The federal government requires that the distribution of salary and wages to grants and contracts or other activities including teaching, patient care, and administration must be based on payrolls that are documented in the Effort Certification Reporting System. Effort certification training is recommended for all new department administrators who are responsible for effort, defined as the total time spent on university activities that an employee is compensated for. Although this class is designed for new administrators, it is also recommended for all effort coordinators who would like a refresher in using the system.

The session will be held on Thursday, March 17 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Dominion Tower, 10th Floor Conference Room. Registration is available at ulearn.miami.edu. For additional information, contact the Office of Research Education and Training at 305-243-5092.

Are you submitting an NIH proposal soon? Are you submitting electronically? Learn how to use the InfoEd proposal development system to prepare and submit your proposal electronically to the NIH.

InfoEd streamlines the proposal development process. It is Web-based and accessible almost anywhere by Mac and PC users; no additional software is required. InfoEd pre-fills agency forms, includes built-in agency validations, stores proposals in a secure environment, and provides a database of all proposals submitted.

In this interactive, hands-on computer workshop, participants will learn how to create, route, submit, and track a proposal using InfoEd. The workshop is scheduled Wednesday, March 17 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the tenth-floor training room of Dominion Towers, located on the Medical Campus.

Registration is required through ULearn. For more information, e-mail ResEDU@med.miami.edu or call 305-243-5092.

On Thursday, March 18 from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., The Center for Nonprofit Management will host “How to Manage a Winning Proposal” in the Storer Auditorium (Business School). In this program, you’ll learn how to:

• Select the right funders and grant programs for your organization
• Overcome your writer’s block and jump in
• Understand what the guidelines really mean
• Learn basic tips to make your proposals more compelling
• Understand how corporate donors differ from foundations

Steven Marcus, president of the Health Foundation of South Florida, will moderate the discussion. Registration is $25; scholarships are available. Please make checks payable to The University of Miami. For more information, call 305-284-6673 or email nonprofit.eec@miami.edu.

Effective April 1, the Jackson Health System Clinical Trials Office (JHS CTO) will require principal investigators or their designated research staff to complete a research encounter ticket for each patient’s protocol-related visit. The new form will enable JHS CTO to accurately bill and designate the correct modifiers for routine care and study-related care on claims, as required by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The research encounter ticket will be required in addition to the patient consent form.

You can learn more about the new policy at these upcoming training sessions:

• March 18, 12 p.m., Dominion Towers, tenth-floor training room: RSVP on ULearn.
• April 1, 12 p.m., Dominion Towers, 12th-floor conference room: RSVP on ULearn.

For more information, please contact Eve Sakran at ESakran@jhsmiami.org.

The integrity of scholarship and the scientific record requires that scholars and researchers uphold the highest scientific and ethical standards. Current policy and practice at UM reflects our shared commitment that the design, conduct, and reporting of scholarly activity and research will not be biased. As relationships between academic institutions and private industries become increasingly complex, we must continually reassess the manner in which we assure that scholarly activity and research at UM are unbiased.

On February 1, 2010, a new process was implemented to identify potential conflicts of interest (COI) in sponsored research at UM. Faculty and staff are strongly encouraged to attend a training session to review the current UM COI policy for sponsored research and to learn about the new process for identifying potential COI in sponsored research. The sessions will take place on:

• March 15: 9 to 10 a.m., McArthur Annex Auditorium – Room 202 (Coral Gables campus)

• March 23: 2 to 3 p.m., Clinical Research Building (CRB) Room 989 (Medical campus)

• March 26: 12 to 1 p.m., RSMAS Auditorium (RSMAS campus)

• April 13: 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., Flipse Building, Room 502 (Coral Gables campus)

• April 14: 1 to 2 p.m., Lois Pope LIFE Seventh-Floor Auditorium (Medical campus)

Please register through ULearn.

For questions on the training sessions, please contact the Office of Research Education and Training at 305-243-5092 or at ResEDU@med.miami.edu.