PI AcademyIn the fall of 2017, the Research & Innovation Office (RIO) launched the Principal Investigator (PI) Academy program to orient early career, tenure-track faculty to CU Boulder’s research community and resources. Through the PI Academy, faculty are actively engaged on a number of “core” research topics to ensure early investigators are well-positioned to apply for and secure external funding for their research, scholarly and creative endeavors. 

Since its inception, PI Academy has had great success, more than doubling participation from its first to second year. CU Boulder is home to more than 100 PI Academy graduates across campus, and over 20 more current participants. The PI Academy community includes a range of departments, colleges and institutes, with participants from the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Engineering & Applied Science and the College of Media, Communication and Information.

In the Spring of 2022, RIO consulted with previous participants to ensure that the PI Academy is meeting the needs of our faculty. Our 2022 offerings reflect the faculty feedback we received, and we hope you will join us for: How RIO Supports You, Time Management, Elements of a Strong One Page Project Summary, Avenues to External Funding, & Strategic Career Planning!

Register for PI Academy Here

Participation in the PI Academy includes the following benefits:

  • Faculty Network—Build a network with faculty leaders and peers from across campus.
  • Workshops—Priority workshop registration.
  • Strategic Career and Research Coaching—One-on-one coaching on strategies to develop your individual research, scholarly or creative work plan.
  • Identify Funding—One-on-one assistance in identifying relevant funding opportunities.
  • Get to Know Campus Leaders—Roundtable discussions with campus leaders; past sessions have included the Provost, Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation and Associate Deans for Research.
  • FRPA Reportable—Certificate of Completion (reportable on your annual Faculty Report of Professional Activities). 
  • Proposal Development Support—Priority access to services including writing, editing, proofreading, project management, and rigorous proposal review.

These offerings provide a basic, beginning foundation to support you in your research at CU Boulder. You are committing to attend these six sessions, which will be virtual for the Fall of 2022.

Late-August: PI Academy Kickoff: This event, required for the new PI Academy cohort, will welcome participants and provide an opportunity to network and learn about various resources and components of the PI Academy. The Acting Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation along with previous participants will be in attendance to offer their insights into the program and its benefits.

Late-August to Early-September: How RIO Supports You: Designed for new faculty members or as a refresher, this workshop will provide an overview of the Research & Innovation Office’s (RIO) various units and roles in supporting research, scholarly and creative activities. From providing proposal writing support and targeted workshops to developing strategic partnerships, RIO is here to help identify and secure funding, catalyze new ideas and increase connections across campus.

September: Time Management: This presentation condensed the ideas of many published time management experts into an overall approach for managing multiple projects, tasks, responsibilities, philosophies, practical how to's, strategies for managing the growing pile of emails in your inbox, along with hands-on time management activities.

October: Elements of a Strong One Page Project Summary: A project summary (“one pager”) has multiple uses. Participants will first be introduced to the key components of a clear and persuasive one page project summary. We will then break into groups to explore field/area (sciences, arts, humanities) specific approaches for one-page project summaries.

November: Avenues to External Funding: Learn how to use freely available databases of external funding opportunities for fellowships and grants. Including set up of funding alerts specific to your scholarly research or creative work through SPIN. Learn to use Dimensions to identify potential funding opportunities using a description of a current proposal idea.

May: Strategic Career Planning: RIO's Director of Strategic Projects Emily CoBabe-Ammann will guide PI Academy participants through a strategic career planning exercise to help develop your individual research plan. This workshop will lay the foundation for individual career strategy sessions with Emily offered in the summer after the session.

The PI Academy is geared toward tenure-track faculty who are within the first three years of their CU Boulder academic appointment at the level of Assistant Professor or the equivalent. If you are interested in participating but do not fall into this category, please contact the RIO Research Development Team at: rio@colorado.edu.

Note: To receive a Certificate of Completion, faculty must attend 6 mandatory PI Academy workshops over a 12-month period. These workshops will be scheduled based on the full cohorts’ availability at the beginning of each semester. You will also have priority access to all of our other Research Development Webinars and Workshops.

Register for PI Academy Here

2022-23 PI Academy Mandatory Webinars

Once you are registered for the PI Academy, you will be added to the Canvas course, where you can fill in When2Meets for each of the following events. Please register for the Kickoff and one How RIO Supports You by clicking on the links below. All events for Fall 2022 will be via Zoom unless otherwise denoted below.

* Zoom is committed to providing accessible meetings for all. Additional information regarding specific features, documents, and support can be found here. 

Check out all RIO Faculty Webinars & Workshops here!

Grant writing is an important aspect in the careers of faculty members across campus, however, it often takes a back seat to other faculty responsibilities. Given the significance of grant writing to early career faculty advancement, the Research & Innovation Office (RIO) recognizes the importance of supporting faculty grant writing efforts through facilitating faculty grant writing groups.

Faculty grant writing groups provide dedicated time and space for faculty members to write, hold oneself (and one another) accountable on writing goals, exchange ideas across disciplines, and receive peer support and feedback on writing efforts.

Visit RIO's Faculty Grant Writing Groups webpage to learn more. Sign up to join or start a new faculty grant writing group. 

Fill out this interest form to join or start a faculty grant writing group.

Please note that writing groups typically form in August/September, December, and May, so it is a good idea to indicate your interest in one of these months.