With another excellent Connect virtual conference behind us, we at Cayuse would like to extend our sincere thanks to all attendees who joined for three days of discovery, engagement, and innovation with peers throughout the research community. We would also like to once again recognize and congratulate this year’s Connect Award winners.
The awards are open to all employees at Cayuse customer organizations, and recipients are selected by the Connect Awards Committee in four categories: The Sheri Pulis Award, the Community Champion Award, the Modernization Award, and the Productivity Award.
2023 Sheri Pulis Award for Outstanding Service in Research Administration
In honor of Sheri Pulis, a cherished Cayuse customer who passed away in 2019, the Sheri Pulis Award recognizes individuals who have an incredible impact and drive progress in the area of research administration, both within their organizations and the broader research community. Those who receive the award demonstrate service to the research community, make significant contributions within their own institution’s research program, are collaborative, dedicated, and love to drive results within their institution.
The 2023 Sheri Pulis Award winner is Rachel Kinney, Executive Director of Sponsored Program Administration at Kennesaw State University.
Rachel is a certified research administrator with a Doctor of Law degree and has over nine years of experience in research and sponsored programs administration. When we announced the award to Rachel back in July, she was still the Director of Research Administration and Sponsored Programs at High Point University. So much of this award is tied to what she accomplished in that role, where she oversaw research administration and acted as the Institutional Official as it relates to sponsored programs.
Among her contributions to the industry is an NCURA-published article focused on indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity – or IDIQ – contract management with her co-author Bella DiFranzo of Attain. In 2022 Rachel was recognized by SRAI’s “Future of the Field” program. This recognition aims to highlight the ‘up-and-comers’ of Research Administration – those leaders who challenge the status quo and drive innovation that advances the field.
Rachel is also a Cayuse Champion, assisting others in the field, without hesitation, with Cayuse product overviews and internal process suggestions to reduce admin burden and improve efficiency and compliance. During a recent Cayuse onsite visit, Rachel took the time to ensure our team was informed about their institutional objectives and research efforts to empower their local community. Rachel’s generosity and kindness embody the true purpose of research: to advance the health and well-being of our society.
Congratulations, Rachel!
2023 Modernization Award
The Modernization Award recognizes individuals and organizations that are engaged in updating and modernizing their systems across the research lifecycle.
The 2023 Modernization Award winner is the Magee-Womens Research Institute and Foundation. Sara Arvay, the Sr. Director of Operations who spearheaded and orchestrated their modernization efforts, was in attendance at Connect this year and accepted the award on behalf of MWRI.
A longtime Cayuse customer, Magee-Womens Research Institute and Foundation is the largest research institute in America dedicated to women’s health and reproductive biology. MWRI is affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Magee-Womens Hospital, which has been caring for women through all stages of their lives for more than a century.
MWRI relies on vital personnel and financial data from several complex environments across three institutions. They began an ambitious plan in 2017 to reorganize their institution and improve compliance processes. Modernizing their older, on-premise software and expanding to the cloud-based Cayuse Platform Research Suite aligned with their efforts and overall goal to reduce administrative burden and duplicate data entry.
MWRI recognized the importance of improving and streamlining their processes as well as ensuring transparency and collaboration across departments. They are now leveraging five Cayuse solutions, including Outside Interests or COI, which were added in April and are currently completing implementation.
Congratulations to everyone at the Magee-Womens Research Institute and Foundation!
Honorable mentions:
Abilene Christian University
Middle Tennessee State University, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs
2023 Productivity Award
The Productivity Award recognizes individuals or organizations who have engaged in reducing burden for their research staff.
The 2023 Productivity Award Winner is the Idaho State University Office for Research. Dave Harris, the Assistant VP in the Office for Research, was in attendance at Connect this year and accepted the award on behalf of ISU.
Idaho State University is a public research university with an R2 classification. Previously, the university relied upon manual, paper-based systems and the limited use of generic database software to manage research submission, review, and approval processes. In 2014, the university leadership realized the need to modernize the school’s research administration system. They adopted Cayuse to help improve efficiency and reduce the risks and delays associated with paper-based processes.
Faculty members saw tremendous improvements and were able to cut the time it took to complete IRB & IACUC reviews in half. Being able to look at everything including project details and statuses in one spot was also crucial and allowed administrators to pull together any information they needed at a moment’s notice, significantly increasing the turnaround time for any request.
Administrators also noticed an unanticipated increase in inter-office collaboration in the years following their transition.
Dave Harris, the Assistant VP in the Office for Research, noted that “When you’re using a hard copy it’s really easy to become siloed in your own area,” contrasting this with the ability to coordinate and communicate within the same platform.
Dave also added that having Cayuse in place at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic helped the Office for Research continue to effectively manage its research in ways that would not have been possible with their former manual systems.
We’re always happy to see organizations engaged in reducing burden for their research staff.
Congratulations to everyone at the Idaho State University Office for Research!
Honorable mentions:
Wright State University, Office of Research and Innovation
Dr. John Durfee, Director of the Animal Resource Center at Case Western Reserve University
2023 Community Champion Award
The Community Champion Award is presented to individuals who have demonstrated leadership and commitment to supporting the research community by sharing their insights, advice, and expertise with their peers.
The 2023 Community Champion Award winner is Andrea Buford, Director of the Office of Sponsored Programs at Oakland University.
When Oakland University, a small public research university in Rochester, Michigan, earned R2 classification in 2018, Andrea made sure to replace the existing mix of manual, paper, and homegrown systems used to manage research administration with digital solutions to help with the growth, standardize things across campus, make things easier, and ultimately ease the burden on the administrative staff, which she was successful in achieving.
In addition to helping her team, Andrea shared her experience, lessons learned, and strategies to ensure business continuity and accelerated outcomes when she joined our ‘Driving Change and Preparing for the Unexpected’ webinar back in May. Andrea has also been a member of the Connect Community by Cayuse since its inception, offering advice and guidance for over three years, and is at the top of our leaderboard for most active members.
What puts Andrea on another level, though, is the way she blends deep knowledge of research administration with a razor wit and a sense of humor. She’ll answer sage advice and make you laugh while you learn.
Congratulations, Andrea!
Honorable Mentions:
Alicia Scott, IRB Director at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
Darcy Hammar, Director, HRPP at the Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions
