Creating a Core Facility

Expectations

It is expected that a Core Facility serves the needs of the research community at large extending across multiple departments and, ideally, schools. A substantial percentage of user fees received by the facility should be from investigators outside of a single department.
It is expected that a Core Facility has a Faculty Advisory Committee that meets on a regular basis and oversees the facility. Members of the committee must be users of the facility and represent multiple departments. Ad hoc members of the committee can include non-users.
It is expected that a Core Facility will submit an Annual Report to the Office for Research by April 1st of each year. Submission of an Annual Report is required by any core that wishes to request support from the Office for Research.
Each year the Office for Research will conduct an annual User Survey of each Core Facility during the month of February. Results of the survey will be provided to each Director and Manager of a facility the first week of March so that it can be incorporated into the Annual Report. The latter must include the results of the survey and address any major concerns by users and how such concerns will be remedied.
Based upon the User Survey and Annual Report, it is expected that the facility Manager or Director will work with the Office for Research to outline objectives for the coming year.
It is expected that the facility Manager will maintain an up-to-date Website and database of users, income and expenditures.
It is expected that the facility Manager will maintain the contact and resource information in the database used by the Core Facilities Search Engine.
It is expected that the facility Director and Manager will participate in the Core Facilities Review Panel when requested by the Director of Core Facilities.

Funding of Core Facilities

Funding for new operating costs from the Office for Research will be addressed on an individual, case-by-case basis
Requests for Operating Costs should be included as an addendum to the Annual Report; it should address the issues outlined below, including detailed financial information and a proposed, well-justified budget
If funded, operating costs will be awarded on a 3 yr contract basis and contingent upon submitting Annual Reports documenting administration and user satisfaction

Proposal Format and Preparation

Proposal will include:

Cover page:

use same page as equipment proposals (available in Word format on this webpage)

Detailed description of operating costs requested (1 page):

Provide a detailed description of new operating costs that require support (e.g., personnel, service contract for existing equipment)
Provide rationale for funding request (e.g., why increased user fees are insufficient or inappropriate)
Describe the expected impact of the new operating costs on research at Northwestern University
Describe matching fund support, if applicable
Identify new space and expenses required should the new operating costs be approved (e.g., desk and computer for new employee)

Cost Sharing Policies for Shared and Core Facilities

Some granting agencies require a description of the "institutional support" for proposals requesting shared equipment. For core facilities, this description should address the existing support by your department, school, center, institute and/or the Office for Research (OR) that is essential for operating your facility. This may include previous or ongoing support for personnel, space renovation, service contracts, workshops and outreach activities. For applications that are not run through university-sponsored core facilities, PIs should explain how your department or division supports similar ongoing activities.
Some granting agencies require "cost sharing" for equipment grants. In this case, the expectation is that the university will help pay for some of the expenses related to the purchase of the equipment. More often than not, this can be satisfied by soliciting internal support from your department, school, center, institute and/or the OR for service contracts and/or operating costs associated with the equipment purchase.
OR supports both mandatory and voluntary cost sharing. More information about OR policies regarding cost sharing may be found here.
If you plan to request Cost Sharing by the OR, then please attend to the following guidelines.
1. The PI or Co-PIs of the proposal should obtain and document commitments from internal units before requesting support from the OR. The expectation is that, in most cases, these commitments will constitute at least 50% of the total NU cost sharing commitment.
2. Prepare a 1-2 page request to the Associate VP for Research addressing the following points:
  - describe the specific instrument being requested and its general purpose
  - list of the major users and their NU affiliations
  - describe the proposed location of the instrument and how it will be managed (including personnel responsibilities and service contracts) to meet the needs of the major users
  - explain how the equipment fits into the strategic plan of the core facility, department, school, center, institute and/or NU
  - list and document all internal commitments of support
3. Send the request as a letter (.pdf file) attached to an email to the Assoc. VP for Research (l-hicke@northwestern.edu) at least 2 weeks before the grant deadline. Please plan your time accordingly. The OR cannot guarantee that requests received after this internal deadline will be processed in time for your grant deadline.
4. The decision and extent of cost sharing will be based upon available funds and the value of the proposed equipment to NU. Funding priority will generally be given to instruments that are housed in and supported by existing core facilities with a significant user base.
5. If cost sharing is approved, then you will be notified to solicit a Letter of Support from the VP for Research. A template for this letter is available on this website. It should be edited to match the grant program and approved cost sharing arrangements made with the relevant university administrative organizations.

Annual Reports

Each facility that is supported by or plans to request support from the Office for Research is required to submit an Annual Report by April 1st of each year. The report should be sent as a .pdf file to the Director of Core Facilities.

The report should provide the following information:

Overall Mission of the Facility (1 paragraph)
Organizational Structure and Governance including names and departmental affiliations of each member of the Faculty Advisory Committee
Personnel (1 paragraph per person) including department affiliation, per cent effort devoted to the facility, expertise and responsibilities in the facility, and description of any change in responsibilities since the last report (place other accomplishments in Appendix - see below)
Equipment and Services provided by the facility (brief description of each)
New Equipment and Services since the last report (brief desciption of each)
Locations of Personnel and Equipment (buildings, rooms) and brief description of the management of equipment and services by personnel
Grant Support generated by the facility since the last report (brief desciption of each)
Facility Users (listed alphabetically according to principal investigator) including department affiliation, project or grant title, account number (chart string), equipment usage (total hrs and cost per instrument) per PI, services (total hrs and cost) per PI, and percentage of overall hrs and cost for each PI (place relevant accomplishments by users in Appendix - see below)
Self-Evaluation including results and responses to the most recent User Survey
Outreach Activities since the last report including educational and promotional activities within and outside the university
Budgets for the current fiscal year and the anticipated budget for the next fiscal year; each budget statement should include expenses (personnel, service contracts, new purchases), income (user charges, external grant support, departmental and school support, OR support), and an explanation if there is a significant disparity between expenses and income (net deficit or net income) and whether this will effect user fee rates
Signatures of members of the Faculty Advisory Committee indicating that they have read and approved the Annual Report and the budget statements
Appendix should include information pertaining to (1) personnel accomplishments (new and ongoing grant support, publications, presentations at scientific meetings, software development), and (2) user accomplishments (new grants and publications derived from use of the facility)

User Surveys

Each year the Office for Research will conduct an annual User Survey of each core facility during the month of February.

The User Survey will be designed, implemented and assessed by the Office for Research. During the first week of February, Directors and Managers of core facilities will be notified of its availability and how to access it on the web. It will be the responsibility of each Director or Manager to request that their users complete the survey in a timely manner.

Results of the survey will be provided to each Director and Manager of a facility during the first week of March so that it can be incorporated into the Annual Report (due April 1st). The latter must include the survey results and address any major concerns by users and how they will be remedied.

Review Panel

CHAIR
Craig Bina Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, WCAS Professor of Earth and Planetary Science
MEMBERS
Michael Avram Director of Clinical Pharmacology Facility Associate Professor of Anesthesiology (FSM)	Stephen Miller Director of Flow Cytometry Core, Immunology Professor of Microbiology-Immunology (FSM)
Joseph Bass Director of Hormone Core Facility Associate Professor of Medicine, Endocrinology (FSM) Mark Eugene Duban Manager of CESAMM Research Assistant Professor of Chemistry (WCAS)	Todd Parrish Director of Center for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging Associate Professor of Radiology (FSM)
Lynn Doglio Manager of Transgenic and Targeted Mutagenesis Facility Research Associate Professor, Center for Genetic Medicine (FSM)	Jon Siegel Associate Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders (ScC)
Arabela Grigorescu Manager of Keck Biophysics Facility Research Assistant Professor, Biochemistry, Mol. Biology & Cell Biology (WCAS)	Warren Toutellotte Director, Research Histology & Phenotyping Lab Director, Transgenic & Targeted Mutagenesis Lab Associate Professor of Pathology and Neurology (FSM)
Denis Keane Director of DND-CAT, Argonne National Laboratory Research Associate Professor of Materials Science (McC)	Jeff Weiss Director for Research Core Planning at Feinberg Research Professor of Medicine, Endocrinology (FSM)
Richard Lueptow Senior Associate Dean of McCormick Professor of Mechanical Engineering (McC)	Catherine Woolley Director of Biological Imaging Facility Professor of Neurobiology & Physiology (WCAS)
Ljuba Lyass Manager of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Facility Research Associate of Medicine, Neurology (FSM)	Anna Zago Manager of Pathology Core Research Assistant Professor of Pathology (FSM)