Where Research Ingenuity Began...
The Need in Research Administration
In 2019, Jeanne Viviani-Ayers, MPA, CRA worked for Karin Scarpinato, PhD and both were frustrated with the status quo of how research administration was accomplished. The only "tools" or "programs" were designed for other fields and not translated well into a heavy compliance, process and customer-oriented structure. A new way of applying proven techniques and models from the best in class for research administration was needed. Research Ingenuity was launched in March 2021.
Research INgenuity
Spending over a year studying the best in class in organizational management, motivational frameworks, communication techniques, and leadership practices, we synthesized our framework into a simplified yet powerful model. Our approach focused on four aspects of professional development --
S-T-A-R -- Strive, Think, Act and Read.
Our Four Core and Lean Six Sigma
- Think: What could be done to address your challenge?
- Read: Research and discover other thought leadership to stay current on operational excellence. We offered our community reading lists of top names in the field and some unusual ones as well.
- Act: With hands-on, practical tools and programs that could be used immediately, we encouraged research administration office to use them right away.
- Strive: When challenges persist, it is most important to remember that we are all tackling the same problem, not the people. Keep searching and striving for a new solution.
Research Administration as a field is rooted in process, value-stream and voice of the customer (RAs and faculty). While we had not turned into Lean and Six Sigma practices at this time, our core is similarly modeled after the PDCA Cycle in Lean - Plan, Do, Check, Act.
Only later did Lean Six Sigma and other continuous improvement methodology become a better model for implementing real and lasting change
Our Books and Webinars
Given the overwhelming requests for workshops and talks, Jeanne and Karin took all of their best ideas and created a books and companion workbook.
Research Teams as a Goal: Anecdotal Tips and Action Plans for Research AVPs and other Research Administrators (March 9, 2021)
Research Teams as a Goal: The Companion Workbook (August 6, 2021)
Growth and Expansion
In 2023, Jeanne obtained her Green Belt in Lean Six Sigma and Karin obtained her Black Belt.
Jeanne received National Science Foundation (NSF) #2203496 funding with a collaboration of research development professionals to prove that faculty need coaches to improve their funding and research capacity.
Eventually, like most professionals in research administration, our energies were drawn away to other opportunities. Karin pursued opportunities leading a research enterprise at a growing R2 institution while Jeanne pursued her love of training and coaching new Research administrators at an R1 institution.
Jeanne and Karin still collaborate frequently - about research administration, running and weight training! (Karin for running and Jeanne for weights!)