/or organization name, the proposal will be rejected and the PI/AOR listed on the proposal submission will receive an email notifying that the proposal submission was not accepted by NSF.
• Currently, for proposals submitted via Grants.gov or ASWS, the NSF system registers organizations and will allow proposal submission in cases where there is a mismatch of the DUNS number and/or organization name with NSF records; however, this will no longer be possible effective March 26, 2018.

New NSF Registration Requirements for Organizations

• Organizations new to NSF will also register via the account management system in Research.gov.
• New organizations will be able to register directly with NSF through Research.gov on or after March 26, 2018, via this link: https://www.research.gov/accountmgmt/#/registration . Note that this link will not work until March 26, 2018.
• Beginning on March 26, 2018, before a new organization can register with NSF, it must first be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM; https://www.sam.gov) and have a data universal numbering system (DUNS) number. 
• Organizations not already registered with NSF should be aware that completion of the SAM registration process could take up to two weeks.
• Note that the vast majority of universities are already registered with NSF via FastLane.

Planned Releases

The new centralized account management functionality is being released first to the Administrator, PI, AOR, Sponsored Project Officer (SPO), Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Coordinating Official and Financial Official, and Award Cash Management Service (ACM$) groups. NSF plans to eventually expand the new functionality in the future to additional groups including proposal reviewers, GRFP applicants, and NSF staff.

Training Resources

NSF is currently finalizing new account management training resources such as job aids, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and instructional videos. These materials will soon be available on an “About Account Management” page accessible on the Research.gov homepage.

For IT system-related questions, please contact the NSF Help Desk at 1-800-381-1532 or rgov@nsf.gov. Policy-related questions should be directed to policy@nsf.gov. 

Regards,

The National Science Foundation

Dear Colleagues:

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is making major changes to the way the research community registers for NSF accounts and maintains account and user profile information in FastLane and Research.gov. Effective March 26, 2018, NSF is introducing a new centralized and streamlined account registration process in Research.gov for the research community that will provide each new user with a single profile and unique identifier (i.e., NSF ID) for signing in to FastLane and Research.gov for proposal and award activities.

New Functionality

The new account management functionality will:

• Allow users to create and self-manage accounts, including personal information and role requests;
• Eliminate the need for organizational Administrators to create accounts and maintain profile information for their users, allowing Administrators to focus on managing roles for their organizations through a dashboard with functions to approve, disapprove, assign, and remove roles; and
• Replace the existing FastLane and Research.gov account management functions.

Existing NSF Accounts

Existing NSF account holders, including Grants.gov and Application Submission Web Service (ASWS) users, will be migrated to the new account management system through a simple, one-time operation when initially signing in to FastLane or Research.gov after the new functionality is released. Account holders will be required to verify information to transfer it to the new system. Each user will have one NSF ID per the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (NSF 18-1), Chapter I.G.4.

Helpful Links

• Users with existing NSF accounts can access the NSF ID Lookup page for their NSF ID. Forgotten passwords for established NSF accounts may be retrieved here.
• New users will be able to register directly with NSF through Research.gov on or after March 26, 2018, via this link: https://www.research.gov/accountmgmt/#/registration . Note that this link will not work until March 26, 2018.

Notes About Grants.gov and ASWS

• Beginning on March 26, 2018, the Principal Investigator (PI), all co-PIs, and the Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) listed on a Grants.gov proposal must all be registered with NSF prior to proposal submission. NSF IDs for the PI, all co-PIs, and the AOR listed will need to be included in the proposal submission.

• When a proposal is submitted to NSF on or after March 26, 2018, through Grants.gov and ASWS, the NSF system will cross-check the DUNS number and organization name with NSF records.
• If there is no match to the DUNS number and/or organization name, the proposal will be rejected and the PI/AOR listed on the proposal submission will receive an email notifying that the proposal submission was not accepted by NSF.
• Currently, for proposals submitted via Grants.gov or ASWS, the NSF system registers organizations and will allow proposal submission in cases where there is a mismatch of the DUNS number and/or organization name with NSF records; however, this will no longer be possible effective March 26, 2018.

New NSF Registration Requirements for Organizations

• Organizations new to NSF will also register via the account management system in Research.gov.
• New organizations will be able to register directly with NSF through Research.gov on or after March 26, 2018, via this link: https://www.research.gov/accountmgmt/#/registration . Note that this link will not work until March 26, 2018.
• Beginning on March 26, 2018, before a new organization can register with NSF, it must first be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM; https://www.sam.gov) and have a data universal numbering system (DUNS) number. 
• Organizations not already registered with NSF should be aware that completion of the SAM registration process could take up to two weeks.
• Note that the vast majority of universities are already registered with NSF via FastLane.

Planned Releases

The new centralized account management functionality is being released first to the Administrator, PI, AOR, Sponsored Project Officer (SPO), Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Coordinating Official and Financial Official, and Award Cash Management Service (ACM$) groups. NSF plans to eventually expand the new functionality in the future to additional groups including proposal reviewers, GRFP applicants, and NSF staff.

Training Resources

NSF is currently finalizing new account management training resources such as job aids, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and instructional videos. These materials will soon be available on an “About Account Management” page accessible on the Research.gov homepage.

For IT system-related questions, please contact the NSF Help Desk at 1-800-381-1532 or rgov@nsf.gov. Policy-related questions should be directed to policy@nsf.gov. 

Regards,

The National Science Foundation

The Honors college held its sixth consecutive Retriever Bowl this year. The Retriever Bowl, a trivia event, sees teams working together to answer a series of questions ranging from pop culture to life science. Ana Petricel, a senior pursuing a dual degree in public health and biology, hosted the event. Petricel welcomed attendees by allowing them to pick their teams and help themselves to pizza.

Freshman political science major Zane Poffenberger stated, “This event provides a great atmosphere of social mingling with different students with different majors.”

Petricel recommended that students should invite their friends to the event in order to ensure a reliable team. However, Poffenberger’s view suggests that meeting brand new students with different concentrations will be beneficial. Because the trivia included questions from life science to computer science, it required the mindset of more than one field of concentration. Students were required to participate without the use of online resources. “There would be no fun in getting the answer from your computers or from your cell phones,” said Petricel.

After a few rounds of trivia, life science was brought back up. Petricel asked, “Which species is more closely related to humans,” with the choices varying from starfish to earthworms. With regard to this question, Poffenberger said, “The trivia is not too difficult, but it is too specific.” Questions regarding specific dates, such as the “week of computer science,” began to surface leaving a handful of attendees drawing a blank.

In between trivia rounds, attendees were welcome to discuss answers, take a break or eat more pizza. The difficulty of the questions increased as attendees progressed. Throughout the event, students were encouraged to learn new things that they were not familiar with, including topics like Karl Marx’s views on sociology and Margaret Hamilton’s inventions in computer science.

Towards the end of the event, attendees had more time to talk to each other, as well as speak with Petricel about prizes. “I would definitely come back to an event like this because it is a great way to learn new things,” said Poffenberger. This event was intensive for students and other attendees. Questions near the end of the trivia event often took about three minutes to answer, and attendees were not allowed to use online resources.

By the end of the event, attendees were allowed to see every answer to the trivia questions. Petricel allowed them to discuss the trivia questions that they had answered incorrectly. Attendees also had an opportunity to explain why they thought their answer was correct.

The Retriever Bowl this year was very active, with many attendees discussing and pondering over what the answer to the trivia must be. The specific content of the event, as well as the questions regarding different majors and subjects, truly left room for many curious students to debate over at their tables. It was a great way for everyone to be competitive and have fun all at once!

On Saturday, May 5, 2018, PROMISE AGEP will be hosting its annual PROMISE AGEP Friends and Family Cookout! You are invited to come, bring your friends, family, and anyone who supported your journey through graduate school. This event is free! Graduate students from all schools within the University System of Maryland (USM) are invited!

Here is a list, if your school is listed, you are invited! http://www.usmd.edu/institutions/

Alumni, faculty, and staff are invited as well.

Friends and family members of students who have participated in PROMISE are invited. 

If you are from another school, e.g., Howard, Hopkins, GW, and have come to a PROMISE event in the past such as SSI, you are also invited to participate.

Event: PROMISE AGEP Friends and Family Cookout

Date: Saturday, May 5, 2018

Time: 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM

UPDATE 5/5/18 – 9:15 AM: There is a forecast for rain, but it is not scheduled to start until later in the afternoon. This event is under a pavilion. We will have music, games, and food until 2:30, and will start the recognition of graduates at 2:30 and likely end at 3 PM to avoid the pending rain.

Location: Centennial Park – Pavilion D, MD

Address: 10000 MD-108 Ellicott City, MD 21042

UPDATE: Music feature, DJ TechnoFist, https://promiseagep.com/2018/05/05/dr-damon-bradley-dj-technofist-nasa-engineering-leader-international-dj-brings-his-music-to-the-promise-cookout-5-5-18-100-pm/. Dr. Damon Bradley, NASA Scientist, is also an international DJ. Dr. Bradley received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from UMBC, and leads an award-winning engineering team at NASA. He will be the featured artist at the cookout. 

Parking: There is on-site free parking. Centennial Park has many entrances, the Pavilion that we rented (D) is near the Main/South entrance (the address is 1000 Clarksville Pike, Ellicott City, MD 21042). We suggest that you carpool since spaces might be limited.

REGISTER HERE:

All PROMISE grads (Master’s and Doctoral) will be celebrated! If you are graduating (December 2017, May 2018), please send an email to promisestaff@gmail.com with the subject “Graduate! – PROMISE Cookout” with your full name, department, and degree obtained so that you can be recognized.

Make sure you register each and every one of your guests, no exceptions! Thank you! Looking forward to meeting you at the Cookout!