Who We Are

The Stanford Research Development Office (RDO) is a unit under VPDoR that aims to strengthen collaborative or strategic research, scholarship, and creative activities by helping to set PIs up for sponsored research funding success through project-opportunity alignment, early preparation, and proposal development support.

RDO’s goal is to enhance the competitiveness of proposals through grantsmanship while reducing the burden on PIs. We support researchers and research teams from across the University, with an emphasis on complex or strategic proposals. This often includes large, multi-PI, and/or multi-disciplinary proposals, but can also apply to other projects depending on the discipline or specific situation.

Services

Graphic to show Stanford RDO's services: Grant Consultation and Editing, Proposal Project Management, Funding Opportunities, and Team & Concept Formation

We offer a variety of types of support, depending on the needs of the project, timing, and RD Specialist availability. For more information about how RDO can help you, check out our Proposal Development Services and Events. Please also see our Frequently Asked Questions page for more information.

RDO complements other pre-award services such as budget development by local research administration support and compliance review and submission by the Office of Sponsored Research (OSR), the Research Management Group (RMG), or the Industrial Contracts Office (ICO).

 

Our Team

Kim Baeten headshot

Kim Baeten, PhD

Director of Research Development

Link to Kim's Stanford Profile

Sandra Arriaga headshot

Sandra Arriaga

Research Development Specialist (STEM* focus)

Link to Sandra's Stanford Profile

Lequn Geng headshot

Lequn Geng, PhD

Research Development Specialist (STEM* Focus)

Link to Lequn's Stanford Profile

Jessica Boydston headshot

Jessica Boydston

Program Manager, Limited Submissions and Seed Grant Programs

Link to Jessica's Stanford Profile

Alia Schoen headshot

Alia Schoen, PhD

Research Development Specialist (STEM* focus with special emphasis on Sustainability)

Link to Alia's Stanford Profile

Madison Priest headshot

Madison Priest, PhD

Research Development Specialist (Humanities, Arts, and Interpretive Social Sciences)

Link to Madison's Stanford Profile

* Includes Social Sciences as in NSF’s broader definition of STEM and is used more to indicate the breadth of disciplines supported rather than to restrict the domains that would receive support.

We are hiring! (applications closed)

We are in the review stages of this recruitment a Research Development Specialist (STEM focus, including social sciences) and not accepting new applications as this time. Check out the RDO Team Activities page to learn more about us. 

Testimonials

As it’s said, “the difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” RDO’s staff goes above and beyond to make that difference!

Tiziana Vanorio, Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and (by courtesy) Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geophysics

The Research Development Office made it possible to apply for a complex traineeship grant on an extremely tight timeline; they were an invaluable resource in understanding grant agency priorities + how to meet them within the Stanford ecosystem, and in connecting me to external resources when necessary.

Jon Simon, Associate Professor of Physics and Applied Physics

The Stanford Research Development offers indispensable complementary support to the plentiful resources that Stanford already provides to faculty around campus for the preparation of grants. I highly recommend that faculty reach out to discuss their project goals early in the process to get advice on specific grants.

Emily Levine, Associate Professor of Education and (by courtesy) History

It was one of the most impressive examples of grant support I have ever seen, probably the most impressive.

Russ B. Altman, Kenneth Fong Professor of Bioengineering, Genetics, Medicine, Biomedical Data Science and (by courtesy) Computer Science

Frequent Partners

Stanford RDO partners with individuals and offices across the Stanford community, including:

Contact Us

Address

408 Panama Mall
Stanford ,CA  94305
United States

RDO Newsletters

You can also stay in touch with us via our newsletters. Sign up here for periodic news from our office, weekly updates on limited submissions competitions, and/or monthly digests of arts and humanities funding. 

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