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FAU’s Division of Research (DOR) recently launched a Research Administration Fellows Program for college research administrators to better support faculty in their research endeavors.

The goal of the new program is to provide faculty in their college with dedicated, trained individuals inside their departments that can assist with everything from finding funding, building a budget and submitting grant proposals to managing grant awards.

“Each college with an administrator or coordinator has the opportunity to join the program and learn how to submit proposals, learn the why behind grants and contracts, and get hands-on training into the world of research administration,” said Jeanne Viviani, director of FAU’s Office of Research Development. “I like to think it’s training them to be an expert for their faculty, so that the faculty aren’t hunting everywhere looking for an answer.”

The Fellows Program, which runs four to six weeks, ensures that the administrator has dedicated time to learn about the systems, rules and regulations, including assisting with finding funding using GrantForward, a search engine that identifies funding for research projects, said Viviani adding that system also allows tailoring of funding searches.

Judy Kaczmarek, a coordinator for research programs and services in the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in the College of Engineering and Computer Science was the first to complete DOR’s Research Administration Fellow Program. During the training, Kaczmarek spent her days with DOR representatives learning about the award cycle faculty experience and submitting grant proposals.

“What was amazing about taking on this training was that I really didn’t know each department existed, why they mattered or why certain things were important when it comes to creating proposals,” Kaczmarek said. “But with the relationships I’ve developed and the amount of information I’ve learned, I feel confident returning to the faculty in my college and letting them know why specific criteria are important for their proposal to be great.”

With Kaczmarek’s completion of the program she will return to her college and provide faculty full support to in finding funding, said Viviani, adding that she is now accepting applications for the new program. For more information, contact Jeanne Viviani at jviviani@fau.edu.