Training
Each semester, USC Research and Innovation’s Center for Excellence in Research organizes workshops via Zoom for USC researchers. Administered by the Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (RII) office, these courses are designed to provide faculty, research staff, postdocs, PhD students and graduate students across all fields of study with specialized skills and knowledge in seeking funding from government, foundation, and corporate organizations, as well as a variety of other topics.
Click on the workshops below to register, and if you have any questions email us at usccer@usc.edu.
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Do you have an idea for a CER workshop? We’d love to hear from you!
For required investigator training, see the Research Training Finder.
Fall 2023 Schedule
| Agenda | Video recording | Q&A |
Presentations:
- Federal and Multidisciplinary Opportunities
- Innovation, Licensing and Entrepreneurship
- Managing Contracts and Grants
- Internal Funding, Proposal Development, and Research Support
- Corporate and Foundation Relations
- Library Collections, Programs and Services
- Advanced Computing and Data Resources and Services
- Clinical and Community-Partnered Translational Research
- Health and Safety
- Animal Research
- Human Subjects Research
- Promoting Your Work
| Presentation | Video recording |
In this session, JoAnne Goodnight will provide attendees a general overview of the SBIR and STTR programs available at some of the largest federal agencies, with a major focus on NIH. Topics will include the difference between SBIR and STTR mechanisms, eligibility considerations and the relationship between a faculty member, university, and company.
JoAnne Goodnight
JoAnne is an independent consultant who specializes in assisting small technology companies in preparing competitive SBIR/STTR grant applications. She has 25+ years of federal government service, most of which was spent at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) serving as the SBIR/STTR Program Coordinator. She brings extensive experience in virtually all aspects of the NIH SBIR/STTR programs and processes including identifying relevant topics, facilitating agency introductions, developing research plan strategies, editing proposals using key grantsmanship tips, and interpreting the myriad federal policies that pertain to grants and contracts. In addition to her NIH research administration roles, JoAnne has held positions at for-profit and nonprofit research institutions, including The Jackson Laboratory where she served as Director of Sponsored Research for nearly eight years until she retired in October 2020. JoAnne holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology from Virginia Tech.
| Presentation | Video recording |
In this session, JoAnne Goodnight will cover the requisite sections of an SBIR/STTR grant application, including budget preparation. She will also describe the NIH SBIR/STTR Review Process and common pitfalls to avoid.
JoAnne Goodnight
| Presentation | Recording unavailable |
JoAnne Goodnight will focus on helping you write the two key parts of your application — the Specific Aims and Commercialization Plan. Reviewers often read this section first so the goal is to prepare an exciting Aims page that will be a page turner for the rest of the application. The session will also review requisite sections of the Commercialization Plan.
JoAnne Goodnight
| Video recording |
| Presentation | Video recording | How to Develop and Write a Grant Proposal |
There are many federal agencies that support university research — but which ones are right for you? Jim Murday will show you how to identify the pertinent agencies and programs, contact the appropriate program officers, develop a winning proposal (it's a bit different for each agency), and work with agency officials to get your proposal funded. The focus is on agencies that fund science and engineering other than NSF and NIH, but those two are used to provide comparisons.
Presenter:
James Murday, Director Of Physical Sciences, Research Strategy and Development
Panel:
Smaranda Marinescu, Associate Professor of Chemistry, USC Dornsife
Stephen Cronin, Professor of ECE Electrophysics, USC Viterbi
| Presentation | Video recording |
Federal agencies have many funding opportunities in the humanities and social sciences, including NSF’s SBE; HHS’s ACL and ACF; DOD’s ARI and MINERVA; DOJ’s NIJ and OJJDP; NEH; and IMLS/NARA/LOC. James Murday will help you create winning proposals with tips and strategies for specific opportunities offered by the various agencies, followed by a discussion from USC faculty who've been successful in such competitions.
Presenter:
James Murday, Director Of Physical Sciences, Research Strategy and Development
Panel:
- Peter Mancall, Distinguished Professor, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities, Linda and Harlan Martens Director of the Early Modern Studies Institute and Professor of History, Anthropology, and Economics, USC Dornsife
- Jonathan Gratch, Research Professor of Computer Science and Psychology and Media Arts and Practice, Director of Virtual Human Research, USC Institute for Creative Technologies
| Presentation | Video recording | Workbook |
In this interactive workshop, you’ll learn practical strategies for how to quickly build or maintain an effective research team using User Manuals — a tool that facilitates better communication and a shared understanding of team dynamics while providing a structured process to help your team work more effectively. At the end of the session, you’ll walk away with your own completed user manual and plans for how to apply this process to your team. This is for anyone looking to improve project management and communication within their research team!
Presenter:
Emily Parcell, Leadership Coach, emilyparcell.com
- Email: emily@emilyparcell.com
- Website: hcleader.co
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eparcell/
| Register for workshop |
In this session, Karen Manrique will give attendees a general overview of the regulatory resources available from SC CTSI and USC Mann’s DK Kim International Center for Regulatory Science. The presentation will focus on regulatory science training and educational programs that can help advance the work of clinical researchers.
Presenter:
Karen Manrique is a Project Administrator for the Regulatory Knowledge and Support (RKS) core within the Southern California Clinical and Translational Institute (SC CTSI). She supports the development of onsite educational programs and training tools that help expand expertise among the clinical research workforce and improve the quality of investigator-initiated trials at USC and other institutions. She also collaborates with other CTSIs and academic institutions in training programs and regulatory science research. She has 10+ years of clinical research experience as a former coordinator for USC’s Surgical Research Unit, where she worked on PI-initiated, NIH, and industry-sponsored Vascular surgery trials. Karen holds a Bachelor of Science degree in General Biology with a minor in Studio Art from the University of California, San Diego, and a Master of Science in Project Management from the University of Southern California.
Video Recording for Systematic Review and Evidence Synthesis Services at UPC
Systematic review or evidence synthesis is the process of bringing together all the relevant information on a specific research question. In this workshop, Jade Winn will discuss the Non-Medical Science Systematic Reviews (NMSSR) and Evidence Synthesis Services available at UPC, including the service levels offered, a detailed roadmap of how it's done at USC, and an explanation of how to adapt it to multi-disciplinary studies. This service model is getting national recognition and has been presented at the Association of College and Research Libraries. Dr. Winn is also an invited panelist on NMSSR at the American Library Association's annual conference.
Presenter:
Jade G. Winn, MLIS, EdD
Dr. Jade Winn is an Associate University Librarian at USC. She joined the USC Library Faculty in 2009 as The Head of Social Work and Education Library Services at USC Libraries. After promotion to Associate University Librarian she accepted the role of Assistant Dean of Instruction, Assessment and Engagement in the Programs and Planning department at USC Libraries, she served in that administrative role for 8 years. Currently, Dr. Winn takes on a new role developing and launching Evidence Synthesis Services, including systematic and scoping reviews at the UPC Campus.
She worked extensively on the development of the online Master in Management in Library and Information Science (MMLIS) in USC's Marshall School of Business. She currently serves on several MMLIS and USC Library committees including Chair of the MMLIS Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility and Anti-Racism Committee, the Admissions Committee and the Curriculum Committee. Additionally, Dr. Winn has taught research methods and inquiry courses in USC School of Social Work MSW program, Rossier School of Education EdD program, and currently teaches courses in the MMLIS program at Marshall School of Business at USC.
Video Recording for Strategies for Young Investigator/Early Career Awards A lot of federal funding opportunities exist to help researchers at the beginning of their careers, but it can become quite the challenge to narrow down and understand the differences between them. Not to worry — in this workshop James Murday will guide you on what funding is available, topic selection, approaching program officers, as well as provide tips on how to structure a successful proposal. The presentation will then be followed by a Q&A session with Constantine Sideris, who has received a Young Investigator/Early Career award from both the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Office of Naval Research. Presenter: James Murday, Director Of Physical Sciences, Research Strategy and Development Guest Speaker: Constantine Sideris, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Video Recording for USC Research and Innovation Awards to Fund Your Research - Presentation
Want to learn about some new internal funding opportunities supporting a diverse range of research areas, scholarship, and artistic and cultural expression at USC? Silvia da Costa will introduce you to all the latest grant programs from USC Research and Innovation, as well as give you guidelines and tips on how to ensure your proposal is a success.
Presenters:
Silvia Da Costa, Director, Research Initiatives and Infrastructure, USC Research and Innovation
This workshop is organized by the USC Research and Innovation (R&I)’s Center for Excellence in Research and the Children's Hospital Los Angeles' Faculty Development.
Video Recording for Writing Compelling NSF Proposals
My fantastic proposal was rejected?! Why couldn’t those knuckleheads at NSF understand how brilliant my ideas are?! Did they even read the proposal?!
If you've ever had these thoughts, then Paul Ronney can help! He has served on a lot of NSF panels and reviewed many well-written (and not so well-written) proposals. After this workshop, you'll understand how the NSF review process works, be able to anticipate panel dynamics and tailor your proposal accordingly, and most importantly have specific recommendations for increasing your chances of getting funded.
Presenter:
Paul Ronney, Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Viterbi
Video Recording for Developing Proposals for Large-Scale Grants
Large-scale federal funding grants provide a unique opportunity to pursue challenging scientific questions that require collaboration across disciplines. As a result, these proposals take a significant amount of time to plan, develop, and write. In this workshop, James Murday will empower you to take charge with some strategies to craft a winning proposal for these kinds of opportunities, followed by a discussion with USC faculty who have been successful in such competitions.
Presenter:
James Murday, Director Of Physical Sciences, Research Strategy and Development
Guest Speakers:
- Tom Buchanan, University Professor of Medicine, Bernard J. Hanley Chair in Medicine, Vice Dean for Research, Director of the CTSI, Co-Director of Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute, Endocrine Division Chief in the Department of Medicine
- Yehuda Ben-Zion, Professor of Earth Sciences, Director of Southern California Earthquake Center
- Ewa Deelman, Research Professor of Computer Science, Research Director of Scientific Computation Technologies, Principal Scientist at USC Information Sciences Institute
Video Recording for Protecting Your Intellectual Property
Intellectual property is a complex topic, but we're going to walk you through it! Come learn from Fikret Kirkbir about the differences between utility patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets; the pitfalls of the provisional patent application frequently used in universities; as well as strategies for patenting while submitting scientific articles.
Presenter: Fikret Kirkbir, Manager of Intellectual Property Analysis and Assessment, Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering (AMI-USC)
Video Recording for Navigating Open Access: Promise and Problems of Open Access Publishing
Originally as a means of giving science freely to communities by eliminating paywalls, some open access journals border on corporatized models with review processes of questionable rigor. Stoked by the pressure of "publish or perish," scholars may find themselves inundated with invitations to submit papers to journals with questionable reputation and veracity. Additionally, there is renewed conversation given the Biden Administration announcement in August 2022 that publishers of federally funded research must make those papers freely available by 2025, which may increase emphasis on open access publishing. This workshop briefly covers the history of open access publishing and its processes; identifying potentially predatory journals; and the resources and support available for open access publishing through the USC Libraries. This workshop will encourage learner discussion of these topics, including their own experience with potentially predatory journals.
Presenters:
John R. Blosnich, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Social Work
Clarissa Moreno, MMLIS, Social & Behavioral Sciences Librarian, USC Libraries
Jennifer E. Dinalo, PhD, MLIS, Health Sciences Research and Data Librarian, USC Libraries
Designing and Writing a Successful NSF Broader Impacts
A great NSF Broader Impacts statement won’t strengthen a proposal with poor science, but a poor one can sink a proposal with good science. Heidi Smith Parker, Dieuwertje Kast and Jen Corletto will teach you how to develop your statement with examples of creative strategies, a brainstorming session to help you develop your ideas, and an overview of resources at USC.
Presenters:
Heidi Smith Parker, Chief of Grant Strategy, Dornsife
Dieuwertje Kast, Director of STEM Education Programs, Joint Educational Project, Dornsife
Jen Corletto, Interim K-12 STEM Project Manager, Viterbi
Introduction and Strategies for ARPA-H
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has created a new entity, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), which mirrors DARPA but with significant differences. ARPA-H’s first open BAA was released in March 2023, with abstracts due March 2024. In this workshop, James Murday will describe the current status of the ARPA-H organization, present strategies to craft a winning proposal for the BAA, and inform you about other ARPA-H programs, followed by a Q&A with USC faculty who’ve been successful in competitions with other Agency ARPAs.
You are required to attend if you want to apply to our new ARPA-H Planning Award.
Presenter:
James Murday, Director Of Physical Sciences, Research Strategy and Development
Panel:
- Adam Russell, Director of AI Division, Information Sciences Institute; Former Acting Deputy Director of ARPA-H
- Yolanda Gil, Research Professor of Computer Science and of Spatial Sciences; Director for Major Strategic AI and Data Science Initiatives; Director of Knowledge Technologies; Principal Scientist, USC Viterbi Information Sciences Institute
- Sergey Nuzhdin, Professor of Biological Sciences, Dornsife Molecular & Computational Biology, USC Dornsife
Writing Compelling NSF Proposals
My fantastic proposal was rejected! Why couldn’t those knuckleheads at NSF understand how brilliant my ideas are? Did they even read the proposal? Paul Ronney has served on many NSF panels and has reviewed many well-written (and not-so-well-written) proposals. In this workshop, he'll help you understand how the review process at NSF and other funding agencies works and provide specific recommendations for increasing your chances of getting funded, including how to anticipate panel dynamics and tailor your proposal accordingly.
Presenter:
Paul Ronney, Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Viterbi
USC Awards to Fund Your Research
Want to learn more about some of the internal funding opportunities available at USC? We’ll review the internal grant programs supporting research, scholarship and technology available at the Office of Research, SC CTSI and USC Stevens, as well as give you guidelines and tips on how to ensure your proposal is a success.
Presenters:
Silvia Da Costa, Director, Office of Research Initiatives and Facilities
Megan Gutierrez, Program Specialist, Clinical Translational Science Institute
Donaldson Santos, Director of Licensing, USC Stevens Center for Innovation
Submitting a Limited Submissions Proposal - Video Recording
Have you come across a funding opportunity that says only one or two proposals are allowed per institution, and didn’t know what to do? This course introduces all members of the USC community to “institutionally limited submissions,” what they are, how USC coordinates them, how to submit to one, and what else to expect. This course will also include answers to commonly asked questions about our submission guidelines, tips on improving your submissions, and more to help familiarize you with this kind of funding opportunity.
Presenter:
Michael Yarsky, Program Specialist, Office of Research
Funding from Foundations for STEM - Video Recording
There are thousands of charitable foundations around the world looking to fund research — the challenge is finding the right one for you. Learn from Hossein Pourmand how you can build a meaningful relationship with a foundation and the process, as well as resources available at USC to help you along the way.
Presenter:
Hossein Pourmand, Assistant Vice President of Research Initiatives, University Advancement
Funding from Foundations for Arts and Humanities - Video Recording
There are thousands of charitable foundations around the world looking to fund research — the challenge is finding the right one for you. Learn from Dana Drew Irwin how you can build a meaningful relationship with a foundation and the process, as well as resources available at USC to help you along the way.
Presenter:
Dana Drew Irwin, Associate Director of Development of Corporate and Foundation Relations, University Advancement
Top Tips for Top-Notch Presentations - Video Recording
Do you have an upcoming presentation and want to knock it out of the park? This workshop will empower you with the essential tactics and perspectives that make outstanding presentations tick. From organizing strategies to anxiety reduction to slide deck design, level up your next presentation with this session’s top tips.
Presenter:
Stephen Lind, Associate Professor of Clinical Business Communication, USC Marshall
Innovation and Collaboration with Miro - Video Recording
Feeling overwhelmed by the scale of a research project? Need to collaborate across disciplines and media? This workshop will introduce you to Miro, a versatile virtual whiteboard that lets you collect questions, compile and annotate sources, and organize notes and drafts in one visually engaging workspace. Whether you’re in the very early stages of conceiving a project or overloaded with links, a planner or a pantser, Miro can help corral your thoughts in a flexible, adaptable way. You’ll have an opportunity to learn about Miro's features; experiment with designing your own project; and find out how Miro could enliven your research and teaching practices.
Presenter:
Maddox K. Pennington (they/them) received their MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Columbia University and currently teaches in the Dornsife College Writing Program. Their courses typically include multimodal assignments on empathy, monsters, and topics from Native, Disability, and Queer Studies. Their debut bibliomemoir, A Girl Walks Into a Book: What the Brontes Taught Me About Life, Love, and Women’s Work, was released May 2017. They’ve performed comedy and storytelling at DC Nerd Night, FemX at WIT, Improbable Comedy, Health’s Angels and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Previous writing has appeared on Electric Literature, The Toast, and The American Scholar online. Their play Love Chicken had an award-winning world premiere at the 2022 Hollywood Fringe Festival, and an upcoming play, about the arrival of Okie Cherokees in 1920s Los Angeles, is in development with the Moving Arts MADLab First Look festival.
Securing Corporate Funding for Research
In 2016, businesses provided $4.2 billion in academic research funding, largely directed toward life sciences and engineering. Hossein Pourmand will discuss the commercialization process and how the University Advancement can help you find a partner, negotiate a license, and market your product.
Presenter:
Hossein Pourmand, Assistant Vice President of Research Initiatives
University Advancement
Introduction to Advanced Research Computing
Nearly all scientific and engineering disciplines confront challenges in dealing with a vast amount of data or modeling complex processes across many scales. BD Kim will cover high-performance computing, cloud solutions, data workflow management, and other research computing related topics.
Presenter:
BD Kim, Associate Chief Research Information Officer, Center for Advanced Research Computing
Developing a Successful Mission Agency Grant
There are many Federal Agencies that support University Research — which ones are best for you? The workshop objectives are to help an investigator: identify the pertinent agencies and programs, contact the appropriate program officers, develop a winning proposal (it is a bit different for each agency), and work with agency officials to get the proposal funded. The focus is on agencies that fund science and engineering other than NSF and NIH, but those two are used to provide comparisons.
Presenter:
James Murday, Director Of Physical Sciences, Office of Research Advancement
Proposal Review Service
The Center for Excellence in Research also offers a peer-to-peer proposal review service for applications to external funding agencies. Email your near-final proposal draft to usccer@usc.edu, along with the link to the specific program announcement to which you are applying. Reviewers may be USC or non-USC faculty.
Investigators should contact our office roughly four weeks in advance of the proposal due date to allow for sufficient time to review and provide applicants with feedback.