The University of Nevada, Reno’s Research & Proposal Development Services (RPDS) team, part of Research & Innovation, has been honored with the 2024 Innovation Award by the National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP). The award recognizes the multi-institutional collaboration called “FOCUS” – Fostering Opportunities through Collaborative University Synergies, which aims to enhance research development support across participating universities. 

FOCUS brings together research development professionals from several institutions, including Nevada, to co-produce competitive grant support resources, offer training programs for faculty and share best practices for growing large-scale, federally funded research.

“This award speaks to the strength of collaboration and the shared commitment of our research development team to elevate faculty success,” Josh Baker, associate vice president for research, said. “We’re proud to be part of FOCUS and excited to keep building new pathways for innovation, discovery and leadership.” 

The FOCUS group has developed targeted webinars on specific federal funding opportunities and recently coordinated an in-person NIH R01 training, which the University team supported to help faculty build competitive proposals. The team is now exploring additional training efforts for the coming year, including programming that supports faculty who are positioned to lead complex, center-scale research proposals. 

Partner institutions have also seen results. The University of Idaho recently credited the FOCUS collaboration with helping secure success in the NSF EPSCoR Fellows program with four awards in a single year. The University of Nebraska–Lincoln highlighted the award on its news site, noting the long-term benefits of the partnership. 

“The NORDP Innovation Award recognizes our team’s work to advance the field of research development and bring enhanced grant-development resources to University faculty,” Carrie Bushá, research development director, said. “The University of Nevada’s participation in FOCUS reflects its commitment to collaborative success and strategic research growth across institutions.” 

In preparing award proposals, many University faculty members use planning and review services provided by RPDS. Within the last award cycle, six NSF CAREER Awards have been awarded to University faculty, which is a 46% success rate of applications submitted. The University also boasts five members of the chartered National Academies.

Learn more about the services offered by RPDS at the University, or contact a team member by emailing ResearchDevelopment@unr.edu.