Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce that we have finalized requirements for ramping up on-campus research as part of our next phase of returning to our physical workspaces. I appreciate the feedback we received after I mentioned this effort in the recent RED newsletter and believe our plan will provide an important framework to ensure adherence to public health guidelines designed to protect our students, faculty, and staff.

The final document is available here. There is also a Research Ramp-Up Agreement form that must be executed by each principal investigator and approved by their corresponding dean before research resumes. The procedures have been reviewed and endorsed by the Operations/Support Recovery and Public Health Committees that were formed to align all campus activities with CDC and public health recommendations focused on health and safety. I am grateful for their most valuable contributions to this document. 

The official start of Phase 2 of our ramp-up plan is June 8, 2020. This may give some PIs who are already performing some minimal functions time to adapt to the new conditions and get dean’s approval if a ramp-up in activities needs to take place. However, we expect it may take longer than that for many others to get their labs/facilities/team ready to ramp-up. To emphasize, June 8 is the earliest date research ramp-up can occur if everything needed is in place; it is not the date by which everybody authorized to resume on-campus activities must be onsite. 

I would also like to thank again the Research Ramp-up Committee members who developed our framework:

Shaun Bowler, Graduate Division Dean

Djurdjica Coss, Academic Senate Committee on Research Chair

Derick Fay, IRB-SB Chair

Sheila Hedayati, Environmental Health and Safety Executive Director*

Marcus Kaul, School of Medicine Representative

Chris Lynch, Bourns College of Engineering Dean

Peggy Mauk, Agricultural Operations Director

Milagros Peña, College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Dean

Dylan Rodriguez, Academic Senate Chair

Thomas Smith, Interim Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost

Jason Stajich, Academic Senate Chair-Elect

David Volz, IACUC Chair

Ameae Walker, Vice Provost for Academic Personnel

John Warren, UCR News and Information Director

Christiane Weirauch, Academic Senate Vice Chair

* Liaison with Operations/Support Recovery working group

As I mentioned previously, plans to resume on-campus research have been coordinated across the UC system, and our working group adapted the broader approach to suit our campus needs. 

Please contact your dean or me if you have questions about the protocols for resuming on-campus research.