As the spring semester begins, RIPS wants to invite you to engage with us to help support your research and creative endeavors. We will be continuing our efforts to engage with the campus community, including weekly brown bag lunches with the me at 71 North on Tuesdays from noon to 1 p.m. Additionally, we are happy to come to any faculty engagements, including department meetings, to talk about our services, learn about your research and help facilitate collaborations. One such engagement will take place in the Capital Ballroom on Jan. 27 from 1 to 2:30 p.m., called “Leveraging Available Resources.” Hosted by Faculty Mentoring, I will give a presentation on current and future resources available to NIU faculty to support research and creative activities. The talk will include best practices for building a sustainable research agenda that leverages support structures to accelerate sustaining success. Audience members are encouraged to come ready with questions at this in-person event.

The Office of Research Development has relaunched and is here to serve your needs in research/artistry trajectory planning, proposal development and collaboration facilitation. Led by Kellie Dyslin, the ORD team includes Research Development Specialists assigned to particular departments. These professionals aim to be your partners in pursuing funding, acting as critical consultants on grant proposals prior to submission support with the SPA pre-award team. To engage with ORD on a particular proposal, faculty must engage early, and we invite you to reach out now to start planning your next submission and meet your RDS.   

Here is looking toward a productive and great semester!

Richard

Sponsored Programs Administration recently welcomed Karyn Higgs and Elizabeth Garcia-Ramirez to the pre-award team. As Proposal Coordinators Karyn and Elizabeth will support faculty with proposal budgeting, preparation, and submission.

Carrie Blackwood-Williams has been promoted to director of Sponsored Programs Administration as part of RIPS internal reorganization to redouble efforts to improve operations while leaning into a relational model of service for faculty. Working with Blackwood-Williams, Maria (Rai) Nihei, Assistant Director Pre-Award will oversee daily pre-award functions and Katie Mowers, Assistant Director Post Award will supervise daily post-award functions. Sarah Senechalle, Associate Director for SPA will continue to support both teams.

Donna Martin, former associate director for pre-award in Sponsored Programs Administration, joined the Office of Research Development (ORD) as its associate director January 1. Donna brings more than two decades of research administration and development experience to ORD, where she will co-lead and engage directly in programming.

Jordan York joined RIPS as a program and communications coordinator supporting the Office of Research Development and the Office of Innovation. Jordan will provide coordination, logistics, and communications to support programming for both offices.

Dana Hoefle, Proposal Coordinator in SPA recently earned the Certified Research Administrator (CRA) credential demonstrating her knowledge of grants management. 

University Grants Academy

NIU’s inaugural University Grants Academy (UGA) started the week of January 13 with 21 faculty participants in five cohorts. Participants will develop a complete grant application during the program, which spans the spring semester. Each cohort is led by a facilitator experienced with external grant funding and is supported by the Office of Research Development.

Applications for the spring 2026 UGA will be accepted later this spring.

ORD launches one-on-one faculty support

ORD is launching one-on-one faculty support for proposal development and strategic funding development. Throughout the spring semester, ORD director, Kellie Dyslin, will contact college associate deans to discuss the opportunity and introduce the research development specialist (RDS) designated for their college. The RDS will be available to partner with faculty to develop strategic funding trajectory plans and/or individual grant proposals for external sponsors. 

As the semester begins, remember that ORCIS offers a variety of research training. Our office is more than happy to attend classes or meetings to present on topics such as human subjects, laboratory safety, the responsible conduct of research, and other areas faculty or students may require or benefit from. Please reach out to researchcompliance@niu.edu to request any in-person training. ORCIS also provides online training to fulfill compliance requirements. We have developed an infographic (below) to assist researchers in identifying requirements for the research they are conducting. This infographic will be available on our website for future reference.

Some recent attention for NIU Press books…

We would like to give a special shout out to Irina Nesterova (CHEM), Venu Korampally (ELE), and Nick Pohlman (MEE) who participated in the Hall of Inventions at the Second Annual Chicago BioCapital Summit on Nov. 7. They showcased their cutting-edge biotech inventions to over 650 attendees that included investors, industry scouts and other academic entrepreneurs.

On Nov. 20, 71 North Partnership Studio hosted the Cartoon Workshop with NIU alumnus, Dr. James Allen. It was a packed house and thank you to all the students and faculty who attended.

Stay up to date on the Office of Innovation’s programs and activities by subscribing to the 71 North Pulse at https://71north.beehiiv.com/

We are pleased to announce the following programming beginning this spring.

Monday Money Matters and More

Starting in February, SPA will hold virtual office hours focusing on various aspects of grants management. These sessions will cover topics from pre-award to post award and will include an open Q&A segment. Office hours will be held biweekly on Mondays, and participation from all interested parties is welcome.

Department Administrator Grants Training Intensive

In March and April SPA will offer a comprehensive 6-week virtual training program designed to introduce department administrators and staff to the full spectrum of grants management. This intensive will provide in-depth knowledge and practical skills to support faculty and improve grants administration at NIU.

Watch the NIU Announcements for detailed schedules and specific topics.

Tuition Remission Cost Share

Beginning in January, requests to cost share tuition remission will also need to be approved by the Principal Investigator’s department chair or unit head, the college dean or vice president, and the Graduate School. Requests should be submitted at least 15-30 days prior to the proposal deadline to allow sufficient time for the additional reviews. The requests, commonly referred to by SPA as Tuition Waiver Cost Share requests, are processed through InfoEd. SPA has a longstanding policy of including tuition remission costs in budgets when permitted by the sponsor, and there is no change to that policy.

As a reminder, tuition remission is a direct charge to sponsors to cover the cost of tuition waivers that the university provides to graduate assistants as part of their benefits package. A program of tuition remission allows the university to recoup waived tuition costs and invest in future research and education programs.   

Deana J Herrman, Allied Health and Communicative Disorders ‑ $74,017.00 from University of Illinois System for "Behavioral Health Stratified Treatment to Optimize Transition to Adulthood for Youth with IDD (BEST)." The B.E.S.T project is a comparative effectiveness study testing whether integrated behavioral health care coordination is better than care coordination alone in improving health, transition, and satisfaction outcomes among youth with IDD.

Leila M Porter, Anthropology ‑ $4,778.00 from Re:wild for "Ecology and Conservation of Primates and other Large Mammals: A Field Course for Bolivian Biologists." We seek funding to teach a one‑week course on the conservation of large mammals to be held at the Estación Biológica Tahuamanu in the Pando, Bolivia.

Heather E Bergan‑Roller, Biological Sciences ‑ $5,000.00 from Middle Tennessee State University for "Facilitating science communication beyond the ivory tower: a DBER network to stabilize and grow undergraduate science communication education research."  The purpose of the project is to begin the formation of a collaboration research network centered on discipline‑based education research and science communication.

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Endeavor Health for "One Year MBA Schaumburg." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Ice Mobility for "One Year MBA Schaumburg." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Motorola Solutions for "One Year MBA Schaumburg." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Verizon Wireless for "One Year MBA Schaumburg." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from South Street Kindercare for "One Year MBA Schaumburg."

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from St. Charles Police Department for "One Year MBA Schaumburg."

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Laystrom Manufacturing for "One Year MBA Schaumburg." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00  from T‑Mobile for "One Year MBA Schaumburg." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Transportation Insight for "One Year MBA Schaumburg." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from The Community and Economic Development Association of Cook County, Inc. for "One Year MBA Schaumburg." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Northrop Grumman Corporation for "One Year MBA Schaumburg." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from General Motors Company for "One Year MBA Schaumburg." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Indo American Center for "One Year MBA Schaumburg." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Amazon.com, Inc. for "One Year MBA Schaumburg." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Avalign Technologies, Inc. for "One Year MBA Schaumburg." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Robert Half Inc. for "One Year MBA Schaumburg." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory for "One Year MBA Schaumburg." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from SAP America for "One Year MBA Schaumburg." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Albertson's, Inc. for "One Year MBA Schaumburg." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $3,600.00 from Boyarski Development Co. for "One Year MBA Schaumburg." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,250.00 from Elgiloy Specialty Metals for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,250.00 from Heuft USA Inc for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,250.00 from Davey Resource Group, Inc. for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,250.00 from United States Cold Storage for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,250.00 from Confluent for "Executive MBA."                                    

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,250.00 from Mitsubishi HC Capital America, Inc. for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,250.00 from Verizon Connect for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,250.00from Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,250.00from Synchrony Financial for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,250.00 from Coca‑Cola Bottling Company for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,250.00from The Suter Company for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,250.00 from Narita Manufacturing, Inc. for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,250.00 from Sedgwick Claims Management for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,250.00 from QAD Inc. for "Executive MBA."                                      

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,250.00from American Association of Nurse Anesthetists for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,250.00 from Illinois Department of Revenue for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,250.00 from Verizon Connect for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,250.00 from Intellisource, Inc. for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $500.00 from Organon for "Executive MBA."                                             

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,659.09 from Ring Container Technologies for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $10,977.27 from Enlighten & Fulfilled LLC for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,659.09 from Fortune Brands Innovations for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,659.09 from Global Contract Manufacturing for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,659.09 from QuidelOrtho for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,659.09 from METRIE for "Executive MBA."                                        

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,659.09 from New Plan Learning Inc. for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,659.09 from Elite Dental Partners for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,659.09 from The Good Fruit Company for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,659.09 from Housing Finance Specalist for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,659.09 from Rush‑Copley Medical Center for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,659.09from Nestle Brands Company for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,659.09 from Allstate Insurance Corp. for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,659.09 from Lakeshore Recycling Systems for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,659.09 from Harting, Inc. for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,659.09 from Onbe for "Executive MBA."                                              

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,659.09 from Siemens for "Executive MBA"                                       

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,659.09 from CVS Health for "Executive MBA."                                

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Custom Culinary, Inc. for "One Year MBA Chicago." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from W.W. Grainger for "One Year MBA Chicago." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Tenneco for "One Year MBA Chicago." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00from Northwestern University for "One Year MBA Chicago." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Shermco Industries for "One Year MBA Chicago." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $10,800.00 from Verily Life Sciences for "One Year MBA Chicago." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Robert Bosch GmbH for "One Year MBA Chicago." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Reconext for "One Year MBA Chicago." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Action Consulting and Therapy, LLC for "One Year MBA Chicago." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Village of Lisle for "One Year MBA Chicago." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from GoHealth for "One Year MBA Chicago." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from WellBe Senior Medical for "One Year MBA Chicago." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Quality Coding Software Solutions for "One Year MBA Chicago." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Abbott Laboratories for "One Year MBA Chicago." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Nova Biomedical for "One Year MBA Chicago." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $7,700.00 from Wirtz Corporation for "One Year MBA Chicago." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,250.00 from Army National Guard/Department of the Army/DoD for "Executive MBA." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Hope Chicago for "One Year MBA Chicago." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from Chicago Public Schools for "One Year MBA Chicago." 

Anthony W Preston, College of Business ‑ $14,400.00 from The Black Vetrepreneurs Network for "One Year MBA Chicago." 

Jason P Klein, College of Education ‑ $87,732.93 from Golden Apple Foundation for "Golden Apple Scholar Institute 4." 

Jason P Klein, College of Education ‑ $339,000.00from Golden Apple Foundation for "Contract Courses." 

Jason P Klein, College of Education ‑ $73,500.00from School District # 96, Kildeer Countryside Community Consolidated for "Contract Courses." 

Jason P Klein, College of Education ‑ $24,000.00 from School District # 205, Rockford for "Contract Courses." 

Jason P Klein, College of Education ‑ $24,000.00 from Harper College for "Contract Courses." 

Jason P Klein, College of Education ‑ $133,466.66 from Illinois Association of School Business Officials for "Contract Courses." 

Jason P Klein, College of Education ‑ $24,519.00 from School District # 88, Plano for "Contract Courses." 

Jason P Klein, College of Education ‑ $252,000.00 from School District # 205, Rockford for "Contract Courses." 

Jason P Klein, College of Education ‑ $100,000.00 from School District # 46, Elgin for "Contract Courses." 

Jason P Klein, College of Education ‑ $48,000.00 from Westside Children's Therapy for "Contract Courses." 

Jason P Klein, College of Education ‑ $190.00 from School District # 220, Barrington for "Future Educators Conference." 

Jason P Klein, College of Education ‑ $4,275.00 from School District # 211, Township High for "Future Educators Conference." 

Alex M Haberlie, Earth Atmosphere & Environment ‑ $199,316.00 from National Science Foundation/NSF for "EMBRACE‑AGS‑Seed: Harnessing the Power of Machine Learning to Generate Ensembles of Regional Climate Projections."  The purpose of the project is to test the feasibility and applicability of using an AI/ML approach to generate an ensemble of kilometer‑scale projections of potential future changes in precipitation.

Allison C Michaelis, Earth Atmosphere & Environment ‑ $83,144.37 from University of California, San Diego for "Projected Changes in Landfalling Atmospheric River Families in High‑Resolution Climate Simulations." Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are beneficial and hazardous systems impacting the US West Coast. Negative impacts are worsened with back‑to‑back events. We aim to explore how these extreme events may change in a future climate.

Justin P Dodd, Earth Atmosphere & Environment ‑  $123,543.00 from Columbia University for "US Advisory Committee (USAC) Chair, Justin Dodd." The project includes 4 months of salary support for the PI (Dodd) to serve as the chair of the US Advisory Committee for Scientific Ocean Drilling for a 1‑yr period (10/1/2023 ‑ to be administered as a subaward from Columbia University (USSSP‑IODP).

Julie L Crouch, Family Violence&Sexual Assault ‑ $656,197.00 from Illinois Department of Children and Family Services for "FY25 Domestic Violence Intervention Program." NIU will coordinate and administer the Domestic Violence Intervention Program in conjunction with the DCFS Administrator of the program.

Julie L Crouch, Family Violence&Sexual Assault ‑ $2,282,029.00 from Illinois Department of Children and Family Services for "FY25 Congregated Care Assessment Program." The Congregate Care Assessment Program (CCAP) is funded through DCFS to conduct independent assessments of youth in care to determine if level of treatment is appropriate.

Laura D Pittman, Psychology ‑ $9,211,151.00 from Illinois Department of Children and Family Services for "FY25 Integrated Assessment." Funds support the Integrated Assessment (IA) Program, which provides clinical screening and assessment services to children under the care of DCFS in the northern, central, and southern IA Program regions

Denise Burchard, Public Administration ‑ $8,946.00 from Village of Glen Ellyn for "Externship." 

Denise Burchard, Public Administration ‑ $3,578.40 from Bartlett Fire Protection District for "Externship." 

Denise Burchard, Public Administration ‑ $6,262.20 from McHenry County for "Externship."                                     

Lara B Lyles, Schl of Intrdscplnry Hlth Prf ‑ $1,680,000.00 from Illinois Department of Public Health for "Illinois Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (IL‑BRFSS)." The program obtains telephone survey data from a scientifically drawn sample of adults in Illinois households.

Barrie P Bode, VP Research and Innv Prtnrshp ‑ $128,623.00 from U.S. Geological Survey/Department of the Interior for "Cooperative Agreement with United States Geological Survey (USGS)." USGS cooperative agreement to expand USGS' footprint on the NIU campus to expand the collaborative scientific relationship between the agency and the university.

Total Awarded this month: $16,649,200