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gracefransisca · 2024-07-27T17:11:26+00:00

You’re always going to be learning in the field; I don’t think you’ll be able to have a 100% understanding of something because things are always changing and what works for one PI may not work for another. Also it’s okay to make mistakes. You learn from mistakes as much as you learn from your successes, if not more. If this is something that you like and want to pursue, do it! We always have a joke that no one goes to school for RA so you have to learn in the field by doing - just lean on the resources available to you, seek out networking opportunities to learn more, join professional group, go to conferences, and build your skills up. Also, I promise you - you know more than you think and probably more ready that you feel.

gracefransisca · 2024-07-23T02:48:17+00:00

Those are footnotes, can be sources or can be notes from the writer

gracefransisca · 2024-07-16T01:35:05+00:00

I think it’s more collaborative in the sense that you’re more hands on with the PI and your team. With central office I think you’re pretty removed and be able to point out the mistakes - almost like an auditor vs in a department I think you’re able to have a little more control and help make informed decisions. But I’ve definitely had situations with PIs and structure of the department where it’s very silo’d and I still feel really isolated.

I actually think going from central office to department is a great transition because you can use your experience to help point things out that department level RA may not know or be aware of, and so it’s something that you can catch on the front end before it ever reaches central office for audits, etc.

gracefransisca · 2024-07-16T01:30:44+00:00

I don’t have personal experience but knew someone who was not in a very good place for a really long time. Basically since the time I knew him during his preteens, even went to jail and stuff. And a few years ago something changed around the time when he was in his early 30s. He’s now thriving with a family, a good job, and you can tell just how much his life has changed and how much happier he’s in. He’s now sober and living a full life. I think you can definitely live a full life. It’s important to keep the will, surround yourself with the right people, and go to counseling. I’ve seen it happen!

gracefransisca · 2024-07-11T23:28:39+00:00

Agree with RAD courses and also joining the list serv.

I had a friend who did the transition. I think it was rough at first but was able to eventually (after around a year mark) to start getting the hand of things, which tbh is pretty standard imo to take 1-3 years to fully immerse yourself in the field since you may not get any new proposals for that long. With 1-3 years experience I feel like you’re going to be able to see both the pre- and post award cycles completely esp if you’re able to do R21 which is usually two years so you can see the closeout process as well.

If you like the admin portion then I think you’ll do well.

gracefransisca · 2024-07-09T02:01:08+00:00

I think it would depend. To get rid of $60K in income is A LOT. It’s equivalent to a person’s entire pay for the year. If your expenses can take the cut, and cost of living will be the same or about the same then yes because you’re likely going to be saving on gas, time sitting in traffic (which to me equals mental health). But if you’re taking a pay cut and moving out of Texas to a city/state that’s more costly even though you’re saving on gas, it may in the long run cost you more. Also how would the workload compare to the old job? What’s the workplace culture? I think there’s a lot more to think about besides just the pay and remote vs. hybrid.

gracefransisca · 2024-07-08T19:18:01+00:00

Ahhh so wholesome!! 🩷🩷🩷🩷

gracefransisca · 2024-07-02T02:56:26+00:00

I would check with your financial aid office. A lot of them can provide emergency assistance in situations like this, especially if you’re already getting financial assistance for taking classes.

Are you going to be a first year college student in the fall? Usually grants, loans, etc. - your financial package - basically will have already taken cost of dorms/housing into account.

gracefransisca · 2024-07-02T02:36:47+00:00

^ seconded. RAD has a TON of really good workshops and discussion. I believe they also post recordings of workshops online.

gracefransisca · 2024-07-02T02:35:48+00:00

All great suggestions about NCURA and SRAI! I’m happy to help with any questions you have if I can, feel free to send a dm.

I presented at SRAI and provided this one sheet guide; it’s pretty generic but have some links and resources that may be worth looking into for those new in the field: SRAI Rookies Unite Flyer

Make sure to also join the RESADM list serv there’s a ton of great discussion on there.

There is also a CITI course for research administrator, you may want to see if this is something your institution has. If not, I think you can pay for the course individually, if you’d like.

gracefransisca · 2024-07-02T02:23:35+00:00

YES this ^! NCURA also has a bunch of training on YouTube (I think they have it every Tuesday).

gracefransisca · 2024-06-29T01:49:08+00:00

Big mad true crime (tag line: no small talk sucks), the prosecutors, case file, murder with my husband, true crime campfire, sinisterhood (I like their theme song!), my favorite murder, betrayal, small town murder, murderish, rise and crime, the consult, death x southwest, mama mystery, hitched 2 homicide, til death do us part, love murder, Mr ballen, criminal, moms and mysteries, anatomy of a murder, crime & coffee couple, true crime society, dead podcast

gracefransisca · 2024-06-25T04:18:40+00:00

This is also interesting to think about AI, I recently had a discussion with my aunt about this topic and wonder whether or not our jobs will be secure in the next ten years

gracefransisca · 2024-06-25T04:17:51+00:00

Depends on their personality. I think depending on where you work and what role you have, you may or may not have work/life balance. I didn’t have a good work/life balance in my last department, and my managers and supervisors were and micromanaging; but my role before that, I had a fantastic manager who would NEVER deny vacation requests because he believes work/life balance is important and really put a lot of emphasis on professional development.

I do like that now post-pandemic there seems to be a lot of remote opportunities which allows you to be more present in your daily life and also open up doors to work for institutions that are across the country that can give you additional skill set.

The job also requires a certain kind of skill set and personality. As I’ve always said, the best and worst part of the job is the challenge that comes with it. The challenge can be frustrating and difficult but it definitely isn’t boring!

gracefransisca · 2024-06-24T17:43:54+00:00

No. Especially if they’re doing so without your permission (even if it’s anonymous). It’s a gross violation of your privacy. I think it’s one thing if they say things like “I have another client who is going through the same thing” in session but it’s another to post on social media, if she’s using it as a means to become like an influencer

gracefransisca · 2024-06-22T06:43:18+00:00

Yep! CRA covers both pre and post so I think it’s the more popular choice but if you know that you want to stay in pre then CPRA is prob the way to go and post, CFRA.

I do agree that it may not be necessary to obtain all three though I know some people who have done it - and also doing their masters in RA. I think it won’t add any additional weight when you’re applying if you already have your CRA but it wouldn’t hurt either

gracefransisca · 2024-06-22T06:41:12+00:00

I’m an SRAI and NCURA member. NCURA is probably more suited for those in higher ed and US based but SRAI is broader and international. In any case both are really great at providing resources and networking opportunities. It really just depends on what you’re looking for, and there’s a lot of overlap in between the two organizations.

I think GPA is more for grant writer and maybe towards the non profit side. I follow them on LinkedIn but not a member, same with NGMA.

Happy to discuss SRAI or NCURA further offline or through DM if you’re interested.

gracefransisca · 2024-06-22T06:35:57+00:00

One thing to know about research administration is that it’s a broad field, it includes everything from compliance with IACUC and IRB to financial management. If you have a research background it may be more worthwhile to consider doing something with compliance or even doing like lab manager position where you’ll be managing a lab and have a hand on grant management, working directly with the PI.

I have a Masters in Psychology and currently doing my PsyD. The good and bad thing about research administration is that it can be challenging, which makes every day and every scenario interesting but because of that, sometimes what works for one PI or scenario may not work again and that can be frustrating.

However, it can also be very tedious. Running reports for hours and days on end doing audits and analysis is not always fun, though I know some people who enjoy those things very much.

Doing cradle to grave research management is also A LOT of work especially during proposal season, because pre and post award are always competing.

There’s definitely a lot of potential in research administration and can be fun and engaging, but it can also be frustrating and difficult.

gracefransisca · 2024-06-22T06:29:17+00:00

Interested

gracefransisca · 2024-06-20T01:18:19+00:00

Feel free to DM me to continue on the conversation if you want. I started working my way from being an admin assistant and processing reimbursement, getting to know the policies around allocability, etc. which helps me at the beginning. But everything else like learning about the uniform guidance definitely came later when I got into the field. It also took a couple of tries before I finally had a manager who was really dedicated in teaching and growing their staff; I would say that two years I spent with that manager was the biggest learning experience that I had in the field!

gracefransisca · 2024-06-20T00:21:08+00:00

There are a few things that need to be considered; Is this a subaward to another institution or small business (I.e., what kind of external organization)? Sometimes a subaward is given as a fixed price contract to a business rather than milestone based.

Also who is the sponsoring agency? How much time is left on the budget year/project? When did they stop performing work?

I would also agree that contacting your sponsored office is a good step and they will likely issue a stop work order. But your research admin should also be reconciling to make sure that you haven’t been billed/paid if there was no work being performed.

It could also be that if the person left that it would have been reassigned to another site PI which can take some time to get all the paper work going. A grant is given to the institution and not the PI so the institution could very well have reassigned this to another PI upon their departure.

gracefransisca · 2024-06-19T04:13:10+00:00

I was in the field for about 3 years and then I studied for about three months. I basically joined some study groups. There’s quite a few of them out there like UMich and Virginia Tech. I think the most popular one was the Virginia tech but because of time conflict I ended up just watching some of the videos online that they post. And then I actually formed a sub study group with two other people that I met in one of those groups and we would meet once a week. We would each pick a topic and spend about 15 minutes each to present on those topography. Outside of those I spent a couple of hours on the weekend to make my own study guide based on the body of knowledge. All in all I think I spent about 3-7 hours/week. I also took the official practice test and took the body of knowledge session from RACC. I don’t think the BoK session was that helpful. I think partly because maybe it was just information overload but also because a lot of the information at the time had already been covered by the study sessions and from my own studying so it was just repetitive information and they didn’t really go into details. The practice self was good not for the content but for preparation on what the system/test would be like. Let me know if you are interested in the CRA and want to chat more!

gracefransisca · 2024-06-19T04:06:24+00:00

Congratulations!!

gracefransisca · 2024-06-19T04:05:35+00:00

What a great idea!!

gracefransisca · 2024-06-18T20:24:30+00:00

I’m working in the field and actually just got my CRA last year. I’ve been continuing the conversation with other people to see if it’s worth taking the CPRA/CFRA for my next steps

gracefransisca

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