Campus-wide updates and guidance can be found here.

Updated guidance on students and visitors to campus can be found here

Clarification of vaccine distribution plan by Russell Furr, associate vice provost.

https://healthalerts.stanford.edu/covid-19/2020/12/24/response-to-questions-about-vaccine-distribution-plans/

Reflecting on research continuity

As fall quarter begins, we’ve been reflecting on our research continuity: health and safety, policy, compliance, students and postdocs, testing and exposure tracing, communications, and more. What is going well, what could be going better, and what actions are most important to take moving forward? We’ll share more on this in the next weekly update.

Testing update and dashboard

Some of you have been asking for a dashboard. As Fall Quarter begins, our testing processes are underway. Since the surveillance testing program began on August 31, there have been about 7,500 Verily tests (students) and 700 Color tests (faculty, staff, and postdocs) conducted on asymptomatic individuals so far, with one positive reported. The university has created a COVID-19 dashboard to track testing data within our community. The dashboard displays cumulative and weekly information about the number of tests and positives at Stanford, and similar metrics for Santa Clara County and California as a whole. 

Revised in-person meeting policies

In a recent message, Russell Furr shared policy on current requirements for in-person meetings. For members of our research community, we want to emphasize that a meeting for work-related activities is not considered a “gathering,” which is under different restrictions by state guidelines. To summarize the main points, necessary university business meetings solely among Stanford employees unable to be conducted virtually are allowed. The new policy caps the number of outdoor meeting attendees at 15 and indoor meeting attendees at 10 or 25% of room capacity, whichever is less. Indoor meetings should follow local (e.g., departmental) restrictions on room capacity that may consider additional factors. A designated leader must be present to ensure compliance with all requirements and maintain a list of all attendees. Under the section on university-led academic activities, graduate students and postdocs may meet without faculty members in attendance, with the same requirement that a designated leader is responsible for ensuring compliance with all requirements and maintaining a list of all attendees. Outdoor advising and mentoring meetings are also allowed, with the same restrictions.

Policy on in-person training at shared facilities

Last week, the policy group approved a new policy on in-person training at shared facilities. Under the new policy, in-person training that cannot be performed remotely may be permitted, starting September 14. The following in-person scenarios may be permitted: orientation for new PIs, graduate students, and post docs; and on-site training for Stanford research on the use of equipment or advanced techniques. All training that can be performed remotely should continue to be performed remotely. 

In-person human subjects research with children of Stanford affiliates

In-person, IRB-approved human subjects research with children of Stanford affiliates is now allowable, for Stanford affiliates who have been authorized to be on the same campus as the research facilities. Criteria that must be met include: the child and parent must be able to comply with safety and health requirements, studies must be limited in duration, and the parent is not allowed to bring the child to the workplace before or after the study session. 

Backup personnel

We want to reiterate the importance of backup personnel for all lab roles and responsibilities. Further, no lab experiments should be run that can only be overseen by a single person. During the pandemic, personnel may be prevented from returning to the lab to attend to ongoing experiments, particularly if they are exposed or test positive for the virus. Other personnel in the lab must know how to safely maintain, attend to, or shut down the experiments in progress if this were to occur. 

In the pipeline

The research policy working groups will be considering a number of issues throughout the Fall Quarter, including:

• how to support in-person training for new graduate students in lab rotations
• how to expand in-person clinical and non-clinical human subjects research to include more members of the Stanford community and beyond; 
• how to expand access to offices to more members of the Stanford community; and,
• how to expand field research to include human subjects.

Stay safe and be well,

Kam, Stacey, Tim, and Russell

Kam Moler, Vice Provost and Dean of Research; Professor of Applied Physics and of Physics

Stacey Bent, Vice Provost of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs; Jagdeep and Roshni Singh Professor of Engineering

Tim Stearns, Senior Associate Vice Provost of Research; Frank Lee and Carol Hall Professor of Biology and Professor of Genetics

Russell Furr, Associate Vice Provost for Environmental Health and Safety

04/10/20

Information from OPA on Postdoctoral Researchers

FY21 Salary

The Provost has approved the FY21 salary: Beginning 9/1/20, the minimum salary for all postdocs will be $64,268.

New appointments may still be processed:

Postdoctoral appointments are not included in the hiring pause.  Some new postdocs are already in the area, or have visa issues that preclude delay. These appointments should go forward as scheduled to avoid extreme financial hardship and/or deportation.

New postdoc appointments may be processed, and postdocs may begin their appointments. Note that some postdocs are currently unable to travel here and others will be hesitant to come during a shelter-in-place directive. In some cases, delays can be accommodated, and changes in start dates are common. In cases where a faculty sponsor cannot accommodate a significant delay, the new postdoc should be informed that the start date is a material term of the offer, and the offer will need to be withdrawn if the postdoc cannot commence work by X date. 

Starting new appointments:

New postdocs may begin under the postdoc telecommute form.  For help with digital signature, please visit this link  The departmental administrator is collecting these forms. (Note that we have only listed one per department, some departments have more than one) Please note that there may be tax and benefit implications.

Payroll requirement for postdocs sheltering in place out of state:

Postdocs who are choosing to shelter in place outside of California should submit an Out-of-State Employee Approval Form. Departments must notify Payroll of the employee's return to work in California by emailing payroll@stanford.edu. Please submit this notification prior to the end of the pay period during which the employee returns. The out of state fees will be waived for out-of-state work at this time; however, fees will be applied if the postdoc continues to work out of CA after the shelter in place order has ended. More info about out-of-state workers can be found here.

Extension of J-scholars who are ending in May or June

The Department of state has automatically extended expiring J visas for up to two months. This has only been applied to those J visas ending in May or June. While faculty are not required to support their postdocs during this unanticipated extension, we hope that support can be accommodated. Please contact us if you have specific questions. 

Response to the suspension of premium processing for H visas: Please stay tuned for further guidance.

OPA is investigating how best to support scholars affected by an unanticipated delay in receiving an H visa. 

Term Limits Exceptions: Please stay tuned for announcements

04/21/20

Update on Postdoc Term Limits

On behalf of Vice Provost Stacey Bent, the following temporary changes to the postdoc term limits policy will take effect immediately and until further notice:

1. Postdocs who will reach the end of their 5th year of training before September 1 may be extended for up to 6 additional months without a formal request to the Vice Provost. This extension must be initiated by the faculty sponsor and depends on adequate funding and, where appropriate, a commitment to support a transition to an H visa (note that this transition currently requires up to 8 months). The September 1 date may be revised based on further delays to research continuity.

2. Extensions of more than 6 months into the 6th year continue to require a written request from both the faculty sponsor and the postdoc. These requests will generally be granted if the request indicates that COVID-19 impacted the research progress. This provision may be considered in evaluating future requests from all current postdocs unless updated, but is expected to apply primarily to those in the final year of their postdoc appointment during the pandemic. 

3. Postdocs and their faculty sponsors who have planned a transition into a research staff position in the faculty sponsor’s group or similar area will be given due consideration for a waiver from the University’s staff hiring freeze contingent upon demonstrated external financial support for the position from a faculty sponsor.

4. Petitions for a special COVID-19 exception to extend training into the 7th year will be considered for those postdocs finishing their 6th year who do not intend to or cannot transition to research staff due to exceptional circumstances. Examples of exceptional circumstances include external postdoctoral fellowships requiring postdoc status that are extended by the funding agency, or postdocs on H visas whose transition to a staff position is delayed in visa processing. These special exceptions are contingent upon adequate funding and will be reviewed by Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, approved by the Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs, and in most cases will be expected to last not longer than 6 months.

Questions regarding these changes should be addressed to the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs 

04/08/20

Student Programs Suspended through Aug 31, 2020

Keeping the health of our patients, faculty, staff, trainees, and Stanford graduate students as our top priority, the Department of Pediatrics is canceling all non-essential and visiting student programs through August 31, 2020. This includes: 1) For Stanford undergraduates: in-person PEDS-199 enrollments, undergraduate work-study, and any Stanford undergraduate research opportunities offered by our labs. 2) All previously approved undergraduate and graduate Visiting Student Researcher (VSR) appointments for spring and summer 2020. 3) All student trainee/intern programs. Email from Allison Guerin. Email from Provost Persis Drell.

03/30/20

How Do I Get My On-Campus Research Functions Approved?

from Kam Moler, PhD, Vice Provost and Dean of Research

• Definition of Essential Research Functions (slide 2)
• Procedure to obtain Approval to Conduct Maintenance Required to Preserve Lab Viability (slide 5)
• Procedure to obtain Approval to Conduct COVID-19 Research in Labs (slide 6)
• Procedure to obtain Approval for Clinical Research, Including COVID-19 (slide 7)

3/27/20

How Do I Notify My Sponsor? 

COVID-19 Sponsor Notification and Request Form: If your sponsored project activities are hindered due to COVID-19 precautionary measures and/or illnesses, please complete the COVID-19 Sponsor Notification and Request Form.  Use the easy step-by-step guide to access and attach the form to a SeRA Central Office Request - COVID-19 Sponsor Notification/Request.  Submitting the form via SeRA will alert your RPM to take action and work with you to notify the sponsor and request approval as needed.  This form can be used to notify, or request approval from federal and non-federal sponsors.

03/26/20

Updates to Tenure Clock, Faculty Searches, and Staff Hiring.

Link

03/24/20

Important Guidance Regarding Laboratories and Service Centers

from Ruth O’Hara, PhD, Senior Associate Dean for Research in the School of Medicine

03/17/20

Guidance on Critical On-Campus Laboratory Activities

from Kam Moler, Vice Provost and Dean of Research; Stacey Bent, Vice Provost of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs; Tim Stearns, Chair of the Faculty Senate