DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY

Business Office Resources

The Business Office provides support for research administration, reimbursements, procurement and payroll for undergraduate students, graduate students, and research staff.

Northwestern University has specific policies regarding these items, and those policies must be followed. Any exceptions must be pre-approved by the Dean’s office.

Procurement

• Physics & Astronomy (P&A) orders: send to physics-orders@northwestern.edu.
• Center for Fundamental Physics (CFP) orders: send to Laura Nevins nevins@northwestern.edu.
  • Each email must include:
    • Requisition order
    • Details/specifics of your order
    • PI approval of chartstring used for the order

The University’s Purchasing department strongly encourages ordering from an NU preferred vendor.  Visit their website at  http://www.northwestern.edu/procurement for a list of preferred vendor contacts. Visit myHR LEARN through the NU Portal, for IBUYNU marketplace ordering instructions. https://www.northwestern.edu/hr/essentials/hr-systems/myhr-learn.html

P&A Orders: contact Vaso Ventresca vasiliki.ventresca@northwestern.edu

CFP Orders: contact Laura Nevins laura.nevins@northwestern.edu

Expense Reports and Reimbursements

If you are planning travel, we strongly recommend you review the expense report guide linked below. We recommend that all travelers work with the Business Office when entering your Expense Report. Please use the “Save” feature so that any errors may be corrected by the Business Office.

 Click here for an expense report guide. 

• All travel and entertainment guidelines must be followed.
• All air travel should be done through the Egencia portal which allows direct billing, or booked through an approved travel agency.
• Any air travel that is not booked through Egencia and is charged to a grant must follow the Fly America Act and the Open Skies Agreement.
• All receipts must be uploaded into NUFinancials.
• The use of per diem for meals and incidentals is recommended – please attach the supporting documentation (you may only claim 75% of the per diem on the first and last day of travel and you are allowed to claim less per diem than allowed). Foreign per diem can be found here.
• All amounts are entered in U.S. dollars; please use the OANDA portal for converting your currency (please see your faculty support assistants about how this should be completed).
• More information regarding grant policies can be found on the ASRSP (Accounting Services for Research and Sponsored Programs) webpage. 

Payroll

For all payroll issues, please see the Business Office. Graduate students and research staff are paid on the last business day of each month. If you need to make adjustments to your withholding, please submit your updated tax forms to the Payroll Office at 720 University Place. Please notify the Business Office of any changes in your employment or registration status.