Grants 102 celebrates new cohort
Junior faculty from across UTHealth Houston are one step closer to securing external research funding after completing the Grants 102 program.
Grants 102, a six-month workshop and a follow-up to the Grants 101 course, helps junior faculty members develop a grant application that is peer reviewed and ready to submit to an external funding agency upon completion of the program.
“We celebrate today for the successful completion of the 2026 Grants 102 Program,” said Jake Chen, PhD, New Investigator Development Program director and professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, as well as a member of UT MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. “Since its founding in 2004, this program has nurtured numerous successful careers at our university. We have a total of approximately 440 participants, who have brought more than $400M in grant funding to UTHealth Houston.
"I want to congratulate all of the 2026 participants for completing the program, and we trust that you will continue the winning tradition of this program. We are grateful to the university for the continued support, and to the mentors and the administrative team for the outstanding work.”
Before the program begins, each faculty member selects a mentor who is a senior faculty member with expertise in their area of interest.
Throughout the course, senior UTHealth Houston faculty members present seminars on various components of grant applications, including hypothesis generation and specific aims, abstract development, and experimental planning. Participants then work with their mentors to write the corresponding section of a grant proposal and present a brief overview during the monthly sessions.
“I want to say thank you to Jake (Chen), the staff, and especially the mentors for the time that they all put in, giving lectures and reading all of the rough drafts,” said Kevin Morano, PhD, senior vice president for Academic and Faculty Affairs at UTHealth Houston and senior associate dean for Faculty Affairs and the Roger J. Bulger, MD, Distinguished Professor at McGovern Medical School. “They’re doing this because they want to help all of you. This is an investment from the university into our faculty.”
Following the completion of the course, participants gathered for the Grants 102 Appreciation Luncheon at the medical school. Researchers celebrated the successful completion of the program, and each participant presented their mentor with a plaque recognizing their guidance and dedication throughout the course.
Participant sentiments
Following the event, graduates reflected on their experience in Grants 102.
“The program has equipped me with the knowledge and confidence to build on my internally funded research and develop competitive proposals for extramural funding,” said Neha Arora, MTech, PhD, assistant professor at UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry.
“The grants 102 course was definitely time well-spent. The one-on-one faculty mentorship on my grant was helpful for improving my own grant application as I prepare for submission. I would highly recommend the course to early-career faculty who are starting research careers and working on grant applications,” said Brian Skaug, MD, PhD, assistant professor, at McGovern Medical School.
“Grants 102 is a fantastic training program in grantsmanship for new faculty at UTHealth Houston. I benefited from each didactic module covering a different aspect of grant writing, valuable feedback from my mentor Dr. Noriaki Ono, as well as program participants who provided critique for my proposal. I applied the frameworks from this course to successfully compete for a pilot research award from the Lawrence Family Bone Program of Texas. Our lab is very excited for the next funding opportunities,” said Sudha Rajderkar, BDS, MS, PhD, assistant professor at the School of Dentistry.
“The Grants 101 and Grants programs, combined with the dedicated mentorship that I received from my mentor, Dr. Muhammad Walji, and the support from my collaborators, were instrumental in my success, leading to all three grant applications that I submitted in my first year being funded. I am deeply grateful for the foundational knowledge and strategic insights and experiences shared by the expert speakers in the Grants 102 course,” said Sayali Tungare, BDS, MPH, PhD, assistant professor at McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston.
Interested in attending the next session?
Registration for the 2027 Grants 101 and Grants 102 programs will begin in the fall. For more information, please visit the New Investigator Development Program website(external link).
