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This message has been distributed to all UT employees with Principal Investigator (PI) status, as well as all UT graduate students and postdocs.
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Dear PI Colleagues, Graduate Students, and Postdocs,
As temperatures warm and power comes back online in Austin, coping with water and food shortages is becoming increasingly critical for many. Please continue to prioritize your wellbeing and safety. These emails are intended to keep you informed, not to add stress or pressure in any way. The coming days and weeks will continue to present new challenges as people care for their families and manage home repairs, and it’s essential that we find even more patience and grace for one another and ourselves. UT is committed — as am I — to being as flexible as possible with all students, staff, and faculty as we navigate the effects of a severe weather crisis during (of all things) a pandemic. Use the time and resources available to care for yourselves.
First among my updates today is to let you know that research operations will continue to be suspended at least through Tuesday, February 23rd. We are working closely with Financial and Administrative Services (FAS) — which includes Campus Safety, Environmental Health and Safety (EHS), Utilities and Energy Management, and other important teams — to develop a plan for a careful and staged reopening as soon as we can ensure that the infrastructure is stabilized and all safety equipment is functioning properly. And of course we’ll also be consulting directly with the Animal Resources Center (ARC) and your associate deans for research (ADRs) as that plan takes shape. Each space needs to be certified as safe to reopen, and certifying spaces will be a multistep process. As soon as we have more information, we’ll share it.
Identifying Damage on Campus
Next, the process of reopening labs begins with fully understanding how campus spaces have been impacted. While many of us are dealing with water and plumbing issues at home, the same is true on campus. FAS team members are walking each building looking for signs of damage and will continue to do so throughout the weekend. It will be a challenge for them to cover all potentially affected spaces in the next few days, however. If you are willing and able to travel safely to campus, we could use your help and input. I’d like to ask each research team, if possible, to select two people to come to campus Monday, February 22nd, to check your labs and research spaces and report any observed damage to your ADR. A few things to note:
- There is no obligation to do this; inspecting your labs is voluntary. Your help is appreciated, but please do not feel compelled to come to campus if it’s not feasible.
- If you have team members who can safely come to campus, we ask that two people inspect labs and research spaces together (while staying at least 6' apart and double masking, per UT’s latest guidelines).
- Even if you do not observe any damage to your research space, FAS teams, including EHS, must still certify that the room can be reopened. Your assistance identifying potential issues will be helpful but is only the first step in resuming research operations on campus.
Proposal Submissions
Last, please know that staff members in the Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) are connecting with agencies about proposal extensions, and they will provide more guidance in the coming days.
I’ll be in touch again soon with more news and updates as soon as they are available. In the meantime, please stay safe and let your friends, colleagues, or department chairs know if you are in need of any critical assistance.
Sincerely,
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Alison R. Preston, Ph.D.
Interim Vice President for Research
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