Contact Information
Seedang Simonin | Director | seedang.simonin@tufts.edu | (617) 636-0428 |
Armen Barseghyan | Senior Research Administrator | armen.barseghyan@tufts.edu | (617) 636-0388 |
Lauren Burchfield | Senior Research Administrator | lauren.burchfield@tufts.edu | (617) 636-3531 |
Kimberly Wright | Senior Research Administrator | kimberly.wright@tufts.edu | (617) 636-2769 |
Jessica Rivieccio | Senior Research Administrator | jessica.rivieccio@tufts.edu | |
Jarvis Smith | Senior Research Administrator | Jarvis.Smith@tufts.edu | (617) 636 0428 |
Seedang, Lauren, Jessica and Kim are working primarily remotely with periodic and on-demand on-campus visits. Armen is working remotely.
Team Roles
The Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy’s sponsored research administration team provides assistance to School investigators in funding request development, submission, and post-award management. Team members are responsible for the full life cycle of quality research administration ranging from proposal development to post-award administration, award close-out and award compliance. The services and resources provided by the team are geared toward the needs of the research community as well as legal and regulatory requirements that govern research. The sponsored research administration team maintains a close working relationship with the Office of the Vice Provost for Research to keep abreast of policies and systems, and ultimately to create and support an environment that promotes research. Current staff profiles can be found on the School’s administration staff page here.
Director
The Director for Sponsored Research Administration oversees the Friedman School Office for Sponsored Research Administration, serves on the Friedman School Administrative Cabinet, and collaborates closely with the school's leadership and deans to establish and implement policy. The Director serves as the School’s Lead Research Administrator (RA) and sits on a Committee with the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Lead RAs from other schools at Tufts to problem solve University-wide issues in research administration. They facilitate interactions with related offices and units across the university, including the Office of the Vice Provost for Research, University Counsel, Finance, and others in support of research activities.
Associate Director
The Associate Director for Sponsored Research Administration divides their time between managing a portfolio of investigators’ sponsored projects and improving research operations at the Friedman School. They manage a selected portfolio of relatively complex sponsored awards, collaborate with faculty to develop sponsored proposals and to manage post-award compliance activities, consult with faculty and staff in interpreting sponsor rules and regulations, assist faculty and staff in navigating new research administration tools and systems, identifying, proposing solutions and working toward resolutions related to complex pre/post-award matters. The associate director also leads the improvement of school research administration infrastructure, develops local standard operating procedures, manages access to electronic systems for the research administration team, identifies and tracks key performance indicators of pre- and post-awards activities, develops training plans for staff, and improves communication to the community.
Senior Research Administrators
The Senior Research Administrators (SRAs) provide professional support on both pre- and post-award research administration to faculty and researchers across the Friedman School. Although their services are available to the full Friedman School community, each is assigned a specific portfolio determined by the school’s needs, which may change over time. SRAs assist faculty, researchers, and project staff in navigating new research administration tools and systems, proactively identifying high-risk areas, proposing solutions and working toward resolution of complex pre- and post-award matters, and serving as a mentor (or coach or resources as appropriate) to other project administrators at the Friedman School who perform research administration tasks as a part of their programmatic work.
Portfolio Distribution
Local Research Administrator Assignments by Principal Investigator
As of 10/15/21
Please note: if you are a student or otherwise do not see your name listed here, please contact Seedang Simonin to determine appropriate research administrator.
Principal Investigator | Local Research Administrator | Project Name(s) | Faculty Coordinator |
Ausman, Lynn | Lauren Burchfield | TBH | |
Blackstone, Nicole | Kimberly Wright | LASTING | Ellen-Marie Bransfield |
Calancie, Larissa | Kimberly Wright | CO180 | |
Cash, Sean | Kimberly Wright | LASTING | TBH |
Catley, Andrew | Armen Barseghyan | Feinstein International Center | |
Coates, Jennifer | Lauren Burchfield | INDDEX | TBH |
Coughlan de Perez, Erin | Armen Barseghyan | Feinstein International Center | |
Economos, Christina | Kimberly Wright | CO180 | TBH |
Fielding, Roger | Kimberly Wright | ||
Fitzpatrick, Merry | Armen Barseghyan | Feinstein International Center | |
Folta, Sara C | Armen Barseghyan | Ellen-Marie Bransfield | |
Ghosh, Shibani | Lauren Burchfield | Nutrition Innovation Lab & ONCE | |
Goldberg, Jeanne | Kimberly Wright | Ellen-Marie Bransfield | |
Greenberg, Andrew | Kimberly Wright | ||
Griffin, Timothy | Kimberly Wright | Tufts Food Lab & New Entry | Ellen-Marie Bransfield |
Hashley, Jennifer | Seedang Simonin | New Entry | |
Hatfield, Daniel | Kimberly Wright | CO180 | |
Hennessy, Erin | Kimberly Wright | CO180 & THIS-WIC | TBH |
Howe, Kimberly | Armen Barseghyan | Feinstein International Center | |
Howe, Paul | Armen Barseghyan | Feinstein International Center | |
Kennedy, Eileen | Armen Barseghyan | Growth through Nutrition | Ellen-Marie Bransfield |
Kummer, Corby | Kimberly Wright | ||
Lichtenstein, Alice | Kimberly Wright | ||
Ma, Jiantao | Lauren Burchfield | TBH | |
Masters, William | Lauren Burchfield | IMMANA & Food Prices for Nutrition | TBH |
Maxwell, Dan | Armen Barseghyan | Feinstein International Center | |
Mazurana, Dyan | Armen Barseghyan | Feinstein International Center | |
McKay, Diane | Kimberly Wright | Ellen-Marie Bransfield | |
Mozaffarian, Dariush | Lauren Burchfield | Global Dietary Database | |
Naumova, Elena | Armen Barseghyan | Ellen-Marie Bransfield | |
Rogers, Beatrice | Lauren Burchfield | INDDEX | TBH |
Scott, Tammy | Kimberly Wright | ||
Stites, Elizabeth | Armen Barseghyan | Feinstein International Center | |
Webb, Patrick | Lauren Burchfield | Nutrition Innovation Lab & LASTING | TBH |
Wilde, Parke | Kimberly Wright | Ellen-Marie Bransfield | |
Young, Helen | Armen Barseghyan | Feinstein International Center | |
Zhang, Fang Fang | Kimberly Wright | NutriCare & LASTING | Ellen-Marie Bransfield |
Please visit Tufts Office of the Vice Provost for Research website for relevant news and events.
All updates related to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the Tufts research community can be found here.
Research Administration News
The Friedman School Sponsored Research Administration Office creates and sends a bimonthly newsletter via email, called Research Administration News, to the Friedman School community sharing updates on policies, processes, funding opportunities and successes, reminders, systems, and other relevant information. All faculty, staff, and students are automatically included in the distribution.
Prior newsletters are available in the archives below. A Tufts login for Box access is required.
Newsletter Archives
Research Program Staff Community
The Friedman School Sponsored Research Administration Office facilitates interactions between the staff members of the broader research community by bringing together program staff from research programs for trainings, roundtable meetings, social gatherings, and other connections. For details on staff members by research project, please visit the School Staff page here.
Elist
The Friedman School Research Program Managers elist, friedmanresearchprogrammanagers@elist.tufts.edu, is an important communications tool managed by the Friedman School Sponsored Research Administration Office for sharing announcements, tools, trainings, and updates with program staff in the Friedman School's research programs. Seedang Simonin is the primary contact for the elist and automatically adds new research program staff to the distribution when they are hired.
Roundtable Meetings
Roundtable meetings are coordinated by the Friedman School Sponsored Research Administration Office by periodically to support discussion, make connections between research groups, share best practices and ideas, and provide training. Information about Roundtable Meetings is disseminated through the elist.
Training Materials
University sponsored trainings related to research and research administration are offered through the Office of the Vice Provost for Research. Details by training topic can be found here, and include:
- Research Administration and Development Mentoring Program (RAMP)
- eIRB Tutorials
- Human Subjects Research training
- Regulatory Trainings on Animal Care, Biosafety, Export Control and more
Funding agencies and professional organizations may make training materials available. These materials can be helpful for the broad community of research program staff members as well as the school-based staff administrators. Please contact Jess Cote if there are additional training materials you believe would be helpful for your role.
NCURA videos
The Friedman School Sponsored Research Administration Office purchased ongoing access to training sessions from the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA). Use your Tufts login to access the training videos on Box.
Cost Share Challenges
A 90-minute discussion about cost sharing including:
- Identifying alternative ways to promote resources to agencies, without committing to tracked cost share.
- Relating to the importance of communication and shared tracking responsibilities.
- Articulating how to proactively manage cost share to avoid close out issues, rework, and loss of time and money.
Speakers include:
- Andres Chan, Director, Office of Financial Analysis, University of Southern California
- Sandy Fowler, Assistant Dean, College of Agricultural & Life Sciences, Business Services – Administration, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Heather Offhaus, Director, Medical School Grant Services & Analysis, Office of Research, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Workshop recorded 10/25/21
NIH Fundamentals
This 3.5 hour workshop provides a primary basis of understanding of proposals to and awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This workshop will give you the basics and we will walk you through the grants process, and give you an overview of key resources and websites you will need to be successful. The program is perfect for someone new to Research Administration, as well as for Research Administrators seeking to expand their knowledge of federal funding agencies. The curriculum provides an overview of the policies and procedures essential to preparing successful proposals to and managing grant awards from the NIH.
Major content areas covered include:
- NIH overall structure, culture, and organization;
- Developing and submitting NIH proposals;
- The merit review process;
- Post-Award administration;
- Tips and tricks.
Speakers include:
- Michelle Bulls, Director, Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration, National Institutes of Health
- Kristin Ta, Grants Policy Analyst, Grants Policy Division, National Institutes of Health
Workshop recorded 3/13/19
NSF Fundamentals
This 3.5 hour workshop provides a primary basis of understanding of proposals to and awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The program is perfect for someone new to research administration, as well as for research administrators seeking to expand their knowledge of federal funding agencies. The curriculum provides an overview of the policies and procedures essential to preparing successful proposals to and managing grant awards from NSF.
Major content areas covered include:
- NSF overall structure, culture, and organization;
- Developing NSF proposals;
- The merit review process;
- Post-award administration;
- Tips and tricks.
The speaker is Jamie French, Division Director, Division Grants and Agreements, Office of Budget, Finance and Award Management, National Science Foundation.
Workshop recorded 6/26/19