Tag: Professional Development

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.

2024 NORDP Conference Experience as First-Time Attendees

Written by Andrea Navas and Roshni Singh

Conferences are a great way to connect to people, network, and learn about new processes, practices, and guidelines. Roshni Singh, an aspiring RD professional, and a first-time NORDP attendee, and Andrea Navas-Calixto, PhD, Vice President of the Colombian Association for Research Management and Administration (COREMA), also a first-time NORDP attendee, found the 16th NORDP conference important, well-balanced, and well-organized. We were impressed by how well the conference was organized with an attractive agenda, well-set goals, and objectives.

Andrea: At the School of Engineering Universidad del Valle, Colombia, we faced multiple challenges during and after the pandemic and had to change our practices and the activities for conducting research and obtaining funding, hence, the next conference needed to be in person to understand the changes. Upon registering for the 16th NORDP conference, I was pleasantly surprised by the conference organization and its details. The Whova app was a fantastic tool that allowed me to organize my schedule, exchange valuable information, and connect with wonderful people. At the conference, everyone greeted me with open arms, and the location was very convenient in a city that had a lot to offer. The conference agenda was very enriching; however, my biggest fear was that the information in the talks would only be useful for professionals in the United States, but that was not the case. Talks were relevant to anyone in RD roles, no matter the geographical location, which I can learn from, adopt, and adapt to Colombian institutions. Moreover, I was inspired by the focus on healthy eating, zero waste orientation, and support for beautiful causes like The Sophia Way. These details are something we can also learn to implement in Colombia. From the conference, I’m taking away some great ideas regarding initiatives related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) where we still have a lot to learn and have f a lack of clear tools and processes. Additionally, I believe I’ll propose programs like the doctoral intern’s program in the research office and ideas for multidisciplinary work, among others.

Roshni: I was one of the registration award recipients which made this conference achievable for me. As a first-time NORDP attendee and an aspiring RD professional, the NORDP conference was an immensely rewarding and fulfilling experience. During my career in industry, I have been to many conferences, but this conference had the audience in mind as the sessions were for every level, whether new to the conference, new to the RD field, or working on a new initiative. I loved the idea that the conference was organized by RD professionals, which is not often the case, as the majority of the time, sponsors run the show. The sponsors, however, played an important role in the conference giving insights on their services which was helpful for me in understanding the different services academic situations require. I contribute to NORDP by volunteering for the International Working Group and Career Stories, where I write blog posts recapping the latest featured professional. The conference allowed me to meet all the RD professionals I wrote blogs on and members of the committees whom I only see online. Everyone was warm and I made many new connections who gave me advice about the field.

Some talks Andrea and Roshni enjoyed:

  • “What We Talk About When We Talk About Critique” by Susan Ferrari, Grinnell College, Kevin Boettcher, Binghamton University, Tisha Turk, Grinnell College: These types of talks motivate RDPs as they remind us of our limits. The temptation to edit proposals and rewrite is very high, especially when we work against the clock with deadlines on us.
  • “Building Pathways to Careers in Research Development: Leveraging the Graduate Student Career Exploration Program at Illinois Office of Proposal Development (OPD)”by Richard Sallee, Limited Submissions Manager, Suzanne Berry-Miller, Assistant Director, Research Strategy Center for Social & Behavioral Science (CSBS), Sneha Das, Research Development Manager Brenda Koester, Associate Director: This is a program that seems quite easy to replicate in any institution, with clear rules and mutual benefits for both the graduate student and the research development office.
  • “Lessons Learned from Seeding Interdisciplinary Teams: Outcomes, Challenges & Missteps”: this talk was valuable as it shows that programs can continue improving version after version and learning without forgetting the initial purpose, which, in this case, was to encourage teachers to engage in interdisciplinary work.
  • “Beyond RD101” by Joanna Downer, Jill Jividen, Katie Shoaf, Sharon Pound, and Amy Carroll; this interactive workshop allowed the attendees to share their opinions on future topics for effective RD training.

We both would like to thank the NORDP conference committee for a wonderful and very informative conference.

NORDP 2024 Keynote: Building your Unicorn Career with Alaina Levine

Written by: Eric Dickey, Conference Planning Committee

Alaina Levine can pinpoint when she began her career in professional development and networking to a specific, catalyst moment in her life. And it all hinged on one word: Nothing.

She has degrees in Math and in Anthropology and studied in Cairo, Egypt which provided her with a Middle-Eastern studies and Arabic background. But she knew she didn’t want to be a mathematics researcher or an academic. She sought the advice from her mathematics advisor and asked him what her job prospects outside of academia were, and he literally used the word “nothing.”

Career development in STEM is too rarely discussed. Alaina herself noted that she never got the job talk during her mathematics training. Later while at the University of Arizona, she found herself in a position teaching STEM students about career development, soft skills, networking, and negotiation. She helped them identify their own unique gifts to build what she calls their “Unicorn Careers.”

What is a Unicorn Career? Alaina defines it as a customized, authentic career that aligns with one’s values and humanity. It allows you to be yourself 100% of the time and it is a career that brings joy, meaning, and money. As humans, we are diverse and have unique gifts, skills, abilities, and perspectives.

In her keynote talk, Alaina will discuss strategies by which we as RD professionals can make our jobs into our own Unicorn Careers by aligning our skills and abilities with the needs of our institutions and clients. We can use our interests to focus on who we are, and by doing so, we can honor our full authenticity and full humanity. We can make an impact by simply being ourselves through mentoring and creating safe spaces and trust.

We all know that taking such a leap of faith in ourselves, of stepping into our full humanity, will include emotions like doubt and fear. To Alaina, feelings are fantastic data. We can analyze data about ourselves to discover what we can do differently, better, or more. By building our own mental fitness in low-stake scenarios, we can position ourselves to use it in high-stakes scenarios.

As the current President of Quantum Success Solutions, LLC, Alaina is a prolific speaker and writer on career development and professional advancement for STEM Nerds (engineers, scientists, and technical leaders). She also helps Research Development offices land transformative funding through her site visit consultation and speaking and innovation coaching. 

She was drawn to NORDP because she believes her diverse background mirrors the diversity and backgrounds of research development professionals and leaders. She respects and values the collective and diverse wisdom that RD professionals bring to the profession and to the institutions, communities, and scholarship that we serve. She looks forward to sharing her data-driven and process-oriented approach and providing tools which will enable conference attendees to position themselves for success.

Help us welcome her to the NORDP stage in Bellevue, WA.

Tools ‘n Tips: Making Presentations that Stick

Presented by Melanie Bauer

Many of our workshops to faculty contain some pretty dry information. How do you keep them engaged for the entire presentation? You need to give out “nuggets of wisdom” (takeaways that apply to them). These “a-ha” moments better stick when they directly benefit them.

Examples of workshop topics and how to turn them into a “nugget of wisdom”
  1. Timeline
    • From – Create a detailed timeline for your proposal writing journey
    • To – Planning to write takes longer than you think
  2. Sections
    • From – Learn about the sections of a grant proposal and how to tell a compelling story
    • To – Be a storyteller and entrepreneur
  3. Pitfalls
    • From – Understand common pitfalls for first-time and experienced grant writers
    • To – Find your fits and reach out & All the pieces matter
  4. Tips
    • From – Find out tips for making your proposal stand out
    • To – Get graphic & Grant writing is like applying for a job
Additional “takeaway” examples
  • Follow the money
  • Don’t be a square
  • Know how funders walk and talk
  • Funder priorities are the sprinkles
  • Win friends and influence reviewers
  • Third time’s a charm
  • Level up or move along
Resources:
  • How to design & teach workshops that work every time by Robert Fitzpatrick & Devin Hunt (www.workshopsurvival.com)
  • Prezi (there is a free version) – www.prezi.com
  • This TNT presentation was recorded and can be viewed HERE.
Past TNT recordings can be found on the NORDP Learning Management System (LMS).
  • Past TNT recordings can be found on the NORDP website.
  • Log into your NORDP account (www.nordp.org)
  • Look for the “Quick Links” menu (blue)
  • Select “NORDP LMS”
  • Make sure you are seeing “All Courses” – scroll down to the bottom and select “SHOW ALL COURSES”
  • Search for “TnT”
  • Select the “TnT (Tools and Tips) Talks”
The next TNT presentation will be Tuesday, December 6th at 12:00pm (eastern).
  • TNT: Writing for a Lay Audience – Presented by Susan Elkins
  • Register HERE.

Do you have a great Tool or Tip you would be willing to share? If so, please contact Dawn McArthur or Emily Devereux. We would love to hear any requests and we’ll see if we can’t find a presenter!

NORDP LEAD: Developing Leadership Pathways Within the Field of Research Development

Applications for the second cohort of NORDP Leadership, Engagement and Development (LEAD) are being accepted through 11:59pm EDT on Monday, August 22, 2022.

NORDP LEAD is focused on creating pathways for member engagement, service, and leadership across all levels of NORDP and within the research development profession. The program initially grew out of a need to develop strong leadership pathways within NORDP and has expanded to help prepare members to become committee chairs, working group leads, or Board Members within NORDP, as well as to step into leadership roles within their home organizations.

Lisa Lopez, 2022-2023 LEAD Cohort Leader

Lisa Lopez, a Senior Research Development Officer in the College of Health and Human Development at Cal State Fullerton, participated in the first LEAD cohort and is looking forward to working with the second LEAD cohort this fall. “What we want to do this year is build on the strong foundation of the first LEAD cohort and bring in elements that will give participants the tools to help them grow within the field and at their home institutions,” said Lopez. “Ultimately, we want participants to leave the program with a better understanding of where they want to take their next level of commitment to this work.”

Participants in the 2022-2023 LEAD cohort will gain an understanding of different leadership strengths and styles; planning for professional growth; and opportunities for advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in research development. They also will learn about NORDP’s operations and structure, what it looks like to serve on the NORDP or other non-profit boards, and opportunities for service throughout the organization.

The upcoming LEAD cohort will be limited to 12 individuals to maximize opportunities for learning, community building, and professional networking. The cohort will meet on the third Thursday monthly from September 2022 to April 2023. Nathan Meier, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research at University of Nebraska-Lincoln and one of the LEAD program co-leaders believes the small cohort size will provide an even better experience for participants. “We want to spend quality time together as a group, and this cohort size will allow for deeper opportunities for more intimate connections among participants,” noted Meier. 

When asked what an ideal candidate for the LEAD program would look like, Lopez and Meier emphasized that they view LEAD as a program for NORDP members at all levels, not just long-time NORDP members. “There’s no requirement to have been working in RD for a long time,” pointed out Lopez. “We’re just looking for folks who have been in RD long enough to know that this is what they want to do.” Added Meier, “An ideal applicant is someone who’s at a place in their NORDP membership or RD career where they feel at home and want to put down roots. Someone who is ready to spend some time thinking about where they want to go within the organization and the profession and is interested in receiving support as they move along that path.”

Jessica Moon, previous LEAD Cohort Member

Jessica Moon, the Executive Director of the Stanford Aging and Ethnogeriatrics Research Center and member of the first LEAD Cohort, says that participating in LEAD has paved the way for subsequent opportunities and positions within NORDP, and she continues to apply the lessons learned from LEAD. “I learned a lot about NORDP as a nonprofit organization, which I think makes LEAD unique from other opportunities within NORDP. Many of the topics we discussed focused on growing as a professional, not just as a leader within NORDP, and I have applied those lessons broadly to my professional life,” said Moon. “I had a lot of feelings of imposter syndrome, but LEAD gave me the confidence I needed to (successfully!) run for the Board this year.”

Participants in the 2022-2023 LEAD cohort will create a professional growth plan as part of their capstone project for the program, which they’ll be able to put into practice within NORDP and at their home institutions. This element of the program is what Lopez is most excited about. “Developing leadership and growth plans and engaging in strength finding are going to provide tremendous opportunities for LEAD participants to learn about themselves and connect with others around shared professional goals,” said Lopez. “It’s so important to have these kinds of intentional spaces to engage in this important reflection and development.”

Nathan Meier, 2022-2023 LEAD Cohort Leader

Meier added, “The benefit of participating in LEAD is that participants will get to focus on their growth in a way that’s proactive. Oftentimes in our RD jobs, we’re reacting to things and solving problems for others. Folks in the program will get to take some time for themselves once a month to reflect on and dream about what they want out of their careers. They’ll get to know themselves better as an RD professional and as a member of the NORDP community.”

Moon encourages all NORDP members to consider applying for LEAD. “Taking a page from Nike—Just Do It! Even if you don’t want to run for the Board right now, the professional networks, leadership training, and better understanding of NORDP as a nonprofit organization are highly valuable.”

Cohort 2 applications should be submitted via InfoReady by 11:59pm. EDT on Monday, August 22, 2022. Applicants must submit their contact information; a short statement of interest and readiness; and a copy of their curriculum vitae or résumé. All NORDP members in good standing are eligible to apply.

For additional information or questions about NORDP LEAD – Cohort 2, contact Lisa Lopez or Nathan Meier.