Travel and Entertainment Reimbursements
Employees of the university, i.e. anyone who is paid regularly by the university, are able to enter their own expense reports for reimbursement using the NUFinancials System. Please see Tamara Silverleaf in the ChBE main office to get access to the NUFinancials System and for further details on how to enter expense reports.
For Northwestern University Travel & Entertainment Policies, see the following links:
Entertainment & Courtesy Policy and Procedures
For quick tips and answers to common expense report questions, see our mini guide to entering expense reports: Expense Report Mini Guide
Visitor Expense Report
Non-employees of the university, i.e. guests and students who are not paid by the university, should fill out a visitors expense report. Please see Tamara Silverleaf in the ChBE main office to get a visitors expense report voucher, which must be generated on an individual basis because of the unique voucher number associated with payment.
Exception Forms
All receipts must be original and they must be itemized in order to be reimbursed. You should process your reimbursement within 30 days of travel, but definitely before 90 days have passed since your date of return. If you are missing proper receipts or are processing a reimbursement more than 90 days from your last date of travel, fill out the form below explaining the reason why. Include this form in your expense report.
McCormick Reimbursement Exception Form
Purchasing Process in Brief
Graduate students, faculty, and staff will be given access to iBuyNU, Northwestern's online shopping catalog, should they need to purchase items for research or academic use. Please see Tamara Silverleaf to fill out the access forms.
Items purchased on iBuyNU are referred to as catalog requisitions. See the Project Cafe training website to access the "Purchasing — Shopper" materials and learn how to use the online catalog. (Click on the blue tab that says “Purchasing” and expand the row entitled “Shopping iBuyNU.”) You will assign your iBuyNU “carts” to Tamara Silverleaf by searching for her email address. An email, with cart attached, will be sent to Tamara through the NUFinancials System. Then, you must bring in a department purchase order form, signed by your advisor, with a chart string (account number) indicated on the form and a print-out of the iBuyNU cart attached. Upon receiving your purchase order form, Tamara will verity the electronic cart and process your order. See below for the ChBE department purchase order form. [maybe put in one of those tags here, so that they can click on “purchase order form” and go directly to it?]
When you are buying from a company whose catalog is not on iBuyNU, it is called a non-catalog requisition. You will write out your order on the department purchase order form. Make sure to include the company name, address, and most up to date phone and fax information. The correct phone number is important for order verification. Add exact product description and pricing and then contact your advisor or PI to get the correct chart string. Once your advisor/PI has signed the form, bring this to Tamara Silverleaf in the ChBE department office so that she can place the order in NUFinancials.
All purchases are officially made by the department office staff. Students, faculty, and post-docs can only request a purchase through iBuyNU or the purchase order form and are not authorized to order directly from the company.
Purchase Order form for Chemical and Biological Engineering Department 
If you are charging items across many chart strings, or accounts, you or your advisor are required to fill out a quick justification form: Split Cost Justification Form
Departure Form for Graduate Students, Visiting Scholars, and Postdocs
Postdocs and Visiting Scholars who are leaving the Department should fill out the ChBE Exit form before leaving.
Exit form (for Graduate Students, Visiting Scholars, and Postdocs)
Important Contacts:
Tamara Silverleaf
Program Assistant
t-slverleaf@northwestern.edu
847-491-2774
Technological Institute, Room E136
