University COVID-19 Updates
ECU’s News Services Department has set up a website dedicated to informing our students, faculty, staff and community on the most recent COVID-19 information regarding our campus. The site includes updates on academic, housing, telework, grading, and community health resources for students, faculty and staff. Please monitor the website and your email for the most recent university announcements regarding COVID-19.
COVID-19 Research Resources
REDE has released guidance for continuing your ongoing research projects, steps to care for your lab during the pandemic, and how to interact with student researchers. These guidance documents are available online through the REDE website.
- Research and Sponsored Programs Continuity Guidance: As ECU prepares for the operational impacts of COVID-19, laboratories, core facilities and other sponsored programs should create and implement continuity plans that operationalize guidance posted by the UNC System and ECU on slowing transmission of COVID-19, while minimizing impacts on normal operations. ECU’s distributed guidance provides measures to staff, including faculty and students, study subjects, and the integrity of ongoing studies, training programs and other sponsored activities. The guidance also provides important COVID-19 updates from the NSF and NIH.
- Federal COVID-19 Arrangements for Sponsored Projects: The Office of Research Administration has compiled published arrangements by federal agencies related to COVID-19. As the pandemic situation is ever changing, these arrangements will be fluid. Please check the page often for updates.
- COVID-19 Research Funding Opportunities: Additionally, ORA has compiled a list of COVID-19 research funding opportunities. The page also features a list of Grants.gov compiled COVID-19 research funding opportunities and technology-focused funding opportunities are available.
- Research Laboratories Guidance: Depending on the timeline and severity of COVID-19 infections, research laboratories and core facilities may have limited activity for eight weeks or more. Laboratories and core facilities should, therefore, create and implement plans for safeguarding research programs. This guidance provides measures to help researchers safeguard the protection of animal subjects and human participants, specimens, data and the integrity of ongoing protocols.
- Critical Activity Approval Form: Personnel that are required to be on campus must be designated as mandatory employees for the activities (e.g., experiments, equipment maintenance, animal husbandry, etc.) that they are to perform. Investigators overseeing the laboratory or facility must submit a request to the department chair and ADR for approval of activities and designation of the personnel as mandatory.
- Laboratory Ramp Down Checklist: When the time comes to curtail activity in a facility, investigators may use this checklist to ensure that critical aspects are not overlooked. This checklist is not mandatory.
- Student Research Participation: If students are involved in research or other sponsored programs on campus or at field sites, before they return to work, supervisors are responsible for determining if the students have recently been in a location with active COVID-19 infections and/or are exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19-induced disease. Do not send the student to Student Health for evaluation. Students should complete a Travel Risk Form and submit the completed form to the supervisor.
- COVID-19 Research-Related FAQs: REDE has compiled a group of frequently asked questions about research and COVID-19.
- Community Resources: ECU’s College of Allied Health Sciences and the N.C. State Extension are providing best practice documents for community members to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Information about managing risk for individuals at home and for food environments, such as restaurants, grocery stores and farms, is also provided. These resources are based on guidance and best practices as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the World Health Organization (WHO.) Please feel free to share with your family, friends and community partners.
- SBTDC Resources: While businesses face many challenges every day, North Carolina's small businesses are facing a unique challenge at this time. The Small Business and Technology Development Center is providing resources to small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, including rapid recovery loan information and disaster relief assistance.
REDE News
PI Portal Assists Researchers with Project Finances
The Office of Research Administration’s PI Portal, and its associated Administrative Dashboard, provides current data on the financial status of a sponsored project in an intuitive, easy-to-access, easy-to-understand format for ECU investigators. The portal uses data pulled from Banner but presents it in a format designed for non-financial professionals – including charts and graphs depicting expenditure rates and projections. Data in the portal is easily exported into Excel – with the tables and graphs intact – for sharing and analysis by research and administrative teams. Access the PI Portal online. Have questions about the PI Portal? Reach out to ORA.
Researchers Honored at Annual Awards
ECU researchers were recognized March 2 at the university’s fourth annual Research and Scholarship Awards. The awards honor ECU faculty with the Lifetime Research & Creative Activity Award, the Five-Year Research & Creative Activity Award, and the University Scholarship of Engagement Award. Six inventors who received patents in 2019 were also recognized at the ceremony. ECU researchers set new productivity benchmarks in 2019, setting all-time records in sponsored awards, research awards, interdisciplinary awards and research proposals submitted.
RISE29 Adds Second National Honor
ECU’s student microenterprise program earned its second national award in March, winning the National Best Practices Award at the 2020 National Small Business Institute Conference. ECU’s winning submission, “Using Internships to Increase the Impact of Small Business Institute Projects,” focused on the integration of ECU’s RISE29 program with the Miller School’s Small Business Institute course. This recognition is the second national award for the RISE29 program since January of this year. RISE29 is made possible by a $1 million grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation and is operated by both the Miller School and REDE.
Milestone Reached for new Life Sciences and Biotechnology Building
Construction of ECU’s Life Sciences and Biotechnology Building reached a milestone with a “topping out” ceremony in February at the site on the corner of 10th and Evans streets in Greenville. Workers put the final beam into place on the structure, signifying the completion of the skeleton of the building that will house interdisciplinary research in biotechnology, bioprocessing, biophysics, biofuels, plant biology, imaging and sensor development, and environmental biology. The building is the first structure to be built on the ECU Millennial Campus.
Research and Creative Activity Week Undergoing Changes
Due to UNC System and ECU requirements brought on by the COVID-19 virus situation, the face-to-face portion of Research and Creativity Week 2020 has been canceled. RCAW leadership is considering options for online presentations, but because faculty and students may be overloaded with conversions to online teaching and webinars, options are still being explored. More information about the future of RCAW 2020 will be available at a later date.
Symposium Addresses Rural Health Issues
When Dr. Venus Evans-Winters was growing up on the south side of Chicago, stress made her grind her teeth – but luckily the problem was caught by good dental care. This is just one example of the interprofessional care discussed at the third annual Rural Health Symposium on Feb. 26-28. Held at Eastern Area Health Education Center, the symposium brought together ECU’s Brody School of Medicine, College of Education, College of Nursing and other partners to improve health in eastern North Carolina and beyond.
ECU Physicians Launches Virtual Visit Technology to Triage Suspected COVID-19 Patients
As the novel COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the world, ECU Physicians began utilizing telehealth technology to serve patients concerned about coronavirus symptoms and exposure by offering patients the ability to meet with their providers via virtual visits. ECU Physicians virtual visits allows for doctor-patient interactions using video conferencing from the patient’s smartphone or tablet. These measures will allow those concerned about their coronavirus symptoms an opportunity to discuss them with a licensed provider without leaving their homes, potentially further spreading the virus or exposing themselves to other potential carriers of the virus.
ECU Hosts First ‘HurriCon’
From sea level rise to shoreline impacts to community resilience and more, researchers and presenters from across the country – as well as Puerto Rico – descended on Greenville for ECU’s first “HurriCon.” The NSF-funded research conference, “2020 HurriCon: Science at the Intersection of Hurricanes and the Populated Coast,” was Feb. 27-28 at the Main Campus Student Center.
Highlighted Faculty Publications
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