The Pre-Award Research Operations (PRO) team provides efficient, friendly, and professional proposal development and support services to Architecture Art and Planning, Bowers Computing and Information Sciences, Brooks School of Public Policy, College of Arts & Sciences, College of Engineering,  Cornell Law School, Cornell Tech, CLASSE, and LASSP.

PRO's purpose is to reduce the administrative burden of proposal preparation so that researchers can focus on the technical or scientific components of their proposals, thereby increasing the chances of success.

Our Services

  • Review and interpret sponsor solicitations for proposals
  • Prepare summaries of required proposal documents and templates of common proposal elements
  • Draft Current & Pending/Other Support documents
  • Develop budgets, including detailed financial budget and narrative justification
  • Prepare and assemble proposal packages, including completion of electronic applications
  • Interface with internal and external collaborators to collect required documents (CV's, letters of support, subaward documents, etc.)
  • Initiate RASS project record and route for approval
  • Liaise and collaborate with the assigned Grant & Contract Officer through the successful submission of the application for funding
  • Support revised budget requests, NIH Just-In-Time submissions, incoming sponsored award transfers, and complex research center proposals
  • Identify and disseminate funding opportunities to supported faculty

Image: Headphones iconReceiving Support

Our team is available to assist you Monday through Friday, 8:30am - 5:00pm.

Researchers are invited to send proposal notifications to the PRO team by completing a short Proposal Notification form. A Pre-Award Specialist/Grant Coordinator will be assigned to the proposal within one business day and will follow up with the researcher and the researcher's department to provide proposal specific guidance and support.

Other requests for support or inquires can be directed to the PRO Team Inbox, osp-pro@cornell.edu.

Our Team & Assignments:

Leadership and Administrators
Su Ghosh

Su Ghosh
Associate Director
sg232@cornell.edu
607-255-6604

Shannon Finnerty-Pelto

Shannon Finnerty-Pelto
Team Lead: Engineering
srf63@cornell.edu
(607) 254-3262

Samantha Grace

Samantha Grace
Team Lead: Non-Engineering
skr54@cornell.edu
(607) 255-2528

Cindy VandeWall

Cindy VandeWall
Pre-Award Assistant
cv282@cornell.edu
(607) 255-6038

Michael Doll

Michael Doll
Pre-Award Assistant
mpd95@cornell.edu
(607) 255-1802

College of Engineering Units
Non-Engineering Units
Alan Chen

Alan Chen
Pre-Award Specialist
ac2459@cornell.edu
(607) 255-1883
Engineering (MAE)

Vince Dieffenbaugher

Vince Dieffenbaugher
Grant Coordinator
vmd29@cornell.edu
(607) 255-9985
(CAS)

Nicole Francik

Nicole Francik
Grant Coordinator
oco5@cornell.edu
(607) 254-5622
Engineering (ECE)

Nicholas Evanoski

Nicholas Evanoski
Senior Pre-Award Specialist
nme34@cornell.edu
(607) 255-2543
(TBD)

Danielle Lethbridge

Danielle Lethbridge
Grant Coordinator
djl363@cornell.edu
(607) 255-8218
Engineering (MSE)

Amy Jackson

Amy Jackson
Pre-Award Specialist
alj67@cornell.edu
(607) 255-8326
(Cornell Tech)

Giselle Maira

Giselle Maira
Pre-Award Specialist
gm467@cornell.edu
(607) 255-1238
Engineering (EAS / ORIE)

Mindy McGill-Carlison

Mindy McGill-Carlison
Senior Pre-Award Specialist
mmc328@cornell.edu
(607) 255-2942
(AAP / CLASSE)

Roger Miller

Roger Miller
Pre-Award Specialist
rdm285@cornell.edu
(607) 255-4252
Engineering (BME)

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Azra Omanovic
Grant Coordinator
ao468@cornell.edu
(607) 255-6200
(TBD)

Olivia Ohlsten

Olivia Ohlsten
Grant Coordinator
oco5@cornell.edu
(607) 254-5622
Engineering (BME)

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Ryan Ossit 
Grant Coordinator
rjo72@cornell.edu
(607) 255-5970
(TBD)

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Elissa Palmer
Grant Coordinator
mlr323@cornell.edu
(607) 255-9355
Engineering (CBE)

Jamie Lynn Slusser

Jamie Lynn Slusser
Pre-Award Specialist
jls679@cornell.edu
(607) 254-2111
(Cornell Tech)

Matthew Robinson

Matthew Robinson
Senior Pre-Award Specialist
mlr323@cornell.edu
(607) 255-9355
Engineering (MAE)

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Allessandra "Allie" Spada 
Grant Coordinator
as4383@cornell.edu
(607) 255-6322
(TBD)

Robin Tropper-Herbel

Robin Tropper-Herbel
Grant Coordinator
rt222@cornell.edu
(607) 255-0553
Engineering (AEP)

Ryan Vann

Ryan Vann 
Senior Pre-Award Specialist
rav68@cornell.edu
(607) 255-4773
(Law / R&I)

Edgar VanScoy

Edgar VanScoy
Senior Pre-Award Specialist
eev28@cornell.edu
(607) 255-4692
Engineering (CEE)