Research

The Division of Research & Economic Development provides research development services and support to the research community of the University of North Dakota.

Contact

Scott D. Snyder, Vice President for Research & Economic Development

Division of Research Website

Customers Eligible to Request Service

UND faculty, students, and staff

Core Services Specifics

Oversees and supports UND research efforts and strategy, working within the university (president, provost, deans, Associate Deans for Research (ADRs), Grand Challenge Champions, faculty and staff) and intersecting external collaborators and partners. Supports research development to include:

• Develop and implement overall research strategy consistent with the UND strategic plan and primary unit goals and aligned with university capabilities and opportunities.
• Help build research capabilities and pursue public and private funding opportunities.
• Develop institutional-wide programs and strategic research initiatives.
• Provide required and strategic data analysis and reporting.
• Manage external relations-involving research, including federal relations.
• Collaborate on the institutional level research narrative, including communications internally and to outside
• Facilitate the pairing of faculty/student research skill sets and interests with funding opportunities and collaborations.
• Manage centralized research development efforts including seed funding programs, limited submission opportunities, and collaborative
• Administer compliance activities related to research.
• Provide electronic research administration for sponsored research and the Institutional Review Board (IRB); the Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee (IACUC) module is being developed and will be implemented soon.
• Manage space in the Tech Accelerator building.

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The Center for Biomedical Research houses, maintains, and is responsible for the health of all the animals used in research and education at UND.

Contact

Scott D. Snyder, Vice President for Research & Economic Development

Center for Biomedical Research Website

Customers Eligible to Request Service

All UND faculty who use animals for research or educational purposes.

Core Services Specifics

Animals used in research and education are either purchased from commercial suppliers or maintained as breeding colonies. All administrative functions related to ordering animals, cages and related items, feed, and bedding, as well as keeping track of the status of all animals, are performed by an administrative secretary. Animal technicians are responsible for the care of the animals while in the Center. This includes timely feeding, watering, and changing cages. Animal technicians also routinely check the health of the animals and ensure that cages and the facilities are kept clean. The overall health of the animals and their well-being before and during research and educational practices is the responsibility of the veterinarian.

Per diem rates for housing animals at the CBR effective 2/1/2025:

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The Computational Research Center (CRC) assists university faculty, students, staff and their public/private collaborators with access to, and training for, UND’s advanced cyberinfrastructure resources for the purpose of enabling research and educational activities (broadly defined as any creative activities).

Contact

Aaron Bergstrom, Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Manager

Computational Research Center Website

Customers Eligible to Request Service

All UND faculty, students, staff, and other persons with UND Affiliate status involved in research or educational activities that require the use of advanced computing services beyond what is typically available through desktop or enterprise computing environments.

Core Services Specifics

• High performance computing (aka the Talon supercomputer)
• Big Data
• Artificial Intelligence (aka the Medora AI supercomputer)
• Data Visualization
• Laboratory for Digital Realism in Engineering and the Applied Metaverse (UND DREAM Lab): 3D modeling and digitization, Mixed/Virtual Reality, and interactive 3D/Digital Twin environments
• Research computing web services
• Access to Research and Education support services
• Grant Proposal Consultation
• Project specific services may be available such as: hosting of exclusive use, dedicated support staff, dedicated programming staff, dedicated 3D services, collaborative grant proposal submissions

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Responsible to identify, inventory, evaluate and manage UND intellectual property, as well as for developing corporate/industrial relationships in order to drive greater research activity leading to rapid technology transfer and minimization of legal IP costs.

Contact

Scott D. Snyder, Vice President for Research & Economic Development

Corporate Engagement & Commercialization Website

Customers Eligible to Request Service

UND faculty, students, staff, colleges, and departments, industry, state government, and Federal government

Core Services Specifics

• Support industry research partnership, manage university research suitable for disclosure. Receive technology disclosures, evaluate patentability, evaluate market potential, identify potential licensees, execute protection process and report inventions to external funding agencies such as the federal government.
• Monitor patent annuity systems and pay or drop existing UND
• Manage royalty distributions to
• Assist faculty in response to grant applications to review IP conditions and
• Assist faculty in developing industrial partnerships to drive research
• Manage NDA, MTA, invention disclosure and patent prosecution application processes and
• Monitor and replenish a US Patent & Trademark Office deposit account to fund UND patent and trademark fees.
• Execute license agreements and monitor progress toward commercialization and distribution of license royalties to UND.
• Act as recordkeeper for EERC documents.
• Update website, forms, and documents.
• Educate faculty and staff.

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The EPSCoR office works with faculty, departments, and colleges to identify research and related activities that are consistent with NSF EPSCoR program and other collaborative program goals.

Contact

Scott D. Snyder, Vice President for Research & Economic Development

NDEPSCoR Website

Customers Eligible to Request Service

UND departments and faculty in STEM fields

Core Services Specifics

The EPSCoR office helps develop EPSCoR proposals and carries out administrative functions related to financial and non-financial activities related to NSF EPSCoR and other collaborative programs. This also includes budget planning and monitoring, ERCore, NATURE Summer Camp, and other support as needed.

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The Office of Grants & Contracts Accounting works closely with faculty and department business office staff to ensure financial compliance and proper accounting of externally sponsored funds to UND.

Contact

Lauren Pite, Director

Chassi Herman, Associate Director

Grants & Contracts Accounting Website

Customers Eligible to Request Service

All faculty, staff, and students actively pursuing funding by an external agency.  The University is also a stakeholder in the sense that most grants and contracts are cost reimbursable.

Core Services Specifics

• Responsible for the financial management of federal and non-federal awards to the University, and for providing guidance to faculty and staff to assure the proper stewardship of funds that are received.
• Grants & Contracts Accounting is notified by the Research and Sponsored Program Development Office of an award ready for set up in the University’s financial system. Financial management responsibilities include:
  • Award set up in Peoplesoft
  • Financial Reporting
  • Cost transfer reviews
  • Monitoring of the award, including subrecipient monitoring
  • Prior approval requests to sponsors
  • Cash management (including Letter of Credit draws, sponsor invoicing, sponsor payment, accounts receivable)
  • Officially closing the award in the financial system
  • Payroll confirmation
  • Audits (federal and state) and reviews

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The Office of Research Compliance & Ethics oversees compliance for all funded and unfunded activities that use human subjects, animals, and biological materials, including recombinant DNA.

Contact

Michelle L. Bowles, Director of Research Assurance & Ethics

Research Compliance & Ethics Website

Customers Eligible to Request Service

All UND faculty, students, and staff involved in research (broadly defined as any creative activities), which is regulated by federal, state, or local government laws or regulations, or North Dakota University System or University of North Dakota policies and procedures.

Core Services Specifics

• Responsible for ensuring compliance with all federal and state laws and regulations, and all NDUS and UND policies and procedures related to the:
  • Use of human subjects in research (Institutional Review Board);
  • Care and use of animals for teaching and research (Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee); and
  • Use of biological materials, including infectious agents, recombinant DNA, and human tissues and fluids, in teaching and research (Institutional Biosafety Committee).
• Responsible for completing research compliance congruency reviews on federally sponsored projects and ensures appropriate documentation of compliance approvals are included in sponsored projects records.  The Office of Research Compliance & Ethics oversees the accreditation programs for human research protection (AAHRPP) and animal care and use (AAALAC), including meeting reporting requirements, submitting re-accreditation reports, and coordinating site visits with the accrediting organizations.  The Office of Research Compliance & Ethics is also responsible for all federal reporting requirements related to the work of the IRB, IBC, IACUC, including reports to the Office for Human Research Protections, Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, United States Department of Agriculture and the National Institutes of Health.
• Closely collaborates with the Office of Research & Sponsored Program Development when research involves the use of materials that fall under International Trade in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR), conflict of interest regulations, and responsible conduct of research requirements.

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The UND Research Institute for Autonomous Systems (RIAS) helps develop opportunities and integrate the expertise, infrastructure, activities, and resources of UND, the North Dakota University System, and the UAS ecosystem in the Grand Forks region and beyond, with the goal of establishing ongoing and sustainable externally-funded unmanned and autonomous research leading to economic development and diversification in the state of North Dakota.

Contact

Chris Theisen, RIAS Executive Director

RIAS Website

Customers Eligible to Request Service

UND faculty, students, and staff, private sector partners, and the state of North Dakota

Core Services Specifics

The RIAS will engage external resources and UND researchers across a broad spectrum of disciplines in order to catalyze and support research and technology development across the unmanned and autonomous systems enterprise, including but not limited to the following focus areas:

• Autonomous Platforms
• Application
• Data Supply Chain
• Cyber Security
• Policy

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The Office of Research & Sponsored Program Development (RSPD) is responsible for all proposal, agreement and compliance-related functions for sponsored funding proposed by and awarded to UND.

Contact

Ms. Michael P. Sadler, RSPD Director and Export Control Manager

Research & Sponsored Program Development Website

Customers Eligible to Request Service

All faculty, staff, and students actively pursuing external funding, funded by an external agency, or seeking external research collaboration. The University is also a stakeholder in the sense that most sponsored funding is cost reimbursable.

Core Services Specifics

All federal, state, non-profit and private awards and proposals are managed by the Office of Research & Sponsored Program Development. The office is entirely responsible for all non-financial management for external sponsored funding and research related agreements. The EERC has been provided the flexibility to manage the submission, negotiation and execution of its proposals and awards contracts. The office works closely with Grants & Contracts Accounting and grants personnel employed by colleges/schools who support researchers in proposal preparation, before proposals are submitted to RSPD for review and submission and on award negotiation and review.

RSPD staff work directly with stakeholders:

• On proposals, to review budget, areas of research compliance, and solicitations prior to proposal
• On awards, to ensure award budgets are consistent with the stakeholder requirements and that the stakeholder is able to comply with all terms and conditions of the award document.
• To identify problems with proposals and award terms and conditions, negotiate as appropriate, and address in a timely
• To facilitate other areas of proposal preparation, solicitation assistance, and research development, as time allows.
• To draft, review and execute non-financial agreements and documentation to facilitate non-funded, external research collaborations.
• To advise on questions of research related compliance in the areas of export control, conflict of interest and undue influence, under federal regulations.

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