Several of the functional teams within the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) that support MIT research administration have made modest organizational changes recently to benefit PIs and our administrative colleagues in the DLCIs. Here, we summarize the changes and fill you in on some other notable efforts and programs underway.
First, a reminder of what we mean when we talk about “the Research Administration umbrella” in OVPR. These are the central offices and teams that support sponsored research administration from idea to impact:
- Research Administration Services (RAS)
- Office of Strategic Alliances and Technology Transfer (OSATT)
- OSATT Core: Your primary point of contact for engagement with industry and other non-federal sponsors to develop and launch research collaborations
- Corporate Relations (Industrial Liaison Program and the Startup Exchange)
- Technology Licensing Office (TLO): Your resource for moving innovations from the lab to the marketplace through patent protection and commercialization.
- Research Development
- Cost Analysis
- Research Systems & Support
- DLCI Research Administration Initiative
Until this past spring, the three OSATT offices were part of the Provost’s Office organization, but they now sit fully within OVPR, facilitating closer coordination of processes and resources in support of MIT research.
Below are a few highlights from the VPR Research Administration umbrella.
New RAS Research Finance team
The new Research Finance team in RAS is here for every post-award financial question you can think of, from invoicing to closeout and everything in between. Led by Robert Tolu, formerly manager of financial operations at MITEI, who joined RAS in August, the new team will take point on advising the deans’ offices, DLCI administrators, faculty, PIs, and RAS colleagues on a range of financial matters, and help to resolve post-award challenges. They will collaborate closely with VPF on interim reporting, invoicing, and closeouts to assist in ensuring compliance with Institute and federal policies and sponsor requirements. The team will also work with the Cost Analysis team in VPR on award- or sponsor-specific audit inquiries. You can reach the team at ras-finance@mit.edu.
RAS federal negotiations team pilot
This past spring, RAS Associate Director Mike Corcoran assembled a team of contract administrators within RAS to create a pilot team dedicated to federal contracts. While federal contract negotiations have always been handled in RAS, ever-changing federal regulations and terms have made the task increasingly time-consuming for RAS managers and contract administrators. By creating a dedicated team of negotiators, the intent is to reduce the burden of federal contract negotiations on other RAS contract administrators, freeing them up for other tasks such as proposal review, account set up, and addressing questions from DLCIs. Hopefully, the team will also make federal contract negotiations more efficient, reducing contract turnaround times, while developing the negotiation skills of the contract administrators.
Since starting the team in March of 2024, the team has handled over 85 federal negotiations and has received a VPR Stars award for their contributions to their colleagues in RAS. Kudos to Erin Hall, Meghan Lee, Michelle Gittens, Helen Fowowe, Alisa Onyuksel, Kyle Shedden, Bernadette Valley, and Kate McPeake.
Research Systems & Support group
The VPR Research Systems & Support group (formerly Research Administration Systems & Support) has changed its name slightly to reflect its broad role in developing tools, systems, and training for the MIT research community, such as the Research@MIT app, the under-recovery management tool (now in pilot), and various research compliance tools. Staff in this group are closely involved in MIT’s Business and Digital Transformation (BDT) project, ensuring that the Institute’s new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system will align with the needs of MIT’s research community. Despite the name change, the team remains committed, as ever, to helping all administrators and PIs across MIT with any question in research administration (systems-related or otherwise). Reach out to ra-help@mit.edu.
Other efforts to know about
Seeking participants: OSATT Core Program Network Alliance
OSATT Core’s alliance managers, experts in guiding complex, multi-year, non-federal engagements and implementing consortia, have developed the Program Network Alliance (PNA). The PNA is a resource-sharing and best practice initiative designed to empower MIT program managers and directors with the skills, institutional knowledge, and training needed to run large-scale research programs successfully.
If you’re interested in joining the PNA or learning more, please contact an OSATT Core alliance manager at osatt-am@mit.edu.
DLCI Research Administration Initiative
VPR Senior Advisor Colleen Leslie is the lead on this initiative to develop new education and professional development resources and tools for DLCI research administrators. As part of this project, announced in September, OVPR has been collaborating with MIT HR to update job family guides that can assist research administrators with career planning and help DLCIs with recruitment and retention. Educational resources, administrator toolkits, and managerial guides are also being developed to support DLCI administrators in both their daily tasks and their career growth.
We welcome your feedback on any of the changes and projects described here.
This update appeared in the December 2024 issue of the Research Administration Community News.