FAQs

Aurora Borealis

Q) How do I make a Purchase?
A) 
Please fill out a CARBO Purchase Request Form

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Q) I purchased something and would like to be reimbursed. How do I submit the reimbursement request?
A) Please email bnodom@alaska.edu with your request information and the receipt(s). The form will be started by the CARBO fiscal tech & will auto route via docusign. Once completed & approved, it goes to the Accounts Payable Department to be paid out. 

All Pre-Award questions regarding proposal procedures or other requests should be directed to Office Of Proposal Development. Contact uaf-opd@alaska.edu for more information

What percentage of the indirect costs can I expect to come back to me as discretionary funding from my proposal?

At CARBO we reinvest part of the Indirect Cost Recovery (ICR) to support the PIs research efforts. The proposing unit (CARBO, in our case) receives ~50% of the total F&A budgeted in a proposal (see ICR distribution plan for more details). Further distribution of the funds that the college receives is as follows: 60% is retained to support CDR operations and its research development fund; 30% is transferred to the faculty member who is PI on the contract/grant for use at the discretion of the PI for reinvestment in his or her research program; and 10% is transferred to the PI’s CNSM department for use within the department to enhance its other research efforts. At CARBO we set up a new account for the PIs portion of the Indirect Cost Recovery (often called the PIs ICR account/fund) so that PIs can easily track the expenses that they make against this account.

How does the PI ICR accrue and what can I use these funds for?

The PI portion of the ICR accrues as the PI spends the grant funds. No grant spending results in no ICR build-up. Please be aware that ICR recovery is Fund 1 money, and this needs to be used by May 31st of the fiscal year in which the funds were generated. In early - mid May we will send you a reminder on the status of your ICR account. You can also set-up a one-on-one meeting with our fiscal manager Laycie Schnekenburger (email: lnschnekenburger@alaska.edu; phone: 907-474-5740) should you have any questions about your ICR account. Your portion of the ICR follows an annual Use It or Lose It rule, except as outlined below for multi-year grants.

 You can use your ICR funds at your discretion on reasonable research related expenditures, such as paying for employee time, travel to conference or field sites, purchasing research supplies, etc. If you are unsure whether an expense you wish to make is allowable, feel free to first check with our fiscal manager.

I have a multi-year grant. Why can I not accrue ICR funds over the grant cycle and use it in the last year of my grant when I need it the most?

We understand that some of the research needs require expenditure to be made at times that are asynchronous with the fiscal year cycle. If you cannot use up your ICR within the fiscal year, and are anticipating an expense to be made at a later time, you can put in an ICR carry-forward request by sending an email to lnschnekenburger@alaska.edu no later than May 31 of the year (i.e. 30 days prior to the end of the fiscal year). Although we will make every effort to honor your request, please be advised that we cannot guarantee it if the college fund 1 carry-forward request is not approved or reduced by Financial Services.

How can I track the expenditure and balance on my CARBO grants and ICR accounts?

Your grant expenses (Summary, Balance, and Detail account reports), as well as your ICR account expenditure and balance report are now posted online on CARBO’s restricted 'internal' pages (see tab on the left). These reports are generated at the end of the month and posted online on the first Monday of the next month. Fiscal manager Laycie Schnekenburger sends a reminder email to all PI's as soon as the updated reports are posted on the internal site. This email also provides you the site username, password, and the 30-60-90 day notification for grants that are about to expire.

UAF Catering: Some DOs and DO-NOTs

  • If you need to order catering for an event, please contact our Travel and Purchasing Coordinator, at 907-474-5191.
  • The coordinator must submit a requisition BEFORE the catering event date. Please do not go ahead and place the order yourself directly without a purchase requisition.