Council on Research Meeting Minutes
November 30, 2011
Life Sciences Research Building, Conference Room 1143
9:30 am – 11:30 am
Members present: David Andersen, Berhane Araia, James Castracane, Vishnu Chaturvedi,
Samantha Friedman, Elizabeth Gaffney, Dan Keyser, Elaine Lasda-Bergman, David Lewis,
Brian Macherone, and Charles Scholes.
Members absent: Michael Amrozowicz, Tracey Chen, James A. Dias, Robert Gluck, and
Hemalata Iyer
Also attending: Antigone McKenna, Thecla Philip, Theresa Walker, Robert Webster, and Kevin
Wilcox
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Council Chair, James Castracane, at 9:30 am.
Vice President for Research Report, Robert Webster, Associate Vice President for Research
for James A. Dias
 UAlbany Strategic Plan – the Research Working Group is continuing to work on two
goals.
 A Summary Report of the SUNY Board of Trustees and Research Foundation Board of
Directors Task Forces’ Joint Review of the SUNY-RF Relationship was distributed to the
membership. The report provides a summary of the recommendations from the task
forces for actions that have been, or will be, completed by the Research Foundation and
the SUNY Board of Directors. Each recommendation is directly linked to the Research
Foundation’s strategic goals.
 Faculty Research Award Program (FRAP-A) – it was noted that the FRAP A
applications are down significantly this year. On behalf of the Vice President for
Research, Robert Webster urged the committee to continue to be concerned with
maintaining standards of quality in the review and recommendation process.
Update on the DHHS Audit - Kevin Wilcox, Associate Vice President for Finance and
Business and University Controller
Kevin gave a brief overview of the DHHS audit. He noted that the audit resulted in findings of
approximately $1.7M. The University; however, has negotiated a decrease in the amount from
$1.7M to $82K.
Lessons learned:
1) Federal grant reviewers do not approve anything in the PI’s budget, they just don’t
disapprove items. Although they will approve everything up front, they reserve the right
to disapprove later.
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2) We should carefully review administrative positions with regard to the programmatic
role, especially those that have “administrative” in the title.
3) Laptops and office supplies are difficult to justify, but should be used for research
purposes only. Kevin encouraged schools/colleges to have sufficient justification and PI
backup if requested.
4) Faculty/Staff cannot be paid extra service from a grant if they are listed as personnel on
the grant.
Next steps:
1) DHHS will be sending a final report to various agencies within DHHS
2) The University will pay the federal government $82K
3) The University will put policies and guidelines in place for future. The University has
now been put on notice of what can and cannot be done, so if we continue business as
usual, we will be in woeful violation, even to the point of a criminal offense.
Robert Webster referenced the guidelines that were distributed earlier to the membership. He
noted that the expectation is that additional budget justification should be worked out at the
proposal stage so that once the money is received and PIs begin to make purchases, etc., there
will be a minimum amount of interference with the post award side. We are trying to make
service more seamless for PIs.
The floor was opened for questions:
Q: What % of the indirect cost is returned to schools/colleges?
A: Roughly 10%
Q: Those who bring in federal rate get lumped in with all other and therefore don’t get much
indirect costs.
A: This becomes a philosophical issue – do we want to become a University of hard sciences or
one that is more well- rounded
Q: What is the incentive to continue getting grants at the federal rate? Currently there seems to
be no explicit incentive here at UAlbany compared to other institutions.
A: This is being addressed in the Strategic Plan
Q: What was the costs benefit of the audit to the federal government? To the University?
A: This was a compliance issue with the federal government. This was also a “money” audit.
The word gets out to other institutions and adds more credence to the audit. For UAlbany, this is
an opportunity to determine where we stand and provides an impetus to make changes.
Q: What happens when there are changes to the initial intent of the grant utilization?
A: It is expected as one’s research grows and evolves, there will be changes. An exception form
was developed to address this issue. (The form was distributed to membership)
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Q: If research is done in the PI’s office, it is difficult to argue computer use for research only.
A: Finance and Business is considering making available a pool of funds to use for this purpose
University-wide.
Q: Reference document titled: A Guide to Major Projects and Charging Administrative Costs to
Sponsored Programs, P. 3, item # 4, . . . “PIs, centers and departments are responsible for
ensuring that costs assigned to the school are appropriate.” There is concern about the wording
because PIs don’t approve expenditures
A: Even though PIs don’t approve expenditures, they are responsible to know the general rules,
so that there will be cooperation with the pre- and post- award staff. In other words, there should
be a sharing of responsibility.
Finance and Business and Research Division are reviewing the feasibility of an acceptable
exception rate (1%?) for UAlbany.
Spin-off Companies – Theresa Walker, Assistant to the Vice President for Research and
Director of Technology Development
Theresa Walker presented a power point presentation on “Faculty Start-Up Companies Dos and
Don’ts”
Subcommittee Updates
 Benevolent Review Committee – Samantha Friedman, Chair
The meeting to review Benevolent applications for the fall round of competition is
scheduled for December 8, 2011 to review applications and make recommendations for
funding.

Conference/Journal Support Award – Dan Keyser, Chair
The subcommittee received one application, and is currently awaiting a reply to items
that need clarification.

FRAP – A – Vishnu Chaturvedi, Chair
A meeting will be scheduled for mid-January to review the fifteen (15) applications
received for FRAP-A. The subcommittee will continue with the evaluation criteria used
for the past two years.

Excellence in Research & Creative Activities – David Andersen, Chair
The subcommittee will meet on December 5 to review the four nominations for UAlbany
Excellence in Research and Creative Activities and the four nominations for the
Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities. A report and
recommendations will be forwarded to the Vice President for Research.
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
Researchers Liaison – Berhane Araia and Katie Gonder, Co-Chairs
A written report of subcommittee meeting held on November 28 was distributed to the
membership. The main focus of the meeting was discussion regarding eligibility
requirements, guidelines for nomination, selection criteria and evaluation procedures for
the proposed Early Career Achievement Award.
Old Business
None
New Business
None
Meeting adjourned at 11:30 am
Submitted by Janice E. Bogan