Core Class Offerings

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF RESEARCH ADMINISTRATION
This introductory course will welcome you to the world of research administration at USC and will assist you in mastering key concepts necessary for effective management of sponsored projects. The course covers: the USC research environment and its principles; roles and responsibilities among the research community; general terms and policies associated with USC’s research and creative endeavors; and the lifecycle of a proposal and award.

PREPARING YOUR PROPOSAL
Learn the basics for preparing a proposal, including securing the appropriate approvals and submitting to the funding agency. Topics include types of proposals, interpreting sponsor guidelines, completing sponsor application forms and internal USC forms.

HELP ME WITH MY BUDGET!
A step-by-step primer on preparing a proposal budget. Topics include: cost components of a budget, universal cost principles applicable to preparing proposal budgets, budgeting techniques and practice, cost sharing, calculating F&A costs and budgeting tools and resources. This course utilizes hands-on budget preparation exercises.

AND THE AWARD GOES TO…
This course will unlock the mystery of the award setup process and focus on post-award management issues. Discussion includes pre-award negotiations and actions such as revised budgets; the award acceptance process; project changes; rebudgeting; award administration policies; fulfilling project reporting obligations; and award closeout.

Elective Class Offerings

UNDERSTANDING CONTRACTS
Do you feel like contracts are written in a foreign language? Let us help you crack the code. This course will provide an overview of contract types for both government and industry funding, and discuss the issues of greatest importance to USC.

GIFTS, GRANTS OR WHATEVER
Gift? Grant? Not sure? This course demystifies the classification of awards as gifts, grants or contracts. Instructors provide an overview of the award classification and gift acceptance processes using case studies and other methods.

NAVIGATING THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH)
Preparing and submitting grant applications to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), one of USC’s largest sponsors, can be a daunting process. This course will help you gain the information and tools necessary to prepare and submit grants utilizing the grants.gov system or PHS 398 applications. Topics include preparing applications for submission, modular grants, the just-in-time process and post-award management.

NAVIGATING THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF)
Let us help you navigate the policies, procedures and regulations specific to the National Science Foundation (NSF).  We will demonstrate the use of FastLane, NSF’s official system for submitting and reviewing proposals, the submission of annual and final project reports and all other post-award notifications and requests.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN RESEARCH
Maintaining the highest ethical standards is critical to our work as researchers.  This course reviews regulations and policies related to conflict of interest, including terminology, concepts and procedures for disclosing and reviewing a financial interest.  Numerous examples and role-playing opportunities guide participants as they learn to complete forms and identify and assess factors that increase concerns related to a personal financial interest.  Key resources are identified for addressing researcher questions.

THE BASICS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
How do we protect the fruits of our labor? Providing a basic understanding of intellectual property — in its many forms — as it relates to the administration of research at USC, this course covers topics including ownership of research records; invention disclosure; publishing; copyrights; patents; trade secrets; material transfer agreements; and tangible research products (e.g., tissue, animal models, cell lines, viruses, chemical compounds and transgenic animals).

WHEREVER YOU GO, THERE YOU ARE: EXPORT CONTROLS
Export Control regulations govern the shipment, transmission, or transfer of certain regulated items, information or software to foreign persons or entities. It is necessary to know about export regulations since compliance is the responsibility of the individual exporting or disclosing information and materials. This class is a guide for anyone who administers international research and foreign students at USC, exports materials and equipment, works with disclosure-restricted technical information, travels internationally or who manages international financial transactions. It is designed to provide sufficient information for research administrators to be able to recognize and appropriate respond to export control issues.

THE STORY OF SUBAWARDS
This course will demystify the process of setting up a subaward and highlight major issues at the Pre-Award and Post-Award stages. Topics include distinguishing between subaward & vendor, budgeting subawards, conflicts of interest, subrecipient monitoring, reviewing subrecipient invoices and much more.