Announcing the NORD/InfoReady Grant Awards 2024 Cycle – 2025 Application is Now Open!

The New Opportunities for Research Development (NORD) Committee is excited to announce the NORD/InfoReady Grant Cycle 2024 awardees, sponsored by InfoReady and NORDP.

Beth Jager, Executive Director of Sponsored Research at Claremont McKenna College; Nicole Wallens, Director of Sponsored Research Harvey Mudd College; and Dean Gerstein, Director of Sponsored Research at Pomona College were awarded $5,000 for the project, “Steps Toward PUI/ERI Presubmission Peer Review Networks (P3RNs).”

This project will explore the development of collaborative presubmission peer review networks across collectives of predominantly undergraduate institutions (PUIs) and other emerging research institutions (ERIs). Its goal is to use these expert proposal review networks to mitigate the difficulties sponsored research officers at relatively small and/or highly teaching-focused institutions face in securing a critical mass of subject experts as compared to large-scale institutions with substantial numbers of grant-active faculty in each major field. Based upon data gathered in a series of interviews, the project team will create a workbook of best practices for faculty-led peer-review processes at PUI/ERI institutions. That workbook will facilitate future piloting of PUI/ERI Presubmission Peer Review Networks (P3RNs) that can serve as models for spreading P3RNs to institutions across the country.

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The Arts & Humanities Grant Studio at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, was awarded $4,950 for the project “Research Development in the Fine Arts & Humanities: A Mixed-Methods Study.”

This study will investigate the primary needs for Research Development in the Fine Arts & Humanities at UNC-Chapel Hill, which is a STEM-heavy R1 institution. As such, it faces a crisis familiar to other institutions: traditional funding sources for arts and humanities research in the U.S. are declining. There are multiple contributing factors, including a post-pandemic decline in longstanding foundation and fellowship support and a decrease in the median size of arts grants. This decline has sparked a national debate, and this project’s goal is to demonstrate how research development support can be a key factor in mitigating that crisis.

Led by Director Ashley Melzer and Postdoctoral Fellows Sara Katz, Boyie Kim, and Mariah Marsden, the team has designed the study to use a combination of quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews/focus groups with UNC-Chapel Hill faculty. This research is expected to investigate research development’s capacity to build a more robust, resilient, and interconnected funding ecosystem across the university, one that meaningfully includes arts and humanities research. Additionally, it is expected to demonstrate that research development professionals are uniquely positioned to address the issues faculty in these departments face. The data collected during the study will be accessible by other research development teams across institutions, as will external reports that contextualize UNC-Chapel Hill as a case study among other U.S. institutions, exploring broader recommendations for tackling funding challenges in fine arts and humanities research.

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Scott Merrill, Program Manager in the Office of Research Development at the Cleveland Clinic, was awarded $5,000 for the project “EARS: Evaluating Awareness of Resources and Services in a Research Development Office.”

The Cleveland Clinic’s Office of Research Development (ORD) is charged with ensuring that caregivers involved in the research process—including principal investigators, research administrators, and administrative support specialists—are aware of the resources and services the office offers. The challenge is that the clinic’s more than 80,000 caregivers and 5,700 physicians and scientists are located at multiple locations. Like other central research development offices, ORD continues to hear from investigators and research personnel that the office and its services had been unknown to them. The goal of this project is to help the office understand what contributes to the lack of awareness and what strategies may be effective in mitigating it. The research process will begin with a 15-question survey to evaluate current awareness. That data will then be analyzed to determine appropriate interventions and targeted approaches. The implementation of those interventions will be followed up with a re-launch of the survey. The resulting data and analysis should allow the team to assess usage of ORD services and resources as well as identify potential weaknesses. The expected outcome is that the percentage of increased awareness will match the percentage of increased resource utilization and increased traffic on the ORD intranet site.

InfoReady Corporation and NORDP’s New Opportunities in Research Development (NORD) Initiative has launched the 2025 cycle of the NORD | InfoReady Research Grants in Research Development.

This opportunity funds research projects that support the disciplinary field of Research Development. To develop a robust understanding of Research Development and its impacts (locally, nationally, and internationally), a wide range of projects will need to be undertaken. Some of these will be empirical studies (e.g., surveys, interview studies, case studies, reviews), but others must be theoretical, conceptual, and even purely descriptive or definitional. In many ways, the path to Research Development becoming a field must begin with research that helps the field define and standardize the terms used to identify skills and practices, as well as metrics that allow us to measure both activities and their outcomes for Research Development.

Awards are expected to be up to $5,000 for projects lasting up to 18 months; however, applicants are strongly encouraged to target 12-month projects. The anticipated project period for this award cycle is November 1, 2025, through April 30, 2027.


The NORD | InfoReady Research Grants in Research Development Program is open to all interested researchers, regardless of whether they are NORDP members. A list of research topics, including the program’s priority areas of interest, is presented in NORDP’s InfoReady instance.

The application deadline is 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, July 29, 2025.

February 2025 Career Stories Featured Board Members Carly Cummings and Nathan Meier

Written by: Roshni Singh, Career Stories team

Board Membership: Carly and Nathan’s Journey of Commitment

The February 2025 installment of Career Stories highlighted NORDP board members Carly Cummings and Nathan Meier. Carly and Nathan have made significant contributions to NORDP and to research development (RD), and they shared valuable insights about their professional journeys, the impact of board service, and advice for those considering leadership roles within NORDP. The February installment of Career Stories was co-hosted by the Nominating Committee (NomCom), which facilitates the annual board of directors’ nomination, application, and election processes.

Carly Cummings

Senior Director of the Office of Research and Faculty Development at the University of Idaho

Carly Cummings, NORDP board member elected in 2023, is the Senior Director of the Office of Research and Faculty Development at the University of Idaho—a newly minted Carnegie R1, rural, land-grant institution. Carly started this office in 2018, establishing a team of six Research Development Specialists to deliver a 360-degree approach to enhancing the competitiveness of extramural research proposals at the University. This approach includes offering a suite of faculty development programming and seminars, tailored internal competitions for limited submission funding programs, and managing internal funding opportunities. Prior to the University of Idaho, Carly held college-level RD and RD/RA roles at two other land—grant institutions. Carly serves as an advocate for developing and implementing innovative collaborative RD approaches to achieving institutional research goals.

Nathan Meier

Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, Capacity and Competitiveness, within the Office of Research and Innovation at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL)

Nathan Meier, NORDP director and immediate past president, is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, Capacity and Competitiveness within the Office of Research and Innovation at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). Directing UNL’s Research Development Group, Nathan increases faculty and institutional success by providing leadership for internal funding, proposal development, research impact, external recognition, and faculty research development programs. During the last two decades, Nathan and his team have partnered to help the UNL community secure more than $870 million in external funding. Examples of Nathan’s impact to NORDP are him serving on the working group that developed NORDP Leadership, Engagement and Development (LEAD) and initiating the Career Stories series.

Carly is in the middle of her first term, and Nathan is nearing the end of two terms on the NORDP Board, having served as the organization’s president. Reflecting on their experiences, Carly and Nathan expressed appreciation for their time as board members and emphasized that board service does not require being senior in one’s career but a deep commitment to NORDP and the RD community. Though serving on the board comes with responsibilities to ensuring the continued growth of NORDP is accompanied by the necessary administrative support and governance structures, the benefits of this service are significant. One benefit mentioned was gaining a deeper appreciation of faculty experiences and challenges, such as large proposal development processes, and managing team dynamics and collaborative work. Carly and Nathan also mentioned that board service benefits include the satisfaction of contributing to our professional organization and shaping its future, networking opportunities with other directors through regular meetings and annual campus visits, and collaborative initiatives toward shaping NORDP’s future. The takeaway is that this service engages in strengths-based, collaborative initiatives where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, with the ultimate goal of enhancing the growth, credibility, and visibility of RD professionals.

When asked to share pro tips for those considering board service or increased involvement with NORDP, Carly and Nathan advised it is important to consider when the time is ripe to take on a leadership role and the importance of nominating others you see as strong candidates. Additionally, they noted the importance of understanding the requirements for nonprofit board service, in general, and the responsibilities and expectations of NORDP board members in particular. To help with this, they recommended conducting informational interviews with current or recent board members to gain firsthand insights as a way to better understand and prepare for the role. Nathan uses a set of six questions to guide these discussions, which he is happy to share. He also recommended accessing a copy of What Every Board Member Needs to Know, Do, and Avoid, which is a quick guide recommended to him by prior members of the NORDP board.

Carly and Nathan share a deep commitment to supporting NORDP and an enthusiasm for RD. They are both open to continued dialogue and would love to answer any questions you have for them regarding their roles as board members or their involvement in NORDP. Carly may be reached at ccummings@uidaho.edu, and Nathan may be reached at nlm@unl.edu.

We hope this blog provides some practical insights and resources to help you consider your involvement within NORDP and the plusses and potential of serving on the board. If you would like to continue the conversation, reach out to NomCom at nomcom@nordp.org or to Career Stories team member Chetna Chianese at cchianes@syr.edu.

To listen to their full interview with the Career Stories team, please click on this link (you must log in as a NORDP member to access): https://nordp.freestonelms.com/viewer/eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJvcmRlckl0ZW1JRCI6MjE2ODE0NTUsImNoYXB0ZXJJRCI6NDk4NDU2fQ.SdA2Q15yVL67LXSHChuEAA4fIvf1cByBF42X-RuA5Zk: Chapter 46: Board Member Profiles

NORDP 2024 Rising Star Awardee – Katie Pelland

The NORDP Rising Star Award recognizes individuals for their outstanding, early volunteer contributions to NORDP and strong potential for future contributions to the organization and the profession or the field.

Who: Katie Pelland

Role: Senior Research Program Officer, University of Virginia Brain Institute

Number of years in research development: 6

Length of NORDP membership: 6 years

What initiative are you the most proud of in your role as a NORDP volunteer?

One initiative I’m particularly proud of in my role as a NORDP volunteer is the streamlining of the board application process. Through the years there have been various iterations of the Board application process and the expectations of Board candidates. One thing we did while I was the co-chair of the Nominating Committee was to examine the application process and what barriers it might pose to members running for the Board. And that resulted in us streamlining the application process to focus on what truly matters for running for the NORDP Board: why candidates want to be on the board and how they are qualified to serve. We really want to have a Board that represents the diversity of the NORDP membership and since instituting these changes we’ve seen an increase in Board candidates and NORDP members at a variety of career stages running for the Board.

Another initiative I’m proud of is creating a transparent and straightforward path to committee membership for two of the committees on which I’ve served: the Nominating Committee and Conference Committee. This process involved putting out an open call to NORDP members to gauge interest and launching a simple form for interested members to complete in order to join the committee. I think there are sometimes barriers to NORDP service, and our goal was to let NORDP members know that it’s very easy to join a committee and get involved. These efforts have strengthened both committees and brought in NORDP members who want to give back to the organization but might not have known where to start. I would love to see this process expanded to include all NORDP committees to make it easier for our members to volunteer!

How did you hear about NORDP and what made you join initially?

I first heard about NORDP while I was finishing up graduate school and working as an intern in UVA’s central research development office. My supervisor, Becca Latimer, was very active in NORDP and introduced me to the organization immediately after I started and encouraged me to join. Given her enthusiasm and the value of the community, knowledge-sharing, and resources, joining NORDP felt like a no-brainer. 

What relationships have you built as a result of NORDP?

It’s a long list that ranges from fantastic one-off conversations at virtual meetings and in-person conferences to honestly some of my closest friendships. One of the things I think is so valuable about NORDP relationships is the shared understanding of our work in research development. Even though our jobs may differ, there’s a mutual comprehension and respect for what we do, which can be harder to find with colleagues outside of our field. There’s also a “rising tide lifts all boats” mentality within the NORDP community and everyone is so generous in sharing their knowledge so we can all improve.

Additionally, the mentors I’ve gained through both formal and informal channels have been invaluable. As I’ve navigated career changes, these mentors have helped me brainstorm ideas, and have hard conversations that have helped me figure out where I want to go and what I want to do. All of these relationships have given me a stronger sense of all the things that a career in RD can be.

What are you most excited about when it comes to the future of NORDP? 

I’m very excited about the rapid growth NORDP, and the field of research development (RD), has been experiencing. NORDP is playing a major role in shaping how RD is evolving and expanding. I’m particularly excited about the effort to professionalize the RD profession, with the introduction of a new journal, NSF GRANTED, and NORDP’s certification or credentialing task force. These efforts are helping to establish RD as a recognized and respected career path.

Additionally, NORDP is putting more intention into skill transfer through workshops and other educational opportunities, which helps both new and experienced RD professionals broaden their skill sets. This is really important for the continued growth and development of the field, particularly for those of us who are in the earlier stages of their careers and are thinking about what our trajectory will be long-term. It’s also exciting to see representation of RD professionals in higher-level positions, such as AVPRs, which is changing the institutional landscape. This trend is likely to continue, allowing RD professionals to move up and expand their influence.

What recommendations do you have for members to get more involved with NORDP?

I have so many! My first recommendation for members looking to get more involved in NORDP is to start by joining a committee that interests you. Read up about the different committees and choose one that aligns with your passions. Then, email the co-chairs to express your interest. Most committees are always welcoming new members, so don’t hesitate to reach out.

Another great way to get involved is through the mentoring program, either as a mentee or a mentor. As a mentor for the first time this year, I’ve found it incredibly rewarding. Despite some initial imposter syndrome, my conversations with my mentee, who is new to RD, have been really insightful and beneficial for both of us.

I also know that many regions have regular Zoom or even occasionally in-person get-togethers, and attending these can help you connect with others and stay informed about what’s happening in your neck of the woods. The annual meeting is also a fantastic opportunity to get involved, and with the 2025 meeting being virtual, it will be more accessible.

Lastly, participate in the elections by attending the board candidate forum and voting for members of the Board. It’s important to have a say in who leads our organization!

What does your future in NORDP look like?

In the immediate future, I’m transitioning into the role of immediate past chair of the Nominating Committee before rolling off. I’ll miss serving on NomCom – it has been a wonderful opportunity to learn about NORDP and the Board without overextending myself, which I have really appreciated. I’m also excited to be serving as one of the Conference co-chairs this year!

Longer term, there’s so much I’m interested in doing. I’ve started to get involved with the Communications Working Group and I’d like to get more involved in NORDP’s Committee on Inclusive Excellence, whose work is increasingly important. I also plan to stay active in the Atlantic region, where there’s been a real push by our current regional leaders to make the region more active. I could see myself someday aspiring to a leadership role within the region and helping foster the same level of engagement we see in other regions like the Northeast and Great Lakes.

Connect, Grow, Succeed: The NORDP 2025-26 Mentoring Program Has Launched

Written by: NORDP Mentoring Committee Communication & Marketing (McMc) Team—Vess Vessileva-Clarke, Elizabeth Lathrop, Brooke Gowl, Jessica Brassard

Applications for the 2025–2026 NORDP Mentoring Program are now open until Friday, May 16! NORDP members are invited to participate as a mentor, a mentee, or both.  The NORDP Mentoring Program is a benefit available to all NORDP Members. This program enables research development (RD) professionals to network with NORDP colleagues who have volunteered to share their expertise, guidance, and support. There are two options for matching mentors and mentees in the program: the 1:1 Dyad or the 1:3 Mentoring Cohort (one mentor paired with three mentees).

Key highlights from the 2025 Mentor Recruiting Info Session (4/15). 

As a growing profession, NORDP always has more mentees than available mentors. 

A small but enthusiastic group of NORDP members interested in exploring the possibility of becoming mentors joined the Mentoring Committee Co-Chairs on Tuesday, April 15, for the annual Mentor Recruiting Info Session. The session began with a brief presentation on what mentoring is and a description of the role of the mentor. People with years of mentoring experience shared stories and best practices from their mentoring “careers.” Additionally, participants were introduced to the NORDP matching program details, the different mentoring “flavors” (dyads and cohorts), and common myths related to mentoring.

During the Q&A, those with experience as mentors encouraged others to become mentors! One does not have to have years of RD experience or formal mentor training in order to be an excellent mentor. Additionally, mentoring is a two-way street. As a mentor, you will likely gain as much as you give.

Mentors are provided with resources in WisdomShare to aid them in their mentoring efforts. There are also facilitators they can reach out to if they have questions or encounter situations for which they could use help. Prospective mentors were encouraged to consider a mix of mentoring experiences in dyads, cohorts, or even a dyad and a cohort in parallel.

Reflections from some of our most experienced NORDP Mentors

NORDP is a community of people who are passionate about sharing and learning with each other. When it comes to mentoring, there are many people with years of experience to share. Below are some highlights from past NORDP mentoring reflections: 

Anglea: “Every mentoring relationship is unique.”

Wendi: “Continue participating in this program and serve as both mentor and mentee. The 360-degree perspective these roles provide will enhance your professional capacity and enrich your personal attributes.”

Christine: “I encourage each mentee to drive our relationship by setting goals (and allowing them to evolve), while I provide tools, resources, contacts, and advice toward achieving them.

Mayla: “Ask lots of questions.”

Toyin: “Extending grace to yourself is critical.”

Julie: “Mentoring truly is a bidirectional exchange.” 

Sandra: “It was also very beneficial to work through the MESHH Network framework with someone.”

Julie: ​​​​“The mentoring relationship serves as a reflective experience that re-energizes my everyday work life.”

Sofia: “Kathy opened my eyes to the possibility of leaving the bench for RD.”

Eric: “Learning how people persevere in their work through challenges and opportunities has helped me become more empathetic.”

Erica: “My mentoring relationships have contributed to my career progression and have made me a better RD professional and leader.“

Erin: “My mentor took the time to reach out to someone who knows people at my current institution and through this contact, I have expanded my network.”

Jess: ​​​​​​“Ha​​ving my mentor’s perspective helps me reflect more clearly because he sees things from an outside point of view while still having the context of our RD mission.”

David: “I feel we have crafted an important connection that will last beyond the mentoring year.”

Figure Caption: Mentoring Flavors & Benefits graphic provides useful information to help you decide how best to participate in this year’s NORDP Mentoring Program.

As applications for the 2025-2026 NORDP Mentoring Program open until Friday, May 16, we encourage all NORDP members to consider how you might benefit from participating—whether as a mentor, a mentee, or both. This valuable member benefit continues to strengthen our research development community through meaningful professional connections and knowledge sharing. Whether you choose the personalized attention of a 1:1 Dyad or the collaborative learning environment of a 1:3 Mentoring Cohort, your participation helps ensure that expertise, guidance, and support remain hallmarks of the NORDP experience. Don’t miss this opportunity to grow your network and advance your RD career!

Navigating the Federal Landscape: A Preview of Sarah Spreitzer’s NORDP 2025 Keynote

Written by Kate Duggan, Conference Planning Committee
NORDP 2025 Keynote Speaker, Sarah Spreitzer

As research development professionals and NORDP members, we pride ourselves on our flexibility, versatility, and ability to meet the moment. This year’s NORDP Conference closing keynote, Sarah Spreitzer, utilizes many of these same skills in her role as Vice President and Chief of Staff of Government Relations for the American Council on Education (ACE). Her May 1 keynote will provide an update from Washington, DC on the new administration’s actions and policies relevant to higher education and research, the response from Congress, and how NORDP members can draw upon their own skills and experience to understand, interpret, and advocate in the evolving federal landscape.

Sarah was drawn to federal advocacy by way of her passion for education, which was inspired by her mother and grandmother, both elementary school teachers. After earning her bachelor’s degree from Beloit College in Wisconsin and a master’s degree from The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, Sarah was aiming for a career as an academic when she took a break from being a student to work for the University of Washington’s Federal Relations office. That one post-graduation job turned into a career for Sarah, who went on to become a Senior Government Relations Representative/ Lobbyist for Lewis-Burke Associates and then Director of Federal Relations for the University of Missouri System before joining ACE in 2017.

In her role at ACE, Sarah represents 1600+ institutions of higher education, working to unite the postsecondary community around topics of mutual concern and interest. At present, these topics include the proposed decrease of federal facilities and administrative (F&A) rates to a maximum of 15%; opposing the DETERRENT Act, which would add extensive new faculty and staff foreign gift reporting requirements; and immigration policies that affect international students and faculty.

While the current moment is presenting some unique challenges to the national academic research enterprise, Sarah still sees reason to be optimistic. On considering how higher education reacts to adversity and might respond in this moment, Sarah reflected that “we’re a little slow, but we are flexible. And I think that that was really demonstrated during COVID. If you had told me that all of our institutions would be able to transition online within a week and address all of the needs of our international students who suddenly weren’t sure if they were going to stay, or if they were going to have to go. I would be like, there’s no way we could do that. We did it. We did it and I think that that is the strength of higher education.”

Beyond drawing upon the resiliency our institutions cultivated during the pandemic, Sarah has more advice for NORDP members on how to handle the headlines:

Pause: “When something new comes out…it’s important to take a breath and pause before you react … understand what’s actually happening, that there is supposed to be a rule of order for the implementation, that a lot of things that are happening are being stopped by the courts.”

Share: “Sharing information during this really confusing time is incredibly important, because I may have an NIH grant that got canceled because of the DEI executive order. You may not have had a grant canceled yet, but perhaps the program officer isn’t returning your phone calls or something’s happened when you try and draw down the funding. And so sharing that information and being part of this larger community is really really important.”

Advocate: “I also think talking about what messages work, like when you’re talking to individual members of Congress,” can be helpful in giving RDPs the tools we need to demonstrate the value and contributions of our institutions with elected officials and members of the public who may not be familiar with how college and university funding is allocated, governed, and what kinds of research and programming it makes possible in our communities.


Despite the uncertainty many of us are experiencing, Sarah has “complete confidence in the ability of higher education to respond to the challenges during this time, and I’m kind of excited to see how we do respond….the relationship between higher education and the federal government is going to be very different. There’s going to be a lot of things thrown at us, but I know that higher education will come out at the other end okay; it’ll just be different.” For more Washington insights and a dash of related optimism, be sure to attend Sarah Spreitzer’s May 1 closing keynote; conference attendees are encouraged to submit questions for Sarah by navigating to the keynote session in the Whova app.

NORDP 2025: What to Know Before You Go

Greetings NORDP 2025 attendees:

We are thrilled to have you join us for this year’s conference, where you’ll have the opportunity to connect with and learn from research development colleagues from the comfort of your own space. We on the NORDP 2025 Conference Planning Committee have put together the following guide to help you make the most of your conference experience, from navigating the virtual conference platform to engaging in professional development, networking, and volunteering activities. We look forward to coming together to build community at NORDP 2025!

🙂  Find Your Way Around

We encourage you to spend time between now and the start of the conference familiarizing yourself with our virtual conference platform: Whova. There will be a pre-conference Tools & Tips (TnT) webinar focused on using Whova on Wednesday, April 15, at noon ET/9am PT. Register today.

If you’re just getting familiar with Whova, here’s a link to the Whova guide on how to upload your information.

Fun Fact: You can use the Whova App to directly message Conference Organizers. Find this feature under Community → Ask Organizers Anything.

Note: if you are NOT using the Whova app, you can still navigate the conference via the Whova web platform. 

🔘 ​​ Conference Code of Conduct 

We have posted a NORDP Conference Code of Conduct on the conference website. It can be found under More → Inclusivity and Accessibility → Conference Code of Conduct. Please take a chance to review it prior to the start of the conference. If you witness any violations of the Code of Conduct during the conference, please report it using the reporting form linked in the Code of Conduct.

💻 Virtual Conference Best Practices

Maximize your experience at this year’s conference by staying engaged and comfortable. Mute your mic when not speaking, participate in chats or Q&As, and take regular breaks to avoid screen fatigue. Find a cozy spot, grab snacks, and settle in with what you need to stay focused during each conference day.

We also encourage you to make the most of networking opportunities—introduce yourself in the chat, join breakout rooms, and explore attendee profiles. The Whova app is your best friend: use it to build your agenda, connect with others, and join discussion boards. Whether you’re attending live sessions or engaging through the app, staying present and proactive will help you get the most out of NORDP 2025!

🏙️ ​​ Social and Networking Activities

Looking to connect and socialize with fellow conference attendees? Join us for a variety of engaging social activities at the beginning and end of each conference day. From virtual coffee hours and committee- or region-hosted events to art classes and yoga sessions, there’s something for everyone!

Find the current list of social activities in the Whova App under Community → Meet-ups & Virtual Meets. Don’t see something that you’d like to do? Feel free to create your own meet-up for others to join!

🤝  Volunteer Sign Up

NORDP is fueled by volunteers, and this conference is no exception! Contribute to enhancing your own conference experience, as well as that of others, by volunteering in one of the following capacities:

  • Become a Session Host to help moderate a colleague’s presentation!
  • Serve as a Tech Host to ensure a colleague’s presentation goes off without any technical hitches
  • Host a social activity (e.g., coffee hour, happy hour, bingo, trivia, networking dinner, etc.) and create your own virtual adventure!
  • Help the Resume Coaching Corner run smoothly

To find out more about volunteer roles, visit the Volunteering webpage.

Ready to volunteer? Sign up here!

📄  Resume Coaching Corner

Whether you’re looking to refine your resume, highlight your achievements, or tailor your CV for your next big opportunity, consider checking out the Resume Coaching Corner to receive tailored support from one of our resume coaches. The Resume Coaching Corner will be open on each conference day, immediately before and after program content. Participants will have the ability to sign up in advance for a 20-minute 1:1 appointment with a coach.

If you’re interested in receiving support, sign up for a time slot here and learn about how to prepare for your appointment using our Resume Coaching Corner Guide for Participants.

Eager to lend your experience to support others? Consider volunteering to be a Resume Corner Coach! Learn more about coaching expectations in our Resume Coaching Corner Guide for Coaches, and sign up for a time slot here.

🖼️  Virtual Poster Session

In addition to exciting and informative presentations, this year’s conference will also include a virtual poster session. You can view posters at any time in the Whova App under Agenda → Posters and interact with poster presenters using the Chat feature (access this by clicking on any individual poster) or by attending the live poster session from 1:15-2:15 PM ET/10:15-11:15 AM PT on Wednesday, April 30.

📋  Give us Your Feedback

Our goal for each NORDP Conference is to provide timely, relevant, and valuable information for conference attendees and your input is an important part of that process. Throughout the conference, you’ll have the opportunity to provide feedback on specific sessions by completing a brief evaluation form at the end of each session, and you can provide feedback on the overall conference experience by completing a final evaluation at the conclusion of the conference. Your feedback is important and will inform the planning of future conferences!

🌟  NORDP Sponsor Shout-Out

Our sponsors make the conference happen! A huge thank you to this year’s conference sponsors: InfoReady, Bouvier Grant Group, AtKisson Training Group, McAllister & Quinn, and Overton. You can learn more about this year’s conference sponsors in the Whova app.

❤️  NORDP’s Got Heart 

Launched in 2023, NORDP’s Got Heart is our annual social good campaign, held during the conference to support a community organization that aligns with NORDP’s commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity, and accessibility. Past efforts have supported The Sophia Way in Bellevue, WA (2024) and Carpenter’s Shelter in Alexandria, VA (2023). 

For our 2025 campaign, we’re turning inward to support our own community by raising funds for Conference Attendance Awards for NORDP 2026 – our next in-person annual meeting. With this year’s conference theme of “Building Community” we wanted to respond to the uncertainties many of us are facing and rethink what “local” means in a virtual world.  We hope for all of us that the NORDP community is a safe space to connect and that the annual meeting is a prime opportunity to do just that.

We recognize that the ability to attend an in-person gathering is often dependent on department/university funding, which can be uncertain. These attendance awards will cover the cost of member registration and are intended for those who need financial support beyond what their institutions or organizations can provide. An application process, similar to previous years, will open in early 2026. 

The donation portal for this year’s campaign will open in late April. We hope you’ll consider giving back to help more of our members come together next year. 

The January 2025 Career Stories featured Dr. Carter Lea, Senior Research Development Officer at Tulane University

Written by: Roshni Singh with input from Natalie Baronian, Career Stories team
Carter Lea, PhD

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

Building Human Infrastructure in STEM: A Preview of Lou Woodley’s NORDP 2025 Keynote

Written by Kelly A. Moore, Conference Planning Committee
NORDP 2025 Keynote Speaker, Dr. Lou Woodley

NORDP 2025 conference attendees are in for an inspiring and thought-provoking keynote by Lou Woodley, a scientist-turned-community-builder who has dedicated her career to supporting human infrastructure in science. Lou is the Founder and Director of the Center for Scientific Collaboration and Community Engagement (CSCCE), an organization that offers evidence-based professional development training, online resources, and consultancy for scientific community managers.

So, what exactly is a scientific community manager? According to Lou, if you’re the person in a collaborative project who is thinking about the human side of how work gets done—how meetings are run, how decisions are made, how knowledge is shared and documented—chances are, you’re doing community management. And, much like research development professionals, you might not even realize you’re doing it.

In a recent conversation with the NORDP conference team, Lou shared her journey from the lab bench to advocating for the professionalization of community management in STEM around the world. Her path included founding a student-run popular science magazine during her graduate studies in the UK and establishing online and in-person community engagement spaces in her role at Nature Publishing Group, early signs of her passion for connecting people and building collaborative ecosystems.

That passion eventually led her to securing a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation while at AAAS, which supported the creation of the first professional development curriculum for STEM community managers via the Community Engagement Fellows Program. From there, CSCCE was born, offering online trainings, a multi-component certification program, consultancy for a range of different organizations in the STEM ecosystem, and an online community of practice that includes nearly 900 professionals worldwide.

Lou emphasizes that community management is often a less visible but critical function in scientific enterprises—much like physical infrastructure, you might only notice its absence when things fall apart. This lack of visibility poses challenges, including a dearth of professional development opportunities and a lack of institutional recognition of the value of professional community managers.

To address these challenges, CSCCE focuses on three key areas: professional development, consultancy, and research. Their flagship course, Scientific Community Engagement Fundamentals, has trained over 15 cohorts since it launched in 2020 and is backed by longitudinal evaluation data showing measurable impacts at three levels of scale – on individuals, organizations, and the broader STEM ecosystem.

Importantly, the parallels between community management and research development are striking. Both are emerging fields filled with professionals who often have advanced degrees, especially PhDs, and who act as change agents and systems thinkers within their organizations. Both fields are also heavily gendered and require ongoing advocacy to ensure the value of their contributions is recognized.

Lou also notes the importance of developing shared language and frameworks that help community managers articulate their impact. Whether it’s creating collaboration playbooks or developing new norms for inclusive engagement, the work of community managers is about more than just logistics—it’s about building culture.

NORDP members working in training, proposal development, research communication, or community engagement will find much to relate to in Lou’s keynote. Her message of strategic collaboration, systems thinking, and empowering human infrastructure will resonate deeply across our diverse professional roles.

We can’t wait to welcome Lou Woodley to NORDP 2025 and to learn from her insights about how we can strengthen our communities, our collaborations, and ourselves.

Hats Off to the 2025 NORDP Mentor Training Workshop Graduates!

Written by the Mentoring Committee Mentor Training Team 

The NORDP Mentoring Committee’s Mentor Training Team held a mentor training workshop in January – February 2025. Twenty-three NORDP members completed the 5-week workshop, covering the 9-module Entering Mentoring curriculum initially developed for research mentors and tailored by the NORDP Mentoring Committee for RD professionals in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin Center for Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER). Over 100 NORDP members have completed the Entering Mentoring Workshop and received certificates. 

RD professionals explored key mentoring competencies that can benefit RD mentors and mentees that have been associated with improved career outcomes, employee engagement and retention, and more inclusive work environments. The workshop was facilitated by the following NORDP Mentor Training Subcommittee members: Jan Abramson, Kristin Boman, Paula Carney, Charlotte Forstall, Rachel Goff-Albritton, Kathy Partlow, Matthew Schwartz, Samarpita Sengupta, and Carol Thornber. The NORDP Mentoring Committee is committed to equipping Research Development professionals for success by offering meaningful mentoring expertise, support, and resources.  

As part of the training, participants had the opportunity to craft their own mentoring philosophies.  Below are examples from this year’s participants!

I seek to help mentees gain independence and confidence by empowering them to identify solutions for issues that arise in their work and other spheres of their lives. My approach is to be available, invested, and intentional. I encourage each mentee to drive our relationship by setting goals (and allowing them to evolve), while I provide tools, resources, contacts, and advice toward achieving them. I also hope to learn from each mentee – and that we all find ways to pay it forward.
– Christine M. Blaumueller

I will enter into all my mentoring relationships with intention, be it as a mentor or mentee. I will work to establish trust rooted in mutual respect, a shared mission for learning and growth, and a desire to impact my workplace and professional positively. I will attempt to exercise grace and openness of thought in all interactions.
– Charlotte Forstall 

Congratulations to the following 2025 NORDP Mentor Training graduates!

Jen Aleman, The College of New Jersey
Christine Blaumueller, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa
Jessica Brassard, Michigan Technological University
Robert Clark, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Michelle Davis, Texas A&M – AgriLife Research
Marney Ellis, Boise State University
Jeffrey Engler, University of California, Davis
Charlotte Forstall, Washington University in St. Louis
Lindsey Frallic, Western Washington University
Savannah Hall, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
Cassie Johnson, North Dakota State University
Neetha Khan, Carnegie Mellon University
Rebecca Kirkland, University of Georgia
Crystal Ladwig, Florida State University
Kaitlin Clare Maguire, Boise State University
Scott Merrill, Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Laura Mussulman, University of Kansas Medical Center
Jennifer Reininga, Duke University
Christina Ryan, University of Connecticut
Julie Svetlik, University of Missouri
Erin Umlauf, Boston Medical Center
Viktoriya Zhuravleva, Zuckerman Institute | Columbia University