Conference: Growing the Research Administrative Infrastructure to Support EPSCoR (RAISE) - Vermont

The project, “Research Administration Infrastructure to Support EPSCoR - Vermont (RAISE-VT),” will identify ways to increase research capacity in the research enterprise that entice talented STEM graduates to remain in Vermont, appeal to the current workforce, motivate upskilling or reskilling, and tap into a national pool of remote workers. Developing and implementing innovative solutions to bolster the human capital that includes creating workforce development strategies that retain the state’s talent in research administration careers has the potential to transform Vermont’s research enterprise. RAISE-VT will create new knowledge through a statewide research administration/development needs assessment and a series of virtual stakeholder engagement sessions that will inform the development of the capstone RAISE-VT workshop agenda. The goals of the RAISE-VT workshop are to identify and explore perceived barriers and existing gaps in human capital to inform the creation of career pathways, such as internships or certificate programs, for entry into research support careers; identify best practices, capacity-enhancing tools, and processes to catalyze the growing research enterprise in Vermont; establish ongoing, information-sharing mechanisms among stakeholders to define and grow the specialized research administration and research development workforce; develop recommendations to attain measurable improvements in the research administration and development sectors in Vermont that can be adapted to other regions and EPSCoR jurisdictions. The planned outcomes and products from RAISE-VT include strengthened collaborative interactions among administrative research staff within Vermont and across the nation, establishing the RAISE-VT website, and a report summarizing workshop activities, participation, survey results, and major recommendations. Workshop resources will be distributed broadly through national and regional professional organizations, the NSF EPSCoR program, conference presentations, and the RAISE-VT website. When successful RAISE-VT will create a scalable research administration workforce development model that can be replicated nationally to enable faculty and students from other low-population states, EPSCoR jurisdictions, and similar regions to competitively participate in the National research enterprise. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.