Associate Director for Research Development and Collaboration

Associate Director for Research Development and Collaboration

About Northeastern:
Founded in 1898, Northeastern is a global research university and the recognized leader in experience-driven lifelong learning. Our world-renowned experiential approach empowers our students, faculty, alumni, and partners to create impact far beyond the confines of discipline, degree, and campus.

Our locations—in Boston; Charlotte, North Carolina; London; Portland, Maine; San Francisco; Seattle; Silicon Valley; Toronto; Vancouver; and the Massachusetts communities of Burlington and Nahant—are nodes in our growing global university system. Through this network, we expand opportunities for flexible, student-centered learning and collaborative, solutions-focused research.

Northeastern's comprehensive array of undergraduate and graduate programs— in a variety of on-campus and online formats—lead to degrees through the doctorate in nine colleges and schools. Among these, we offer more than 195 multi-discipline majors and degrees designed to prepare students for purposeful lives and careers.

About the Opportunity:
The Northeastern University research enterprise has grown rapidly in the past decade to $125M. The College of Science (COS) is critical to this effort, with ~$50M annual external research funding. Research in the COS is driven by diverse teams of individuals, contributing towards common goals in fundamental and use-inspired research. COS research is highly collaborative; reaching across the disciplines of Biology, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Marine and Environmental Sciences, Mathematics, Physics and Psychology to partner with researchers internal to Northeastern and in the wider scientific community.

The Associate Director of Research Development and Collaboration works with the Associate Dean for Research and other members of the college leadership team to provide guidance and support for the development of collaborative, cross-disciplinary projects of strategic importance to the COS.

The Associate Director draws on their background in a scientific discipline, professional writing and presentation abilities, and strong organizational and interpersonal skills to facilitate the development of collaborative research proposals.

Specific areas of focus include, but are not limited to:

1. Identifying and building teams of faculty to develop collaborative, cross-disciplinary research proposals.

2. Providing logistical and project management support for proposal preparation, and coordinating efforts with the central research development team.

3. Managing the collaborative research seed funding program.

4. Tracking progress towards collaborative publications, funded proposals, and research innovations and communicating research successes.

Responsibilities:

Assist Associate Dean for Research to Coordinate Important Research Initiatives for the COS

• Assist with identifying faculty to respond to federal, corporate and foundation funding opportunities, with emphasis on collaborative opportunities.
• Maintain active, two-way communication with faculty and faculty research groups (clusters, centers, initiatives, institutes) to understand their current work, focus areas, and interests in order to better pair them with funding opportunities.
• Coordinate with college personnel, university research development, advancement/development, and corporate/foundation teams to ensure successful, cohesive management of proposals.

20%

Manage collaborative and multi-PI research proposal development

• Assist the Associate Dean for Research by assembling and coordinating effective groups of faculty who can contribute to COS' research leadership role.
• Assist faculty who are part of collaborative research teams by serving as de facto project manager: scheduling regular update meetings, compiling progress reports, high-level tracking of proposal progress for COS leadership, and connecting faculty with resources in and beyond COS.
• With the Associate Dean for Research, plan and host resource sessions, seminars, and other informal, non-project based discussions to further advance research collaboration.
• Assess the progress of the collaborative teams toward goals and identify challenges and/or barriers to success.
• Assist with grant writing and editing for proposals within area of subject expertise and/or assist with identifying and recruiting peer evaluators for proposals when appropriate.

50%

Manage internal seed funding programs for collaborative research

• Oversee COS participation in university's internal seed funding program (TIER 1); including recruiting proposal reviewers, collating feedback, and assisting the Associate Dean for Research in negotiation with other colleges.
• Provide similar coordination efforts for other internal seed funding opportunities in the College.
• Assess impacts of internal funding on research output including publications, proposals, funded grant applications, and innovation and commercialization outcomes.

15%

Track research impact and products and support efforts to promote and maximize research impact internally and externally.

• Assist the Associate Dean for Research with identification of strategic research priorities for the COS.
• In collaboration with the grants administration team, provide data reporting and analysis to college leadership on the overall research productivity of the COS.
• Track progress of collaborative research groups toward shared publications, submitted proposals, patents or other commercialization products and grants awarded.
• In collaboration with the Associate Dean for Research, communicate research successes to the COS Development and Communications teams to increase alumni and donor awareness of and support for collaborative research initiatives.

15%

Qualifications:

PhD in a STEM discipline, with experience conducting, publishing, and presenting research. Fellowship or proposal writing experience a must. Experience mentoring or supervising trainees or technical staff preferred.

Interest and experience in research development and management of collaborative projects desired. An ability to bring teams together and work efficiently and consistently toward common goals is critical.

Strong organizational, communication, and time management skills.

Successful candidates will demonstrate an ability to work collegially with faculty, staff, and other individuals in an academic environment. Proven success working both independently and as a member of a team in a fast-paced and diverse environment is essential.

Strong English writing and editing skills, with the demonstrated ability to write on technical and other topics and translate research for a range of audiences.

Demonstrated success in using analytical, judgment and problem-solving skills to determine needs and arrive at consistently sound conclusions.

Strong computer skills, including Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite.

Preferred Qualifications:

Salary Grade:
12

Additional Information:
Northeastern University is an equal opportunity employer, seeking to recruit and support a broadly diverse community of faculty and staff. Northeastern values and celebrates diversity in all its forms and strives to foster an inclusive culture built on respect that affirms inter-group relations and builds cohesion.

All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

To learn more about Northeastern University's commitment and support of diversity and inclusion, please see www.northeastern.edu/diversity.



To apply, visit https://careers.pageuppeople.com/879/cw/en-us/job/507781

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