Charlie,
 Excellent questions!  I am also worried that we are not doing enough and
will face extinction if we don't act soon.  But, do we really need to act
now to submit through Grants.gov?   If so, how do I convince the PI's and
the administration that we need to invest now?
Jean

Charlie Hathaway writes:
>When John said "the rush to electronic proposal submission" I decided it
>was time to ask a question:  what is driving this rush?
>
>For years now I have heard people talking about the eRA future and the
>plans they are making.  I am intimidated by all the descriptions of
>institutional electronic infrastructure building and feel that, in
>comparison, my institution is doing very little.  We get a big bunch of
>money from NIH each year using FedEx to send applications.  We get a
>little bit of money from NSF using Fastlane.  Our PIs are beginning to
>use NIH Commons.  But we tend not to change unless agency practices
>change, and there is an impetus to change.  Is this a Darwinian issue?
>Will we one day wake up to dark skies, the inability to submit our
>proposals, and the end of nutritional cash flow?  Can I convince my
>administration that extinction looms unless we buy a big software package
>and start negotiating with an eRA vendor?

Jean M. Murphy
Director of Pre-Award Services
Wellesley Centers for Women
http://www.wcwonline.org
E-mail:  xxxxxx@wellesley.edu      Phone:  781-283-2508     Fax:
781-283-2504

Wellesley College, Cheever House, 106 Central Street, Wellesley, MA  02481

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