Announcements - Cloned

Dear Columbia Faculty and Researchers:

Empire AI is a consortium of nine New York State institutions that, with support from New York State and private philanthropy, oversees a shared computing facility, located in Buffalo.  It promotes research and development to advance the ethical and public-interest uses of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing technologies in New York.

We now solicit proposals to use the second instance of our resource, called Beta, described here, which includes an upgrade of the original Alpha capability.  Beta will be up to ∼7x faster…

Dear Members of the Columbia Research Community,

As you saw from Acting President Shipman’s announcement, Columbia has reached an agreement with the federal government. This agreement includes several important developments for the future of Columbia’s federally funded research. We would like to highlight three provisions that are critical to our continued efforts to carry out federally funded research and obtain new funding for new projects:

First, the agreement provides that the federal government will treat Columbia as eligible for further grants, contracts, and awards in…

Yushu Xia, Lamont Assistant Research Professor at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

The 2024 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy will take effect on July 1, 2025 (accelerated from the original December 2025 date). This policy eliminates the previous 12-month embargo period and requires immediate public access to NIH-funded research.

Key Changes:

• Zero embargo: Author Approved Manuscripts (AAMs) must be publicly available in PubMed Central immediately upon publication
• Applies to all NIH-funded manuscripts accepted for publication after July 1: Including those awarded before July 1, 2025
• AAMs: Must be submitted to PubMed Central upon acceptance for…

Dear Colleagues,

Please be advised that the Department of Defense (DoD) Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) now require the use of the federal-wide Common Forms for both biosketches and current & pending (other) support in all applications. NIH-format Word templates are no longer acceptable for CDMRP submissions.

This requirement is part of CDMRP’s implementation of federal research security policy under the National Security Memorandum-33 (NSPM-33), which mandates standardized disclosure of researcher support and affiliations.

What’s New in the Common Forms:…

Dear Faculty, Researchers, and Principal Investigators,

I write to share, in a single communication, a summary of the many different actions the University is taking to support you and our entire research community during these unprecedented times. We understand how stressful the current situation is, and we know the uncertainty weighs heavily on everyone in our research community.

The University is still in active discussions with the federal government. These discussions focus not only on reinstatement of the awards terminated in March, but also on ensuring the future flow of grant support…

Vikram Gadagkar, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience

HRPO Newsletter #13 (4/2025)

• Noncompliance in Human Subjects Research: IRB Policy updated effective April 2, 2025
• What is Facilitated Review?  
• Contact information for the HRPO Reliance Team processing the facilitated review of protocols reviewed by an external IRB
• New “Fac Review” Committee in Rascal
• Short Form Consent Process

On Wednesday, April 16, a federal court in Massachusetts issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) barring the DOE from implementing the 15% rate cap on DOE awards and/or terminating any grants based on a grantee's refusal to accept an indirect cost rate less than its negotiated rate. The TRO applies to all DOE awards impacted by the proposed rate cap, including Columbia's DOE awards. Accordingly, in the absence of any other type of communication from DOE, PIs with DOE awards should continue their research activities as usual, and the University's negotiated indirect cost will apply.  As…

Dear members of our research community,

We wish to update you on work that is moving forward, continuing the path we embarked on when we first received notices of federally terminated research awards. 

At the institutional level, the University continues to pursue all available channels to restore federal funding. In parallel, the Office of the Provost, joined with teams from Research and Finance, and working with the deans in each of our affected schools, developed processes to receive feedback from our principal investigators on the impact of the award terminations on research activity…

Ava Kamdem, undergraduate student in psychology at the School of General Studies

Starting with application due dates and progress reports submitted on or after May 25, 2025, it is anticipated that the NIH will continue to mandate the use of SciENcv (Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae) for creating Biographical Sketches and Other Support forms (known as the “Common Forms”).

The Common Forms are expected to be available in SciENcv by late March 2025. Additionally, NIH will require a new Biographical Sketch Supplement form, which includes the Personal Statement, Contributions to Science, and Honors. This supplement form must also be prepared using SciENcv.

For…

Dear Colleagues:

You have likely read Interim President Armstrong’s message to our community regarding federal actions to cancel a selection of grants and contracts awarded to Columbia University. Please know that we are taking this action and its impacts on our community very seriously and will be in regular communication as the situation evolves.

For now, unless you received a stop-work order or termination notice, researchers should continue to perform work on awarded federal projects. In case you receive any kind of such communication, or any questionnaire,…

HRPO newsletter number 12 (3/7/2025)

• When to submit a Closure Report?
• Automated stamping of IRB-approved documents
• Recent Rascal Enhancement: Update of the Help Text under the HazMat's attachment page.

Dear members of the Columbia research community,

As we navigate these uncertain times, I would like to share with you some updated reminders and new resources:

1. The EVPR Office’s Federal Research Updates 2025 website includes general guidance for researchers and Frequently Asked Questions, among other resources. In the current, fast-changing environment, we are updating the website in roughly real time. Please visit the website frequently to see the most up-to-date information.

2. Importantly, if you receive a stop-work order or a request for certification or other…