With the uncertainty of the COVID pandemic in the upcoming year, we wanted to share some plans for continuing the exemption process for research and extension projects off-campus. Even with the likelihood that a COVID-19 vaccine will be widely available in the coming months, it is not currently online. We will continue to follow university, local, state, federal, and CDC guidelines with respect to off-campus Research and Extension activities including demonstrations, research trials, field days, etc. until circumstances change. We are continuing the exemption process related to off-campus Research- and Extension-led projects conducted at research stations and other off campus sites under the current COVID-related guidelines.

Other than more recent submissions in the past few months, many exemptions have or will soon expire; therefore, most projects planned for 2021 will need a new exemption approved. For 2021, there is no deadline for submission based on the date of project initiation. However, please keep in mind these important points: (1) the approving committee only meets once every two week and each project and location must be entered into the form and approved by the joint committee prior to initiation,  (2) please allow ample time for project approval for all projects and annual overall resource allocation by superintendents if your project is on a Research Station or Field Lab, (3) Projects on Research Stations and Field Labs must also continue to be submitted through the CARTS system.

There is one Google submission form for Research and Extension to request an exemption to conduct activities off campus beginning in January 2021.  You should submit a request for each project and location.  Do not combine project requests by location.  Do not submit multiple locations on a single request. Requests can be submitted on an on-going schedule and will be reviewed on a bi-weekly basis.

Please be thoughtful and attentive when filling out the exemption request form as we have updated the form layout and requirements. One change is the information required for personnel and the following information must be included for each person on your project: name, employee ID, and classification (Faculty, Staff, Post Doc, Graduate Student, Undergraduate). You must indicate “paid” or “for credit” when undergraduate students are involved. Your project cannot be approved without this information and other required information.

We will no longer require submission of off site visits to a general tracking form for Extension or Research; instead, we will rely on PIs to maintain a record of off site activity for their projects. Check-in at research stations or field labs via individual site forms is still required.

You should carefully plan projects with methods that have limited risk of COVID spread. Likely, there will be times when labor becomes limited, from either COVID infections or management of SOPs related to COVID guidelines. Thus, you should plan projects that can be scaled up or down as they progress. Having a backup plan for labor would be beneficial.