Research Development Staff

Alicia Adelman

Alicia Adelman

Research Development Officer & Prestigious Nominations Manager
 alicia.adelman@colorado.edu
 393-492-2436

Alicia (pronunciation: a-li-cia) is the frontline point of contact for RIO and helps resolve your questions. With 10 years of experience in research development, Alicia’s passion lies in helping faculty reach their potential. She coordinates the PI Academy, Broader Impacts Network, center authorizations and reauthorizations, prestigious nominations, webinars and workshops, and manages RIO’s Faculty Conference and Travel Grant programs. As a first-generation graduate student and member of the LGBTQIA+ community, Alicia is a safe space to reach out to with any of your research questions, big or small.

Donna Axel

Donna Axel

Proposal Editor & Writing Coach 
 donna.axel@colorado.edu

Donna is a proposal writer and editor, supporting arts, humanities, social sciences and education faculty draft the narrative portions of proposals. She runs RIO’s annual faculty Writing & Peer Editing Programs: NEH Fellowship Peer Editing Workshop Series and Fall Fellowship Writing & Peer Editing Program. As a research development specialist, she offers funding strategy sessions to faculty, staff and students across campus. Trained as a public interest lawyer, Donna has worked in the U.N. arena and published in the areas of the International Criminal Court, efficacy of drug courts, teaching law to undergrads, and environmental issues in the graphic novel, Asterix and the Black Gold. Donna is pleased to bring her grant writing skills—honed over 20 years of working with nonprofits—to CU Boulder.

Diane Carillo

Diane Carillo

Proposal Writer
 diane.carillo@colorado.edu

Since August of 2016, Diane has been a proposal writer and editor working on high-dollar, complex, multi-disciplinary proposals, including center proposals. She helps faculty and project teams across campus produce high-quality, competitive proposals, providing assistance with development, editing and proofreading as needed. Diane runs RIO’s annual NSF CAREER Commit-to-Submit Writing Program for early-career faculty and works with winners of limited submission campus competitions. A former English teacher, Diane worked in nonprofit advancement and marketing for more than 26 years, including thirteen years writing and editing proposals to philanthropic foundations.

Gijs de Boer

Gijs de Boer

Director, National Laboratory Partnerships
Senior Research Scientist, CIRES
 gijs.deboer@colorado.edu
 303-497-6648

Gijs de Boer is the director of national laboratory partnerships and a senior research scientist in CIRES and NOAA. In this newly created role for RIO, Gijs serves as the linchpin between CU Boulder and DOE’s national laboratories, deepening existing relationships and fostering new ones. He represents CU Boulder at national laboratory events, conferences, workshops and other functions to advance campus interests. Contact Gijs for any DOE federal laboratory needs you may have. 

Joe Dragavon

Joe Dragavon

Director, Core Facilities & Shared Instrumentation
 joseph.dragavon@colorado.edu
 303-735-6988

Joe has nearly 15 years of experience in core facility operations, including the last nine years as Director of the BioFrontiers Institute’s Advanced Light Microscopy Core. Joe has helped grow the core facilities and shared instrumentation community for CU Boulder. With his broad-reaching understanding of the numerous benefits that centralized resource centers offer to the institution, scientific community and environment, Joe aims to grow the impact of cores within CU’s research enterprise. In addition to directing his facility, Joe promotes community engagement amongst all cores and shared instrumentation centers both within and outside of CU Boulder, leads the Core Facility Assistance Grant and Core Facility Voucher Program and looks to formulate ways to equitably and continually support shared resources to advance research programs. Please reach out to Joe to learn more about core facilities at CU Boulder and throughout the Front Range!

Tanya Ennis

Tanya Ennis

Director of  Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Research, Creative Work and Innovation
 tanya.ennis@colorado.edu
 303-735-2142

Tanya is the director of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in research, innovation and creative work. With 14 years of DEI and engineering education experience at CU Boulder, Tanya serves as the strategic lead for programs integrating DEI within the research, creative work and innovation ecosystem of the university. As funding agencies require DEI plans, Tanya’s leadership and expertise support researchers authentically respond to DEI proposal questions and requirements. Reach out to Tanya for DEI grant questions; ways to integrate DEI within research, creative work and innovation; and establishing, implementing and achieving campus and unit-level DEI plans.

Jim Mazzouccolo

Jim Mazzouccolo

Proposal Writer
 james.mazzouccolo@colorado.edu
 303-735-7461

Jim is a proposal writer, editor and research development strategist supporting campus, the Center for Translational Research, the Anschutz Boulder (AB) Nexus, and also provides proposal writing seminars for faculty and postdocs. His goal is to strengthen the competitiveness of research proposals by providing stylistic, structural, substantive editing from the perspective of an educated, non-SME reviewer. Jim has over 13 years of experience in research and faculty development and reviews National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, Department of Defense and various foundation proposals. Jim takes great pride in assisting researchers—particularly early career researchers—so do not hesitate to contact him.  

Lisa Nanstad

Lisa Nanstad

Research Development Strategist, Biosciences
 lisa.nanstad@colorado.edu
 303-492-0132

Lisa is a research development strategist who serves as the CU Boulder lead for the Anschutz Boulder (AB) Nexus, works to develop RIO’s strategic intelligence capacity and provides support to the bioscience research community. Lisa has devoted her career to developing interdisciplinary bioscience research programs at top R1 universities across the US, facilitating the development of collaborative partnerships and working with teams engaged in biomedical research. Reach out to Lisa to learn about AB Nexus, resources and support for intercampus research and funding and engagement opportunities focused on human health and wellbeing.

Ryan Reeves

Ryan Reeves

Program Manager, Internal Funding & Postdoctoral Affairs
 ryan_reeves@colorado.edu
 303-735-7599

Ryan is a versatile contributor, supporting the associate and assistant vice chancellors for research with various initiatives for RIO and the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA). With over 15 years of experience in federal funding, Ryan manages RIO's Research & Innovation Seed Grant, Arts & Humanities Grant, New Frontiers Grant and over 80 limited submission competitions annually, helping yield millions in external funding. For OPA, he works to develop the next generation of scientists through professional development programs and advocates for postdocs at the campus level. Reach out to Ryan with questions about internal funding, research development, postdoc or general needs.

Karen Regan

Karen Regan

Associate Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation, Research Development
 karen.regan@colorado.edu
 303-492-4310

Karen is an associate vice chancellor for research and the ringleader for Boulder’s research development team. Karen takes a hands-on, strategic and personalized approach to help faculty identify and achieve their research goals. With nearly 15 years of experience in university administration, Karen is energized by emerging research trends, connecting the dots and collaborative teams. Contact Karen with questions about the federal funding landscape, identifying collaborators, institutional resources, new initiatives and suggestions for how RIO can better serve campus.