GRANTS MADE: Grants and Research Administration Networking and Training for Students across Maryland and Delaware’s 7 Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs)
Supported by the Growing Research Access for Nationally Transformative Equity and Diversity (GRANTED) program of the National Science Foundation, this project established a pilot research administration internship program for students of the seven officially designated four-year Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) in Maryland and Delaware.
The project’s three anchor institutions—UMBC, Morgan State University, and Delaware State University—hosted research administration interns. Research administrators and research leaders from the other four MSIs in Maryland—Bowie State University, Coppin State University, University of Baltimore, and University of Maryland-Eastern Shore—collaborated and provided feedback on project design and implementation.
The internships allowed students to gain experience with research administration as a career pathway. By recruiting and retaining the next generation of research administrators, this program helps expand and diversify the research administration workforce and builds research capacity, while establishing a model that other institutions can follow.
In a GRANTS MaDE conference held in April 2024, the project team presented about the research administration internship model, while the student interns presented posters and participated in a panel session that described their experiences with the internship and how it benefited their learning and skills development. The students have also presented their work at undergraduate conferences at their institutions, and they have attended research administration conferences, such as the NCURA Region 2 meeting, to benefit their professional development.
The project team and the interns have also presented posters and papers about this project at institutional, regional, and national conferences, such as the Association for Public and Land-Grant Universities Council on Research conference in June 2024. The project team has also written a culminating white paper that shares best practices and recommendations from the GRANTS MaDE research administration internship program. These products chart a course for establishing and expanding sustainable, replicable, and scalable internship programs at other universities, to further build equitable and inclusive environments for research administration.
The future goal of the project is to develop a fully fledged regional research administration student internship program across all seven officially designated MSIs in Maryland and Delaware.
2023-2024 UMBC Interns
Alexis Johnson graduated from UMBC in May 2024 with a major in Financial Economics with a minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. For her internship, she worked with the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Science CARAT research administration team. Previously, she was one of two inaugural students in an Research Administration internship program at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Alexis is now employed with the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine as a Grants and Contracts Specialist.
Andy Quach is a rising senior pursuing a B.S. in Financial Economics with a minor in Information Systems and Accounting Certification at UMBC. For his internship, Andy worked with the College of Engineering and Information Technology research administration team. In Summer 2024, Andy worked in UMBC’s Office of Research Protections and Compliance. After completing his bachelor’s degree, Andy plans to attain his Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license.
The project “GRANTS MADE: Grant and Research Administration Networking and Training for Students at Maryland and Delaware MSIs,” is supported by the Growing Research Access for Nationally Transformative Equity and Diversity (GRANTED) program of the National Science Foundation, Collaborative Awards #2324412, 2324413, and 2324414. It has been approved by the UMBC Institutional Review Board, Protocol #1222.
