Dear Lyle Faculty,
We wish to bring your attention to two significant adjustments in our research procedures, effective September 1, 2023.
Firstly, a notable enhancement in the Return on Overhead (RoH) distribution from grant funding will take place. The reallocation will stand as follows: the Dean’s Office will receive 11%, while Departments, Centers, or Institutes associated with investigators will receive 4%, with the remaining 6% allocated to the investigators themselves. This revised structure effectively doubles overhead returns for Principal Investigators (PIs), with the Dean’s Office’s portion earmarked for new faculty startups, and strategic investment on internal research projects for Lyle faculty.
Secondly, in the interest of achieving an equitable distribution of RoH and research expenditures among coinvestigators, we kindly request that all forthcoming and pending research proposals (accompanied by PIAF forms), as well as active research grants featuring Co-PIs established since June 1, 2021 (with executed AAAF forms), be supplemented with the “Lyle Addendum To PIA FandAAAF Form Fall2023” that was attached to my original email on this topic. This document serves as a mutual agreement between co-investigators. Please ensure that the percentage allocations for project involvement sum up to 100% and are estimated based on the effort dedicated to project execution.
Until a dedicated post-award specialist for Lyle is hired, Mr. Jason Bradberry will oversee these changes, particularly for projects with Co-PIs established since the mentioned date and for ongoing and pending PIAF forms involving Co-PIs. The equitable distribution of research expenditures for existing projects will be retroactively implemented from June 1, 2023 (the start of the current fiscal year), while RoH distribution will commence on September 1, 2023. Until the SMU Office of Research revises their PIAF and AAAF forms to encompass these modifications, all new Lyle proposals must be supplemented with the attached document. Notably, projects involving other SMU units will adhere to established allocation protocols between these units. However, the principles of equitable allocation will apply solely to the Lyle portion of research expenditures and RoH.
We firmly believe these changes will promote effective tracking of research expenditures and a fairer distribution of RoH, fostering increased faculty research collaborations. Furthermore, this adjustment aligns with the Provost’s guidelines on faculty load distribution.
Sincerely,
Prof. Ali Beskok
Associate Dean for Research Innovation and Industry Partnerships
George R. Brown Chair in Mechanical Engineering
