# Strengthening Research Administration Infrastructure and Faculty Research Support at Franklin & Marshall College

> **NIH NIH G11** · FRANKLIN AND MARSHALL COLLEGE · 2021 · $89,761

## Abstract

Enrolling 2,209 students, Franklin & Marshall (F&M) is a residential college dedicated to excellence in
undergraduate liberal education. Located in Lancaster, PA, F&M is tied for #40 among national liberal arts
colleges (LAC; US News and World Report, 2015), was cited among the 50 colleges and universities in
Princeton Review’s new Colleges That Create Futures (2015) publication, and was tied for #1 in a new US
News category of “Most Innovative Schools” (2015), nominated by peers. Offering a hands-on education
emphasizing close relationships with faculty, F&M has a wide range of academic and pre-professional
programs in biomedical and biobehavioral fields, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)
fields, and public health. The College ranks #49 among all baccalaureate-origin institutions of 2002–2011
recipients of doctoral degrees in Science and Engineering (S&E) and #27 among Baccalaureate institutions
(NSF, 2013). Recent strategic efforts have deepened our student talent pool and bolstered the enrollment of
first-generation and underrepresented minority students: F&M was the first LAC to agree to host a STEM
Posse through the Posse Foundation, has emphasized building recruitment networks with national charter
school and college access organizations, and has eliminated merit aid while significantly enhancing need-based
aid to lower- and middle-income students. We have benefited from these strategic decisions (e.g., more than
tripling Pell-eligible students from 2008 to 2015 and more than doubling the percentage of domestic students
of color since 2005) and are eager to create even more opportunities for our increasingly diverse student body
to engage with faculty in collaborative research. Increased activity and expectations by incoming faculty and
efforts to tap the full grant-seeking potential of mid-career faculty members have placed heightened pressure
on F&M's sponsored research operations. Our innovative pre-award Office of College Grants (OCG), launched
in 2012, is now insufficient to the expressed needs of faculty, resulting in the piloting of a lifecycle model of
grants administration. Despite this shift, F&M still has deficiencies in a. research administration (RA) and
research compliance (RC) systems and infrastructure; b. training and support of professional staff; and c.
faculty development related to seeking research grants. Hired in 2o12 as the OCG was formed, Director of
Faculty Grants Amy Cuhel-Schuckers will lead the transition to a lifecycle model with a primary goal to
strengthen our fledgling pre- and post-award lifecycle model and thus provide strong support to our research-
active biomedical and biobehavioral research (BBR) faculty. Aims are to 1. Improve pre-award, post-award,
and compliance structures and services, and strengthen staff training and professional development, and 2.
Provide increased research-related mentoring, professional development, and incentives to BBR faculty. We
will apply proven st...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10155535
- **Project number:** 5G11HD092067-05
- **Recipient organization:** FRANKLIN AND MARSHALL COLLEGE
- **Principal Investigator:** Gretchen Meyers
- **Activity code:** G11 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $89,761
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-05-15 → 2024-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10155535

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10155535, Strengthening Research Administration Infrastructure and Faculty Research Support at Franklin & Marshall College (5G11HD092067-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10155535. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*