GRANTS MADE: Grants and Research Administration Networking and Training for Students in Maryland and Delaware
Supported by the National Science Foundation’s GRANTED program, the “GRANTS MADE” project is developing, implementing, and evaluating a research administration internship program for undergraduate students at five institutions in a regional consortium: UMBC, Morgan State University, Delaware State University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and the University of Baltimore.
GRANTS MADE internships will allow students to gain experience with research administration as a career pathway. By recruiting and retaining the next generation of research administrators, this program is helping expand the pipeline into research administration and builds research capacity, while establishing a model that other institutions can follow.
Building upon the groundwork that was laid in our previous pilot program, the “GRANTS MADE at Scale” project (2025-2029) will develop and implement a full-fledged, sustainable, high impact internship program that will train more than 50 students in research administration across our five institutions: UMBC, Morgan State University, Delaware State University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and the University of Baltimore.
Students who participate in the internship program will engage in scientific participation while gaining familiarity with the processes, obtaining relevant workforce experience, and developing strong networks in the growing field of research administration. Over the long term, the broader impacts of the program include enhancing research infrastructure, building capacity in research administration, and strengthening research competitiveness for institutions across the U.S.
A hallmark of the GRANTS MADE program is the academic and professional development that the student interns receive, in addition to their hands-on learning in research administration. In our pilot program, interns gave poster and panel presentations that described their experiences and the benefits of the internship. They also presented their work at undergraduate conferences at their institutions and at the NCURA Region 2 research administration conference. In our full-fledged program, students will continue to engage in professional development, research activities, on-campus and external mentorship, and networking.
The project team also presented posters and papers about our pilot project at other national conferences, including the Association for Public and Land-Grant Universities Council on Research conference in June 2024 and the Advancing Research Impact in Society Summit in April 2025.
The GRANTS MADE internship program is supported by the National Science Foundation Award #2536039 (2025-2029) and was previously supported by Collaborative Awards #2324412, 2324413, and 2324414 (2023-2025). The project is approved by the UMBC Institutional Review Board, Protocol #1222.
