Navigating Research in the Changing Landscape
04/23/25
Dear Colleagues,
I write to share the below information from the Office of the Vice Provost for Research announcing a new tool, RAMPART [the Risk Assessment Model for Proposal and Award Rapid Testing] to assist Penn investigators. It is one platform that assesses the level of risk grant proposals and awards may face in terms of not being reviewed, not being funded, or having funding withdrawn. Thank you to the faculty and staff from PSOM for their contributions in creating this tool.
The second mechanism of support to which researchers at Penn have access is Pivot-RP. This platform enhances the discovery of sponsored research opportunities, making the process faster, more targeted, and more efficient. Pivot-RP, which is linked directly here, also simplifies communication with potential collaborators by offering seamless ways to share opportunities.
More information on these tools and other platforms for supporting research can be found in our newly created Resource Hub (links directly from PSOM Research page) – please check this site regularly for updates and communications.
Thank you,
Mike.
--
E. Michael Ostap, PhD
Professor of Physiology
Senior Vice Dean and Chief Scientific Officer,
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
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To: Penn Community
From: Dawn Bonnell, Senior Vice Provost for Research
Subject: Introducing RAMPART: the Risk Assessment Model for Proposal and Award Rapid Testing
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to announce a new tool, RAMPART, to assist Penn investigators.
This tool has been developed by faculty in the Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM) and staff from several PSOM and University teams. It is a tool to assess the risks in a proposal. It is available for optional use by all Penn faculty, trainees, and staff interested in understanding the level of risk their grant proposals and awards may face in terms of not being reviewed, not being funded, or having funding withdrawn. In early testing, model performance was excellent, but like all models, it is not perfect. We anticipate that future iterations of the model will be increasingly accurate and will also include an interactive chat option to allow Penn investigators to receive suggested wording that may reduce the risks of their proposals being flagged as inconsistent with current federal priorities.
We wish to emphasize that this is a tool that Penn investigators may choose to use or not use entirely at their discretion. The information investigators submit through this tool will not be shared with any entity outside the University. During use of this first version, Penn IDs and the text submitted through the tool for evaluation will be stored for up to a month (likely much shorter) to help the RAMPART development team – including two PSOM faculty and limited staff in Penn Medicine DNA, ISC, and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research – debug any issues that are encountered and improve the user experience going forward. These team members will also be able to evaluate aggregated use data.
Please disseminate this tool to your investigators. To access it, they may go to
https://prod-grant-risk-assessment-ui.apps.k8s.upenn.edu/, or click on RAMPART Tool, and log on with their PennKey credentials.
We are grateful for the efforts of the team of faculty and staff who stood this platform up in incredible speed.
Thank you
Dawn A. Bonnell
Senior Vice Provost for Research
Henry Robinson Towne Professor of Engineering and Applied Science
College Hall
The University of Pennsylvania, PA 19104
