I posted the same question on the listserv early last month. The NGS  award
letter required the Principal Investigator to sign a Scientific Research
Grant Release.  The award terms created several problems with respect to
our System By-laws and university policy, e.g. a signature to the agreement
was required from a university employee instead of the authorized
institutional representative, the agreement specified NGS ownership to
copyrights and restricted distribution of film without written permission,
liability, etc.

I received two replies to my question and both universities reported that
they determined their NGS awards were to the individual and not the
university.  We agreed with their interpretations and instructed our PI to
accept the award as an individual if she found the terms acceptable.

Jim
________________________________
James L. Bates
Director, Office of Sponsored Programs
330 Thomas Boyd Hall
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803
Tel: (225) 578-3386
Fax: (225) 578-5403
email: xxxxxx@lsu.edu
website: www.fas.lsu.edu/osp/

 Steven Etheredge
 <xxxxxx@GWM.SC.E         To:      xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG
 DU>                      cc:      (bcc: James L Bates/jbates/LSU)
 Sent by:                 Subject: [RESADM-L] National Geographic Society Committee
 Research                 for Research &         Exploration
 Administration
 List
 <xxxxxx@HRINET
 .ORG>

 03/18/2003 02:49
 PM
 Please respond
 to Research
 Administration
 Discussion List

Dear Colleagues:

Although we have had grants from NGS previously, we just got what I
believe is our 1st award from the NGS Committee for Research &
Exploration.  My primary concern is that while the award will be made to
our institution, NGS-CRE requires the PI and project participants to
sign away many of their rights to get the award, particularly in the
area of non-scientiifc publishing and the area of liability release.

I am looking for anyone's experience with these awards and how you
handled these concerns.

Thanks for your input.

Steve Etheredge

R. Steven Etheredge, Associate Director
Sponsored Programs & Research
University of South Carolina
(803) 777-7093
(803) 777-4136 fax
xxxxxx@gwm.sc.edu

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