Research Development
Advancing UCF research with personalized support for funding and proposal development.
Tamara Gabrus
Sr. Director, Research Advancement & Strategy
- Who is she: Background in Psychology (BS), Criminal Justice (MS), and Public Affairs, PhD student. Supporting UCF research faculty since 2007.
- What she does: Lead strategic efforts to enhance research development by collaborating with faculty and interdisciplinary teams, overseeing the Research Development and Research Initiatives offices. These offices focus on funding assistance, proposal development, and programs like UCF’s Faculty Cluster Initiative, which promotes research excellence, and managing administrative services like EARLIER and PASS to support successful funding outcomes.
- How we can help: Facilitation of competitive proposal development, individualized faculty consultations for research and proposal support, strategic collaboration to elevate UCF’s research profile, team assembly for large-scale proposals, and unit-level oversight
Joshua Roney, PhD
Director, Research Development
- Who he is: Texts and Technology UCF alumni, working in RD since 2010.
- What he does: Leads RD team operations, special initiatives, strategic planning, partnerships with other offices, RD info/resources, and EARLIER program.
- How he can help: Proposal development, EARLIER, teaming support, internal programs, information gathering and strategy, available and funding search and proposal support tools (e.g., Pivot, InfoReady, SciENcv, ARIS, Funder Toolkit, research cubes).
Madhavi (Maddy) Chokshi
Team Lead, Research Strategies
- Who she is: Journalism UCF alumni, working in RD since 1993.
- What she does: Coordinating internal and collaboration programs (mentoring, pitch circles, UCF Collaborates), onboarding new faculty and supporting early career faculty programs, coordinating peer review, and providing supplemental document review and assistance for EARLIER.
- How she can help: Proposal Development and Program Coordination (sample funded proposals, peer reviews, finding internal and external collaborators, mentoring programs, and document review).
April Torre
Team Lead, Faculty Engagement & Outreach
- Who she is: Public Admin UCF alumni, working in RD since 2010.
- What she does: Focusing on planning workshops through year and OR/FL-RDA conferences, RD site, UCF Collaborates, and supplemental doc assistance (EARLIER)
- How she can help: Outreach and Communication (Event Planning, connecting with areas on campus, public announcements, workshops and next steps), past/upcoming events, and RD webcourses.
Megan Kellogg
Institutional Programs, Grant Development
- Who she is: Central Florida native, UCF Alumni, joined RD team in 2017.
- What she does: REU Site support coordination, Internal Program assistance, and EARLIER supplemental document assistance (C&P coordinator for RD team).
- How she can help: Funding Opportunity searches and resources.
Carol Bristol, PhD
Funding Identification & Support, Grant Writer
- Who she is: A Howard University, New York University, and University of California, Riverside Alumna, working in RD since 2023.
- What she does: Grant writing and editorial review of scientific proposals.
- How she can help: Annotated feedback on proposal drafts, logic model and rubric design, as well as consultation on APA and Chicago Manual writing styles, including general grammar and punctuation review.
Mark Gauthier
Team Lead, Proposal Development
- Who he is: Technical Communicator. A relatively new Knight – joined RD team in April of 2023.
- What he does: Provides graphic design, writing, and editing support to research faculty who are preparing large, multi-discipline grant proposals. As a primary member of EARLIER, his graphic design and grant writing is focused on going beyond the research and technology to clearly communicate the technological innovation and real-world impact of each project.
- How he can help: Grant proposal graphic design, info-graphic support, grant writing, technical writing, and copy editing.