Updated Info Security Training for 2023

Just in time for the new academic year! UF’s Information Security Office has updated its mandatory annual training. Faculty and staff will receive an email reminder on their one-year anniversary of their previous training completion date, but can take the training any time. There are six modules in the training and they take approximately 35-45 minutes to complete. Visit this page to take the training.

The number one cause for compromised GatorLink accounts is when a student, faculty, or staff member opens and responds to a phishing email.

Students can take the phishing module that’s part of the full training. The stand-alone phishing module is a great way to become better informed about how cyber-criminals operate. Now that you’ll be interacting with campus departments and faculty (who cyber-criminals will try to impersonate), students are strongly encouraged to learn how phishing works. Students can find the link to the phishing module training in the ONE.UF menu. The 15-20 minutes you invest in taking the phishing training can pay off in a big way when you learn how to spot and report malicious emails, instead of opening one and inadvertently bringing on a world of hurt on yourself…and potentially your university.

Introduction to Data Graphics and Analysis

UF Information Technology is offering an eight-module course on R Programming this summer. All faculty, postdoctoral associates, TA’s, graduate students, and staff are welcome to enroll. The Summer 2023 offering of R Programming will take place May 15 to July 21. Enrollees must have successfully completed at least one graduate-level course in statistics prior to the May 15 training start. R Programming is offered in an online, self-paced format. The course is free but pre-registration is required. Visit the R Programming training page to register. The full syllabus for the Summer 2023 offering is also available on this page. The course’s eight modules are:

Introduction to R
Data Preparation
Exploratory Data Analysis
Mean and Median Comparison
ANOVA, Correlation, and Linear Regression
Multiple Linear Regression
Proportion Comparison
Logistic Regression

Anyone with questions about UFIT’s R Programming training is welcome to email the instructor, Dr. Jose Silva-Lugo.

Phase III of UFIRST Service Available July 6

Phase III of UFIRST went live on July 6 and brings the post-awards business process online. UFIRST Awards creates a more efficient award management process for researchers and administrators and introduces a streamlined environment for the $700+ million in research funding currently managed at UF.

Completed in nine months, the new functionality represents the third and final phase of the UFIRST initiative. Phase III also introduced a new proposal management system with electronic integration to grants.gov for federal submissions. This has enabled the Office of Research to retire Cayuse, its previous software for electronic grants submissions, resulting in savings of $180,000 per year. The entire grants management process is now more transparent, as relevant information for the processing of awards is visible in one location.

There are multiple resources to help research staff with the transition to UFIRST Awards. Training is available as are instruction guides located in myUFL’s Grants Toolkit. An article covering more specific dates, training requirements, and the functionalities of the UFIRST service was published in FYI. Anyone with questions about using UFIRST may email ufirst@research.ufl.edu.