In this Issue
Vice President's Message
• Signatures Part 3
• Sponsored Programs Proposal Survey
Good News and Coming Events
•
News
•
Events
Opportunities and Sponsor
Information
• Call for Nominations for Turner Post-Doctoral Faculty Traineeships
• Association
for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) Dissertation Fellowships
• Extension of the Expiration
Date of the Ruth L. Kirchstein National Service Award
• Proposals with Diversity Components
for Graduate Education Should Contact the Center for Inclusive Education
•
Upcoming Funding Opportunities
•
Interdisciplinary Seminars
•
Music for Meetings
• Recent
Changes in NIH Submission Policy and Procedure
• eRA Commons
Support via the Web
Essential Policies, Procedures
and Resources
• Rules and Regulation for RF Summer Employment Positions
• New Faculty and Staff Digest Online
For More Information
Vice President's Message
Signatures Part 3
What your signature means: This office asks for signatures from PIs, Chairs
and Deans on a wide variety of forms ranging from Effort Reports to conflict
of interest declarations to the infamous "four page form." All
these signatures have meaning and most of the time that meaning is obvious
and taken for granted. From time to time this year we are publishing articles
on what your signature means on a particular form. The third in this series
is by Aaron Rosenblatt, Assistant Vice President for Grants Management,
and describes the need to accurately reflect effort reporting information
before signing off on an effort certification report
Federal sponsors require accurate reporting of research time and effort.
Because the compensation for the personal services of researchers for both
direct salary and fringe benefits is typically a major cost of the project,
it is critical that the portion of the researcher’s compensation for a particular
project be accurately reported. One reason time and effort is viewed by
sponsors as a critical risk area is that many researchers have multiple
responsibilities. Sometimes these responsibilities include teaching, research,
administration, and clinical work, making it difficult to determine the
proper percentage of effort and cost associated with individual research
projects. An accurate effort reporting system is essential to ensure that
funding sources are properly charged for the activities of researchers --
and to assure them that this is the case, and maintain appropriate documentation
to back up the reports. Failure to maintain accurate effort reporting has
subjected institutions to civil and criminal fraud investigations and some
of these have resulted in severe financial penalties. Signing an effort
certification report legally binds the institution and the individual researchers
to the charges assessed to specific awards. These reports are a favorite
subject of federal audits and should be completed with care.
Should anyone have any questions please contact Aaron Rosenblatt
in the Office of Grants Management at 632-9038 or via e-mail at ARosenblatt@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
Sponsored Programs Proposal Survey
From time to time Monday Memo is going to use this space to conduct brief
surveys to determine how the research community feels about issues that
affect how this office runs. Today's issue is concerned with how the Office
of Sponsored Programs should prioritize its work on grant proposals it receives.
Please click here to take a brief survey.
Good News
and Coming Events
News
Please join us in rejoicing with
colleagues for achievements that have become known since the last issue.
Graduate Education and Research
Stony Brook received its first ever National Science Foundation
Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) award for the
establishment of a multidisciplinary graduate training program of education
and research in Minerals, Metals, Metalloids and Toxicity (3MT) with support
of $2.9 million over 5 years. The program is unique in its scope among the
one hundred or so IGERT training programs in the US.
The 3MT program will train a new generation of scientists
who will work at the interface of environmental and life sciences to understand
how minerals, metals and metalloids affect biological processes that ultimately
impact the health of humans and animals. Interdisciplinary research teams,
advised by faculty drawn from the departments of Geosciences, Pharmacological
Sciences, Physics, Chemistry, Marine Sciences, Biochemistry, Pathology,
and Medicine, will address specific research questions related to the theme.
In addition, the 3MT program will collaborate with a team of USGS scientists
leading the agency’s new, nation-wide and decade-long initiative to assess
the interaction between humans and their surficial environment--enabling
students to conduct research in the context of a nation-wide environmental
program. The 3MT program will offer new modular courses and workshops to
provide training in practical skills in support of research projects and
prepare students for a career as interdisciplinary scientists. The program
will be directed by Martin Schoonen, Geosciences and Associate VP for Research,
and Stella Tsirka, Pharmacological Sciences.
Geosciences
Lianxing Wen led the department’s successful effort to obtain a GAANN award
from the U.S. Department of Education for Graduate Assistance in Areas of
National Need. This program provides fellowships to assist graduate students
with excellent records who demonstrate financial need and plan to pursue
the highest degree available in a field designated as an area of national
need. The areas of national need include biology, chemistry, computer and
information sciences, engineering, geological and related sciences, mathematics,
nursing, and physics.
History
Brooke Larson has been awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Fellowship for 2006. Guggenheim Fellowships are presented to men and women
who have already demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship
or exceptional creative ability in the arts. The Foundation consults with
distinguished scholars and artists regarding the accomplishments and promise
of the applicants and presents this evidence to the Committee of Selection.
Prof. Larson’s topic of study during the fellowship period will be "Aymara
Indians and struggles over power, knowledge, and identity in the Bolivian
Andes."
Physics and Astronomy
Michael Zingale has been named a 2006 winner of an Outstanding
Junior Investigator Award from the U.S. Department of Energy. The
program, which supports the development of individual research
programs of outstanding scientists -- tenure-track faculty who
are currently involved in experimental or theoretical nuclear physics --
early in their careers, will provide three years of research support. Prof.
Zingale, whose specialty is computational astrophysics, joined Stony Brook
as an Assistant Professor in January 2006.
Sociology
Distinguished Teaching Professor Judith Tanur has been selected by the
Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools (NAGS) as the 2005-2006 winner
of the Geoffrey Marshall Mentoring Award for "her outstanding support
of graduate students from course completion through research and placement." The
award was presented at the NAGS annual meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
on April 7. Tanur is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science and the American Statistical Association.
Undergraduate Achievement
Rohit Repala and Alexandr Treyer are Stony Brook's 2006
Beckman Scholars and will undergo a 15 month sustained undergraduate
research experience supported by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation.
Repala is a Biochemistry major, class of '08, and will work with
Beckman faculty mentor Professor Iwao Ojima, Chemistry. Treyer
is a Pharmacology major, class of '07, and will work with Professor
Daniel Bogenhagen, Pharmacological Sciences. The institutional
award of $115,800 granted earlier this Spring will enable the University
to select four additional Beckman Scholars in 2007-2008.
Matthew Marge is Stony Brook's first recipient of the St.
Andrew's Society of the State of New York Scholarship. Marge is
one of two students from New York State to be awarded $15,000 for
one year of study in Edinburgh, Scotland. A double major in Computer
Science and Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Marge has been
engaged in research on applying interaction to robotic assistance
for the elderly and cognitively impaired with the help of mentors
Amanda Stent, Computer Science, and Richard Gerrig and Susan Brennan,
Psychology.
14 of the 15 Stony Brook undergraduates nominated for the
Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence were successful this
year and were honored at a ceremony hosted by the Chancellor
on April 10 in Albany. The students selected for the award were:
Tejus Bale, Biochemistry major, Oumou Tounami Diallo, Biochemistry
major, Melissa Friedman, Physics major, Sara Goldgraben, Biomedical
Engineering major, Nathan Hould, Chemical and Molecular Engineering
major, Celamli Jaime, double major in Theatre Arts & Social
Sciences Interdisciplinary, Katherine Kao, Biochemistry, Matthew
Marge, double major in Computer Science & Applied
Mathematics and Statistics, Caroline Park, Biochemistry major,
Elizabeth Roberts, Applied Mathematics & Statistics major, Yi Mei Shi,
double major in Sociology and Women's Studies, Alexandra Smolyanskaya,
Biochemistry major, Marrisa Trachtenberg, double major in Political
Science & Sociology
and Michelle Wenderlich, Music major.
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Fritz Henn, a psychiatrist and former Director of the Central Institute
of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany has been named Associate Laboratory
Director for Life Sciences at BNL. He will oversee the Lab's Biology and Medical
departments and has already helped to establish a Joint Center for Translational
Biomedical Imaging with the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
Events
Provost's Lecture
Series
April 18: "Trauma Culture: Viewing Images of Catastrophe"
Ann
Kaplan is Director of the Humanities Institute and Professor of
English and Comparative Studies at Stony Brook University. She
writes widely on topics in literary and media theory, practice and politics,
with special focus on issues in gender and race. Her most recent book is
Trauma Culture: The Politics of Terror and Loss in Media and Literature.
4:00 p.m.
Humanities Lecture Hall, Room 1006
April 21: "Global Warming: What We Know and What We Don't Know"
Robert
Cess is Distinguished Professor in Stony Brook's Marine Sciences
Research Center. He will discuss the physical processes that govern
climate change. Dr. Cess won the 2006 Jule G. Charney Award by the American
Meteorological Society. This lecture is part of Earthstock 2006, Stony Brook's
salute to Earth Day. 7:30 p.m.
Student Activities Center, Ballroom
B
April 27: "War and Peace"
2005 Nobel Prize Winner in Economics,
Robert Aumann, Professor at the Center for Rationality at The Hebrew
University in Jerusalem, is a founding member of Stony Brook’s Center for
Game Theory. He will discuss a new approach to studying war through game
theory insights which demonstrate that long-term interaction and patience
make peace more easily achievable. 4:00 p.m.
Wang Center Theater
UUP Front Page Discussion Series
April 19: "Salvaging Iraq's Past in the Turmoil of Iraq's Present"
Elizabeth Stone, Anthropology, is a specialist in Iraq's antiquities who
has been centrally involved in reconstructing Iraqi museums after the looting
and destruction that followed the U.S. invasion in 2003. Professor Stone
will report and analyze recent developments. Wednesday April 19 - 4 p.m.,
Women's Studies Colloquium Center, Old Chemistry.
Wine Center
April 20: "Culinary Delights"
Fresh local produce, wonderful
regional dishes, partnered with fine Long Island wines. Join us
as we welcome Peter Lessing, executive chef of several landmark
restaurants on Long Island, such as Library Cafe, Riverview Cafe,
and the Maine Maid Inn. He will share his culinary skills in tempting tastes,
stories of his family-run business, and his vast experiences, including
the rewards and challenges of being a top chef in the competitive Long Island
restaurant industry. 6:30–8:00 p.m Wang Center Chapel. $55
To Register: Call Ginny Clancy at (631) 632-9404. Note: You must be 21
or over to participate in winetasting events. Reservations are required
for all sessions.
July 5–July 29 Science and Research Awareness Series: "Topics in Cell and
Molecular Biology as Related to Clinical Sciences"
Over the course of four weeks this lecture and workshop
series is designed to bring awareness to enthusiastic students
on different aspects of clinical sciences and modern cell and molecular
biology. The topics to be presented will try to bridge the gap
between basic and clinical sciences, introducing the aspect of
translational and applied research as applied to human health and
safety. Faculty members who are experts in their fields will assist
in the educational program. A $500 minimum donation is suggested.
For more information, a copy of the schedule and to download a registration
form please go here:
http://anes.anesthes.sunysb.edu/teaching/sas.html
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Opportunities and Sponsor Information
Call for Nominations for
Turner Post-Doctoral Faculty Traineeships
In an effort to enhance
the diversity of instructors on campus, the Graduate School is planning
to award two new Turner Post Doctoral Faculty Traineeships this year.
Trainees will be selected from among recent graduates of doctoral programs
at Stony Brook. Traineeships will be offered to citizens or permanent
residents of the United States and faculty members are encouraged to
nominate students from African American, Hispanic American and Native
American backgrounds, as well as others who will contribute to diversity
on campus. Nominees should have earned a doctorate from Stony Brook no
earlier than January, 2003, and no later than August, 2006. The two year,
full-time, appointment will begin August, 2006 and includes an annual
stipend of $35,000.
Nomination packets should include:
a. a statement from the Graduate Program Director
citing reasons for nominating the candidate, and
b. a statement from the Chair outlining how the candidate's
development as a teacher and scholar would benefit from the traineeship
and giving a plan of the trainee's teaching and research responsibilities
over the two-year period of the award. It is expected that each fellow
will have a faculty mentor and a faculty mentor for research and that
the latter will not normally be the fellow's Ph.D. adviser.
Deadline for submission of applications is April 21, 2006. Seven copies
of the nomination packet shold be sent to:
Dr. Lawrence B. Martin, Dean of the Graduate School, 2401 Computer
Sciences Building, 11794-4433
Association for the Study
of Higher Education (ASHE) Dissertation Fellowships
With support
from Lumina Foundation for Education, ASHE has awarded 26 dissertation
fellowships since 2003. This year, eight to ten dissertation fellowships
in the amount of $14,000 each will be awarded for dissertations
focusing on student access and success in education beyond high
school. The Fellowship program also includes an array of activities
designed to promote professional and academic development of Fellows
through an intergenerational community of scholars. Applications
must be postmarked by May 10, 2006. For more information
and an application please visit:
http://www.ashe.ws/fellowship/aboutfellowship.htm
--Contributed by Peter Baigent, Vice President for Student Affairs and
Associate Provost for Enrollment and Retention Management
Extension
of the Expiration Date of the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research
Service Award Institutional Research Training Grant Funding Opportunity
Announcement
The NIH
Office of Extramural Research gives notice of the extension of
the expiration date for PA-02-109 NIH NRSA Institutional Research
Training Grant (T32) which was published May 16, 2002.
(http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-02-109.html)
This announcement will remain active through the May 10, 2006 submission
date, after which an updated funding opportunity announcement will
be issued. Applicants should use the current PHS 398 application
forms and instructions, which are available at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms.htm.
Please note that Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Stipend and Other Budgetary
Levels effective for Fiscal Year 2006 were issued January 9, 2006
as NIH Notice Number: NOT-OD-06-026. Additional information is
available at: http://grants.nih.gov/training/nrsa.htm.
Each NIH Institute and Center (IC) has a unique scientific purview
and different program goals and initiatives that evolve over time.
Prior to preparing an application, it is critical that all applicants
consult with appropriate NIH program staff listed in the announcement
to obtain current information about IC specific program priorities
and policies. An updated list of NIH training contacts is available
at: http://grants.nih.gov/training/tac_training_contacts.doc
Proposals with Diversity Components for Graduate Education
Should Contact the Center for Inclusive Education to Maximize
the Success of the Proposal
If you are considering writing a proposal to a Federal Agency or a Foundation
that requires a diversity component for graduate education please contact
Lucy Gluck as early as possible so that she can provide you with the data
and information that you need to make the strongest possible proposal. Lucy
can be contacted on Notes (Lucy
Gluck) or by phone (632 9988).
The Center for Inclusive Education is now in a position
to provide support and technical assistance in preparing proposals that
have a graduate diversity component to them. Lucy Gluck has worked with
David Ferguson for many years and is a skilled writer and proposal developer.
Lucy will have at her disposal all of the facts and figures on enrollment
and degree production by ethnicity. She knows about all of the successful
diversity efforts underway on campus and can supply appropriate prose describing
these for your proposal. All training grants, most Center grants and many
other types of awards now require a well developed diversity program as
part of the proposal. Martin Schoonen recently lead a team who won the first
NSF IGERT award to Stony Brook ($2.9M for graduate student support) and
worked with Lucy. As you may know, Stony Brook in the lead institution for
the NSF SUNY LS-AMP program and for the NSF SUNY AGEP program and Lucy has
been much involved in both of these.
--Contributed by Lawrence B. Martin, Dean of the Graduate School, Associate
Provost for Analysis and Planning
Upcoming
Funding Opportunities
For a complete list of
upcoming deadlines, please go to -
http://www.stonybrook.edu/research/fndopp/deadlcal.html
Interdisciplinary Seminars
Please remember that,
in an effort to encourage interdisciplinary research on campus, this
office will supply $100 toward a speaker's luncheon when your
department invites a Stony Brook colleague from an unrelated
discipline to give a seminar. Please contact Ann-Marie Scheidt
amscheidt@notes.cc.sunysb.edu to determine eligibility. You will
be asked to provide a copy of the seminar notice annotated with the
number of attendees and a brief description of any anticipated
collaborations with the speaker's department.
Music for Meetings
Please remember that
the OVPR would like to assist those of you who are planning a
research meeting on campus by providing musical interludes. If you
would like to have Stony Brook student musicians play at the
reception for your meeting it can be arranged by contacting
Ann-Marie Scheidt
amscheidt@notes.cc.sunysb.edu. OVPR will make a payment to the
Department of Music and the Department in turn pays the students.
You get to listen to some nice music.
Recent Changes in NIH Submission Policy and Procedure
Establishment of Multiple Principal Investigator Awards for the Support
of Team Science Projects. As previously reported, in response to a policy
directive from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy,
NIH is beginning this year to implement a Federal-wide policy to allow
formally more than one Principal Investigator (PI) on individual research
awards. The multiple-PI option will be available for applications submitted
in response to a selected group of Requests for Applications (RFAs) and
Program Announcements (PAs) with May-June 2006 receipt dates. It is expected
that the multiple-PI option will become available for most investigator-initiated
research grant mechanisms submitted for January 2007 and later application
receipt dates. The NIH will announce those specific RFAs and PA selected
to pilot the multi-PI option as well as future plans for expansion to
other mechanisms in the NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts at-
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/index.html#search.
Specific differences with other agencies’ multiple-PI practice include
an NIH requirement for a Leadership Plan to describe the roles and areas
of responsibility of the named PIs and the processes for making decisions
on scientific direction, allocating resources, and resolving disputes
that may arise. The quality of the Leadership Plan will be considered
by peer reviewers as part of the assessment of scientific and technical
merit. To facilitate communication, NIH will require designation of a
“Contact PI” at the time of application, who will be responsible for relaying
communications between all of the PIs and the NIH. The Contact PI will
not have any special authority or responsibility for the project. It will
be permissible to rotate the role of Contact PI among the Multiple PIs,
potentially on an annual basis at the time of grant renewal. A Multiple
Principal Investigator website has been created to provide general information
on the new policy-
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/multi_pi/
Change in Time of Submission/Receipt
of NIH Electronic Grant Applications to Grants.gov. The time
that electronic grant applications must be successfully received by Grants.gov
( http://www.grants.gov/) in order to be considered “on time” changed
as of April 1, 2006. Effective that date, applications must be received no later than 5:00 p.m.
local time AT STONY BROOK on the submission date(s) described
in the funding opportunity announcement. The Grants.gov timestamp will
continue to be expressed in Eastern Time.
This change applies to ALL electronic grant applications submitted to
NIH through Grants.gov, including those that have already changed
to electronic submission by April 1, 2006 (R13, R15, R36, S10, SBIR R43/R44,
and STTR R41/R42) and those that are scheduled to do so in the future
(e.g., R03, R21, R33, R21/R33, and R34 for the June 1, 2006 submission
date). The timeline for the transition of all competing grant mechanisms
is available at-
http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/strategy_timeline.htm.
Updated Instructions
Regarding Inclusion of Publications as Appendix Materials. Effective
for applications intended for the May 10, 2006 submission date,
the NIH standard policy regarding the inclusion of publications
as acceptable Appendix material in grant applications has changed.
This applies to all grant mechanisms for which publications are
acceptable Appendix material, regardless of which application form is
used (e.g., PHS 398, SF424 (R&R),
PHS 416-1) or the mode of submission (paper or electronic). The
updated notice clarifying the original NIH announcement specifying
what may be included may be found here: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-06-053.html
An application that does not observe the relevant policies and procedures
may be delayed in the review process. Applicants are reminded to review
specific FOAs for any additional program-specific guidance on Appendix
material and other application requirements. Application instructions
for the PHS 398, SF424 (R&R), and PHS 416-1 will be revised to reflect
this new policy for inclusion of publications in Appendix materials.
New Issue of NIH Newsletter on Extramural Research.
The April issue of the NIH Office of Extramural Research's new
newsletter, "Nexus" has
been released. It is available on-line at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/nexus.htm
and features articles about electronic grant administration, the
new Pathway to Independence Award, and the “urban legend” issue
of whether the effort expended in preparing preliminary data for
applications must be included in payroll certifications (effort
reports) – this isn’t necessary.
eRA Commons Support via the Web
We encourage you to take advantage of NIH's new web support at http://ithelpdesk.nih.gov/eRA/.
When requesting support please provide your eRA Commons username and contact
information, Grants.gov tracking number and your specific questions.
Recent NIH Guide notices related to e-Submission
• **IMPORTANT** Change in Business Process Concerning
eRA Commons Verification of Electronically Submitted Applications - Effective
for applications submitted for May 10, 2006 and beyond, NIH will no longer require
the verification of the grant application by the AOR/SO and PD/PI. The verification
step will be replaced with a two business day period for checking the assembled
application in eRA Commons, after which the submission process will be complete
and the application will automatically move forward to the Division of Receipt
and Referral, Center for Scientific Review. Within the two day period, the AOR/SO
will have the ability to “Reject” the application and stop further processing.
Additional details can be found in the April
7, 2006, NOT-OD-06-055 Guide notice.
• Interim Changes to the SF424 (R&R) Instructions - Includes latest policy
changes and clarifications, including change in verification requirement, publications
as appendix material, implementing multi-PI, how to include select agents information,
change in submission deadline, and more. See April
7, 2006, NOT-OD-06-057 Guide notice.
• New Electronic Application Deadline-Life in the electronic lane just got a
little easier. Now your deadline for submitting your application to Grants.gov is
5:00 p.m. your local time, NOT 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. See the March 16, 2006, Guide notice.
• How to send electronic appendices- Rules for appendices have changed starting
with the May 10, 2006, submission date. Here are the key points:
- Publications in press. Do not include entire articles. Make
a list and link to the online journal articles or NIH
PubMed Central identification numbers.
- Manuscripts accepted for publication but not yet published.
You may submit entire articles as a PDF attachment.
- Published manuscripts without an online journal link. Same
as above -- attach a PDF.
For more information, read the full March 16, 2006, Guide notice.
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Essential Policies, Procedures and
Resources
Rules and Regulation for RF Summer Employment Positions
Vital Research Foundation rules and regulations regarding the temporary
summer employment of RF faculty and project aids in any capacity may be
viewed online at the HR Website at:
http://naples.cc.sunysb.edu/Admin/HRS.nsf/pages/HRS_Focus_SummerEmployment
Summer salary info for 9 month faculty is included in a link here.
The official begin date for summer employment Is May 22. These regulations
may directly affect your ability to hire and retain RF Faculty, Project
Aides, undergrads and graduate students over the summer semester. Please
check through all of the appropriate rules and regulations concerning this.
--Contributed by Rick Sadetsky (richard.sadetsky@stonybrook.edu),
Human Resource Services
New Faculty and Staff Digest Online
How do you learn quickly to navigate Stony Brook Campus? ... Set up e-mail
accounts, find out where to eat, enroll in Direct Deposit, locate child
care, volunteer opportunities, traditions, banking services, recreation
and entertainment - even train schedules? Where can Faculty find policies
and procedures for appointments, tenure and promotion; research and scholarly
activity; examinations and grading?
The Faculty & Staff Digest at http://www.stonybrook.edu/digest is
the 'Insider's Guide' that enables you to connect with our virtual
and expanding Campus community with links to dynamic Web pages listing
most services, departments, and organizations. The very "user friendly" Search
function immediately brings you to the topic of interest. The Editors
welcome suggestions, via the Comments section, so be sure to recommend
additional sites that you think will benefit your colleagues.
--Contributed by Margaret Tumilowicz. DoIT
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For More Information
An abundance of
specific information for the research community is available on our
Website, where past issues of this bulletin can also be found.
Office of the Vice President for Research -
http://www.stonybrook.edu/research/
Monday Memo archive -
http://www.stonybrook.edu/research/monmemo/mmarchive.html
All past issues of Monday Memo are keyword searchable.
And if you are challenged by the embarrassment of riches in the
over 2,000 individual Web pages that comprise the Website, you may
find the alphabetical site index helpful. The index can be accessed
at
http://www.stonybrook.edu/research/sitemap.html.
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