NSF Mandatory MFA Use for Research.gov Starting Oct. 27
The National Science Foundation (NSF) will require the mandatory use of multifactor authentication (MFA) for Research.gov sign-in effective Sunday, October 27, 2024. A detailed notice from NSF, including links to training resources, is included at the bottom of this message.
What does this mean for Northwestern users?
If you are using the organizational login method (i.e., you’ve attached your NSF ID to your Northwestern NetID) to log in, this will meet NSF’s MFA requirement because Northwestern’s SSO login already requires MFA.
Additional instructions for PIs
PIs will need to perform a couple simple steps to ensure that proposals to NSF can be edited by RAs and submitted by Sponsored Research. For each new proposal to NSF, the PI should start the proposal record and:
- Add the RA as Other Authorized User (OAU).
- Select that the option to give Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) submit access.
Questions?
Email the Business Systems & Operations Team at osr-info@northwestern.edu.
Subject: Mandatory Multifactor Authentication for Research.gov Sign-in Effective on 10/27
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Dear Colleagues:
The U.S. National Science Foundation issued Dear Colleague Letter (NSF 25-011) to notify the research community about the mandatory use of multifactor authentication (MFA) for Research.gov sign-in effective on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. All external users must first complete a one-time MFA enrollment process that will be available starting on Oct. 27 and then use MFA to sign into Research.gov going forward.
Training Resources
Training resources including how-to guides and frequently asked questions (FAQs) will be available on the new About Signing Into Research.gov page on Research.gov Help on Oct. 27. This new page will assist the research community to quickly enroll in MFA and learn how to sign into Research.gov with the selected MFA method.
User Role Review and Validation
NSF is also requesting that organizations review and validate that all user accounts associated with the organization are still active and roles are still valid in NSF systems. NSF is making this request directly to the individual(s) at each organization with the Administrator role in Research.gov and providing instructions to access and update the View My Users page in Research.gov.
Questions?
Please do not reply to this message, as this email was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming messages. If you have IT system-related questions, please contact the NSF IT Service Desk at 1-800-381-1532 (7:00 AM - 9:00 PM ET; Monday - Friday except federal holidays) or rgov@nsf.gov.
Thank you for your partnership with NSF and for your assistance to strengthen the security of Research.gov.