RLE is one of the largest and most complexly funded research organizations at MIT.

At any given time, nearly 200 research grants and contracts are active in RLE, with sponsors spanning every major federal funding agency, as well as a varied mix of industry sponsors. In addition, approximately a third of all RLE activities involve collaborative programs with other non-profit institutions, typically universities or hospitals, and industry partners. The scale of our programs ranges from single investigator projects to large, multi-investigator, multi-organization core grants.

While the research activities of RLE and the topics we pursue are diverse and decentralized, the financial and sponsored program administration of these activities is, in contrast, highly centralized. The combination of these two extremes at such a large scale of operation makes RLE unique at MIT.

RLE provides complete pre-award to post-award management of all RLE grants, contracts, and consortia. Services include:

Proposal opportunity research and notification
Contract, consortium and intellectual property negotiation
Proposal budgeting and development
Award negotiation and coordination
Procurement and purchasing
Accounting and financial records management
Subcontract management and coordination
Financial analysis and planning
Payroll management
Research assistant appointment coordination
Technical reporting deliverable management

These financial and sponsored programs services are coordinated in an integrated fashion with other RLE Headquarters services: personnel administration, information technology and facilities services, and outreach and media services. In addition, RLE’s financial and sponsored programs staff serve a comprehensive liaison role between RLE researchers and key central offices of MIT, including the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Office of Sponsored Programs, the Controller’s Accounting Office, and the Technology Licensing Office.