Finding Funding
Behind the cadre of researchers at Tulane University stands a team of associates prepared to help them gain the financial support they need to pursue new inquiry. The Office of Research Administration assists with hundreds of grant applications each year and boasts high returns on proposals submitted by faculty.
The Office of Research Administration is a matchmaker, pairing faculty proposals to funding. (Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano)
Kathleen Kozar, director of the office of research administration, says the office processed 900 proposals in the last fiscal year and more than 1,000 in the preceding year.
Through assistance from Kozar's office, Allan Kalueff, assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology, recently secured a two-year federal grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Health. Kalueff says he is “young” in the position of securing grants and the help he received from the office was instrumental.
“The research administration has been indispensable in helping my lab to obtain this recent grant,” says Kalueff, who is using the NIDA funding to conduct pharmacological research on hallucinogenic drugs. “Together with my own department, they helped to put the budget together, provide a good justification, and submit the grant on time.”
Using subject-specific listservs including those for arts and humanities, health sciences, science and engineering and social sciences the research office alerts faculty about new federal, state and private sector opportunities soon after they are made available. Also, Kozar works on individualized searches whereby a researcher can ask for help finding awards based on his or her specific subject.
“If a faculty member comes to me and is interested in K-12 education, I can begin searching thoroughly for opportunities with that person or department in mind,” says Kozar. “Once they've identified an opportunity, we are there to make sure that the final proposal is done in accordance with the university's policies and sponsor guidelines.”
Tulane made the 2009 list of the top 100 U.S. colleges receiving the most money in research and development money from the federal government, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
