Dear UNT faculty and staff,
As a Tier One research university on the rise, UNT has had an incredible past year that was filled with a number of research achievements. In FY 2020, UNT's new research awards reached a high of $34.5 million — an increase of 14% over new awards from the previous year, which are expected to lead to significant increases in research expenditures in the years ahead.
And while more faculty than ever are engaged in funded research from national agencies and contracts with industry, we have more work to do in progressing toward our Texas National Research University Fund (NRUF) goal. This progress depends on streamlining our processes to better support and serve faculty and student researchers' innovation and discovery across the arts, humanities and STEM disciplines.
As such, UNT is joining our UNT System peer institutions in launching a new comprehensive research proposal and tracking software system run by Huron Consulting Group Inc., a known leader in the industry. During the next 18 months, we will rollout this new research administration system called GRAMS — Grants and Research Administration Management Suite. We will be migrating data from our current proposal software, Cayuse, and integrating the functions of grants, contracts, Institutional Review Board (IRB), Conflict of Interest (COI) and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) into this new single portal for principle investigators.
In adopting this new system, we join the ranks of other Tier One Research universities who have turned to Huron to transform research processes and empower researchers at their institutions. It is a proven suite of solutions tailor-made for specifically managing the business of research and should reduce the administrative burden on faculty and staff and provide access and transparency. To learn more about GRAMS, visit research.unt.edu/grams.
Since the new system will operate under the umbrella of the UNT System, we will be better poised for greater research collaborations between UNT, UNT Health Science Center and UNT Dallas. The investment by the UNT System is a commitment at the system level to fully support all campuses in our efforts to expand and grow all of our research programs.
While there will be many changes in processes and trainings as we move into the system, I am confident that this is a powerful and positive direction for our research endeavors at UNT and that it will be an improved solution for our faculty. More information and extensive training will be provided this fall as the various modules are launched to ensure the success of this exciting new initiative.
Together with our innovative researchers, we will continue on our path toward changing the world with impactful research and reinforcing UNT's reputation as a world-class Tier One research university.
Sincerely,
Mark McLellan
UNT Vice President for Research and Innovation