Getting Started at Merrimack
Merrimack College’s Office of Research & Sponsored Programs is here to provide support for all your research needs.
ORSP Services
The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) supports faculty and staff with the administration of sponsored program activities, seeking and administering funding for research programs through grants, contracts and other external funding opportunities.
The goal of ORSP is to reduce the administrative burden on researchers, empowering members of the College community to successfully compete for funding and effectively manage their sponsored programs.
Research-Based Cohorts
- Thanks to the START Program, you’ll never feel like you’re entering the world of research alone. Applications are reviewed twice per academic year, with one cohort beginning each summer and spring season.
Personalized Support
- The ORSP staff are always ready to sit down with you and explore any research-based needs you may have.
Funding Assistance
- Need help finding funding sources? Our skilled staff can help match you with funding opportunities.
Foundation Relations
The Foundation Relations branch of ORSP engages corporations and foundations to connect with College leadership, faculty, and staff. Our mission is to drive scholarship, discovery, and community outreach at Merrimack. We pursue relationships with corporations and foundations that further our values of knowledge sharing, mutual growth, and beneficial impact. Our focus areas include:
- monetary gifts or grants to the College
- donated equipment and in-kind support
- graduate capstone projects
- industry collaboration programs
- access to College expertise and resources
Research Compliance
- Ensures that the College is complying with all applicable regulations and policies regarding financial conflict of interest (FCOI), responsible conduct of research (RCR), and research misconduct.
- Provides an Institutional Review Board (IRB) to ensure the ethical conduct of human subject research.
- Assists with IRB reliance agreements and data usage and transfer agreements when collaborating with outside institutions.
Proposal Development and Submission (Pre-Award)
- OSP provides “best practice” guidance and proposal development support to faculty and staff.
- Provides proposal and budget development for submission.
- Provides guidance and interpretation of the funding opportunity, solicitation, and sponsor requirements.
- Ensures all submissions have institutional approval prior to submission.
- Submits proposals, Letters of Intent, pre-proposals, and white papers on behalf of the College
Grant Administration (Post-Award)
- Provides a comprehensive review of grant award, contracts, cooperative agreements, and Material Transfer Agreement terms and conditions.
- Works with the Office of General Counsel to negotiate and acceptance of contractual terms and conditions, including subaward agreements.
- OSP serves as the point of contact to the sponsor for all grant administration activities, i.e. budget modifications, change of PI, No-Cost Extensions, prior approvals, etc.
- Ensures that all reporting requirements are completed in a timely manner.
- Initiates all close-out activities in accordance with the grant requirements.
Training and Education
- Provides current information regarding any changes to policies, practices, and regulations.
- Provides training opportunities to the research community regarding proposal and budget development, research compliance, and sponsor policies and regulations.
Guide for New Faculty
Discover Sources Available to Find Funding:
- Learn how to search for funding opportunities using resources on the ORSP Website and tools such as Pivot and Instrumentl available to you as a Merrimack College Faculty Member
Learn how the ORSP Team Can Support Your Research:
- Scott Miller: provides assistance with both pre-award proposal development and post-award grant management for Federal Grants.
- Kate Baron: provides assistance with both pre- and post-award grant management for non-governmental funding, primarily from private and corporate foundations, across all disciplines including research, civic and community engagement, and education.
- Liza Abrams: provides assistance with grant accounting.
- Ed Martin: provides assistance with research protection and compliance including the Institutional Review Board; reliance agreements and data use & transfer agreements; research technology (REDCap,Cayuse, SONA,Qualtrics, etc.); and research training.
- Manikandan Santhanaraman: provides assistance with the Merrimack College Shared Instrumentation and Research Facility-SIRF, a 7,000 square foot hub for Merrimack faculty and students, as well as industry partners, to conduct research in biology, chemistry and other life sciences.
Familiarize yourself with the breadth of institutional resources supporting research at Merrimack College
- Explore research administration information, forms, templates, and training videos on the resources page.
REDCap is a secure web application for building and managing online surveys and databases. The software is specifically designed to support data capture for research studies and operations. Faculty interested in utilizing REDCap or learning more about the software should reach out to our RedCap Team.
Attend the Annual ORSP Research Bootcamp held each spring along with opportunities for training and professional development throughout the year.
