NSF ART Program Manager

University of Wisconsin Milwaukee•Milwaukee, WI

7d•Onsite

About The Position

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Accelerating Research Translation (ART) Program Manager will coordinate and manage the integrated portfolio of projects, programs, partnerships, and operations that comprise UWM TRANSLATE, UWM’s NSF-funded Accelerating Research Translation initiative. The position will ensure that activities across the initiative’s Industry Pull, System-Level/Culture, and Seed Translational Research Project (STRP) thrusts advance toward common institutional research-translation objectives, milestones, and outcomes. Working with the Principal Investigator, Co-PIs, UWM Research Foundation, Office of Research, University of Michigan mentoring team, faculty and staff leads, consultants, and industry partners, the Program Manager will develop and maintain the overall program plan; coordinate component activities and resources; monitor schedules, budgets, milestones, risks, and performance; and facilitate communication and decision-making across the initiative. The position will serve as the primary operational point of coordination for UWM TRANSLATE. The Program Manager will function as the integrating operational leader of UWM TRANSLATE, rather than as the individual owner of each component program. Faculty, staff, and partner leads will retain responsibility for specialized content and program delivery, while the Program Manager will ensure that these activities operate as a coordinated portfolio, remain aligned with NSF commitments, achieve milestones, and collectively contribute to increasing UWM’s institutional capacity for research translation.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in any field
Evidence of demonstrated experience managing complex, multi-component programs or projects.
Evidence of strong project management
Evidence of ability to work with a variety of institutional stakeholders
Evidence of demonstrated ability to coordinate multiple workstreams, deadlines, resources, and partners.

Nice To Haves

Master’s or doctoral degree; in any field
Evidence of experience in higher education
Evidence of experience in research administration
Evidence of experience in entrepreneurship, economic development, or technology commercialization.
Evidence of experience with National Science Foundation (NSF) or other federally funded initiatives.
Evidence of familiarity with research translation, industry engagement, NSF I-Corps, technology transfer, or startup development.
Evidence of experience with program budgets, performance metrics, and sponsor reporting.

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain the integrated UWM TRANSLATE program plan, including timelines, milestones, responsibilities, dependencies, and deliverables.
Coordinate implementation across the three project thrusts and associated skill-building programs.
Establish priorities and coordinate resources across component projects to maintain alignment with overall program objectives.
Identify implementation risks, resolve operational issues, and escalate strategic issues to project leadership when appropriate.
Coordinate annual convenings, Executive Team meetings, partner meetings, and other project-wide activities.
Creates a program plan and structure, monitors progress and performance against the program plan, and identifies, resolves, or escalates program risks and issues.
Leads and manages efforts to determine and coordinate the sharing of resources among component projects to the overall benefit of the program.
Manages the activities of outside contractors and vendors to ensure they are integrated into the program and that the organization receives satisfactory standards of service.
Facilitates the estimation of program costs, resources, and time required to complete the overall program, monitors activities and budgets, directs and leads component project manager activities for consistency and alignment, and works with program leadership to ensure these targets are met.
Follows established change control processes if targets can no longer be met.
Prepares regular reports to communicate the status of the program within and beyond the program team, communicates program goals, risks, and status with program executive level, program sponsors, and stakeholders, and develops and uses appropriate dashboards, measures, and reporting tools.
Sets priorities, allocates tasks, and collaborates with project staff to meet program targets and milestones.
Manages the change control process and acts as the mid-level decision making authority.
Monitor progress against project milestones, schedules, budgets, and NSF commitments.
Develop dashboards and reporting tools for tracking key performance indicators, participation, STRP progression, and institutional outcomes.
Coordinate resource allocation across activities and work with project leadership to address schedule, scope, or resource changes.
Coordinate the activities of consultants and external partners and ensure their work is integrated with overall program objectives.
Support preparation of NSF annual reports and other sponsor and institutional reporting.
Serve as the primary operational liaison among the Office of Strategic Partnerships, Office of Research, UWM Research Foundation, Lubar Entrepreneurship Center, University of Michigan, participating colleges and departments, and external partners.
Coordinate responsibilities and information flow among faculty leads, program staff, consultants, ART Ambassadors, STRP teams, mentors, and industry participants.
Facilitate collaboration across organizational boundaries and identify opportunities to integrate existing UWM resources with UWM TRANSLATE activities.
Coordinate technology scouting, STRP recruitment, selection, onboarding, stage-gate reviews, and milestone tracking.
Connect project teams with appropriate commercialization, industry, mentoring, I-Corps, intellectual property, and translational resources.
Coordinate implementation of research-translation training and professional development activities.
Document effective practices, implementation lessons, and program improvements to support institutionalization and sustainability beyond NSF funding.