CENG Research Contingency Plan

College of Engineering Research Teams,

Thank you for all your work in developing excellent lab safety plans and for your dedication to implementing them during such uncertain times. However, in light of the current notice on UNT In-Laboratory Research Ramp Down, College of Engineering laboratory research facilities are currently closed, and all faculty and staff who are not performing essential on-campus duties are working remotely until further notice.  Below are a few additional items I wanted to share with you.  Please email me if there are things that are not addressed:

  1. Follow the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation (VPRI) research continuity instructions and the latest UNT guidelines and updates.
  2. No students or postdocs should be working in our labs. (The only exception provided is for laboratories specifically working on COVID-19, per discussion with the UNT VPRI.)
  3. Faculty or research staff should not be working in our labs (except as specified in item #2).
  4. Information on maintenance submitted with your lab research continuation plan is now in use. For any changes, please email Andrey Voevodin and Pamela Padilla from VPRI as soon as possible.
  5. For laboratories that have been identified as needing service during closed operations: plans have been established and the College of Engineering Technical Essential Team with representatives from each department is following the maintenance plan and periodic lab inspections. Contact information in Research Continuation Plans will be used should the crew need to contact you about labs or shipments.
  6. The College of Engineering essential admin support team has established a process to receive and sort/store shipments for your lab. They have your contact information. You can also check with your department administrator on shipments. For research supplies, college research staff will continue to order supplies for projects as long as the use of supplies can be justified during the university's restricted access. Research office will work with Central Receiving essential personnel when supplies are delivered to Discovery Park and notify the faculty when these supplies are available for pick up. However, since access to the building is allowed by essential personnel only, packages will be stored in Discovery Park Central Receiving until the access restriction is lifted.
  7. Work remotely with RAs and postdocs in your group. In rare cases where you have an RA who is unable to work remotely while meeting the requirements of your external grants, please send their names and the grant number to Andrey Voevodin, your Department Chair, Leyla Kimball and copy to Pamela Padilla from VPRI immediately so we can make adjustments until the labs reopen.
  8. Communicate with PMs of your grant that UNT is now in a restricted access operation and discuss any specifics of your projects and any delivery schedule adjustments.
  9. Don’t allow yourself to become overly stressed. Be patient, and stay safe!  We will get through this.  Reserve time for being creative! Take time to explore what is going on outside of the College of Engineering and UNT. I am certain that there are productive, interdisciplinary partnerships that we can forge, even during this time of social distancing.

Please stay connected through Zoom and other technologies with your group and collaborators at UNT, within our nation, and in the world! We are all in this together and will come back strong and with new ideas!

Wishing all of you and your families to stay safe.

Andrey Voevodin
Associate Dean for Research

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