Functional Review of the financial services provided by the Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster Research Finance and Financial Affairs
For more information. Download the Response Plan Summary.
Response Plan Summary
Functional Review of McMaster Financial Support Activities
As you know, a summary of the Research Project Statement (RPS) has been sent to researchers through email on a monthly basis. The process of providing this financial detail over email was established a few years ago and since that time threats to research security have increased as threat actors have become more sophisticated. Risks include the exploitation of accounts, data access and extraction and having an outside entity masquerade as one of our researchers. In addition, our financial tool which supports the RPS has moved from onsite storage to the cloud, which has required a change to delivery of the RPS summary to provide greater security.
University Technology Services (UTS), Institutional Research and Analysis (IRA) and the central and Faculty of Health Sciences Research Finance offices have worked together to provide more protection for researchers while also supporting access to their RPS summaries. The University will continue to provide researchers with a monthly email. Rather than the email including financial detail, it will instead provide a link to the Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) system where login with your McMaster email and MacID password through Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) – already shown to greatly reduce risks to research security – will provide additional protection for your information. Note that while care should be taken with links in emails arriving unexpectedly from unknown sources, information security experts in UTS have advised that this process of sending an expected link from a known source, coupled with login through the MFA process, is secure.
Researchers can access Oracle BI at any time however the monthly email will serve as a reminder that review of account details is now required. While the RPS summary previously sent through email was a snapshot in time, the information displayed following clicking the ‘link’ to the RPS Summary in Oracle BI will be real-time since Oracle BI is updated daily.
In addition to the RPS summaries, Oracle BI provides additional detail including Labour Distribution reports and transaction details on each of a researcher’s accounts. Researchers are encouraged to take advantage of this information while logged into Oracle BI.
This approach to provide access to the RPS summary within Oracle BI rather than through the body of an email is preventative in nature and provides an additional layer of security above and beyond the current practice. This new process will begin with the monthly email distributed in July. Please reach out to your Research Accountant if you have any questions on navigating the Oracle BI system.
The P-Card reconciliation process has been streamlined to aid in reconciliation.
These changes have been well received by the community, as shown in the following testimonials from researchers and administrators:
“The new P-Card reconciliation process is much more streamlined and more straightforward to reconcile. Adding My Wallet, where each P-Card transaction is posted, simplifies the reconciliation process. Since all the data is online, there’s no more need to collect signatures for approvals as they are now automatically done in the background. Overall, the new P-Card reconciliation is more straightforward, practical and a time saver.”
“The new process for reconciling PCards does save quite a bit of time. It is definitely easier to track expenses, or find backup when required.”
“P-card reconciliation has been streamlined and saves time. It just takes a few entries for staff to get the hang of it.”
Researchers have mentioned that it would be great if it were possible to take a picture of a receipt and store those receipts electronically. This function is currently available in Mosaic, through “My Wallet”, part of the part of the Travel and Expense module. My Wallet allows tracking of expenses by loading electronic copies and/or pictures of receipts. If you have not taken advantage of this tool, please refer to this ‘My Wallet’ video to help streamline your Travel and Expense claims (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBbK-J-hVuo)
Updates made to the Dashboards include the following:
As on-going activity, the Research Finance offices have been dedicating time to project clean-up, closing projects that are no longer active. As some agencies allow spending after the end date of the project while others provide automatic extensions, review on a project-by-project basis is required. Outreach with individual researchers is required at times and is ongoing. Cleaning up and closing these projects will make it easier for researchers and their administrators to review their research portfolio.
The approval processes in MacBuy are being streamlined to better serve our user community. Changes implemented include:
The Finance security improvement project is underway and has three major objectives:
The adoption in 2019 of a risk-based approach to compliance checking on Travel and Expense (T&E) claims has resulted in more efficient flow of claims through Mosaic. With the reduced volume of compliance checking on low-risk T&E transactions, the Research Finance offices are now able to focus more energy and time on valuable strategies for financial management and reporting. We expect everyone to benefit from this improved level of service. A similar risk-based approach to reviewing non-PO Vouchers was recently tested and yielded positive results. As of April 1 2020, new voucher submissions will follow an updated workflow. For most projects, non-PO voucher submissions with a value below the established dollar threshold will not be routed to the Research Finance offices; they will instead be subject to post-review sampling for compliance. Paper backup for P-Card reconciliations is now being routed directly to Accounts Payable. This will increase the speed with which reconciliations can be finalized and posted to GL accounts.
Since the end of September 2019, all Principal Investigators and Delegates were given access to the Principal Investigator and Research Project Statement dashboards and related reports (eg. Labour Distribution details). The ease of the Principal Investigator Dashboard and Research Project Statement has allowed researchers and other users to quickly view their portfolio for project balances and to identify expenditures incurred and funding received. We are hearing from the research community that this, along with the month end summary email to each researcher, has proven to be ‘very helpful and easy’. The new dashboards have allowed them to easily scan this information and understand their financial picture. For those that have had an opportunity to review these dashboards in more detail, the ability to review Labour Details information has been said to be very helpful when reviewing members of the research team charged to different projects.
In order to provide researchers and the users of the Research Project Statement with better information, efforts are continuing to answer the question: How much money do I have left to spend? The release of the Principal Investigator and Research Project Statement dashboards have helped to provide better information but there is more work to be done to fully answer this question. One project recently pursued is the ability to include a committed value in Mosaic when a researcher has committed funding from a McMaster researcher to another researcher at an external institution (eg. transferring portion of research award to a recipient at the University of XXX). In the past, these commitments were tracked outside of Mosaic and were not readily available to all users of the Research Project Statement information. Going forward, there is an ability to set up the commitment of funding to the external institution and it will show in the Research Project Statement. This will provide better information regarding a true balance of funding left to spend. There is still more work to be done and efforts will continue to enhance the information available in Mosaic.
The implementation of the Principal Investigator Dashboard and the Research Project Statement Dashboard has been a great success. The ease of:
has opened the doors for more improvements and additional abilities within the BI dashboards. One of those is the ability to easily produce F300’s as individual reports or in bulk. This will be used as part of the annual March 31st reporting requirements of the Tri-Agencies. This ability will save time to produce the annual F300’s and provides the opportunity to use this as the reporting tool for a number of other research sponsors.
Accounts Payable continues to roll out MacBuy, McMaster’s eProcurement online purchase ordering system. Since MacBuy launched in May 2019, the number of suppliers available in the Showcase catalogue (just click and order) has continued to grow. These include commonly used research suppliers like Fisher Scientific, as well as office supply vendors such as Grand & Toy. In addition to these Showcase suppliers, MacBuy can also be used for vendors that are not currently in the catalogue. In most cases, approvals are done by clicking “approve” in an email prior to purchases being completed, which simplifies the process of charging purchases correctly to projects and programs on a timely basis.
Links to training videos can be found here:
https://financial-affairs.mcmaster.ca/services/procurement/buying-for-mcmaster/macbuy/#tab-content-user-videos-how-tos
For user access and training opportunities, contact macbuyhelp@mcmaster.ca.
The MacBill function for external billing continues to grow and is now being used for Research invoices. Accounts Receivable continues to monitor usage and encourage greater use of MacBill throughout McMaster. MacBill project leaders held a Town Hall on Feb 28, 2020 and gathered feedback and recommendations from users. An update will be provided soon to address those items. Training is ongoing, and Accounts Receivable continues to explore a variety of training methods in order to best serve MacBill users.
Travel and Expense (T&E) has some new functionality! Now, when an individual appears multiple times within the same T&E workflow, subsequent steps will be automatically approved after their first approval is completed. Additionally, these same approvers will now only receive a single email notification. This new functionality will help when an individual is the Program Manager and the Department Manager, or the Principle Investigator and the Purpose Approver. The time required to complete Travel & Expense Approvals has been reduced by removing the Budget Check as a manual approval step. This saves time for approvers on every T&E record. A change provided by our software vendor has enabled us to once again allow users to Delete unwanted Expense Reports, when needed.
Implementation of recommendations arising from the functional review of the financial support activities provided by the Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster Research Finance and Financial Affairs has been continuing. This update provides further detail regarding progress of changes, which have been developed in consultation with cross-faculty researcher and administrator focus groups and other stakeholders.
On February 1, 2019 McMaster implemented a change to research compliance checking. Rather than reviewing each individual expense we have moved to a sample-based approach to testing policy/eligibility compliance of Travel and Expense submissions. The controls in place are set at a level that balances an acceptable level of risk with a reduction in administrative burden. Work on the development of a sampling approach for other types of transactions will continue through the upcoming months. Data on the impact of the sampling approach will be reviewed annually, with the processes being revised as needed.
May 2019 the soft launch of the Principal Investigator Dashboard and Research Project Statement Dashboard in the Business Intelligence (BI) tool took place. These dashboards will offer a single access point for principal investigators and support staff to access essential financial information and labour distribution for their research projects.
The soft launch provided access to selected members of the McMaster research community. Additional administrators and research support staff will be trained and given access over the summer months. This will ensure that they are familiar with the system and able to provide support by the time the full roll-out to all researchers is complete on September 30.
Users will be notified by email when it is their turn to access the dashboards. The email will include training materials, ‘how-to’ documentation, and links to video tutorials. There will also be drop-in training sessions offered to help users navigate the new reports.
Researchers who will not have direct access immediately can still experience some of the benefits of the new RPS through access by the support person that they typically rely on for financial information from MOSAIC.
As a reminder, key features of the dashboard will include:
The Tri-Agencies (the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council) launched a new initiative to reduce administrative burden and harmonize requirements across the three agencies. This new approach focuses on principles and, in most cases, allows institutions to rely on their own institutional policies without having to also meet additional requirements based on Tri-Agency rules.
McMaster is one of the selected institutions invited to participate in the pilot of this new initiative. In November 2018, McMaster completed a gap analysis of its policies and procedures and has introduced minor amendments to its policies to ensure alignment to Tri-Agency directions. In January 2019, the Research Finance offices held several information sessions for the research community. McMaster implemented the new principles-based approach in February 1, 2019. One of the expected benefits of this change is a reduction in administrative burden to the research community, particularly the request for less justification of expenses. However, if the direct relationship of the expense to your project is not clear, it is the responsibility of our Research Finance offices to request additional justification.
In the next phase of the pilot the Tri-Agencies will develop a new monitoring review process. We expect that elements of the Monitoring Review will be tested with the Pilot institutions in the fall of 2019.
McMaster has begun transitioning to a coordinated online purchasing system. MacBuy is integrated with Mosaic and allows buyers to use an online shopping cart to order items directly from selected suppliers. The Financial Affairs team has trained more than 140 people and MacBuy launched in a pilot phase a few weeks ago. Already the online purchasing system is making a difference for the early adopters. For 93% of the orders, a purchase order was created on the same day the order was placed. Users to date work in Biochemistry, the Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute, Chemistry, Kinesiology, Receiving and Financial Affairs. As well, administrative staff in the Faculties of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Business are also part of this group. Over the summer, staff from Facilities Services, Human Resources and the Library will receive training on the MacBuy system, in addition to administrators in the Faculties of Science, Engineering and Health Sciences. Learn more on the Financial Affairs website. The next town hall meeting is scheduled for August 1, 2019.at 10:00 in Council Chambers, GH-111.
In June 2018, McMaster began the implementation of the billing and accounts receivable modules of Mosaic for several departments. This new functionality within Mosaic will ensure that external customers are billed on a timely basis, and that payments can be easily tracked and identified for customers. Implementation has brought many benefits to the University, including:
Work is complete on this project and all phase one and two users for non research departments are live. Phase three users will access the system in the fall of 2019. The FHS Research Finance office is in the process of migrating all research billings to the new system. The Central Research Finance Office will do so in the Fall of 2019.
A review of the Research Residuals Policy was recently undertaken, resulting in revision. Research Finance offices in the Vice-President Research’s office and the Faculty of Health Sciences participated in the review. The draft revised policy was shared with the Associate Deans Research, the Assistant Vice-President (Administration) and Chief Financial Officer and personnel from the University Secretariat. The revised policy will be posted in the coming weeks.
Key change(s) to the policy are as follows:
In addition, clarification has been added in regard to:
A new model is being explored to better support research and operating finance in the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS). The proposed model involves providing better support to individual PIs and departments by having some financial transaction entry done by staff who will specialize in that work. Detailed data-gathering regarding how financial transactions are entered by FHS users has taken place and we are now working with departments to review their data. Our first focus will be entering MacBill transactions and travel and expense claims. Billing specialists have been trained and are available to help FHS departments who have not been in the first two MacBill phases. Department managers can contact Kathy Pfeiffer (pfeiffe@mcmaster.ca) to see how they can join the pilot.
These are only some of the initiatives underway that support the findings and recommendations of the review of financial support activities at McMaster. If you have questions or want to learn more, contact the Research Finance office at finrev@mcmaster.ca
2017 saw the completion of the functional review of the financial support activities provided by the Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster Research Finance and Financial Affairs. Since that time, the Faculty of Health Sciences, Financial Affairs, and the Research Finance offices have been working on implementing recommendations arising from that review. These changes have been developed in consultation with cross-faculty researcher and administrator focus groups and other stakeholders. This update provides further detail regarding progress of implementation.
We reported in November 2018 that work was underway to move the Research Project Statement to the Business Intelligence (BI) tool. Since that time the BI Implementation Team has developed a Principal Investigator Dashboard and Research Project Statement Dashboard. We are very excited to report that these new dashboards are ready to be released to the McMaster research community using a phased approach, starting at the end of this month.
These new dashboards will offer a single access point for Principal Investigators and support staff to access essential financial information and labour distribution for their research projects. Reports from our Researcher and Administrator Focus groups are very positive, and we are looking forward to introducing these dashboards to all Principal Investigators, delegates, and administrators.
Key features will include:
May 31, 2019 – A soft launch to selected members of the McMaster Research Community including Deans, Department Chairs, and Research Accountants as well as researchers and Department Administrators who have been involved in the testing phase of the new Research Project Statement
By End of July – A second phase which will include the remaining Department Administrators and other staff members
Fall of 2019 – Remaining Principal Investigators and delegates
Users will be notified by email by Institutional Research and Analysis when it is their turn to access the dashboards. The email will include training materials, ‘how-to’ documentation, and links to video tutorials that will be available to guide users. There will also be drop-in training sessions offered to help users navigate the new reports. Researchers who were not part of the testing to date and who will therefore not have direct access immediately following the May 31 soft launch can still experience some of the benefits of the new RPS through access by their departmental administrator.
The Research Project Statement Dashboard and Principal Investigator Dashboard are only two of the initiatives underway that support the findings and recommendations of the review of financial support activities at McMaster. If you have questions or want to learn more, please contact us at finrev@mcmaster.ca.
2017 saw the completion of the functional review of the financial support activities provided by the Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster Research Finance and Financial Affairs. Since that time, Financial Affairs and the Research Finances offices have been working on implementing recommendations arising from that review. These changes have been developed in consultation with cross-faculty researcher and administrator focus groups and other stakeholders. This update provides further detail regarding progress of implementation, which has continued since the communication provided in June of this year.
Effective the second week in December, several updates to Mosaic will be made as part of a larger plan to increase usability and user-friendliness. Upcoming improvements include:
Changes to Workflow include:
*Change to research compliance checking
The Finance Review indicated that McMaster’s conservative approach to risk, which resulted in the research finance offices checking 100% of transactions, has led to a lack of value-added services. Review of data has indicated that the McMaster research community is well-versed in the expectations of both the university and the funder and that errors in submission are rare.
Through consultation with focus groups within McMaster, external colleagues and with assistance from KPMG, McMaster has developed a new sample-based approach to risk for Travel and Expenses which will facilitate increased customer service while keeping risk to the university very low. Through this approach, the research community will see fewer returns through the MOSAIC system. The research finance offices will experience increased efficiency, allowing greater attention to value-added support. A sampling approach for other types of transactions is also in development. Data on the impact of this new approach will be reviewed annually, with processes revised as needed.
This new approach will begin in January 2019.
Work is underway to move the Research Project Statement to the Business Intelligence (BI) tool. This will allow the report to be enhanced to include labour distribution data so that researchers will be able to see which students/employees they are paying. A summary dashboard report showing all of a researcher’s projects and ending balances will also be developed. Usability enhancements include the ability to see multi-project summaries and to easily customize the dashboard. Research Project Statements will be emailed to researchers each month and can also be accessed on an ad hoc basis.
The expected completion date is May 31, 2019.
The Tri-Agencies (the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council) have launched a new initiative to reduce administrative burden and harmonize requirements across the three agencies. This new approach focuses on principles and, in most cases, allows institutions to rely on their own institutional policies without having to also meet additional requirements based on Tri-Agency rules.
McMaster was one of 10 institutions across the country invited to participate in the pilot of this new initiative. Through January to June of 2019, McMaster will begin operating under the direction of the new Tri-Agency Financial Administration Guide and will assist in its evaluation and assessment. The Finance and Research Finance teams are currently reviewing McMaster’s policies and the new guidelines from the Tri-Agencies to determine any potential gaps and/or amendments to existing McMaster policies. These are expected to be minimal. As they work through the policies, these offices are also reviewing different types of expenditures to assess the impact of the new approach. Impact to the research community will be tracked, summarized and communicated to researchers and department administrators.
Over the next several months, McMaster will implement a streamlined eProcurement system, “MacBuy”. This new functionality allows for a shopping cart purchasing experience, supports e-invoicing, improves reporting and analysis and provides a supplier portal.
A Town Hall held November 27 was well attended and the presentation will be communicated via the Daily News, McMaster Update and MOSAIC News in the coming weeks. Updates on the progress of the project will be communicated monthly beginning in January 2019 and a Town Hall will be scheduled for March 2019.
In June 2018, McMaster began implementation of the billing and accounts receivable modules of MOSAIC for several departments. As of the end of September 241 invoices, totalling over $2.41 million had been issued. This new functionality within Mosaic will ensure that external customers are billed on a timely basis, and that payments can be easily tracked and identified for customers. Implementation has brought many benefits to the University, including:
Work is complete on this project and all phase one users for non research departments are live. It is anticipated that MacBill will be used in the near future for any new research projects where invoicing is needed, for example, research funding provided by the private sector. In those cases, Research Project Statements will include a note identifying the portion of funding that has been invoiced but not yet received.
A new model is being explored to better support research and operating finance in the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS). The proposed model involves providing better support to individual PIs and departments by having some financial transaction entry done by staff who will specialize in that work. For example, departments or research groups might have employees who enter all of the travel claims for their areas. Detailed data-gathering regarding how financial transactions are entered by FHS users has taken place. The next step is a pilot where the “hub model” will be tested.
The launch of a pilot hub is planned for the spring of 2019.
Significant progress continues to be made towards improving the University’s systems and supports for financial services. Several steps have been taken since McMaster completed its functional review of Financial support activities provided by the Faculty of Health Sciences, Research Finance office and Financial Affairs last year.
The goal of the functional review was to develop an understanding of the finance units and structures that support the University, which finance services were needed most, and what opportunities existed for synergies, improved service levels and user experiences.
The Review committee was composed of external experts and McMaster faculty members. Key stakeholders included researchers, research administrators, finance leads and administrators within faculties.
The review provided insights and recommendations on a number of key areas of work within Research Finance, Financial Affairs and the Faculty of Health Sciences Research and Finance Offices, ranging from governance to research support. The full list of recommendations can be reviewed here.
Since the completion of the review, the recommendations have been used to initiate a number of projects, and the teams behind the work are eager to share progress.
Here are some of the highlights:
These cross-faculty groups meet monthly to discuss pressing issues like Travel and Expense AP-01, Research Project statements, Mosaic Fluid changes, Tri-Agency Changes, and Compliance Checking. The goal is to collect input and expertise and ensure proposed solutions meet the needs of the impacted stakeholders.
Research Finance offices come together several times a year to discuss common goals, align on processes and have scenario-based discussions to share efficiencies and best practices.
Human Resources Services has been working on a number of continuous improvement initiatives to improve and streamline payroll process and end user experiences, including:
McMaster will implement the billing and accounts receivable modules of the Mosaic system across the university. This new functionality within Mosaic will ensure external customers are billed on a timely basis, and payments can be easily tracked and identified for customers. Successful implementation will have many benefits to the University, including:
McMaster will implement a buying system to streamline procurement across the university. Expected benefits include integration with Mosaic and approximately $3.7M in savings annually.
~$3.7M/YR savings when fully implemented.
Regular updates are being made to the Travel and Expense policy based on feedback from focus groups to increase operational efficiencies and simplifying the submission and approval processes.
A new model is being explored to better support research and operating finance in the Faculty. The new proposed model involves building expertise in a focussed area and providing better support to individual PIs and departments.
In the coming months, updates will be made to the Mosaic to improve the user experience within the Mosaic platform. These changes will provide a more intuitive interface, allow for some user customization, improved navigation, and better accessibility across multiple devices.
Included in the review will be current organizational structures of central finance units (including Health Sciences Operating Finance, Health Sciences Research Finance, Financial Affairs, McMaster Research Finance), Faculty of Health Science Departments and existing funding bases and methodology.
Download the Research-Finance Review terms of reference at https://financial-affairs.mcmaster.ca/app/uploads/2018/12/terms-of-reference.pdf.
The process will involve a Review Committee composed of external and internal members that will include three externals and two internal subject area leaders and/or users.
Project Launch and Information Collection Period will be overseen by the project sponsors and led by a Project Manager using an information collection package prepared for and with input from the Review Committee. The Project Manager will identify the information needed to be completed by the key leads of the finance units. Services will be organized as follows:
At the same time, key stakeholders (including unit heads) will be interviewed and asked to identify:
Interviewees will include, but will not be limited to:
Other mechanisms will be employed to capture the broader community feedback (online forum, online survey, etc.).
The project managers will provide the Review Committee with information packages and summaries of interviews (minutes) for their consideration and deliberation. The Review Committee will decide its own processes and have the project manager available as a support resource. Unit leaders will be available to the Review Committee and the Project Manager for ongoing consultation during the review.
Preparation of material relating to the following:
Deanne is a graduate of Western University and completed her CGA designation in 1992. She has been with Financial Services at Western for 17 years, holding her current position of Director of the Research Finance unit since 2002. Her experience includes managing and leading through the multitude of changes and increased accountability in the research funding environment, systems upgrades and implementations, strategic planning and budgeting, as well as process review and improvements for business operations. Prior to joining Western she spent six years at the University of Wisconsin as Accounting Manager of the Housing and Food Services operation and 3.5 years as Senior Accountant with the St. John’s Health system in Michigan.
Deanne is an active member of the Canadian Association of Research Administrators (CARA) and is a firm believer in sharing best practices. She regularly presents and facilitates discussions at both the regional and national conferences. She’s the former leader of the Finance Special Interest Group with CARA and has sat on working groups for provincial (research) and CAUBO initiatives. Deanne also volunteers in her community and is currently the treasurer and the co-chair of the policies committee for the Professional and Managerial Association at Western. As a life-long learner she has completed programs in change management, strategic leadership, project management, and not-for-profit operations.
Dr. Gauldie has been in the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster since 1970, and was also an undergraduate here, BSc in Chemistry, 1964. He was Chair of the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine from 1989 to 2004. Dr. Gauldie holds the title of Distinguished University Professor at McMaster. He is recognized internationally for his work in defining the molecular regulation of the acute inflammatory response and is a world expert in the areas of cytokine biology and the molecular regulation of chronic inflammation and immunity. He has been active in vaccine development for infectious diseases and cancer. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, is Chair of the Ontario Research Fund Advisory Board, on the Board of Ontario Genomics and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Health Canada.
Jennifer is the Director, Research Accounting & University Financial Systems at Queen’s University. Jennifer obtained her Honours Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Ottawa in 1992 and obtained her CMA designation in 1994. She worked with the Auditor General’s Office, contributing to audits of Crown Corporations and Federal Government departments, before moving to Nortel Networks. Jennifer spent 11 years at Nortel Networks in the departments of Finance, Research & Development, and Intellectual Property, managing up to 50 employees internationally. Subsequent to Nortel Networks, Jennifer changed focus to gain experience in different sectors, including not-for-profit (Oxfam Canada), retail (Home Depot), and government (Government of Nunavut). Upon returning to Ontario, Jennifer joined Queen’s University in April 2011 as Associate Director, Research Accounting, reporting to the Controller. In October 2016, Jennifer’s responsibilities were expanded to include oversight and management from a business owner perspective of the financial systems at Queen’s University.
Karen Mossman is a Professor in Pathology and Molecular Medicine and Chair of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at McMaster University. Dr. Mossman is an elected member and treasurer of the International Cytokine and Interferon Society and has organized and served on the local and scientific advisory boards for several international cytokine and virology conferences. She is currently a section editor at PLoS Pathogens and Cytokines, and on the editorial board for Journal of Virology, Journal of Interferon and Cytokine Research and Peer J.
Dr. Mossman obtained her PhD in molecular virology with Dr. Grant McFadden studying immune evasion of type interferon-gamma by poxviruses and completed post-doctoral training with Dr. James Smiley studying evasion of type 1 interferon pathways by herpesviruses. Her laboratory currently studies innate immune signaling pathways initiated by viral infection and extracellular dsRNA along with mechanisms employed by herpesviruses to evade these responses. In addition, her laboratory is developing herpesviruses as oncolytic viruses for cancer therapy, and is working with Venn Therapeutics to move her discoveries into the clinic.
Rafael Kleiman is a Professor of Engineering Physics at McMaster University and the Director of the Laboratory for Advanced Photovoltaic Research. He serves on the Executive of the McMaster University Faculty Association (MUFA) and on the Board of Governors of McMaster University. He was the Director of the Centre for Emerging Device Technologies (CEDT) from 2004-2015 and the Scientific Director of the NSERC Photovoltaic Innovation Network from 2009-2015. He founded the Canadian Photovoltaics Conference in 2010, bringing together the Canadian photovoltaic research community annually.
Dr. Kleiman received his PhD from Cornell University, studying heavy fermion superconductivity under the supervision of Prof. David Lee and Dr. David Bishop. After graduating, he worked at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ for 11 years on next-generation semiconductor devices. His current research program focuses on the development of advanced photovoltaic (PV) devices for lower-cost higher-efficiency solar cell applications. His PV research interests are in silicon-based multi-junction technology, ultra-thin single-crystal silicon solar cells, defect characterization and novel optoelectronic instrumentation.
Tim is the Chief Administrative Officer in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. Reporting to the Dean, the Chief Administrative Officer serves as a key partner in accomplishing the Faculty of Medicine’s strategic goals and objectives. The CAO provides leadership and direction for the overall operational management of the Faculty in support of its academic mission. Executive responsibilities include oversight of all administrative services including finance, human resources, information technology, facilities management and space planning, health and safety, security and logistics services.
Tim Neff joined the Faculty of Medicine in 2004 as its Chief Financial Officer and was promoted to the position of Chief Administrative Officer in 2008. Prior to 2004, Tim held positions with the University of Toronto Libraries and the Rotman School of Management.
Committee Onsite and Stakeholder Interviews ~ March 7th-9th, 2017
The Research-Finance Review Committee met with 22 stakeholder groups (including project sponsors and VPs) onsite on March 7-9th. The Committee was split into two groups to meet with over 110 stakeholders in panels of three members each. The schedule below outlines the groups that met with the Committee and another 5 sessions are planned throughout April.
The Feedback Template was used to gather detailed feedback and prompt discussions.
Online Community Survey ~ closed April 6th, 2017
The online community survey was open to the McMaster community and provided all stakeholders the opportunity to provide the Review Committee with feedback. The survey closed on April 6th and everyone was encouraged to participate. Those who completed the survey were eligible to participate in a draw for a Campus Store $75 gift certificate. Results are currently being analyzed.
Read more on: Daily News McMaster