Research Support Services
The LSI is responsible for oversight to ensure the regulatory compliance and fiscal integrity of its sponsored projects. Funded projects are also provided guidance in human subjects protocols and IRB. Generally, personnel who provide logistical support for travel, meetings, ordering supplies, and so forth should either be supported by the sponsored project (e.g., graduate students, project coordinators, etc.) or provided by the home department of the LSI investigator (faculty assistants, administrative assistants, etc.).
We have found that it is generally more convenient for investigators to coordinate these types of activities with personnel or students at the "local" level. Once logistical arrangements have been worked out by the appropriate personnel, the LSI will ensure the compliance and fiscal integrity aspects of the expense. We recognize that there may be times when an LSI investigator does not have project or department support. In those instances, we will work with the investigator to determine how project needs can best be met.
The LSI staff is prepared to assist with all of the before mentioned pre-award proposal services and post-award services. Departments, share in the post-award service arena, in particular, with the fiscal management of projects. With input from the Investigator Advisory Committee and a highly coordinated Budgetary Team, it is a major goal of the LSI to increase the cooperative support of key personnel and equipment resources. This approach will utilize a "normals" costing model and is premised on a shared vision of high-quality services.
The fact that there are many common resource and service needs among researchers competing for external funds makes this model feasible and robust. This model is different from the current LSI management approach where every project (from a resource perspective) is conceptualized individually and core staff time or resources beyond what is part of indirect costs have rarely been purchased by projects.
The LSI support services: