OM 6.4.0 Research and Consulting
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Effective Date: August 1966 |
Policy Contact: Office of the Provost |
The University encourages its staff to engage in research, consulting and other activities that will promote the professional growth of the individual and thereby strengthen the standing and recognition of the University.
I. Research Policy
Research will be encouraged, within University capacity, by adjustment of teaching loads, use of facilities and allotment of funds. Financial support will be given through the Division of Research with corresponding responsibilities to the Division agreed upon at the time of allotment. No payment of supplemental salary will be made to any faculty for research which is supported solely by University funds.
Payment may be made to persons holding faculty status for work done under contract with outside agencies as follows:
During the summer months, persons holding faculty status may be paid from grants and contracts up to 33 1/3% of the academic year salary, computed as one-ninth of academic salary per month of summer effort.
Faculty members engaged through funds obtained by grants or contracts are responsible to the director and are assigned by him or her 1) to the project director for research work done, and 2) to the departmental chair if the faculty member is to engage in any teaching.
All research involving grants or contracts with outside agencies will be administered by the director of the Division of Research. All commitments involving research use of personnel, equipment, and/or space of departments will be agreed to in writing by the department chair to the director, who then has the responsibility for the facilities and personnel assigned. Such agreements shall be within University policy.
II. Guidelines for Approval of Research
A. General Consideration. All research conducted at Clarkson is expected to be consistent with the objectives of the University, i.e., the education of undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students, the advancement of knowledge through research and scholarship, the preservation and dissemination of knowledge, and the advancement of public welfare. In addition, it is expected that all research shall be soundly based and shall give promise of making a significant contribution to knowledge. The research also shall be judged to be appropriate to the purposes and capabilities of Clarkson.
All research shall be carried out by, or under the direction of, a member of the faculty or comparable professional employee.
B. Research Support. Research grants, contracts or gifts will be accepted only when the research contemplated is believed to be of benefit to the University, and the public in general, in accordance with the above objectives. The availability of funds must not be the sole justification for undertaking research. The terms of any grant, contract, or gift for research shall conform to the usual University policies and business procedures and, in general, permit the University to exercise administrative control and accountability for the proposed research.
C. Classified or Proprietary Research.
Because Clarkson University engages in research primarily for the advancement, preservation and dissemination of knowledge and for the advancement of the public welfare, University facilities shall not be used for the purpose of classified or proprietary research without the prior approval of the director of Research.
Research contracts in these categories are those which require that the results be withheld from disclosure because the results contain confidential or proprietary information, in the case of private sponsors or, in the case of the government sponsors, any category of classified information defined in the Industrial Security Manual for Safeguarding Classified Information (DOD 5220 22M).
The University does not have the facilities to store, retain, or transmit government designated classified material and, therefore, cannot approve the conduct of government classified research.
The University recognizes that in some cases it may be necessary to delay the disclosure of results for a limited period of time normally not to exceed sixty days. Additional delays, normally not exceeding four months, may be granted to allow the development of patentable products or techniques or to allow a period of review by the sponsoring agency because of the use of confidential proprietary or government classified information in the conduct of the research. Graduate students considering such projects for thesis work should be informed by the principal investigator of the restrictions involved.
While it is the responsibility of the director of Research to insure that the University's policy on classified or proprietary research is enforced, it is also the responsibility of the principal investigator(s) of any research project to call to the attention of the administration any restrictions that limit the use and distribution of information resulting from the research.
D. Graduate Theses and Dissertations - Theses and dissertations should not incorporate research that cannot be made public at the time the final examination is held.
III. Compliance Issues Related to Research
A. Human Subjects - All activities related to human subjects research must initially be reviewed and approved or exempted by the Clarkson University Institutional Review Board (IRB), whether they are conducted by faculty, staff, assistants, students, or any other research collaborator. See Section 2.10.2.III.D and Section 6.5 of this Operations Manual for further information.
B. Radiation Safety - The University maintains a license and registration from the New York State Department of Health which permits faculty to use radioactive materials and ionizing radiation producing equipment. The University must comply with the State Sanitary Code and the NBS Handbook III. The Radiation Safety Committee administers the radiation program at Clarkson. All research, regardless of funding source, which involves radioactive materials or the acquisition of equipment which produces ionizing radiation, must be reviewed by the Radiation Safety Committee.
C. Controlled Substances. (drugs, needles and syringes) The University maintains a license from the New York State Department of Health and a registration with the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration which allows research using controlled substances to be conducted on campus. The Division of Research maintains the list of approved substances. All proposed research which would utilize a controlled substance must be approved by New York State for both the substance and the research protocol. In addition, the University is governed by pertinent sections Chapter II, Subchapter J, Part 80 of Public Health Law 3308[2] article 33 which deals with record keeping and reporting, and hypodermic syringes and needles. All research on campus must meet those regulations.
D. Animals. Currently, research using live vertebrate, warm-blooded animals is not permitted at Clarkson University.
IV. Salary Recovery Guidelines
An attempt should be made to recover from each sponsored project academic year salary equal to the summer salary requested in the proposal. In cases where asking for full salary recovery may affect the probability of funding of the proposal, the director of the Division of Research, in consultation with the principal investigator and the dean of the principal investigator's school, may reduce or eliminate the amount of salary recovery requested.
If an agency funds a proposal at a reduced level, the director of the Division of Research, in consultation with the principal investigator and the dean of the principal investigator's school, shall determine the best way to revise the budget to meet the available funds while satisfying the research and educational goals for which the proposal was written.
The money raised through salary recovery shall be distributed as follows: two-thirds to the dean of the principal investigator and one-third to the principal investigator's department or area. This money will be spent to support the scholarly activities of the faculty, reduce faculty teaching loads, and support University wide research needs.
V. Consulting
Faculty members are free to engage in personal consulting practices under the following conditions.
A. Any faculty member engaging in consulting must inform his or her immediate supervisor in advance of accepting a consulting obligation.
B. The work does not interfere with their responsibilities to the University. (Such interference is to be judged by the staff member's immediate superior.)
C. University equipment and space are not used (nor can they be borrowed or rented).
D. The University name is not used, other than to identify the consultants as members of the University and their position.
E. Payment charges are to be between client and consultant and are not to be reported to the University, nor is the University to be involved in any way with these charges, except that it is requested that charges be not less than average for similar professional services. If it becomes known that low charges are placing the University in an unfavorable light, the faculty member will be requested to correct his or her range of fees.
F. Faculty members engaged in government-sponsored research are expected to inform and confer with the Division of Research on the nature and extent of consulting which could impair or conflict with their responsibilities to granting agencies. For examples of potential conflict of interest situations, see "On Preventing Conflict of Interest in Government-Sponsored Research at Universities," AAUP Bulletin, Spring, 1965, pp. 42-43.
History
Revised August 1966, April 1969, February 1978, July 1981, July 1989
Revised and Approved by Faculty Senate February 1989
Revised September 1993
Revised and Approved by Faculty Senate March 1998
Revision Approved by Faculty Senate February 2008
Revision Approved by Administrative Council May 2008