Four Graduate College Career Exploration Fellows spent the spring semester learning about research development at UIUC.

The Career Exploration Fellowship allows doctoral students to participate in mentored work experiences with campus units, learning about alternative careers beyond the traditional academic tenure track, while contributing to projects in their host units.

Fellows who learned about research development included:

• Jailene Aguirre, a fourth-year student in human development and family studies. Jailene worked with the Office of Proposal Development. She met with a range of research experts and proposal developers within the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute, Center for Social & Behavioral Science, College of Applied Health Sciences and the Office of the Vice Chancellor of Research and Innovation. She learned about their jobs, career paths and day-to-day experiences. Jailene’s learning activities included deep dives into federal sponsors, limited submission projects, and working on an upcoming proposal with an RD professional.
• Yukun Yu, a fifth-year doctoral student in developmental psychology. Yukun worked with the Center for Social & Behavioral Science. She contributed to various CSBS workshops and events, participated in public engagement initiatives, and assisted research development managers to support research teams on campus. Yukun also regularly met with members of her host unit to learn about different projects and discuss potential ways to advance innovative social and behavioral science research. Learn more about Yukun’s experience.
• Lesley Owens, a fifth-year doctoral student in writing studies. Lesley worked with the REDCap team at the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute. They are working to improve program tracking through REDCap follow-up surveys, as well as providing additional REDCap support to users.

  

• Bianca Xu, a fourth-year doctoral student in food science and human nutrition. Bianca worked with the Illinois Research Development Community. She met with RDC members from five different units on campus to learn about research development jobs and career paths. She met regularly with the RDC Executive Committee as well as the Membership Subcommittee. Her projects included setting up a database in REDCap for the RDC Member Survey, working with the OPD fellow to develop materials and review applications for a limited submission funding opportunity at the campus level, developing an interactive graphic for the RDC website, developing and implementing an outreach activity for middle-school students from Urbana, and supporting development of a large research project focusing on carbon capture.