Research Continuity Guidance

Saturday, March 14, 2020

Dear Colleagues,

Please see the updated research continuity plan with detailed guidance in the form of an FAQ.  I encourage you to read this closely.  The guidance will be updated and extended as conditions change and additional information becomes available.

We will do our best to keep our campus infrastructure in place for continuity of research, but there are significant factors that may be outside of our control.  These are enumerated in this document.  We must plan on various possibilities that could cause significant disruption.  

All faculty and lab directors should take the request to develop a research continuity plan seriously.  Consider how the work of your groups can be slowed for the coming weeks and what steps you would follow if the work was placed on hold with short notice.  Encourage staff, students and postdocs in your groups to work from home, whenever feasible.  Provide flexibility for members of your groups.  Encourage and model social distancing and good hygiene.  Absolutely require that if anyone in the group is sick that they do not come to work.  Establish a system by which you, and members of the lab, can check the status of each other.

The planning you do now will support the long-term success of our labs and research groups.  Thank you for carefully following the guidelines found at the COVID-19 Information for Faculty and Researchers site.  

Sincerely,

Scott Strobel
Provost
Henry Ford II Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry