Training Opportunities
2025 RAM Symposium
Lighting up the room: Research Administration Community and Culture (LIVE)
Presenters – Chris Carsten, eRA Systems Officer, OSP; Brigette Pfister, OSP, Financial Compliance Manager, OSP; Staci Wasson, Associate Director of Research & Finance, CVMBS.
This session will NOT be recorded.
Join your colleagues in the opening session of RAM Symposium to discuss what it means to be part of the research administration community at CSU. What kind of community are we building? Change is constant – how do we encourage resilience and lifelong learning?
Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Cost Basics
Presenter – Doug Leavell, Director of Research Analytics, OVPR
Facilities and administrative costs are essential costs of research that aren’t easily identifiable to a particular project. The costs are allocated to projects using a rate negotiated with the Federal government. This session will provide a basic understanding of what F&A costs are and how the recovery rate is calculated.
Under the Spotlight: Emerging Audit Hot Topics
Presenters – Brigette Pfister, Financial Compliance Manager, OSP; Kim Melville-Smith, Assistant Director & Director of Post-Award, OSP
As the landscape of university research evolves, so do the risks and compliance challenges. This session will shine a light on the latest audit hot topics impacting sponsored research. Attendees will gain insights into emerging regulatory changes, common audit findings, and best practices for mitigating risks.
The Opaque World: Gifts, Grants, and Private Foundation Grantseeking at CSU
Presenters – Sam Ernst, Director, Foundation Relations; Bill Moseley, Pre-Award Manager, OSP
Private foundation grantseeking can seem like a black box. What is the process? Who do we work with? UA? CSUF? OSP? Will this be a gift or a grant? Those seeking illumination should attend this session as we will attempt to make the opaque transparent.
Collective Sparks: Insights and discussions from Department Research Administrators (LIVE)
Presenters – Jessi Fuentes, Executive Director of Finance, College of Agricultural Sciences; Anja Wahl Wells, Director of Business and Research Support Operations, Walter Scott, Jr College of Engineering; Staci Wasson, Associate Director of Research and Finance, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
This session will NOT be recorded.
This session will offer insights into effective strategies, collaboration techniques, and innovative solutions to common challenges. It will focus on utilizing the skills DRAs already have to adapt to the ever changing research environment while staying connected to our community and remembering to include joy in our daily lives.
Guiding the Way: Best Practices for Effectively Engaging Leadership in Research Administration
Presenters – Jessi Fuentes, Executive Director of Finance, and Dr. Eugene Kelly, College of Agricultural Sciences
This session will explore effective strategies for building strong, collaborative partnerships between research administrators and institutional or college leadership. Participants will learn how to ensure that research priorities are aligned with the institution’s vision, goals, and overall impact. By fostering deeper engagement, administrators and leadership can work together to drive research success, enhance resource allocation, and support sustainable growth within the research enterprise.
Funding Focus: Demystifying the Federal Appropriations Process (LIVE)
Presenter – Meg Suter, Assistant VP for Research & Chief of Staff, OVPR
This session is not being recorded.
This session will provide an overview of the federal appropriations process, focusing on both the Washington, D.C. legislative process and CSU’s on-campus processes for identifying appropriations priorities to support university research initiatives.
Compliance Highlight: CSU regulations for Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)
Rich Wright, Director Secure and Global Research and Facility Security Officer, OVPR
CSU has long required protection of “sensitive” or “controlled” information, from personal contact information to research data. With recent federal regulations concerning “Controlled Unclassified Information,” CSU’s research community is faced with confusing and at times conflicting regulations. Learn more about CSU’s approach to CUI and how to best protect yourself and your research.
Escape the Office (LIVE)
Presenter – Kathryn O’Hayre, Training and Information Coordinator, OSP
Join your colleagues online for a problem-solving adventure to escape the office! Our virtual escape room is designed specifically for the RAMAround community. Harness your RA knowledge, CSU facts, and random trivia in this team collaboration to see if you can work together and escape.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who Should Attend? RAM Symposium is appropriate for sponsored project administrative staff and faculty investigators at CSU. The curriculum will focus on CSU-specific practices and systems.
Must I attend all the sessions? We understand that time is a premium at CSU. We encourage participants to attend all or most of the sessions, though there is no requirement. While sessions will be recorded and posted, attending in real-time allows for engagement not available when watching on-demand.
Is there a Cost to Attend? No, all RAM Symposium sessions are offered free of charge.
Is Registration Required? Registration is recommended for CSU employees, EID/NetID is required to log into the MyLearning portal. Let us know if you have any questions at [email protected].
Does this count for CEU/CEC? Yes, continuing education units or credits (CEU/CEC) count toward maintaining your credentials. The RAM Symposium sessions will count towards those hours if you attended live and at least half of the session. The OSP Training Team enabled the printable certificates in My Learning for the 2025 series.
Instructions:
1. AFTER THE SESSION, THE OSP TRAINING TEAM WILL MARK YOU IN MYLEARNING IF YOU HAVE ATTENDED*. THIS WILL ALLOW YOU TO PRINT A CERTIFICATE AS PROOF OF YOUR HOURS.
2. TO PRINT: LOG INTO MYLEARNING AND GO TO YOUR COMPLETED SESSIONS.
3. HIT THE ‘DETAILS’ BUTTON. A SIDE WINDOW WILL OPEN, WHERE YOU CAN VIEW AND PRINT YOUR CERTIFICATE.
Please
contact the Training Team ([email protected])
if you cannot join the live session, intend to view the recordings afterward,
and would like a certificate.
2022 RAM Symposium Archive
October 13th, 2022 @ 12PM – 4:40 PM MT Check out the RAM Symposium Community featurette!
Concurrent Session Descriptions, recordings, and handouts below
Discovering the National Science Foundation
Discovering the National Science Foundation: The NSF is one of CSUs main sources of sponsored research awards. Come listen to tips and tricks for both proposal submission and award management. Also, coming in January 2023 there are changes coming to the Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) see how they will affect you.
Exploring Cost Share: Tips for Budgets and Management
We invite you to hear about cost share basics, tips in budgeting and managing and discuss real CSU cost share scenarios and how to handle them.
Audit Hot Topics and Red Flags
During this session we will talk about current trends in audit findings as well as items to be on the lookout for when reviewing your accounts. We will also walk through some CSU specific data and tools that you can use to help CSU minimize the audit risks.
Dive into Effort on Sponsored Projects
This session will look at effort on sponsored projects and effort reporting and look further into best practices surrounding special cases of 1% minimum effort and 100% effort on sponsored projects.
Participant Support or Incentive Payments?
Learn the difference between participant support costs and participation incentives, including definitions, budgeting, and post-award considerations.
Participant Support or Incentive Payment Recording
Participant Support Handout
Participant Support Self-Assessment tool
NIH - Belaying the Basics and Beyond
With just an hour to touch on the basics lets attach our harness to climb up the mountain of our know-how on preparing an NIH modular or detailed budget proposal and budget justification. Then as we explore new heights, and new forms coming, we can repel our way back to earth as we discuss the added value of knowing details about the attachments needed for these proposals.
Working with Industry: Information for Preparing Proposals and Talking with Industry Sponsors
As the University seeks to grow its sponsored research enterprise, work with industry is growing and that increase is likely to accelerate. This session will help provide attendees with information on how work with for profit sponsors from the initial discussion stages through project closeout. The session will focus on (1) What budgets for for-profit sponsors must include (2) How PIs can assist the process in their discussions with their technical counterparts at the sponsoring company (3) Key differences between for-profit contracts and federal research grants.
Roadmap to Fellowships
Take a guided tour through 3 of the top Sponsoring agencies issuing Fellowship awards – NSF, NIH, and NASA. Our road stops cover common traits and unique characteristics across various fellowship types.
USDA
Overview of USDA branches, USDA-NIFA structure, major USDA NIFA funding programs, tips and tricks for applications and navigating the IDC cap.