The Office of Research Information Technology group (OR IT), now part of OIT, goes well beyond managing servers and sustaining a robust IT infrastructure for administration of campus research. The entire process of shepherding research proposals from initial review, through Contracts and Grants, and finally to the various funding agencies is handled electronically using tools developed and managed by OR IT. OR systems process between 5,000 and 6,000 new grant proposals, and manage between 3,000 and 4,000 current awards totaling $320 million in a year.
OR IT programmers, along with Accounting, OIT, and Research Administration staff, are also working on the implementation of the Proposal and Budget building module of the Kuali Coeus system. Kuali Coeus is based on the MIT Coeus system, which is an open-source solution for research grant submission and administration currently in use by 50 universities.
OR IT maintains the Faculty Profile system which allows UCI researchers to maintain an online curriculum vitae, and identifies campus experts who can meet various public and media needs.
OR IT also supports the activities of key OR subunits, including University Lab Animal Resources (which cares for university research animals), the Office of Technology Alliances (which connects primary UCI research results to corporations which can develop and market them), the Institutional Review Board (which is responsible for ensuring UCI researchers comply with regulations for human subjects research), and UCI’s new Stem Cell Research Center.
As part of OIT, OR IT will now have access to additional expertise and resources to support this vital area of activity.