The Research Office

Oakland University provides state-of-the-art research facilities and a rich, collaborative environment for our faculty and students in support of their research and educational activities. OU is recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as one of the nation’s doctoral research universities. We are proud of the wide spectrum of research and other scholarly and creative activities made possible by the excellence of our faculty, students, facilities and institutional culture that is inclusive of all disciplines.

The Research Office provides the necessary administrative infrastructure for investigators, and strongly encourages the involvement of students in research. OU is committed to the highest ethical standards in the conduct of research, which are essential for sustaining an excellent research program that contributes to the well-being of our local, national and global communities. We assist with and oversee various aspects of the research enterprise, including: faculty development and training, research development, grants and contracts, regulatory compliance, technology and commercialization.

THE PRESIDENT'S EXECUTIVE ORDERS AND THE AFTERMATH - UPDATES
July 28, 2025

New NIH Restrictions

NIH investigators will now be limited to submitting six applications per calendar year.  NIH is concerned that they will be overwhelmed with poorly written, AI-generated proposals according to this notice.

The same notice prohibits applications written with the assistance of generative artificial intelligence.  Again, this is to prevent faculty from overwhelming the review process.  While it is not clear to us on this end of the proposal process how they will detect the use of AI, the consequences of non-compliance are quite high and unforgiving; they include bringing in the Office of the Inspector General.

Said another way, submitting 6 NIH proposals in a calendar year is probably never a good idea when you focus on the principles of positioning for success with external funding.  And the GCOs and Research Development Officers (RDOs) are all ready to help you with editing, organizing, copy-editing, and thinking through your proposals with you.

You can read more about this here: https://www.science.org/content/article/fearful-ai-generated-grant-proposals-nih-limits-scientists-six-applications-year

Where we have information pertinent to a particular PI, we will be contacting you directly.  And, of course, you should also feel free to reach out to us.  Use one of these email addresses and we will respond to you as soon as possible:
[email protected]
[email protected]

This e-space will be updated in real time as changes occur.  

CAYUSE SP, IRB HAVE A NEW URL
Cayuse SP (proposal preparation), Human Ethics (IRB), and Fund Manager (post-award grant management) have moved to the Cayuse integrated platform.  The new URL is:  https://oakland.app.cayuse.com.  Cayuse for IACUC/IBC can still be accessed with the old URL.  Links and more information are on the Cayuse Research Suite page.  Please contact our office if you have any issues.

SEED FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR OU FACULTY -- the Research Office is making funding available for small grants to OU faculty for three programs: 1) International Research Experiences for Students, 2) Professor Smith Goes to Washington, 3) New External Collaborations.  Submission is ongoing through InfoReady.

INFORMAL OPPORTUNITY FOR FACULTY TO TALK TO THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH:  Coffee with Dave weekly drop in hours