Supports Offered Through the Center
Affiliates of the Center have access to a wide array of supports that contribute to development and submission of competitive grants. Five CYFS Center Support Units offer services and resources to Faculty Affiliates who are interested in developing and submitting federal, state, and foundation grants. Funded grants are housed in the Center and are managed by the Faculty Affiliate(s) with Center post-award support.
Supports and Benefits for Faculty Affiliates
- Proposal Development Support
- Assistance with grant scouting for small and large grants
- Support during proposal writing, including:
- Initial project conceptualization
- Substantive content development, revision, and editing
- Conceptualization of research design and data analytic plan
- Coordination with the University Research Office, including Sponsored Programs
- Promotion of capacity building
- Recruitment of professional partners (e.g., co-investigators and senior personnel with complementary skills; implementation evaluators)
- Staff recruitment (e.g., graduate assistants, technical support)
- Pre-Award Support
- Budget development
- Biosketch construction
- Reference compilation
- Proposal formatting
- Application submission
- Post-Award Support
- Statistical and methodological support
- Technical assistance
- Budget management
- Web-based project dissemination
- Ongoing Benefits
- Affiliation with a UNL Program of Excellence
- Increased visibility of research and scholarship
- Opportunities for collaboration with affiliates on interdisciplinary research
- Opportunities for interaction with nationally recognized researchers
- Opportunities for collaboration with local school personnel
- Access to a "library" of successful grant applications and materials
- Access to periodic professional development activities or events that support grant-writing and/or grant submissions (e.g., workshops, seminars, symposiums)
- Use of web-based Center resources
- Coordinate Faculty Affiliate interactions with personnel from Center support units (i.e., Statistics and Research Methodology; Grant Management and Post Award; Office Management and Support; Web and Technology Support)
- Assist with project conceptualization, content writing, formatting, and budget development
- Coordinate interactions with other campus support entities (e.g., Sponsored Programs, University Research Office) during proposal development
- Promote and organize interdisciplinary research teams that foster new basic and applied research
- Participate in Center-supported research projects and teams
- Monitor grant funding opportunities (requests for proposals, program announcements, etc.) as they are released by agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Education, and the National Science Foundation
- Conduct grant-funded Center research
- Teach a summer grant proposal writing course for graduate students
- Experimental research/randomized trials
- Academic and behavioral intervention research
- Stakeholder collaboration/community involvement
- School psychology
- Training and implementation grants
- Academic and behavioral intervention research
- Foundation grants
- Education research
- Science, technology, and math research and development
- Training and implementation grants
- Contracts and evaluation
- Public television (extensive experience)
- Scholarly Enhancement for CEHS faculty
CYFS Center Support Units
Proposal Development and Coordination
Statistics and Research Methodology
Grant Management and Post-Award
Proposal Development and Coordination
Research Faculty in the Center are available to fulfill several roles in supporting grant development, submission, and management. As grant development coordinators, Research Faculty work with the principal investigator(s) in managing every aspect of grant proposal development and submission.
Center Research Faculty share the following common functions:
The following are additional areas of interest for key Research Faculty:
Todd A. Glover, PhD, Research Assistant Professor
Gina M. Kunz, PhD, Research Assistant Professor
Gwen Nugent, PhD, Research Associate Professor
Statistics and Research Methodology
The Statistics and Research Methodology Unit provides proposal development and post-award support in the conceptualization of the research design and methodology and the selection and execution of data analyses. Unit personnel are experienced statisticians who specialize in experimental, quasi-experimental, and correlational design methodology; measurement; and cross-sectional, longitudinal, and correlational data analytic approaches (e.g., regression, basic analyses of variance, structural equation modeling, growth modeling, hierarchical linear modeling). Unit personnel are available to assist Faculty Affiliates throughout grant proposal development and writing and with data analysis after the grant is funded.
CYFS Research Faculty coordinate the provision of statistical or methodological support for Faculty Affiliates. The following are the unit's key personnel:
Michael Toland, MA
CYFS Statistics and Measurement Consultant and Director, NEAR Center
Kevin Kupzyk, MA
CYFS Statistics and Measurement Consultant
Grant Management and Post-Award
Services offered by the Grant Management and Post-Award unit focus on direct assistance with budget development and post-award oversight of grant functions. Once a proposal has been conceptualized and a funding mechanism identified, Center support staff are available to assist CYFS Research Faculty and Faculty Affiliates in developing a budget. When grant proposals submitted through the Center are successfully funded, Center staff provide post-award budget management in many different areas (e.g., Human Resources, purchasing, travel, budget reconciliation and periodic budget reports). Any project requiring the hiring of additional personnel, including all steps from requesting and advertising for new positions through the final paperwork required to add a new employee to the UNL payroll system, will be handled by Center support staff. Additional services offered by Center staff include processing employee expense vouchers for travel reimbursement, initiating payments/stipends to non-UNL employees, monitoring budget spending to meet post-award requirements established by Sponsored Programs, and providing periodic budget reports to principal investigators.
Office Management and Support
Center support staff assist in the compilation of various forms and documents necessary for grant submission (e.g., biosketches, vitae, routing forms), and ensure compliance with agency requirements. Additionally, Center staff are available to proofread grant applications, check references, and assure consistent formatting (e.g., APA stylistic requirements). Staff can also compile reference sections directly from materials (e.g., books, chapters, journal articles, incomplete references), as needed. Staff are available to assist in locating supporting documentation for the "Demonstration of Need" section of proposals, coordinate various grant project efforts, plan and schedule grant meetings, and assist in obtaining required signatures (e.g., on the UNL Routing Form, grant submission cover sheets). Assistance with travel plans, ordering of equipment and materials, and technological support are also available.
Holly Sexton
Office Management and Supervision
Cindy Schuerman
Grants Specialist and Post-Award Support
Web and Technology Support Unit
Center web and technology support provides assistance with individual grant needs.
