Rob Rutenbar, the senior vice chancellor for research, said in a Friday email blast that each lab’s principal investigator must submit a plan to their dean or regional campus president for review. The plan must clearly define an approach for scheduling and a process for allocating time and access to address COVID-driven implications, Rutenbar said.

Rob Rutenbar, the senior vice chancellor for research, said at Thursday afternoon’s Senate Council meeting that research is restarting now on a rolling basis after originally shutting down in March. He added that due to the pandemic, labs are now required to place pandemic-specific protective measures in place. “That means that in many cases, laboratory environments have to be reconfigured to maintain social distancing,” Rutenbar said. “That may mean that schedules have to be modified in order to not have too many people in the room at the same time. They have to show that they’re ready to do that.”