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ME research administration team
January 31, 2025

Big research numbers made possible by the wizards behind the curtain

Written By: Caitlin Scott

Departments:

Mechanical Engineering is breaking departmental records with increases in research expenditures. The secret sauce may be the incredible team of research administrators toiling behind the scenes to make it all happen. The ME research administration team actively collaborates with the College of Engineering’s research services.

ME has 52 tenure track faculty supported by four research administrators. Zach Smith leads the team of Catherine Shults, Alex Delvoye, and Regan Trinastic. With a combined 23 years of experience in the field, the ME research administration team has helped bring in $31 million in research funding so far this fiscal year. This is a 6 million increase from the previous period and a record for the department.

Zach Smith at conference in Las Vegas
Zach Smith presenting at a conference in Las Vegas in 2023.

The team supports ME faculty research while also finding time to mentor colleagues in other engineering departments and serve as leaders in their field. Delvoye has begun instructing as a RED (Research-Education-Development) Faculty member for UW’s Research and Sponsored Programs’ RED course: NSF Proposal Preparation. She’s also becoming a campus expert on the NSF biosketch and current/pending support documents via SciENcv. Shults recently submitted a manuscript for publication to NCURA (National Council of University Research Administrators) on “Excel for Pre-Award Research Administrators.” She will be presenting nationally again at NCURA for “Bill and Ted’s Excel-lent Adventures! Helping You Avoid a Bogus Journey”, and presented two sessions nationally last year. Smith just submitted a manuscript for publication to NCURA on “Complex Budgets – Strategies for Success”, and led a regional NCURA half-day training program on “Departmental Research Administration.” Trinastic is the newest member of the ME RA team and is doing a great job coming up to speed.

Anecdotally, Smith shared: “Looking at everything Christian Franck has done with the PANTHER Program, he’s essentially been funded for ~$50M, with $24M coming to ME since his arrival. Of that, $16M is Christian’s, and the remainder goes to Ramathasan Thevamaran, Joey Andrews, Shiva Rudaraju, Krishnan Suresh, and Corinne Henak. Franck’s PANTHER funds have also helped to fund other COE Faculty: Daniel va der Weide (ECE), Aviad Hai (BME), Chu Ma (ECE), and Filiz Yesilkoy (BME). They’ve helped assistant professors submit their own proposals to ONR to be directly funded to them and still be part of Panther – essentially sharing the love and ensuring that these faculty get their own grants to help build their careers.”


Scott Sanders headshot 10.21.2024
Scott Sanders

Recent award:  Scott Sanders and Matthias Beuting, $2.5 million ARPA-E

“The ME RA team is awesome and works together very well. I have worked mostly with Catherine, who is amazing and is always on top of things. One time, we started a proposal and then had to stop due to circumstances beyond our control, and I apologized for the wasted effort. Catherine said something like, “I don’t consider it wasted. Not all my work ends up in awards. It still has value.” What a great attitude!” – Scott Sanders

“Catherine has always gone above and beyond in supporting my programs. She keeps me on track and without her it would be nearly impossible to manage a large research program.  It’s really all the small things that she does that makes the largest impact.” – Sage Kokjohn


Mike Cheadle
Mike Cheadle

Senior Design Awards

Professors Mike Cheadle and Jen Franck were both recently awarded projects related to Senior Design. Smith shared, “I think it’s pretty exceptional that Mike wrote some grants and had the most recent one funded from USDA APHIS looking at mechanical solutions for disposing millions of eggs in case of bird flu. Jen’s proposal essentially starts a Marine Energy curriculum via this award.”

“I don’t submit many applications, so the process is always a bit opaque for me. Zach has been a great guide to make sure things were getting done in a timely manner and with the thoroughness that’s needed to develop a strong submission.  He’s done so much great work on the financial side that would have taken me hours, if I could have even done it at all.” – Mike Cheadle


Corinne Henak
Corinne Henak

Recent award: Henak NIH R01 award on osteoarthritis

“Zach is a constant cheerleader for our research funding success. This includes congratulatory emails after successes, and emails to check in on the plan after not-funded grants. While Zach has submitted most types of grants that go through the college, there is occasionally something new.  When one of these came up for me, his reply was a confident one that he could help navigate all of the details of the grant submission and guidelines (and he was correct). This enables us, again, to focus on the research and funding that makes sense for our programs, knowing that the paperwork and budget will be done well and the agency-specific rules will be followed.” – Corinne Henak

Panther logo wide

Ongoing award: Christian Franck and team, PANTHER Program $15M and counting

“Zach and the RA team have provided outstanding support for PANTHER. The faculty come up with the research ideas and the RA team works to put everything in place make it happen – from proposals and budgeting, to procurement to sub-awards. Without a supportive team, we would be floundering and inefficient. Ultimately, the team makes us look good to our sponsors and they enable the researchers to flourish.” – Alice Lux Fawzi

Joseph Andrews
Joey Andrews

Recent award: Joey Andrews interdisciplinary $1.2M NSF project

“Alex provides tremendous support for my research program in many ways. She meticulously scrapes through complicated funding calls to make sure that I have everything I need prior to submitting a grant, which allows me to devote more of my focus to the technical aspects. During the execution of projects, she continuously provides me updated dashboards so that I can analyze how the funding is being spent. We also meet on a quarterly basis to have a conversation about the status of my funded projects which allows me to think critically about how I can best execute the projects’ goals with the current funding availability. Overall, her excellent work is critical in allowing our team to explore our research goals to their fullest extent.”
– Joey Andrews

Xiaoping Qian
Xiaoping Qian

Recent award: Xiaoping Qian leads $9.1M ONR project with ME team

“Our RA team is very helpful during grant proposal writing and post-award management. I have been primarily working with Catherine Schults. She works hard to make sure our proposals conform to sponsor requirements; she is also very responsive to requests for any budget changes, e.g. balancing the efforts of PhD students and postdocs. She is also very experienced with post-award management.” – Xiaoping Qian

Ying Li
Ying Li

Ongoing awards: Ying Li computational models and polymer research

“From application to award management, Alex and the team have consistently provided invaluable guidance. Their deep understanding of grant requirements, attention to detail, and proactive approach have made the entire process seamless. Whether it was navigating complex submission requirements, ensuring compliance, or providing timely updates, their support has been exceptional. One instance that stands out is our recent NSF proposal submission, which requires an extensive number of support letters. Alex found out that one of the letters was missing the signature and helped me resolve this issue at the last minute before the deadline. Their willingness to go above and beyond has significantly contributed to the success of our research initiatives and ongoing projects.”
– Ying Li

Luca Mastropasqua
Luca Mastropasqua

Recent award: Mastropasqua awarded $10M from DOE

“I am happy to say that the experience with the admin team has been exceptional. Catherine Shults is now helping with the contract negotiations, and she is organizing communications with the many partners involved in the project (including international partners). She’s very knowledgeable on DOE’s administration, and she’s been very helpful navigating budgets and IP issues. The team makes the experience of submitting new proposals so much easier, as their organization and knowledge of the process puts my mind at ease that the admin aspects are under control, while I can focus on the technical side of things.” – Luca Mastropasqua

Featured image: Mechanical Engineering research administration team members Regan Trinastic, Catherine Shults, Zach Smith, and Alex Delvoye in the ME building atrium.