Faculty and Staff Resources
The Office of Grant and Contract Services (OGCS) is the central resource and expert partner on research administration providing support and oversight of sponsored projects. OGCS represents the University of Texas at Arlington as the institutional official for proposal submission and award acceptance ensuring compliance with federal regulations, sponsor requirements and University policies.
The Trump administration, which assumed office on January 20, 2025, has issued several Executive Orders (White House News) that may result in an impact to UTA federally funded projects. OGCS will be posting and updating general guidance issued by agencies. Specific guidance impacting individual projects will be sent directly to Principal Investigators.
Join us for an informative Lunch & Learn session designed to help Principal Investigators better understand their role in PostAward Financial Management. We will focus on key aspects of budget monitoring, including how to review balances, identify red flags, and ensure compliance throughout the life of an award.
Topics will include:
We’ll also provide a brief overview of the Principal Investigator’s responsibilities for technical and programmatic reporting, along with key deadlines to remember.
This workshop is open to any UTA faculty, staff or students interested in PostAward Financial Management at UTA. Lunch will be provided for in-person attendees. Please complete this RSVP form by Wednesday June 11th, for additional meeting information and to be included in the lunch order. Contact [email protected], if you need accommodations.
Join us from 12p-2p on Friday, June 13th online or in person at Trinity 104.
This session, led by PostAward, helped Principal Investigators understand their financial management responsibilities. Key topics included budget monitoring, identifying red flags, prior approval requirements, cost transfers, and handling non-cancellable expenses. The session also covered PI responsibilities for technical and programmatic reporting, along with key deadlines.
Watch: Managing Your AwardDevelopment presented a session on understanding the benefits, processes, and finer points of grant seeking in the philanthropic sector. Discussion included the clear—as well as subtle—differences between public and private funders and how to navigate the often multi-layered, time-sensitive solicitation process in the private realm. Development’s Corporate and Foundation Relations team serves as the liaison for approaching private funders fostering charitable intentions.
Watch: Private Funders OverviewJeff Campbell, Director of Core Facilities, presented an overview of UTA's shared resources (instrumentation, equipment, facilities, and services).
Download the Speaker's Notes
Eileen Clements, Interim Executive Director of UTARI, provided an overview of the University of Texas at Arlington Research Institute (UTARI).
Edward Gonzales, Director OIT Research Support, and Garrett Werner, Research Security Manager, presented on the current security environment, including regulatory changes for federal grants along with the burden this places on researchers. Best practices were reviewed in the context of how they help investigators meet their security responsibilities. They concluded with a brief overview of support available to help investigators stay secure and protect their efforts.
Watch: Research Security SessionDan Vincenzo discussed how to contract with industry, and the various agreement options UTA has used to successfully expedite and comfort prospective sponsors who have questions. He discussed the steps you should take internally before meeting with your industry partners, and during the process to fast track industry connections that can lead to funding for your projects.
Watch: Industry Agreements GuideErik Wolf of The Conafay Group (TCG) provided insight about DoD medical research and development funding. The webinar provided tools that can help you be more competitive for research dollars and win grants from the Defense Health Agency (DHA) and other related entities. He discussed how to engage the DoD, what kinds of research they are interested in, and how the system works and should come away with a realistic understanding of how to work towards these funding opportunities.
Watch: DoD Research FundingThe UTA Day Family Research Lab (DFRL) staff provided an overview of the support and partnerships offered by this new space for researchers. The DFRL combines several areas of expertise in one hub at UTA Libraries to support researchers throughout their research journey. We talked about our in-house expertise in data, statistics, systematic/scoping reviews, patents, publishing support, research dissemination/impact, and more! The DFRL is located in Room 510 of the Central Library.
Watch: DFRL OverviewOffice of Grant and Contract Specialist, Scott Alisoglu, presented on the fundamentals of subaward management, including proposal preparation, agreement negotiation, monitoring and closeout. Topics included the distinctions between subawards and subcontracts, federal and UTA subaward requirements, agreement basics, and PI responsibilities for oversight/management.
Watch: Subawards OverviewOGCS discussed how we serve UTA by providing PreAward and PostAward services for externally funded grants and contracts. Together, we serve the needs of our faculty, staff and students by providing services to assist in obtaining and the subsequent management of external funding. PreAward assists with finding funding and submitting proposals. PostAward assists with management of awards and any subawards, in line with sponsor and institution requirements, obtaining prior approvals, managing the budget and final closeout of awards. The Center for Proposal Development (CPD) highlighted proposal development services they provide.
Download the speakers' notesOGCS staff provided a guided tour of mentis, answering questions along the way. The PreAward team kicked it off with how to complete a BlueSheet, with extra emphasis and information on completing the IDC Distribution form, as well as the multiple credit tab. Common reports that are available to the campus community were also discussed. The PostAward team finished the talk with details on a soon to be released dashboard that will contain information about awards, effort and budget, as well as information on useful PostAward reports available in mentis.
Watch: Mentis TourThe Office of Grant and Contract Services (OGCS) PostAward team provided an overview of reporting requirements and discussed best practices to successfully complete and submit an RPPR via the eRA Commons grant management system. The eRA Commons system supports grants from NIH, Department of Commerce, AHRQ and several other federal agencies. This provides PI’s an excellent overview of the reporting process at UTA including PI and PostAward roles, submission formats and reporting timelines.
Watch: RPPR Reporting GuideDuring the first part of the session, we discussed the NSF changes (biosketch, mentoring plan, synergistic activities, etc.) that became effective May 20, 2024, with the release of the PAPPG 24-1. These changes are effective for proposals due on or after May 20, 2024. The second half of this session was a refresher on the use of the SciENcv for biosketches and the Current and Pending Support.
Watch: NSF & SciENcv UpdatesJasmine Parker, senior director of employee and cultural engagement at Dallas College, discussed the significance of Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) by exploring their historical context, purposes, societal impact, and reasons why they are crucial in the contemporary educational landscape. By examining the evolution of MSIs, their unique contributions, challenges, and the current socio-political climate, participants gained a comprehensive understanding of the necessity and relevance of MSIs today.
Watch: MSI Impact SessionConsultant Lucy Deckard of Academic Research Funding Strategies, LLC lead a webinar on NSF CAREER and other grants specifically for junior faculty. How to identify the right grants and how to write those proposals. Emphasis will be on the NSF CAREER, but other early career grants will also be discussed.
Watch: Early-Career GrantsDan Vicenzo discusses how to contract with industry, and the various agreement options we have developed to successfully expedite and comfort prospective sponsors who have questions. We discuss the steps you should take internally before meeting with your industry partners, and during the process to fast track industry connections that can lead to funding for your projects.
Watch: Overview and Working with IndustryConsultant Lucy Deckard of Academic Research Funding Strategies, LLC leads a webinar for faculty who have been successful in winning single-PI and small team grants and are looking to transition to larger team and center-level grants. We discuss how these larger grants are different, what the expectations of the funding agencies are for large team and center grants, successful strategies and common mistakes to avoid.
Watch: Center Grants StrategyDr. Dolores Raivzee-Bell, newly appointed director of UTA’s Center for Proposal Development, presents an overview of the department’s roles and responsibilities in serving faculty, staff, and students. The Center for Proposal Development provides assistance in grant writing, review and editing of large-scale funding proposals. Additional information shared on target goals for the 2024 academic year.
Watch: CPD Department OverviewOGCS staff discuss Supplements - opportunities available for your funded NIH and NSF awards. Supplements offer additional funding to support administrative needs, equipment, additional personnel (including students) or to expand the scope of an awarded project. In this session, we summarize supplement opportunities and outline the application process and assistance offered by our PreAward staff. PostAward staff present on unique aspects of supplement management.
Watch: Supplements ExplainedConsultants Rene Paulson & Mindy Chandler of Elite Research, LLC discuss funding agencies desire to invest their money in solid programs that are a direct result of solid design. A solid design comes from a logic model. This workshop is designed to help you maximize your funding potential by ensuring your program or project design has a solid foundation.
Download the speaker's resources.
Watch: Logic Model WorkshopInvited guest speaker, Jeremy Forsberg, Associate Vice President for Research, discusses the Principal Investigators (PI) responsibilities at the University of Texas at Arlington for conducting research. Also, he covers faculty disclosure and reporting requirements of UT Arlington, concerns of foreign influence and disclosures necessary to federal agencies.
Watch: PI Responsibilities TalkThe Office of Grant and Contract Services (OGCS) serves the UTA community by providing PreAward and PostAward services for externally funded grants and contracts. Together, we serve the needs of our faculty, staff and students by providing services to assist in obtaining and the subsequent management of external funding.
Watch: OGCS OverviewThis training session is designed to assist Principal Investigators (PI’s) and the grants community in monitoring and managing compensation on their active grants and sponsored projects.
Major topics covered include: initiating payroll on your new project, sponsor restrictions (eg, additional pay, salary cap, NSF, DHHS), payroll confirmation at UTA, buyout & faculty research supplemental award.
Watch: Compensation Guide
For faculty researchers on how to approach mission agencies, develop and write white papers, concept papers and quad charts for unsolicited proposals to the agencies that require them.
Download the speaker's resources.
Watch: Mission Agency TipsThe Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers NSF's most prestigious awards to junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, educational excellence, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. If you are a pre-tenure faculty member, hold a doctoral degree in a discipline supported by NSF, and are engaged in STEM and/or STEM education research, the CAREER Program could be a great fit for you. This session will provide an overview of the CAREER Program, tips and strategies to help develop a competitive proposal, and showcase recent CAREER awardees at UTA.
Watch: NSF CAREER OverviewWebinar for Faculty, Staff or Students to learn about how to develop collaborations with industry and how to pursue industry funding for research. Presented by Lucy Deckard, who has helped to develop successful proposals to NSF, NIH, the Department of Education, the Department of Defense, and other agencies and foundations, including proposals for large institutional and center-level grants. Download the speaker's notes.
Watch: Industry Funding Strategies
This webinar explores the types of funding available to support research in the humanities and humanities-related social sciences. Researchers will learn how to compete for grants that support travel to collections and libraries from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and private foundations.
Watch: Humanities Grants TalkAre you writing a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant and would like a deeper understanding of NSF's Broader Impacts (BI) criterion? This session will help you make sense of the BI criterion and empower current and future PIs to conceptualize, develop, implement and evaluate BI activities.
Download Handout: NSF Broader ImpactsMany sponsoring agencies request information on an investigator's existing or pending research support as part of a proposal or during the PreAward process. Sometimes called Current and Pending Support or Other Support, this section of a proposal or just-in-time submission requests information on current funding and pending proposals. In this workshop, you will learn how to accurately represent other funding sources in your proposals and award reports.
DOWNLOAD HANDOUT: PENDING SUPPORTWhether you plan to write a proposal for a federal agency, foundation, or an internal grant competition, this workshop will help you build your foundation for a solid proposal by aligning your design elements, creating the concept paper, and refining and practicing your pitch.
Watch: Proposal Planning GuideWhether you plan to write a proposal for a federal agency, foundation, or an internal grant competition, this workshop will help you build your interdisciplinary research team and funding trajectory for multidisciplinary/center grants.
Watch: Team Grants SessionPolicies and procedures for all UTA Research offices have been centralized in Faculty and Staff Resources.
