Month: July 2024

The May 2024 Career Stories featured Dr. Toyin Babarinde, the inaugural Executive Director of the Office of Strategic Research Development (OSRD) at the University of Texas Medical Branch

Written by: Roshni Singh, Career Stories team 

She Knew What She Wanted Even Before She Knew What to Call the Job

Dr. Toyin Babarinde

Meet Dr. Toyin Babarinde, whose persistence and creativity led to her dream role in RD and her exciting position as the inaugural Executive Director of the recently established Office of Strategic Research Development (OSRD) at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB). After obtaining her PhD and two years of post-doctoral training, Dr. Toyin knew she did not want to continue bench research. With a deep passion for advancing science and research, she wasn’t sure what path to take and unaware of the exciting career of RD, she began searching for jobs using words like ‘research planning’, or ‘research organization’. After numerous Google searches, she started seeing positions that described her areas of interest and from there, she identified individuals with similar job titles. After several informational meetings and applying for countless jobs, she ended up as a consultant. However, she soon realized that a position in academia was more her style, so she kept applying for jobs and eventually received her first “official” RD position at The University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center (MD Anderson). 

Before joining UTMB, Toyin was the Associate Director of Research Planning and Development at MD Anderson. During her time at MD Anderson, she collaborated with faculty and staff across the institution and the Texas Medical Center developing large multidisciplinary research initiatives, identifying targeted funding opportunities, and assisting in the development and submission of research funding applications. While in this position, she sought opportunities to deliver A+++ service to all stakeholders. Back then, Toyin operated more linearly in thought, and as she contemplated her next growth opportunity, she began looking for director-level positions. When those opportunities did not materialize as she had hoped, she unexpectedly heard from not one, but two executive-level positions. She was reluctant at first to pursue either position because she was unsure, she could “skip a step on her career ladder.” However, she experienced an aha moment, when she asked herself, “who told you Toyin, that you can’t skip a step on the ladder.” In that moment, she realized that life doesn’t have to progress linearly. This aha moment motivated her to pursue the Executive Director position and ultimately led her to become the inaugural Executive Director at UTMB. 

Throughout her career, Dr. Toyin understood that she had to advocate for herself and find creative ways to communicate her value. She is passionate about what she does and believes that the skills she uses in RD come naturally to her and align with her values, which are satisfying, feed her soul, and inspire her to pursue RD opportunities. Guided by her faith, she is able to keep her purpose in mind and operates with conviction. Dr. Toyin consistently strives for excellence, and she wants people to look back and say, “This research program has grown in depth and breadth because you were here,” as one of the chairs she worked with did once. This is the legacy she aspires to leave at every research organization she touches. 

One of her RD pro-tips is to ‘develop and apply effective project management skills’, which are essential in every position. A second pro-tip would be to “invest in yourself and take the time to grow yourself, whether through employer-provided resources or on your own.”  

Dr. Toyin is actively involved in NORDP and encourages everyone to network, which has helped her in her profession. As well, she wants to remind everyone that it’s okay to operate less linearly and embrace the dynamic possibilities that life has to offer. 

Outside of her career, Dr. Toyin is active in her community, where she organizes STEM summer programs for children, volunteers with the Adventurer and Pathfinder youth clubs, and serves on the parent-teacher organization board of her children’s school. These community engagements bring her joy and valuable lessons that she uses in all aspects of her life. 

Toyin would love to answer any questions you have for her, so please feel free to email her at tababari@utmb.edu

The link to the interview to Toyin’s full Career Stories by the NORDP LEAD Career Stories team will be posted when available. 

The April 2024 Career Stories featured Dr. Don Takehara, Director for Research, Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

Written by: Roshni Singh, Career Stories team

From a Chemical Engineering Researcher to Research Development 

Dr. Don Takehara

“Discover your passion, discover your purpose, and go with it!” and this is exactly what he did. Meet Dr. Don Takehara, a former research chemical engineer at Dow Chemical whose passion and purpose led him to the world of Research Development. 

Don Takehara, PhD is the Director for Research, at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Grainger College of Engineering. Before joining Research Development, Don was an R&D chemical engineer at Dow Chemical (16 years) and Professor and Director of the Center for Research & Innovation at Taylor University (9 years). He uses this background, his experience as a certified coach, and 9 years at the University of Illinois to support engineering faculty and teams as they grow their research portfolios. Career and leadership coaching/training, as well as team science training, are current areas of focus for Don.

Don’s life purpose and mission are to be a catalyst for people to go from surviving to thriving and bringing people together to do the unimaginable. As a certified coach, which he thoroughly enjoys, he coaches faculty on career and leadership development and helps them deepen their understanding regarding a decision, a struggle, the future, etc. — allowing them to confidently move forward. Don believes that this “no advice” coaching is helpful for everyone and implementing being more “coach-like” within academia (in mentoring and everyday life) would be transformational. 

Don’s key to a successful career is understanding his life purpose and bringing that into career decisions, building relationships with others, and getting involved when opportunities line up with this overarching purpose. He strongly believes that God has opened up doors including being “at the right place at the right time” — an example being when his Associate Dean offered training to be a certified coach. 

Don advises his colleagues to understand their 4-8 top core values by evaluating mountain top moments in life and reflecting on “what made them so special.” Continuously being conscious of core values and using them for life decisions can have a huge impact, resulting in unexpected impact and legacy as evidenced by surprising words of appreciation — “You never know the ripple effects of what you do, and who you engage with — #PayItForward.” When asked about RD pro-tip or hack, Don passionately answered that “Research involves people; remember that there are emotions around the process of RD and find joy in helping people with their research.”

Don is on the Strategic Alliance Committee and the liaison to NACRO (Network for Academic Corporate Relations Officers) where he is working on a “grassroots” approach where Corporate Relations and RD folks work together to support the NSF Engines program. Don highly endorses NORDP as a place he fits in. Don is a NORDP Consultant, helped start the Coaching and RD Peer Mentoring Group (PMG), participates in the Collaboration and Team Science PMG, and with the iKNOW (Immigrant Knowledge and Wisdom) Affinity Group. He is also a consultant for the AtKisson Training Group. 

As someone close to retirement, these opportunities will help shape Don’s retirement plan including continuing to be involved with RD and helping people move from surviving to thriving.

Don would love to answer any questions you have, so please feel free to email him at dtakehar@illinois.edu

The link to the interview to Don’s full Career Stories by the NORDP LEAD Career Stories team will be posted when available.

An Exciting Start to the 2024-2025 Mentoring Program

Contributors: Mentoring Committee Marketing and Communication (McMc) Team

The summer always serves as an exciting beginning to the mentoring year. The typical cycle for the NORDP mentoring year runs from July to June for the mentoring dyad and mentoring cohort participants. The Mentoring Committee, specifically the Match Team and the Mentoring Leadership Team, work in May and June to make adjustments to the WisdomShare platform (more on that in a moment), prepare the application window, and make the matches and verify that good matches are being made. 

On June 25, the Mentoring Committee sponsored the 2024 Mentor Program Orientation, introducing this year’s participants to the program and featuring one of the 2024 NORDP Mentoring Award recipients, Paula Carney. Breakouts based on participant’s role as a mentor or a mentee either in a dyad or a cohort, allowed everyone to learn more about what to expect in the year to come. 

WisdomShare is a tool that NORDP has purchased to easily and effectively match mentors and mentees. The tool can match individuals or groups based on several criteria such as job level, years in the RD field, preference for dyad or cohort format, and other matching preferences. WisdomShare’s algorithm scores matches, but the Match Team and other mentoring committee volunteers still go through each dyad and cohort with an eye on the human element to make sure the best matches are made. 

Using this year’s WisdomShare mentor- and mentee-profiles, the Match Team spent approximately 11 hours to process and finalize the matching. Overall, we have 197 NORDP members participating in this year’s Mentor Program. We matched 91 unique matches — 57 dyad pairs and 34 cohort groups, a slight increase compared to 56 dyad pairs and 31 cohort groups in 2023. The Mentoring Committee is especially excited for another year of mentoring cohorts after two successful years. Mentoring cohorts match three mentees to one mentor and they lead peer-mentoring discussions throughout the year. Many thanks to the 73 brave individuals who volunteered to be a Mentor either in a dyad or cohort this year!

Advice for new mentors and mentees (matched participants):

  • Use the WisdomShare “Learning” tab to help you figure out where to begin.
  • Log into WisdomShare for your mentor/mentee’s contact information, messaging, and for a suggested milestones list.
  • Go to the WisdomShare Dashboard to find active Cohort and Peer Mentoring Groups (PMGs) and to join the PMGs you are interested in.
  • If your mentor/mentee has not reached out to you yet, be the first to contact them! There is no right or wrong way to connect to RD peers.
  • Look out for future McHuddles – informal gatherings hosted by NORDP Mentoring Committee facilitators and an opportunity to share ideas, ask questions, and collectively learn from other mentees/mentors in breakout sessions.
  • Contact the Mentoring Committee (mentorprogram@nordp.org) if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions.

The McMc team is always looking for mentoring dyads and cohorts to profile in a blog post. If you were part of a 2023-24 mentoring dyads and cohorts and are willing to share your experience, contact the McMc team through mentorprogram@nordp.org. 

Get to Know a NORDP Committee: New Opportunities for Research Development (NORD) Committee

Written by Erica Pitre and Karen Fletcher

The New Opportunities for Research Development Committee fosters the strategic development of the field and study of Research Development (RD). The Committee puts out an annual call for NORD / InfoReady Research Development grants, publishes concept papers on RD, and is home to the Research Development Review: The NORDP Journal.

The NORD Committee is led by a proactive team of co-chairs:

  • Karen Fletcher, MBA
    Director, Grants Resources & Services at Appalachian State University
  • Erica Pitre
    Director of Research Development, Emory University

Key NORD Initiatives

NORD / InfoReady Grants

To enhance the skills of Research Development professionals, broaden recognition and understanding of Research Development activities, and deepen Research Development’s impact on the scientific enterprise, NORDP, in partnership with InfoReady, supports research that defines and standardizes the terms used to identify skills and practices, as well as metrics that allow us to measure both activities and their outcomes. Applications for 2024 NORD / InfoReady Research Grants in Research Development are being accepted until Jul 24, 2024.

NORD Publications

NORD welcomes NORDP members and collaborators to write concept papers on specific topics on Research Development as a field, highlighting its role and importance in supporting knowledge creation and mobilization activities in contexts where external funding is sought. Articles are published on the NORDP website and available to members and the public each year through the NORD Committee. Each piece is peer reviewed by select NORD committee members. NORDP publications contribute to knowledge that supports and enhances the work of research development professionals.

Research Development Review: The NORDP Journal

With a tentative launch in Fall 2024, Research Development Review: The NORDP Journal, will serve as the scholarly journal for Research Development Professionals. The NORDP Journal will publish a wide range of topics intended to advance the global capacity for and impact of research development. The Journal will provide a much-needed virtual presence that supports and enhances the work of research development professionals and their partners in firmly establishing Research Development as a field of research and practice.

Contact the editorial board of the Research Development Review: The NORDP Journal at RDRjournal@nordp.org for questions about the journal.

Volunteer Opportunities

There are various opportunities to participate in the NORD Committee. The Committee meets every other month via Zoom to discuss ways to support current research development topics that are or will affect the field. Beyond meeting attendance, working group opportunities for committee members to provide service can include:

NORD / InfoReady Grants:  service as a grant reviewer;  management of internal competitions and/or awards;  reporting of outcomes

NORD Publications: review of submissions;  document design of final articles; soliciting authors for publications;  suggesting topics for calls for publication

Research Development Review: The NORDP Journal:  the Editor-in-chief attends the NORD meetings to keep the membership up to date; opportunities may exist to support the Journal, as needed

You might enjoy serving on this committee if: you are interested in contributing to growing the conversation around the field of RD. Skills you can enhance include learning about and using the InfoReady platform to administer the NORD / InfoReady grant competition, facilitating a review process, and/or organizing panel discussions.

How to get involved: 

As of May 2024, the efforts of the NORD Committee are facilitated by the committee co-chairs:

Please contact either one of the co-chairs to get involved.