NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL
OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS
CLOSEOUT MEMORANDUM
As part of a proactive investigative review of REU site awards for compliance with NSF
regulations and policies on the use of living organisms (i.e., humans and vertebrate animals) in
research, we identified an award' which failed to identify both human subjects and vertebrate
animals on the proposal coverpage. The universit J demonstrated that the project had received
preliminary Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for the human subjects components, and
although approvals for some of the components had lapsed during the project, current approvals had
been obtained. The university also determined that vertebrate animal work, primarily observational
in the laboratory, had been conducted without the requisite Institutional Animal Care and Use
Committee (IACUC) review and approval. The university took corrective action and notified the
Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare of the i n ~ i d e n t .The
~ university reviewed its complete NSF
award and pending proposal portfolio to ensure that it was in compliance, finding only a single award
with a lapsed IRB approval. However, that project maintains its status under an exemption. No
further action is necessary.
Accordingly, this case is closed.
The Animal Welfare Assurance covering the project was issued by OLAW and therefore OLAW's notification was
NSF OIG F o ~ m2 (1 1/02)
Animal Subject Reg. Violation Human Subject Reg. Violations
Published by the National Science Foundation, Office of Inspector General on 2006-10-10.
Below is a raw (and likely hideous) rendition of the original report. (PDF)