December 17, 2025 – Research Policy and Advisory Committee – Minutes

Time: 8:30 am

Location: Microsoft Teams

Present: Ali Abedi (ex Officio), Viktorjia Bilic, Anne Kissack, Bonnie Klein-Tasman, Tory McCoy, Joshua Mersky, Kris O’Connor (ex Officio), Marie Sandy, Melissa Tesch, Vipavee Thongpriway, and Sam Westcott (ex Officio)

Absent: Emily Middleton, Bryan Porter (ex Officio), Jacob Rammer, Troy Skwor, and Jerald Thomas

Guests: Suzanne Boyd, Scott Genung, Jay Kapellusch, Kathleen Koch, Cindy Marifke, Jeremy Miner, Kate Mollen, Jeff Nytes, Michelle Schoenecker, and Dan Siercks

  1. Tori McCoy called the meeting to order at 8:32 am.
  2. Minutes of November 10, 2025, meeting and the current meeting agenda were automatically approved.
  3. Discussion – Research Information Technology Presentation
    Scott Genung and Dan Siercks shared the work that’s happening within Research Computing and the Research IT Subcommittee.
  4. Discussion – Research IT Needs
    Questions about fees and how to include them in grant proposals.
  5. Updates from the Office of Research
    Ali Abedi shared that Senator Collins introduced a bill to develop a new model for determining indirect costs – the Financial Accountability in Research (FAIR) model – which blocks federal agencies from otherwise implementing caps on facilities and administrative costs or altering current reimbursement methods. He doesn’t know if it will be approved.

    He’s working on ways to correctly report the faculty’s workload. The goal is to get 40% of faculty salaries reported as research so they are properly recognized for their time.

    He’s also working with the central administration and finance office to see if the UWM indirect cost structure can be modified to be more similar to other R! institutions.
  6. General Good and Welfare
    None
  7. Meeting adjourned at 9:06 am.