Office of Research Advancement (ORA)

The driving simulator in Furnas Hall is just one of the many university facilities that facilitates educational and funded research, while also engaging industry and community.

The Office of Research Advancement (ORA) supports the university’s research and scholarly community in the pursuit of external grant and research funding.

Comprehensive administrative and technical support are available to researchers as they form their research teams, identify collaborators, refine their projects and develop their proposals. Working with UB faculty, our goal is to help create highly competitive proposals to support promising research and advance university initiatives.

SPIN Funding Database

For Questions or to schedule a Group SPIN Demonstration, please contact:
Kimberly Burns
kshort@buffalo.edu

Contact Information

Office of Research Advancement

UB Commons, Suite 114
Buffalo, NY 14228

Carol L. O'Connell, MPA, Director
ubgrants@buffalo.edu

Services

Proposal Development Assistance

Facilitate project meetings
Assist in identifying collaborators and project partners
Draft standard university text
Provide assistance with justifications and budget review in collaboration with the Office of Sponsored Projects Services
Format required proposal documents (biographical sketches, current and pending funding, and data management plans)
Peform a substantive edit of all writing components
Assist in identifying external funding sources

Workshops, Seminars and Training Programs

Programs for new, mid-career and veteran faculty offered throughout the year on UB's North, South and Downtown campuses.

NIH Webinar, March 31, 2016: Navigating the NIH K Award: How to maximize your chances for funding

Recorded Archived Events

Checklists and Templates

Proposal checklists and templates for many federal sponsors
Assistance with identifying federal and state funding sources
Sample management plans and mentoring plans

Staff Directory

Carol L. O'Connell, MPA

Director

Office of Research Advancement

UB Commons, Suite 114 (North Campus)

Phone: (716) 645-1758

Email: caroloco@buffalo.edu

Kimberly K. Burns, BS

Senior Project Manager

Office of Research Advancement

UB Commons, Suite 114 (North Campus)

Phone: (716) 645-5382

Email: kshort@buffalo.edu

Lindsay M. Chakan, PhD

Editor

Office of Research Advancement

UB Commons, Suite 114 (North Campus)

Phone: 716-645-9478

Email: lindsayy@buffalo.edu

Alex DeSha, BA

Project Manager

Office of Research Advancement

UB Commons, Suite 114 (North Campus)

Phone: (716) 645-5374

Email: adesha@buffalo.edu

Aimee Jo Gibney, PhD

Sr. Editor

Office of Research Advancement

UB Commons, Suite 114 (North Campus)

Phone: (716) 645-5377

Email: aimeegib@buffalo.edu

Menna-Kristina Mbah, MA

Project Manager

Office of Research Advancement

UB Commons, Suite 114 (North Campus)

Phone: (716) 645-6041

Email: mennakri@buffalo.edu

Karyn E. Ventrilla, MS

Project Coordinator

Office of Research Advancement

UB Commons, Suite 114 (North Campus)

Phone: (716) 645-9176

Email: karynven@buffalo.edu

Matthew Zaffram '21

Student Assistant

Office of Research Advancement

UB Commons, Suite 114 (North Campus)

Phone: (716) 645-5373

Email: ovpr.mpzaffra@research.buffalo.edu

ORA Events

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Testimonials

Dimitris Pados

7/15/16

Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) submission
Exceptional job in putting together a most professional package for this demanding submission that involved a budget of $2.72M and industry participation. Clearly, I would not have been able to do this without them!
Bob Genco

7/15/16

NYS Empire State Development submission
Excellent, responsive, knowledgeable and a pleasure to work with.
Thomas Ulbrich

7/15/16

National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) Submission
The help I received was invaluable. From a clear schedule to stay on track, to editing suggestions, to coordinating with SPS...everything was well executed. The team was very helpful and knowing this service is available will likely increase the quantity of proposals I will submit in the future.
Andrew Talal

7/15/16

Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Submission
[ORA] did an outstanding job assisting with the PCORI application. This was not easy from a variety of factors… went out of their way to assist with the respective portions of the application, which made it possible to put together a complex application with multiple collaborators in a month. This proposal was awarded by PCORI for $4M in 2016.
Ling Bian

7/15/16

National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 submission
I am sincerely grateful to the ORA staff for assisting me on my NIH proposal. I will not be able to receive the $2.7 funding without ORA's most effective and strong support. My collaborators and I consider ourselves to be extremely fortunate to have been able to work with ORA staff and look forward to working with them again!
Haiqing Lin

7/15/16

National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems (INFEWS) submission
We are extremely grateful for the help provided by ORA. It is incredibly time-consuming to prepare multi-organization proposals. ORA has practically prepared 140 pages of the proposal, while the PIs can focus on the 15-page Narrative.
Victor Paquet

8/3/16

National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitatin Research (NIDRR) and CDC National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) submissions
I am incredibly grateful for the efforts of the Office of Research Advancement. It is a wonderful resource for UB researchers, and its contributions to this proposal cannot be understated.