Northwestern University

I worked at City Colleges of Chicago part-time and managed a Perkins grant Cradle to Grave as a coordinator. While managing this grant, I noticed our cyber security students were about to graduate and needed soft skills. I wrote a 2-week soft skills workshop and assisted the students in Cybersecurity with mock interviews, and interview attire. It was literally all hands on deck to accomplish this before graduation. The students loved the workshop so much that they asked if I could announce them at their graduation. As a result, I received a lot of career exposure and was asked to go into Pre-award in 2018. I now have a portfolio in the department of preventive medicine as a research administrator.

As a individual with an educational background and training in bench-research, graduating with a degree in biomedical research at the global shutdown due to COVID-19, I took an opportunity to engage with another side of research that I had worked with before, but wanted to know more about. I worked with my PI and other research colleagues with a sponsored projects office, receiving instructions of materials needed to complete grant and requests for funding that we took interest in, and ultimately, working with the grants team to work through the projects. As I aspired to take my training to industry, I was looking for a chance to learn all the aspects of Research and applicable funding that would aid in my success as an independent industry researcher. However, what I’ve learned as a Research Administrator was far beyond what I had expected and I know proudly say that i have found my niche in the realm of research. So in the fall of 2020, I joined the team here are Northwestern University and have been challenged, excited and dedicated to assisting Principal Investigators in seeing their work be completed in an efficient manner that aids in their success at the University and takes the project management pieces off of their shoulders!