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5/27/2009 The art of the grant
BY MIKE WILLIAMS |
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| SARAH WHITE |
She also brings a deep understanding of processes, borne of her years studying art history, with a particular interest in Byzantine art and culture. Having earned her bachelor's at Trinity College, she added a master's in material culture at the University of Connecticut. There, she found herself fascinated by textile conservation, which led to her first grant-writing experience -- a proposal to repair the state of Connecticut's Civil War battle flags.
White sees a direct connection between her studies and the path she's followed. "I'm trained to put pieces together," she said, "and there are a lot of pieces involved in research proposals. Interpreting guidelines and policies certainly can be Byzantine!
"As a humanist, I'm trained to appreciate what people can do. I'm also trained to understand how society advances. We advance through scientific discovery. What I am able to add, I think, to my appreciation and enthusiasm for research is an understanding of the context."
James Coleman, Rice's vice provost for research, said, "Sarah has a great understanding of research administration processes and tools, and she's committed to the service-oriented culture that defines Rice. She's the perfect person to lay the infrastructure foundation for Rice to reach the research goals of the Vision for the Second Century. The search committee felt her experience, personality and commitment to faculty were a perfect fit."
A native of Torrington, Conn., and a mother of two, White said she's gained a reputation among her family of longtime New Englanders as the "big rebel" for moving south. "But it's a great place, it's booming and very exciting," she said of Houston.
White, who also has a master's from Harvard's Graduate School of Education, replaced Nancy Nisbett, who left Rice in February to join her husband at the University of South Florida and take a position at the College of Public Health research office.
Though White's busy packing up her household for the move from Atlanta to Houston, she took a few minutes recently to talk about what she hopes to accomplish at Rice.
Q: How did the job at Rice come to your attention?
A: I got an e-mail from a headhunter in February, and I was interested right away. Rice has a great reputation.
Although I've done a lot with the medical side of things recently, in terms of sponsored research, I really love the arts and sciences. I knew about Rice from interactions through the departments I worked with at Harvard, so I was intrigued and threw my hat into the ring.
The campus is just gorgeous. And the more research I did about the university, the more interested I became. When I interviewed, I was very impressed by the search committee and the questions they asked. I was also very impressed by the senior level administrators I interviewed with -- their integrity, strategic focus and commitment to Rice was awesome. And, of course, I really wanted to work with Jim Coleman.
Q: What is it like to take over an existing department?
A: In this case, that's one of the big draws. I think Nancy Nisbett did a great job, and the office is held in high regard. That's quite unusual for a sponsored research office, actually.
The team she put together in the Office of Sponsored Research is very impressive. It's a group of people I am excited about working with.
Another thing that interested me is that Rice is just now at the $100 million mark (in annual sponsored research funding). There are certain thresholds in sponsored research that change the landscape in terms of what you need to do.
Q: How so?
A: It makes things very interesting. My big interest is in systems -- the means by which you manage sponsored-research proposals, including helping faculty put proposals together, managing compliance functions and submitting proposals to sponsors. Rice needs a robust system to manage the growing portfolio.
The whole goal with systems is to make things easier for faculty and contribute to their academic productivity.
Q: Faculty here will be happy to hear you say that.
A: I hope so. Sometimes they call it "proposal development." Helping faculty find sources of support and apply for funding is something that I've done quite a bit of.
You have to build each individual faculty member's portfolio of research. You need to help them free up the administrative time it takes to put proposals together and to manage the funding on the other side.
The faculty has to write the science. They have the ideas. But the forms, the budgets, the budget justifications -- we administrators can work together to do that. I used to kid around with the faculty at Harvard and call what I did "proposal beautification." Seriously!
Q: Does federal stimulus funding present new opportunities?
A: Yes, and it's going to be interesting to see how that plays out for research, because you have to apply for it fast, and you have to spend it fast. That's not the way research typically works. But it will be a shot in the arm, and it's very positive that the government is taking a big interest in research, because it is our future. It is the best thing America produces.
Q: Do you think you're coming to Rice too late to take advantage of the stimulus?
A: I don't think so. The stimulus funding is an unknown, but with the caliber of faculty at Rice and the steady growth of regular research funding, I'm not worried. Of course, I'm terribly interested in stimulus funding and going after anything we can.
The sustainability is going to be in applying for the annual and regular funding cycles of the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy and all of the other funders -- and the nonfederal funders as well.
Those are the sustainable things, the bedrock. I will want to concentrate on keeping those grants steady.
Q: Do you feel there's an art to what you and your colleagues do?
A: Sure. To me, sponsored research is about putting the pieces together into a beautiful package and making sure we can accept the terms of the support our patrons provide.
Arts and science share the objective of putting pieces together in a logical way. Humanists, unlike scientists, try to understand what others have done; I've just taken a path to be more directly involved in the creative process.
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