Fourth Annual DNA Grantees' Workshop

Tuesday, June 24, 2003

AFTERNOON SESSION

Forensic Science Research and Development Programs of NIJ
Lois Tully
Biography

DR. TULLY: As Lisa said, I oversee two of our NIJ programs: the Forensic DNA Research and Development Program and the General Forensics Research and Development Program. Tully: Slide 1

Obviously, they target different areas of forensic science, but in other ways they're very similar. We look to stimulate all areas of research and development in order to maximize the value of forensic evidence that, in turn, can aid investigations. Tully: Slide 2

Not only do we look to new research, but we also look at how we can take technology being used in other applications and direct it toward forensic science applications. For the most part, we fund applied research, but sometimes we look at the more basic types of research, with the thought that at some point it should be put to use in the forensics field.

We also try to round out our research portfolio with short- and long-term projects. Some things, like standard reference materials and assays, have more immediate payoffs, and we know that deliverables for other things, like miniaturization projects and chip technologies, can take awhile. Although they may be a little bit higher in risk, we feel that they're an important component of our portfolio.

I've been here about 3 years, and each year, we've been lucky to have had funding each year for the Forensic DNA Research and Development Program. We had a solicitation each year. Our most recent one closed this past January. Each year we tweak the solicitation a little bit in considering the evolving needs of the community. Tully: Slide 3

We try to target the things that will help practitioners, and we welcome any input that the practitioners have. If you've seen our solicitation and think that there is room for improvement or that we should be targeting other areas, please feel free to discuss it with me. I'd be happy to hear your comments.

As usual, our proposals are evaluated by outside peer-review panels. We look to both practitioners and researchers for different yet very valuable perspectives on each of the research projects.

When a few months have passed on a proposal deadline, I often get calls from potential grantees who wonder why they haven't heard anything about their proposal. My answer, according to our grants manager manual, is to say the review and selection processes are in the final stages or are still ongoing. For the most part, that's all I can tell you. There are specific reasons for the length of the process, which I will talk about in a minute.

The General Forensics Research and Development Program includes everything but DNA. The funding for that, as you can see, is not as high as it is for the DNA program. We were able to have a solicitation this year that closed in February. That was also the first solicitation from the Investigative and Forensic Sciences division to use an online application system, so we're not killing quite as many trees these days, and we're not going to ask for 10 copies any more. We have an online system that still probably has some bugs to be worked out. Some people in this room have already used it because it's also used for continuations and supplements. I think it will be a good system once we work everything out, and hopefully you'll see it that way too. Also for that solicitation, the review and selection processes are still ongoing. Hopefully we'll finish that soon. Tully: Slide 4

As I said, the general forensic program targets everything except DNA, but we still look for the same types of things sought by the DNA program, including methods that will help us get more information from the evidence and do it faster and cheaper. For example, we're funding a company that's looking at bullets using a three-dimensional imaging system that, instead of saying the grooves match, will generate a correlation coefficient and give some statistical support for the strength of a match. We also have a questioned-documents project that is developing computer algorithms to look at questioned-handwriting samples and so on. Bruce McCord, I might mention, is a grantee under this program, and he's one of the people looking at the date rape drugs by capillary electrophoresis methods.

As I said, we have our proposals reviewed by practitioners and researchers. Normally we just call on people that we feel have the right expertise. Although it has been around for a while, NIJ actually has a mechanism in place where people can apply online to be in the peer reviewers database. Like I said, it's been around for a while, but for our group at NIJ, this is something new. It already includes general forensic disciplines and is being updated to include more specific forensic disciplines like molecular biology and genetics and a lot of other categories. You can apply to more than one category. Your curriculum vitae (CV) will be uploaded and then we at NIJ can search the CVs by keyword(s) to flag someone who has the right expertise. Tully: Slide 5

The Web site is not really ready yet. We are told that it will happen in the next few days. So if it's something you're interested in, feel free to get on it. If it looks like it's not working or what you have isn't there, give me a call—I'll see what I can do. I think it's going to be really helpful for us.

So, do you guys ever wonder what we do all day at NIJ? Let me give you a brief behind-the-scenes look at what happens at NIJ after a peer-review panel has identified the projects that they feel are suitable for funding. Tully: Slide 6

Well, a series of briefings takes place within the Office of Science and Technology and at NIJ. Then we go to the Office of the Comptroller. They are our bean counters. We try our best to keep these people very happy and give and do exactly what they ask us, because the future of any funding, as well as the day-to-day things that happen once a grant is awarded, is really in their hands. They review the budget portions of all applications and have the ability to freeze or not release funds.

Something to keep in mind: If your institution—whether that be a university, a grantee at another campus on the other side of the State, or whatever—has an award with the Office of Justice Programs, not just NIJ, and is delinquent on a form, our budget office and comptroller will not clear your budget. They're pretty strict about things like that. We also have our applications reviewed by a human subjects officer, and we have coordinators of the National Environmental Policy Act look at the chemicals proposed for use in the project. They look to see if you're doing any modifications to historic buildings or knocking down walls in a historic building, things like that.

Then the proposal is reviewed by the NIJ front office, which includes Dr. Morgan, who's actually performing a dual role right now with NIJ Director Sarah Hart. Dr. Morgan is serving as the science advisor to the director and is the assistant director of NIJ's Office of Science and Technology.

The application then goes back to the comptroller to review and make sure that all of those other miscellaneous forms that you have to submit are signed and approved.

Finally, it needs congressional notification. I don't know how many people even know that this exists, but the relevant Congressperson in your district is notified that an award is about to be made—I guess he or she can have a press conference and take credit for it, which I assume happens some of the time.

This is all part of the protocol, and until this happens with any award that we wish to make on a particular solicitation, we cannot release the results of that solicitation to anyone. That means that the people who won't receive funding and those that will generally find out about it at the same time. These processes have to take place for every award that will be funded before we can send out any information. It may seem like it takes a long time, but it's really not that bad. Tully: Slide 7

Now for something we all love as scientists: seeing an idea develop into an actual product that is valuable to the forensic community. Tully: Slide 8

We've heard some really good success stories about collaboration, and I really can't stress enough the value of it. This is something that we are really trying to work toward in our group, maybe making it a little more structured to increase its value just a bit. Again, we've had some really positive, successful collaborations; some that were not so successful; and some that were frustrating on both sides. We think that was primarily because of a lack of understanding of the expectations on each side and maybe not enough communication. We understand that technology transfer is challenging, and it's something that we are trying to improve.

Publishing research is a great way to get the word out about the good work that you're doing, and don't forget to send us reprints—we put them in our brag book. Just the overall praise from the forensic community is worth a lot.

Also, you want to make us look good, because when we have good, successful, effective programs, that helps us ensure that the programs will continue to receive funding. That's an important part of the whole picture.

Then there's the not-so-fun stuff. You all get about five pages of special conditions with an award. Many of you may not even see these; they may go to your grants office. I would suggest getting a copy and trying to become familiar with these special conditions. Some are clear cut, like the reporting requirements, and some you literally need a lawyer to interpret. We also turn to our lawyers—the Office of General Counsel—when necessary to help us interpret things better understood by a lawyer than a scientist. Tully: Slide 9

Don't forget your semiannual progress reports and financial status reports. As I said, not only are they necessary for good program management, but the comptroller has the ability to freeze funds for projects that are delinquent. You may wonder why does the comptroller need to see progress reports. Well, it's part of their monitoring duties. They're the bean counters; they make sure that the money is being spent properly.

The Comptroller's Office also has final approval of no-cost extensions and handles monitoring visits. They come out to your site and look at your books to see that money was spent appropriately. If money was moved from one category to another, they look to see that it was documented, requested, and approved. It's not the same as an audit; they just take a sampling of the things in your books.

They also have a really valuable Web site with a lot of information, and they travel throughout the country doing a 2-day financial management training seminar. It's free, so you may want to look into that. Again, it's free, but things like hotel accommodations aren't included.

We are all scientists. We love the science and we love what you do, but we also know that what you do isn't going to happen unless we at NIJ pay attention to this kind of stuff. So, last but not least, after hearing all of this, I invite you to join NIJ. We actually have a job opening right now for deputy chief of the Investigative and Forensic Science division. It used to be called the deputy director. It's on the Office of Justice Programs' Web site and probably on USAJobs. It closes soon. It is a GS-14, which goes for, I think, the low eighties to the mid-nineties, and the position is located in Washington, D.C. Tully: Slide 10

Thank you for your time.

QUESTION: Lisa, I have a general question for you. Are you guys able to actually receive regular United States mail yet?

DR. FORMAN: We can receive it, but we don't receive it for a really long time, and sometimes it's yellow and brittle. I've gotten a number of invitations to attend openings of this, that, and other things but they usually arrive at least a month late. E-mail is best.

QUESTION: Thank you.

DR. FORMAN: Thurston, you're next.