TSU research office reports $72M in submissions and moves to commercialize faculty work

Dr. Quincy Quick, who leads research and sponsored-program efforts at Tennessee State University, briefed trustees Sept. 11 on recent grant activity and risk-management steps.

Quick said the university recorded a year‑to‑date comparison that represents roughly an "11 and 0.5 percent, increase year over year" in certain grant awards and highlighted $72 million in submissions linked to 33 submissions in a recent period. He described capacity-building work in the College of Engineering and College of Health Sciences, new commercialization activity (including a faculty licensing deal), and an AWS-based compliance system intended to improve pre- and post-award management. Quick also noted indirect-cost challenges: the institutional indirect-cost rate is 42%, but many sponsor rules cap recoverable indirect at around 8% for typical research-education awards.

Trustees asked about safeguards for tuition-support elements in grants and the risk of unallowable expenses; Quick described the layers of protection (NOFO review, pre-award budget checks, quarterly reporting and agency oversight) and characterized the residual risk as "low" but not zero. Faculty trustees urged a comprehensive review of the research enterprise to improve efficiency, reduce redundancies and better align administrative support with faculty-led research.