Dear Group,
Here is a rehash of the items we discussed at group meeting today:
*Google Calendars*: We have downsized from 5 to 4 calendars, combining the
Theory Seminar Series with the Aspuru-Guzik Group calendar. Here is the
current list:
- *Alan's Harvard*: If you were not included previously, you should have
received an invitation to share his calendar by now. FYI, the anonymous
Quantum Penguinator has been axed.
- *Anna's Work*: If you are a current group member, an invitation has
been sent if you were not included before. You should all have access to
view Event Details since I include such helpful tidbits like university and
federal holidays. :]
- *A-G Group*: If you are a current group member, you should have
administrator privileges to add/edit events.
- *Alan's Deadlines*: For Alan and I to remember the due dates for your
rec letters and other important stuff. At this time, we won't share this
calendar. Just remember to copy me on email concerning deadlines you
need Alan to know about.
*Procedure for Scheduling Meetings w/ Alan* (due to his busy schedule and
crowded enbox).
- Check his availability in his calendar.
- Send a Google Calendar invitation to Anna at abs.ccb(a)gmail.com.
- Anna will confirm meeting by accepting, adding Alan to the guest list,
then uninviting herself. Easy!
*Travel Policy* (includes additional items I forgot to mention at the
meeting).
- Register for any conference, meeting, school et al by the early
deadline when the registration fee is the lowest. If you have not already,
I encourage everyone to become a member of the major societies such as ACS
and APS. The meeting registrations are lower for members and you will get
the benefits that membership has to offer. :) However, we are not allowed
to reimburse your membership fees. :(
- Find the lowest cost airfare for your trip and then use Harvard's
preferred travel agency Egencia, formerly Expedia Corporate Travel, at
www.expediacorporate.com to book your flights. You should all be in
their system now. If Egencia turns out to be more expensive, come talk w/
me and we will look into it. I suggest booking your domestic flights 1
month in advance and international 1-2 months in advance so you are not out
of the money for a long time. If the airfare is extremely high, come see me
and we will look into processing an advance payment (a cumbersome procedure
but a possible one).
- Arrange lodging that is according to the travel information recommended
by the conference/meeting/school. They typically have room blocks at
discounted rates, but take note of the reservation cut-off deadline to
secure a room at the meeting rate and before the room block is filled.
- Ground transportation such as public transit, shuttles, taxis will be
reimbursed. If you can go green, please do so! And remember to get
receipts!
- We have 2 options for meal allowance.
- Option 1: I've spoken w/ Alan and the group per diem rate will be
$25/day. This will include days that you travel to/from site
which normally
would not receive a full per diem rate according to GSA policy
(US General
Services Administration). This per diem cannot include alcohol due to
federal guidelines. Since it is a partial per diem, if you go to a
conference that provides some meals, we will still honor this per diem
although GSA policy would subtract each meal provided. However,
if it's a
conference such as GRC that provides all meals, we can only
provide partial
per diem on the days that you travel to/from site.
- Option 2: Obtaining receipts for your meals - this is the best
option in terms of getting all your money back. Harvard travel
policy does
not allow travelers to make more money than they spend on a trip, nor do
they allow indulgent spending on meals (we can discuss meal limits at a
later time). In addition, neither Alan nor I know of any other
group that
reimburses group members for meals (Heller, Lieber, ...). Personally, I
would go with Option 2 even though it's more work for us.
*Reimbursements Guidelines*
- I will need a business purpose for every reimbursement (travel, local
purchase et al). Harvard specifies a business purpose should cover the Who,
What, Where, When, Why and How Much for each expense. A good example:
2-3Oct08 Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications Workshop, University
of Minnesota-Twin Cities, PI Alan Aspuru-Guzik invited talk: "Mathematical
and algorithmic challenges in the simulation of electronic structure and
dynamics on quantum computers."
- If you attend a Summer/Winter School or any meeting for that matter,
try to present either a talk or poster so it will be reimbursable and not
considered taxable income. If you present research on behalf of Harvard,
then they consider this as you making a contribution back to the
university. If you don't present anything, Harvard sees you as the sole
benefactor while they get nothing out of it but a bill to pay up. I don't
agree with their reasoning but I don't make the rules, unfortunately.
- The latter does not apply to research collaborations. If you travel to
a program review or a collaborator lab for a project we are involved with,
then it's a reimbursable expense.
- If your travel is grant-funded, airfare must be purchased via Egencia
or they will not allow reimbursement. I have access to your airfare
receipts purchased via Egencia. If you find a cheaper flight, I need to get
prior approval from the Finance Office before booking. You'll need to
provide e-ticket receipts for *non*-Egencia purchased flights.
- For lodging receipts (often called folio or hotel folio), the folio
needs to show a $0 balance which indicates it has been paid. If you don't
have a $0 balance folio, we are obliged to contact the hotel for a copy and
submit another form w/ the reimbursement paperwork. Please help me to
prevent the extra steps. The forms are really killing me...
- For any meals, specify which meal (lunch, dinner, ...) and how many
people. Harvard has spending limits per person depending on the meal.
- Because we cannot purchase alcohol on grants, remember to get the
*itemized
food bill* along w/ any credit card receipt. We have to subtract the
alcohol from the total.
- For restaurants where you are waited on, gratuity is 15-20% depending
on if it's lunch (tends to be <20%) or dinner (tends to be >15%) and of
course the quality of the service. Harvard will not reimburse for over 20%
gratuity, so unfortunately the best waitstaff won't be compensated for their
excellent service. :(
- If at all possible, try to keep all your receipt print-outs to 1-2
pages (use smallest text size in browser and duplex). I have to make 2 sets
of copies of all original documents to give to Finance so this way we can
save a tree or two.
- For simple local expenses, I'd rather bypass any forms I can get away
with and process a single Web Voucher reimbursement which you need to sign.
For travel-related expenses which tend to be complex w/ multiple receipts, I
will have you sign a Universal Expense Form (UEF) that I will complete
myself (since it will take you longer to fill it out than if I did it for
you).
- Try to submit your receipts to me as soon as possible since the 60-day
countdown begins when you return from a trip. They will not reimbursement
w/o an exceptional reason, e.g. your trip lasted more than 21 days, you got
hit by a bus, etc. I also need as much time to incorporate it into my To
Do list which currently is just a tiny bit too long.
*Reporting Talk or Poster Presentations, or Awards*
- If you are presenting a talk or poster, specify if it is *Invited* or *
Contributed* and include the title. This applies whether you are getting
reimbursed by Harvard or by the inviter. I need to keep track of your
research presentations to include in Alan's annual report to Harvard,
progress and scientific reports to funding agencies, as well as his award
nomination applications.
- If you receive an honor or an award (this includes a fellowship, travel
grant et al), send me an email w/ the official title of the award, any URL
announcement, etc. This will also be reported along with your
presentations. And we can add this to the group website. :)
- Maintain a comprehensive and well formatted CV. I will periodically
ask for an up to date CV so I can check if I have all your awards and
presentations for reporting. It is also helpful to maintain it when you
find yourself applying for fellowships, jobs and asking for letters from
your references.
*Group Equipment and Supplies*
- In addition to the group laser pointer, we now own a wireless presenter
remote! I don't know where it is at the moment but we have one.
- As a reminder, I will place OfficeMax orders (Harvard's preferred
office supply vendor) for group use. Unfortunately, we cannot buy supplies
for personal use. It must be for group research. Let me know when you see
supplies running low in the cabinets.
- A number of you have borrowed computer equipment and other various
hardware. Alan asked me to keep track of this list so when you leave the
group, we can get it back. Because the items were paid with Harvard money,
Harvard owns them. There is always a possibility of an audit and Alan will
get in trouble as he is ultimately responsible for the group.
*General Information*
- All this information will be included in the Group Wiki under
Bureaucracy or similar when I find the time to update the section. As of
now, the Wiki needs a lot of reorganization. Refer to this email in the
meantime.
- Be advised that the above policy may change at any time, e.g., Harvard
Travel has changed policy several times since I've been at Harvard and it
gets more convoluted each time. I will keep you apprised of any changes
that may effect you.
- If you ever find yourself in need of money, legal advice (bad landlord,
...), etc, feel free to talk with me about it. I know of many resources
available via Harvard and some outside of Harvard which may be of help to
you.
- Now if you've read this far, I'm impressed! Have a good weekend!
Anna
On Fri, Nov 7, 2008 at 12:53 PM, Anna B. Shin
<anna(a)chemistry.harvard.edu>wrote;wrote:
Dear Group,
Please arrive on time for group meeting at 1:30pm in the Division Room. I
need to make a few announcements regarding the following:
1) Travel policy (Egencia, meal allowance, talks/posters, summer/winter
schools)
2) Reimbursements
3) Group equipment/supplies
4) Other things I've probably forgotten and hope to remember before the
meeting...
Let me know if you can't make it and I can brief you at a later time. All
these items will be included in the group wiki under Bureaucracy or some
evil word like that.
Thanks,
Anna
--
Anna B. Shin
Aspuru-Guzik Group Administrator
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Harvard University
12 Oxford Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
617.496.9964 phone
617.496.9411 fax
anna(a)chemistry.harvard.edu
Aspuru-Guzik Group URL:
http://aspuru.chem.harvard.edu/
--
Anna B. Shin
Aspuru-Guzik Group Administrator
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Harvard University
12 Oxford Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
617.496.9964 phone
617.496.9411 fax
anna(a)chemistry.harvard.edu
Aspuru-Guzik Group URL:
http://aspuru.chem.harvard.edu/