The Research & Innovation Office (RIO) invites faculty new to the university鈥檚 creative work, research and scholarly community to join the 2021 Principal Investigator (PI) Academy cohort.
The PI Academy is designed to orient new faculty to campus research and creative work resources. Through a series a workshops and webinars, tenure-track faculty engage with core research topics, connect with peers from departments across campus, interact with campus leadership, and develop individualized research plans.
Oana Luca, assistant professor of Chemistry and graduate of the program, notes that the听workshops are "designed to be an opportunity to learn, ask questions and make connections as you begin building听your academic portfolio." These connections are an important part of the program, which has grown to include more than 120 faculty members representing departments spanning the campus.
In addition to forging connections with fellow early career faculty members, participants in the program have used opportunity-specific workshops and webinars to secure internal funding from programs such as the Research & Innovation Seed Grant, and external funding such as the National Science Foundation鈥檚 Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award.
Program graduates have also secured prestigious awards, such as Boettcher Foundation Webb-Waring Biomedical Research Awards and Hearing Health Foundation Emerging Research grants.
Justin Brumbaugh, a graduate of the program and assistant professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology credits the program with offering crucial guidance that helped him听to听acclimate to the demands placed on junior faculty. "In particular," Brumbaugh said, "programs focused on budgeting and the grant writing process facilitated my听efforts to secure external funding.鈥�
A virtual kickoff webinar will welcome new and returning faculty on Thursday, September 2, from 12鈥�1 p.m. At this webinar, program graduates, current members and faculty interested in joining will have the opportunity to network, ask questions and learn more about the program and upcoming workshops. Those interested in attending the September 2 event should 听to receive the Zoom link.
