The new Electronic Research Administration system, , comes with a suite of tools for finding funding, applying for limited submission opportunities, proposal management and more.

“One of the primary goals of my office is to build strong and sustainable infrastructure to support our growing research community,” said Kevin Gardner, UofL’s executive vice president for research and innovation. “That infrastructure includes critical research systems and tools that can expand opportunities and facilitate the efficient and effective management of research programs, giving our research community more time to focus on discovery and innovation.”��

Cayuse will rollout over the next year, beginning with new tools that will help researchers, administrators and students easily find relevant funding opportunities and apply for internal and limited grant competitions. More information is available on the Office of Research and Innovation .

The first tools to launch (with more to come) will be:��

• , powered by Pivot (already launched) – an easy-to-use searchable database that will help researchers and scholars across all disciplines find external funding opportunities from federal, foundation, corporate and other private sponsors. Pivot also provides a number of additional tools to support researchers, including newsletters and automated notifications for customized funding opportunities.
• Competitions, powered by InfoReady (targeted to launch in winter 2021-22) – a centralized, online portal that streamlines the process of applying for internal grant programs and limited submission opportunities from external sponsors. InfoReady is a holistic system for internal funding opportunities, reviews and selections.
• Proposals, powered by Cayuse (targeted to launch in winter 2021-22) – a web-based proposal development and system-to-system submission solution for federal Grants.gov opportunities. Cayuse’s Proposals application utilizes advanced validation technology, based on sponsor guidelines, facilitating reduced submission errors and successful submission through Grants.gov on the first attempt. Proposals will replace the university’s existing S2S solution and streamlined processes around proposal submission will be implemented alongside this new system.

The Pivot platform is already up and running and can be accessed . It’s connected with UofL Single Sign On, so faculty and staff can log in using their UofL username and password.

Several��unit-level research administrators are currently being trained on Pivot to assist�� with this tool. There also will be a virtual educational session for Pivot at noon on Thursday, September 2, to help with the onboarding experience. Faculty and staff can sign up for the upcoming session , and it will be recorded for those who cannot attend.

“We’re very excited to bring these new capabilities to the UofL research community over the coming months,” said Kevyn Merten, associate vice president for research and innovation. “We look forward to working with you to launch these new tools, and receiving feedback on how they help to advance your research, scholarship and creative activities.”

As part of its Strategic Plan, the University of Louisville will throw its research and scholarship weight behind solving these Grand Challenges — some of the biggest, global problems of our time.��

President Neeli Bendapudi appointed a in late 2019 to identify these areas, ones where UofL could become a national leader while making a dramatic impact on problems facing society.

The committee from the campus community through an online form, direct outreach and meetings with various faculty, staff and students. From hundreds of submitted ideas, they whittled it down to three broad Grand Challenges themes:

• Empowering our communities;
• Advancing our health; and
• Engineering our future economy.

A video explaining these challenges and form to provide additional feedback are available .��

“Our researchers and faculty can help the world make headway in these areas,” said Kevyn Merten associate vice president for research and innovation and subcommittee co-chair. “We can play a big role in solving these problems and shaping our world for years to come.”

These challenges were chosen because they are broad enough to offer countless lines of inquiry; build on UofL’s strong existing expertise and infrastructure; differentiate the UofL as a leader in global innovation and change; and can be positively influenced through multidisciplinary solutions.

For example, subcommittee co-chair Ted Smith “empowering our communities” might look like the research project from the J.B. Speed School of Engineering that uses to help kids with autism learn social skills they need to succeed in the classroom, or the School of Public Health and Information Sciences’ ��

“Advancing our health” might look like the Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute’s , which is planting trees around Louisville to understand how greenness impacts heart disease.��

And “engineering our future economy” might look like yet another project through the College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development, that uses�� to help companies keep employees engaged.

“There’s really something here for everyone,” said Smith, an associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology. “Each and every discipline plays a key role in exploring and advancing these challenges.”

But, he added, the Grand Challenges subcommittee needs the help of campus to strengthen these challenges. They are asking faculty, staff and students to submit feedback on these three challenges, including ideas for lines of inquiry and how to move them forward. To submit your feedback, see the subcommittee’s .