Written by: Roshni Singh with input from Natalie Baronian, Career Stories team
From Promoting Out-of-the-Box Thinking to a Board Member
Career Stories’ January 2025 session featured Carter Lea (they/he), a queer introvert who connects with the world by absorbing as much information as possible. Carter is a newly elected (2024) member of the NORDP Board of Directors, who currently works in the Office of Research Proposal Development at Tulane University in New Orleans, where he lives with his spouse, two cats, and a cat-like dog.
Carter received a Ph.D. in Ecology and Biodiversity in 2015 from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and was busy funding their own research in ecophysiology and climate change modeling when he learned about research development as a career path. Their love for writing grants and editing proposals is what eventually led him to an RD position. What excites and motivates Carter is creating new knowledge that ultimately helps communities, and crafting and writing about those ideas makes their effort worthwhile. Even though they were originally hired to work in the STEM disciplines, the Liberal Arts department was added to their portfolio, and they now work on a wide variety of proposals.
Carter’s strategy for working with hesitant faculty includes building trust and relationships and maintaining discipline as a details-oriented person to market how RD is a useful skill. According to Carter, extensive editing, reworking the language for clear communication for readers, and incorporating visuals/graphic design helps foster a stronger relationship and trust with investigators and enhances the proposal, which keeps him actively engaged in RD. Carter’s passion for data visualization and inherent tendency to collect knowledge and skills also led him to pursue a post-baccalaureate certificate in graphic design, a skillset they apply almost daily to improve proposal presentation, infographics, and tables.
Carter joined NORDP soon after entering RD and became an active member of the Committee on Inclusive Excellence (CIE). Through CIE, he encouraged others to think creatively and look beyond traditional constraints, promoting out-of-the-box thinking. His innovative ideas caught the attention of Samar Sengupta, who nominated him for a position on the NORDP Board. They believe NORDP is genuinely filled with good people, and they see a “home” in this organization. While Carter appreciates the organization’s inclusive culture, he also believes that, within the unique field of RD, it is essential to make research more human-centered.
Carter would love to answer any questions you have for them at calea@tulane.edu
To listen to his full interview by the career/kindle team, please click on this link (you must log in as a NORDP member to access): https://nordp.org/store/viewproduct.aspx?id=24459276. Chapter 45: Carter Lea
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