Learn about us

Why Cayuse

Our mission

Empower organizations to conduct globally connected research and sponsored projects, advancing their impact on science, discovery, and society.

Our values

Integrity

We act with high ethical standards to foster trust regardless of the situation.

Inclusion

We proactively recruit, engage, and retain diverse and empowered teams. We eliminate discrimination and intolerance so everyone feels their presence and contributions are valued. We ensure that everyone has equal access to opportunities @ Cayuse.

Innovation

We strive for betterment and believe that innovation is anything that creates value for our customers and our organization.

Cayuse At a Glance

1994

founded by Chris Harker, PhD, a researcher at Oregon Health & Science University

20+

connected apps on the Cayuse platform addressing every stage of the research lifecycle

200+

employees focused on serving global research organizations

550+

global research institutions

$38.8 B

U.S. federal funding submitted using Proposals in 2018

98%

of implementations finished on time and on budget in the last three years

Decades of Research Administration Experience

Chris Harker was a researcher, faculty member, and lab director at Oregon Health & Science University. Frustrated by the lack of connectivity between research administration processes and proposal submissions, Chris developed his first Public Health Service (PHS) grant application software, Grant Slam, in 1994 -and soon after launched Cayuse.

In 2002, Chris received a Small Business Innovation Research NIH grant to create and commercialize an eRA system. Cayuse became the first vendor to successfully communicate system-to-system with Grants.gov through Cayuse Proposals Eight years later, Cayuse licensed the RAMSeS system and commercialized the platform making it available as a Software as a Service (SaaS) offering, branded Sponsored Projects.

Today, that spirit of discovery -recognizing a gap and then driving to find a solution – is the essence of Cayuse. It’s what drives us to empower organizations to conduct life-changing research that benefits everyone–it’s why we have given our all to building the Cayuse Connected Research Enterprise powered by the Cayuse Platform.

Our journey to empower globally connected research

The story behind our name and logo

Our name and logo were inspired by the song, “Don’t Fence Me In” written by Cole Porter, who wrote about the desire to roam “the wide open country” on his Cayuse pony, seeking discovery and independence.

The Cayuse pony mentioned in this song is named after the Cayuse people, which is a Native American tribe in the Pacific Northwest. The Cayuse Native Americans resided in the Columbia Basin in the Pacific Northwest and called themselves the Tetawken, which means “we people.” Cayuse is derived from the French word “Cailloux,” or “Rock People,” which is what French-Canadian trappers and fur traders called the tribe due to the rocky environment where they lived in northeast Oregon. Today, the Cayuse tribe is part of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla which includes the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla tribes. Cayuse is also the name of an unincorporated town on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Cayuse, LLC is not affiliated with the tribe.

Scalable Solutions for Every Organization

Our customers include academic institutions, hospitals, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, government agencies, and non-profit organizations—with research budgets ranging from $1 million to more than $1 billion.

They use our intuitive, industry-leading software to improve collaboration between researchers and administrators, mitigate compliance risks, and save time.

All of Cayuse’s products are backed by our world-class customer service and support.