We are proud to announce that we have successfully constituted our inaugural Alumni Advisory Board. They can be found here as part of our new website. We welcome them and are quite excited about working with them. Please remember that Friday, September 7, we will be hosting our alumni as part of the Open House programming, including a careers panel and more. Thank you to Vaishali for her hard work in pulling this together!
Author Archives: johnsojg
APA Graduate Student Awards: Dissertation and early student
Graduate students should consider applying for these awards or, if not currently eligible, filing it away for the future! Faculty, please encourage your talented students to apply!
APA Dissertation Research Awards and Early Graduate Student Researcher Awards: Call for applications
The Science Directorate of the American Psychological Association is managing two award programs for graduate student research in 2018. For both awards, applications are welcome from graduate students of psychology in any research specialty area. The application deadline for the Dissertation Research Award is Sept. 1, 2018, and the deadline for the Early Graduate Student Researcher Award is Sept. 14, 2018.
If you have questions, please contact the Science Directorate via email or by telephone at (202) 336-6000.
APA Dissertation Research Awards
The Dissertation Research Award assists science-oriented doctoral students of psychology with research costs. In 2018, APA will grant up to 30 awards of $1,000 each, as well as several awards of up to $5,000 each to students whose dissertation research reflects excellence in scientific psychology.
For more details about this award, including eligibility requirements and application materials, visit the APA Dissertation Research Awards webpage.
Early Graduate Student Researcher Awards
The Early Graduate Student Research Award, sponsored by the APA Science Student Council, recognizes students who demonstrate outstanding research abilities early in their graduate training (i.e., research conducted within the first two years of doctoral study). Both overall research experience and specific completed research projects are considered in selecting awardees.
Up to three awards are given each year, drawn from basic science, applied science and interdisciplinary science areas. Each Early Graduate Student Research Award is in the amount of $1,000.
For more details about the awards, including eligibility requirements and application materials, visit the Early Graduate Student Researcher Awards webpage.
Updates on NIH clinical trial policy
From FABBS:
Larry Tabak says that NIH has developed a plan to “address the shared interests of involved stakeholders” and that NIH was “prepared to move forward so that [they] can widely communicate the delayed enforcement and lenient implementation described in the plan.”
NIH’s plan to address the concerns about the reach of the clinical trials policies looks very promising, but of course, the devil is in the details, and many of those details are not yet known. Here’s what we know:
(1) NIH will delay enforcement of a registration and reporting system for basic science involving humans until July 1, 2019.
(2) NIH will allow scientists to register and report their basic science research involving humans through other portals such as Open Science. Eventually, NIH will pull data elements from these portals in order to track what they fund and comply with their own reporting requirements to Congress.
(3) A Request for Information (RFI) will be released soon so that NIH can get feedback on what reporting standards are appropriate for the range of basic science research involving humans. FABBS will respond, and we welcome input from our member societies and affiliates. Once the RFI is released, we will share it with you and seek your input.
(4) NIH will be “flexible” and “lenient” with regard to enforcement of other clinical trial policies for basic science. Although NIH’s plan is not specific, presumably this applies to the requirements that basic scientists whose research was defined as a clinical trial respond only to clinical trial FOAs and take good clinical practice training. NIH had previously told us that Review would not change for basic scientists responding to a clinical trial FOA. We would welcome feedback from our community about the last two review cycles, although NIH’s new plan may also alleviate the concerns.
(5) NIH will issue a Basic Science Parent FOA by October 30, 2018. We will interact with NIH over the coming months regarding this since it will be important to our sciences as the policies evolve.
What is still uncertain is how NIH will define basic science vs. a clinical trial. The plan itself references “basic science trials,” “public health trials,” and “prospective interventional human trials.” We will continue to interact with NIH to ensure that the definition of a clinical trial does not continue to capture basic science research involving humans.
For now, we consider NIH’s plan and engagement with us to be a very promising step. In addition, NIH’s plan (to be described in a NIH Guide Notice, which we will circulate to you) to be flexible and lenient in its implementation of the clinical trial policies as they relate to basic science studies should provide some reassurance to the basic science communities that FABBS represents.
CAS Curriculum committee call
Renee Baernstein is looking for one more social science member on CAS curriculum committee, and there are currently no members from PSY; she writes:
I would like your help with nominations from your department/program for one person to serve on the CAS Curriculum Committee to complete the remaining 2 years of a 3-year term. The appointment will begin this fall. We already have two reps for social science (from SPA and GEO, respectively) and are seeking a third from another Social Science department. All continuing faculty (tenure-line and lecturers/clinical) are eligible.
The person would need to be able to make the following 1-hour meeting times:
Tuesday – August 28, 1:30
Monday – September 10 3:00
Tuesday – September 25 1:30
Monday – October 8 3:00
Tuesday – October 23 1:30
Monday – November 5 3:00
Tuesday – November 27 1:30
Please contact her directly and also let me know if you would be willing to fulfill this important service.
New attendance procedure begins this fall
From Carolyn Haynes in the Provost’s office:
As you begin to prepare for the fall semester, I wanted to alert you to a new attendance procedure which will be in effect in fall 2018.
The federal government has mandated that universities confirm that students have begun attendance in all courses that count towards federal financial aid eligibility (34 CFR 668.21). Institutions must do this by verifying the occurrence of students’ “academic activity” through the 10th day of the semester. Last year, Miami received just over $104 million in federal financial aid. Failure to meet attendance regulations could result in large fines and even jeopardize Miami’s eligibility for federal Title IV financial aid.
Federal regulations (34 CFR 668.22 (l)(7) define “academic activity” as occurring when a student physically attends at least one class where there is an opportunity for direct interaction between the instructor and students.
Because we also have hybrid and online courses, the following also count as “academic activity” when a student:
· submits an academic assignment (in class or online);
· takes a quiz or exam (in class or online);
· participates in an interactive tutorial or is involved with computer-assisted instruction;
· attends a study group as assigned by the instructor;
· participates in an online discussion as part of the course; or
· initiates contact with a faculty member to ask a question about the academic subject studied in the course.
“Academic activity” does not result when a student:
· logs in to an online class but has no other “academic activity” online; or
· meets with an academic advisor.
Over the summer, the Office of the Registrar will roll out a change to the photo roster that will permit instructors to notify the University that the student did or did not begin attendance. It is anticipated that the deadline for confirming this will be the end of the second week of full semester/term courses and by the end of day 3 of sprint courses.
Prior to the beginning of the fall semester, the University Registrar will send faculty specific instructions for how to mark attendance on the photo roster. Please note that this change was designed to be quick and easy so as to avoid excessive use of your time.
Suggestions for ways to take attendance in large classes:
· Give a quiz on first or second day of class. Quiz could be on the syllabus contents.
· Have students sign in at door.
· Use assigned seating charts for students, and ask TA or undergraduate associate to note empty seats.
· Ask students to fill out index cards with name and one question or thought related to the class.
· Do an online poll using an app such as Kahoot. Ask students to use their real names on the poll.
Best wishes to you on a rejuvenating and productive summer.
Summer proposal writing workshop
From Heather Johnston, OARS:
OARS’ 6-week proposal writing workshop will be offered on Tuesdays from 1:00 to 2:30, from June 26 to July 31, in the AIS (134 King Library). Interested faculty can register here. The workshop will assist faculty in developing a grant proposal for submission to an external funding agency. It is appropriate for full-time faculty and staff who are new to external funding, value peer review, and desire set-aside time for proposal writing, development, and feedback.It is designed to:
- Help participants identify external funding sources
- Assist participants in step-by-step proposal development
- Integrate peer review in the proposal development process
- Familiarize participants with internal resources for funding, statistics, evaluation, and compliance
Support for use of course packs
From Carolyn Haynes, a new opportunity (and funds!) for those using course packs in their courses fall semester:
In our continuing efforts to address affordability issues for our students, the Miami University Libraries and Office of the Provost are partnering to provide the Course Pack Consultation Service (CPCS). Many materials students pay for through readings-based course packs may be available at no charge to them through library online resources or copyright fair use.
Library staff will work with faculty to reduce or eliminate the costs associated with readings-based course packs (e.g. articles and book chapters) by utilizing links, permission requests and exceptions found in US copyright law. Faculty participating in the CPCS will be awarded $200 in professional development funds at the conclusion of the consultation. You can learn more about this initiative and complete the program application at the link above.
Congrats to the CLAAS of 2018!
Congratulations to all of the recent graduates, and particularly members of the first cohort of PSS majors on the regional campuses (CLAAS). Three of them are featured in this video highlighting regional students and their stories. Notably, all three of them have been accepted into graduate programs; we wish them the best of luck and continued success!
President’s Distinguished Service Award winners in PSY
The President’s Distinguished Service Award is one of the highest honors that students can receive. It is presented to “a select group of students, whose service through campus life, community service, intellectual and cultural leadership, or as a university employee, demonstrates the spirit of being a citizen leader of uncommon quality.”
This year, our department had two among only 17 recipients across the entire university! Congratulations to Annie Weidner and Brianne Safer for this prestigious honor.
Online course design workshop
E-Learning Miami offers workshops for developing online courses, including a 10-week, cohort-based option each semester. It provides all support needed to design and teach an online course, including Instructional Design support, online resources, a cohort of colleagues, professional videography and support for designing accessible materials. If you have been thinking about teaching online/hybrid, this is a great option.
The fall semester workshop is open for registration, which closes on June 29. Accepted participants will be notified by July 13, and the workshop itself runs from September 10 – November 23.