Who: Dr. Eva Allen, Senior Research Development Specialist, Biological Sciences Division
Name of organization/institution where they work: University of Chicago
Number of Years Working in RD: 23 years
Length of NORDP Membership: 13 years
When and how did you enter the field? What kind of research development work do you do?
Eva found herself in a tough situation in her first year of graduate school at Indiana University (IU) for evolutionary biology when she learned that she didn’t share common research interests with the lab she was working with. Because of this, she cobbled together two different advisors for a topic she developed. However, neither of them had grant funding for her work. So, Eva wrote proposals, drawing on her strengths as a writer; she grew up with an English professor father and served as a writing tutor as an undergraduate.
After earning her PhD, she stayed on at IU providing research development support to her department. This role expanded over 20 years, as described in the 2020 New Board Member Cameo blog post. In 2021, she became the Assistant Director for Research Advancement of IU’s Environmental Resilience Institute.
From IU, Eva was recruited to ASU, where she worked in the central RD office, founded and led by Faye Farmer and Karen Walker. This role had a very strong emphasis on proposal management, and it’s where she realized that proposal management is what she had been doing all throughout the years developing complex proposals.
After a year at ASU, an opportunity presented itself within the Biological Sciences Division at University of Chicago. There, the Research Development Team supports approximately 400 investigators, both tenure-track faculty and clinical investigators, focusing on large, complex applications. When there’s downtime, they will work on smaller submissions or consult with PIs who are planning large submissions. With an RA on the team who handles most paperwork, like biosketches and budgets, Eva can focus on engaging with the researchers on the science and how they’re articulating it. She ensures that communication is clear, from high-level concepts down to editing the document.
What’s your history with NORDP? How have you engaged with the organization (committee work, conferences attended/presented)?
When Eva first joined the campus level team at IU in 2012, she learned about NORDP from colleagues and attended the national conference. She’s attended every conference since then, and presented at many of them. In 2014, she joined the Conference Workshops Organizing Committee, eventually co-chairing the group for the 2018 and 2019 conferences. After a year on the Executive Committee for the 2020 conference, she stepped away from that work to join the Board of Directors.
During Eva’s first year on the Board she trained as Assistant Treasurer, and served as Treasurer in 2021 and 2022. During 2023, the fourth year of her first term, Eva was an informal immediate-past treasurer, consulting and supporting the transition. In the current Board term, she is not serving in an executive office. Her primary responsibilities are being a liaison for the Professional Development Committee and leading a task force to update NORDP’s website to make it more useful for prospective and current members.
What motivated you to run for the NORDP Board for a second term?
Eva credits her first Board term as being a very valuable professional development experience. Expanding her network and deepening relationships during this first term proved extremely rewarding. Last May, near the end of her first term, the Board laid out a strategic roadmap, and Eva wanted to stay on to be part of leading implementation of those plans.
What are you most excited about as a new NORDP Board member?
One pillar of this roadmap is cultivating volunteer opportunities for growth. The board recognizes the importance of ensuring that volunteer pathways are available, accessible and clear, and that expectations are well-laid-out and reasonable. This is important so that volunteers do not burn out. Also, the board wants to increase the professional growth, positive experience, and active engagement of volunteers. Eva is aiming to leverage the updated website to highlight information on volunteering and on the benefits of being a member of NORDP.
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