Attention Undergraduate Research Mentors: Required workshops coming up for students interested in applying for a Journey grant

The Journey grant for early researchers on the USC Columbia campus has undergone several changes for the fall 2025 semester. Undergraduate students interested in receiving a Journey grant now will participate in a three-part workshop series, which starts August 26. Please encourage interested students in their first or second year at USC Columbia who meet the eligibility guidelines to register for the Journey workshops by August 25. Also, please contact the Office of Undergraduate Research at our@sc.edu if you are a faculty member interested in mentoring a Journey student.

 

Propel participants celebrate federal proposal successes

We’re gearing up for the start of a new Propel Research Mentorship Program cohort this fall, now including new tracks for NSF CAREER and Department of Energy. To celebrate, we talked to past Propel and NSF CAREER Bootcamp participants to learn more about their program participation and what research they are doing with the successfully funded proposals they developed through these programs. In a new article from the CGI Hub, Ahmed Alshareef, Alissa Armstrong and Pawel Nadel-Turonski share more about how participating in Propel and NSF CAREER Bootcamp set them up to succeed in submitting federal grant proposals.

 

USC Research Cores: Sign up for the Research Core Fair and check out the new website

The University of South Carolina is hosting the 2025 Research Core Fair on Friday, September 19, 2025, to spotlight the wealth of resources that are available to researchers and share many updates to core services. The Research Core Fair is open to all USC students, faculty, and staff. The day will feature 10-15 minute talks broken down into four focused sections.  There will also be tables for each research core, posters by students and postdocs, and prizes for the best student and postdoc posters. The Office of the VPR will provide lunch and refreshments during the breaks. We encourage USC graduate and other professional students, principal investigators and those from other institutions who are interested in using the USC Research Cores to register for this exciting event by Friday, August 29, 2025. Those who wish to present a poster at the event should submit the abstract by Friday, September 5, 2025. Visit the 2025 Research Core Fair page to learn more, register and submit an abstract.

Want to learn more about USC Research Cores? Check out a recent paper from Microscopy Today about the effort to centralize USC’s Research Cores and tour the new website.

 

Attention Research Administrators: Join us for the inaugural SC Research Administration Conference

The University of South Carolina has partnered with Clemson University, Claflin University and the College of Charleston through REACH-SC to host the inaugural South Carolina Research Administration Conference. Please join us at Russell House on Thursday, September 25 (National Research Administrators Day) and Friday, September 26 for this unique opportunity to foster your professional growth and connect to a statewide network of research administration professionals. Participants will hear from a range of professionals on topics related to pre-award, post-award, research operations, research development and compliance, and you'll have dedicated time to interact with research administration peers from R1, ERI, HBCU and PUI institutions across the state. Check out the conference website to learn more and register for free.

 

Get involved in University Libraries programs and take your research to the next level

• University Libraries Workshops: From data to publishing and research integrity, University Libraries is pleased to offer workshops on a wide array of topics to all members of the University of South Carolina community. Many are open to faculty, staff, and students at all USC campuses. Find out more and register.
• SHARPGrads Registration – There’s Still Time to Sign Up: Attention Columbia campus graduate students! Register now for SHARPGrads, the Skills, Habits And Research Program for Graduate Students. This virtual workshop series, which will run August 2025 – April 2026, allows Columbia campus grad students to earn a certificate of completion and digital badge while learning valuable research skills that are often not included in the curriculum. Learn more and register here. Participation is capped at 100 students, so register soon!

 

Research Security Spotlight: Security Best Practices for Researchers on LinkedIn and Social Media

U.S. adversaries are using LinkedIn and other social media sites as a primary avenue to identify and approach researchers for exploitation. Those involved in research that allows them access to sensitive, restricted, proprietary, export-controlled or classified research data are especially at-risk. The USC Office of Research Security (ORS) recommends these security best practices to protect yourself from these types of approaches and minimize exploitation attempts.

Optimize Privacy Settings

• Control Profile Visibility: Determine who can see your profile information, both on and off LinkedIn. You can make your entire profile visible only to LinkedIn members or even restrict visibility to your first-degree connections. For a higher level of privacy, you can choose to hide specific sections of your public profile (e.g., photo, education) from search engines and non-LinkedIn users.
• Limit Sensitive Information: Restrict access to your email address, phone number and even your last name. LinkedIn offers settings to control who can view these details, including options to restrict access to direct connections or to hide them completely.
• Disable Profile Update Broadcasts: Prevent LinkedIn from notifying your network when you make changes to your profile (e.g., job title updates, new projects).
• Control Data Sharing: Opt out of LinkedIn sharing your data with third parties. However, be aware that even with this setting turned off, de-identified data (without personally identifiable information) may still be shared.
• LinkedIn Help can assist you with adjusting any of your privacy settings.

Manage Networking and Engagement

• Curate the Content You Share: Share research findings and insights, while being mindful of information that should remain confidential or proprietary.
• Engage Strategically: Participate in relevant LinkedIn groups and discussions to build your network but avoid oversharing sensitive information.
• Leverage LinkedIn's Features Wisely: Use features like articles, events and groups for networking and thought leadership, while keeping privacy concerns in mind. 

Recognize and Report Suspicious Contacts

• According to suspicious contact reporting gathered by the U.S. government over the past several years, unsolicited resumé submissions, emails and social media contacts offering opportunities for speaking engagements, consulting or collaboration were the primary approach tactics for adversaries targeting researchers. The U.S. Defense Counterintelligence Security Agency offers an informational pamphlet (pdf) to help you recognize these types of targeted elicitation attempts, fake personas and countermeasures. 
• The ORS provides unique resources to conduct due diligence vetting on prospective collaborations and individuals or entities contacting you. Our International Collaborations and Foreign Influence and Foreign Travel Security web pages have lots of great resources to assist our researchers on recognizing and reporting suspicious contacts. Contact the ORS to report suspicious activities or conduct risk assessments on your behalf.