Conflict of Commitment (COC) - a situation in which the time or effort of a Faculty Member’s Outside Activities (e.g., consulting, public service, or pro-bono efforts) interfere or appear to interfere with the quality and performance of their Institutional Responsibilities. Rice Policy 217

Conflict of Interest (COI) - a situation in which a Scholar or the Scholar’s Family Members are in a position to be influenced by considerations of personal gain due to an existing or potential Outside Interest or Outside Activity. Rice Policy 216

Copyright - a copyright is a legal protection for an original piece of work, such as art, film, software, or writing; the fee is the per use return to the owner for the use of the copyrighted work. For example, an author may receive a fee each time a copy of their book is sold. At Rice, the University holds any patents that come about as a result of sponsored research, but the individual faculty member often hold the copyright(s). Sponsored research agreements may specify other, or additional, provisions. Questions about copyright may be addressed to either the Office of Technology Transfer [OTT] or the Office for Sponsored Research [OSR].

Corporation - an organization formed with state governmental approval to act as an artificial person to carry on business (or other activities), which can use or be used, and (unless it is non-profit) can issue shares of stock to raise funds with which to start a business or increase its capital. There are also non-profit (or not for profit) corporations organized for religious, educational, charitable, or public service purposes.

Dividends/capital gains - distribution of a portion of a company's earnings, decided by the board of directors, to a class of its shareholders.

Equity Interest - a proportion of ownership, typically via investment in a business. Stocks are also known as equities.

Faculty Conflict Committee (FCC) - is a committee composed of Faculty Members and staff appointed by the President, and chaired by the Vice Provost for Research (or his or her designee). The role of the FCC is to review, revise as needed, and recommend for approval management of any COI identified. The FCC also has responsibility for monitoring management plans. Rice Policy 216

Faculty Fellow - individuals holding research positions that are not tenure-eligible, under University Policy No. 327.

Faculty Member - includes all faculty members with tenure and tenure-track appointments, as well as benefits-eligible non-tenured or non-tenure track faculty members with the rank of Lecturer or above, under University Policy No. 201.

Fair Market Value - in an open market, fair market value is what a buyer would be willing to pay for a good or service and what a seller would accept. Fair market value considers both the price negotiation and the value of the service or product itself.

Family Members - include the Scholar’s spouse, domestic partners, and any other person financially dependent on the Scholar. This definition also includes other first–degree relatives (i.e., non-dependent child, sibling, or parent), and the spouses and domestic partners of those first-degree relatives, with financial interests related to the Scholar’s Research (when the Scholar is aware of such interests). Scholars should also be sensitive to situations where other relatives have an Outside Interest reasonably related to the Scholar’s Institutional Responsibilities (such as a significant investment in a start-up company that has licensed the Scholar’s intellectual property). Rice Policy 218

Gift - any transfer of an item of value (including a trip, personal belongings, or special concessions in connection with personal business) for less than fair market value, including a personal discount. Business dinners or other business outings are not considered “gifts,” unless the business component is not significant or the social component does not comport with the overall professional standard of avoiding actual and apparent conflicts of interest.

Honoraria - a one-time payment from another University or non-for-profit entity made to a faculty member for a volunteer non-employment service such as a presentation or speech on an area of expertise. The intent of an honorarium is to show appreciation for a service rather that to provide compensation.

Institutional Endowment - a permanent fund bestowed upon the University with a designated specific purpose.

Institutional Responsibilities - the professional responsibilities of a Scholar on behalf of the University. Institutional Responsibilities include, for example, teaching, preparing coursework, counseling students, service on departmental and University-wide committees, Research, publishing scholarly work, and other work done for or on behalf of the University relevant to his or her academic field of endeavor, professional practice, and consultation. Rice Policy 218

Intangible Property - Trademarks, copyrights, patents, loan notes, and lease agreements.

Intellectual Property - legally protected works of the mind (such as technology, software, or scholarly, or artistic works) including inventions, plants, mask works, copyrightable works, trademarks, and trade secrets. Intellectual property includes commercializable biomaterials such as transgenic animals or cells and viruses.

Investigator - for purposes of Rice University Policy 216, any university employee who is a Principal Investigator or co-investigator on a research project. This broader term includes all Rice professors of the practice, certain research faculty, and any individual to whom Principal Investigator or co-principal investigator status has been provided. It may also include other individuals, including significant contributors, collaborators, consultants and others regardless of position, title or compensation from an award, who are independently responsible for the development, design, conduct, or reporting of a sponsored research project

Licensing Fees - the legal mechanism by which one party can obtain the right to use someone else’s patent or copyright, usually by paying licensing fees. At Rice, these fees are primarily returned to the inventor, the University, the school, and the Office of Technology Transfer and the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, with the University keeping the smallest portion, according to the University’s royalty sharing policy.

LLC - Limited Liability Company (LLC).

Outside Activity - activities performed for or on behalf of Outside Entities that are similar in nature, practice, or title to Institutional Responsibilities or require significant use of a Scholar’s expertise. An outside activity includes, but is not limited to, employment, consulting, self-employment, participation in a business partnership, appointments, research activities and participation with professional, community, and charitable outside entities. An outside activity may be either compensated or uncompensated. In general, any service on any board (for-profit, non-profit, advisory, honorary, or otherwise) will constitute an outside activity. Additionally, any academic appointment paid or unpaid, (e.g. honorary, visiting professor, adjunct, and emeritus) will be considered an Outside Activity. The term Outside Activity does not include personal service to religious or political organizations, that is unrelated to Rice duties. This term does not include the normal academic exchange of ideas that are not covered by a contract, do not involve any IP exchange, and that are not subject to federal, state or local restrictions. Such activities must be in accordance with all other university policies. Rice Policy 218

Outside Entity - any foreign or domestic institution, organization, non-profit, corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, institution of higher education, foreign or domestic government, or any other organized legal entity other than Rice University or its subsidiaries/centers. Rice Policy 218

Outside Interest - an interest (financial interest or anything of monetary value) such as salary and any payment for services (e.g., consulting fees, honoraria, paid authorship); equity interest (e.g., stock, stock option, or other ownership interest); sponsored travel, that belongs to the Scholar or the Scholar’s Family Members, as discussed in subsection titled “What Must Be Disclosed.” This term applies to both foreign and domestic interests. Rice Policy 218

Ownership Interest - the interests referenced Rice University Policy 216 under the subsection titled “Outside Interests and Activities That Must Be Disclosed.”

Partnership - the relationship existing between two or more persons who join in order to carry on a trade or business. Each person contributes money, property, labor, or skill and expects to share in the profits and losses of the business.

PHS Investigator - an Investigator who is currently or has in the past three years received funding from a PHS (Public Health Service of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) awarding agency. PHS encompasses nine agencies, which include AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), HRSA (Health Resources and Quality Policy and Research), the NIH (National Institutes of Health and SAMSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services). An Investigator is defined as, for purposes of Rice University Policy 216, any university employee who is a Principal Investigator or co-investigator on a research project. This broader term includes all Rice professors of the practice, certain research faculty, and any individual to whom Principal Investigator or co-principal investigator status has been provided. It may also include other individuals, including significant contributors, collaborators, consultants and others regardless of position, title or compensation from an award, who are independently responsible for the development, design, conduct, or reporting of a sponsored research project.

Principal Investigator - the individual officially responsible for the conduct of any sponsored project, or the individual officially responsible for the conduct of any funded project. On research projects, the PI is usually a faculty member; on other types of awards, the PI may have an administrative appointment. The PI is always an Investigator.

Product Development - activities and efforts associated with the research and development of products to be sold in the market place; includes efforts designed to advance a technology towards a commercially available product. Such efforts may include clinical trials and other regulatory approval steps as well as the development of prototypes.

Remuneration - any form of compensation from an outside entity including, but not limited to, ownership of stocks, bonds, stock options, warrants, partnership interests, rights to patent or royalty payments, receipt of consulting fees, speaking fees, lectureship fees, or payment for serving on boards of directors, scientific and other advisory boards. For the purposes of this disclosure, report any applicable reimbursed travel expenses in the Sponsored Travel form.

Research - a systematic investigation, study, or experiment designed to develop or contribute to knowledge or advance a particular field(s) of study. This term is intended to be construed broadly, to cover all types of Research that Scholars engage in at Rice University. Rice Policy 218

Rice Start-up Company - relatively newly formed, privately-held, for-profit company based on intellectual property developed at Rice.

Royalties - any and all consideration received for the grant of a license, including, but not limited to, "running royalties," i.e., those royalties paid based on the sale of licensed products, and any fixed fees paid under the license such as up-front fees, milestone payments, minimum annual royalties, etc.

Scholar - for purposes of this policy, this term encompasses the following: Investigator, Principal Investigator, faculty member (regardless of status as Tenured, Tenure-Track, or Non Tenure-Track), laboratory personnel, postdoctoral fellows, research scientists, and any other personnel engaging in Research at Rice University. Further, Adjunct Faculty and students who are Investigators (such as principle investigator or co-investigator) on a Rice sponsored Research award are considered Scholars. Rice Policy 216

Significant Financial Interest - a financial interest having a significant monetary value (whether that value can be easily determined or not) that belongs to the Scholar or the Scholar’s Family Members, and that reasonably appears to be related to the Scholar’s Institutional Responsibilities, as discussed in subsection of Policy 216 titled “Outside Interests and Activities That Must Be Disclosed.”

Stock/Stock Ownership/Stock Option - the shares of a particular company or corporation; the certification of ownership of such stock.

STTR/SBIR3 - Small Business Innovation Research and/Small Business Technology Transfer. SBIR and STTR under the auspices of the Small Business Administration are government programs that encourage innovation by mandating that the large sponsoring agencies fund cooperative R&D projects involving small businesses and research institutions. Note that according to the NIH, disclosure does not pertain to Phase I awards but does apply to Phase II awards (see http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/coi/coi_faqs.htm#J).

Trademarks - a word, phrase, symbol, or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others.