A situation in which a personnel member dedicates time to personal activities in excess of the time permitted by institutional policy, or to other activities that may detract from his or her primary responsibility to the institution.

An individual’s interest in a business enterprise including stock ownership, stock option(s), and/or other ownership interest.

1. An actual shipment or transmission out of the United States, including the sending or taking of an item out of the United States, in any manner.
2. Releasing or otherwise transferring controlled “technology” or source code (but not object code) to a foreign person in the United States (a “deemed export”). Any release in the United States of “technology” or source code to a foreign person is a deemed export to the foreign person’s most recent country of citizenship or permanent residency.

A domestic transfer of controlled items or technology with the knowledge that such will be transferred internationally.

A situation in which an investigator’s significant financial interest could directly and significantly affect the design, conduct, or reporting of research.

The performance of any significant scientific element or segment of a project outside of the United States, either by the recipient or by a researcher employed by a foreign organization, whether or not grant funds are expended.

Foreign Country of Concern is defined as Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Russia.

The term “foreign influence” has been coined by various federal agencies.  Generally, the term refers to a set of actions carried out by a foreign entity against a U.S. party/parties, by which the foreign party positions itself to obtain a benefit not intended for it (potentially by illegal means).  “Foreign influence” is often used to illegally obtain U.S. intellectual property and technology, compromise U.S. computer systems, and/or affect the course of U.S. research to benefit the foreign instigator(s).

Any natural person who is not a lawful permanent resident or who is not a protected individual [with refugee or asylee status].  The terms also incorporates any foreign corporation, business association, partnership, trust, society or any other entity or group that is not incorporated or organized to do business in the United States, as well as international organizations, foreign governments and any agency or subdivision of foreign governments (e.g. diplomatic missions).

Something of value that is given to the institution by a donor who expects nothing of significant value in return, other than recognition of the gift and its disposition in accordance with the donor’s wishes. A gratuity, favor, discount, entertainment, hospitality, loan, forbearance, or other item having monetary value. It includes services as well as gifts of training, transportation, local travel, lodgings, and meals.

Non-cash resources provided to a researcher, including items, supplies, equipment, services, labor, etc.

Research, training, and/or education carried out in cooperation with international counterparts either overseas or in the U.S. using virtual technologies.

Occurs between the institution and an international institution for the purposes of joint development, education, research, or other professional activities. Examples include development of a joint degree program, development of a jointly owned foreign institution, etc.

Any individual who works for or on behalf of a non-U.S. entity and engages with one or more institutional personnel for the purposes of teaching, lecturing, performing research, or engaging in other professional activities, and where such engagement occurs outside of the United States.

Any person who is responsible for the design, conduct, or reporting of research funded by PHS, or proposed for such funding (including collaborators or consultants).

In general – any monetary and/or in-kind input by a foreign entity into institutional intellectual property (“IP”), equipment, facilities, and/or programs.

For NIH and NSF awards – includes all financial resources, whether Federal, non-Federal, commercial or institutional, available in direct support of an individual’s research endeavors, including but not limited to research grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, and/or institutional awards.

Includes salary and any payment for services not otherwise identified as salary (e.g., consulting fees, honoraria, paid authorship).

Entities (or persons) located anywhere in the world (including the U.S) identified by the U.S. Federal Government as threats to national security, U.S. trade policy, global nuclear and biologic safety, etc. These entities include certain foreign universities and non-academic research institutions. The U.S. Government publishes and updates the names of such entities and persons in the Federal Register on an ongoing basis. U.S. universities and research institutions are often solicited by Restricted Entities/Parties who wish to benefit from a research, education, or business relationship. In general, U.S. persons and institutions are prohibited from engaging in any export controlled transactions with a Restricted Entity/Party and, depending on the scope of restriction, engaging in financial and service-related transactions as well.

The process by which restricted entities/parties are identified.  Screening is often accomplished using an automated software tool, which generate immediate results based on a name-based search.

Refers to individuals who are specifically and uniquely important to the study. Key Personnel typically includes the principal investigators and co-investigators but is dependent upon the individual award.

Significant Financial Interest of a spouse or dependent children must be disclosed in accordance with the rules for reporting a Significant Financial Interest.

Countries determined by the Secretary of State to have repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism are designated pursuant to three laws: section1754(c) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act, and section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961). Taken together, the four main categories of sanctions resulting from designation under these authorities include restrictions on U.S. foreign assistance; a ban on defense exports and sales; certain controls over exports of dual use items; and miscellaneous financial and other restrictions.

Designation under the above-referenced authorities also implicates other sanctions laws that penalize persons and countries engaging in certain trade with state sponsors. Currently there are four countries designated as State Sponsors of Terrorism: Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), Iran, and Syria.

Any foreign national individual who is currently a faculty member, post-doctoral, doctoral, or graduate-level student coming to FIU from a foreign institution under a U.S. visa program (or who is already present at another U.S. institution under a visa program and is transferring to FIU under that visa program) for purposes of teaching, lecturing, performing research, and/or similar professional activities. This includes both compensated and non-compensated positions. 

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s (ASPI) University Tracker (Unitracker) is a database of Chinese institutions engaged in military or security-related science and technology research. It includes entries on nearly 100 civilian universities, 50 People’s Liberation Army institutions, China’s nuclear weapons program, three Ministry of State Security institutions, four Ministry of Public Security universities, and 12 state-owned defense industry conglomerates. Funded in part by the U.S. State Department, the ASPI Unitracker is considered an important and reliable intelligence tool by U.S. enforcement agencies in evaluating risks associated with engaging with ASPI watch-listed Chinese institutions. As such, many U.S. universities now utilize the Unitracker’s risk indices to evaluate existing and potential relationships with ASPI-listed entities, including for example fundamental research collaborations, academic exchanges and outside activity engagements by individual faculty members.