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Issue date: 2/8/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Kelly Sue Corder, Contributing Photographer Katie Marie Plum, coordinator of the Office of Sponsored Projects

ASU graduate Katie Marie Plum "loves research and information," and with her recent appointment as coordinator of the university's new Office of Sponsored Projects, she will be able to put these interests to good use in assisting faculty and administrators in securing outside funding.

Dr. Carol Diminnie, dean of the College of Graduate Studies and Director of Research and Faculty Innovation, announced the appointment and is pleased with the choice.

"Katie's greatest strengths are her research abilities and excellent writing skills," Diminnie said. "Her familiarity with academics and her grant writing experience were definite characteristics that we were looking for in a candidate for the position."

According to Diminnie, ASU receives an average of about $800,000 in grant money per year - a low figure when compared to most Texas universities.

"There is a direct correlation between having a full-time grant coordinator and the amount of funding that a university receives," she said.

After graduating from ASU in 2001, Plum went to work for Shannon Health Systems. Three months into the job, her boss recognized her exceptional writing abilities and her thorough understanding of the grant writing process and promoted her to research coordinator, a position in which she was instrumental in securing grants of more than $5.3 million over the next five years.

"In my opinion, research is an important part of the professors' work here at ASU," Plum said. "Grants support research and research improves the programs that are made available to the students."

According to Plum, one of the most important aspects of grant writing is to follow the format given and look at the evaluation criteria. She is in the process of creating a booklet entitled "A Guide to Sponsored Projects," which will be made available within the next month as a resource for all faculty or administrators. The booklet will include information such as budget preparation guidelines, ASU's indirect cost rate and basic organization information, which could save the grant writer hours of research time.

A Faculty Research Interest Profile will be forthcoming as well and will be especially important to her new position.

"The profile will be available on the Web, through the graduate school's Web site and can be filled out and e-mailed back to me," Plum said. "I can then be on the lookout for grants that would fit the needs of a particular department."

"Grant money can be a catalyst to provide new programs and research here at ASU," Plum said. "This office is here to make less work for the faculty."

And with the average federal grant requiring 80 to 120 hours preparation and writing time, having someone who knows the "nuts and bolts" of grant writing is a welcome resource.

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