The Office of the Vice President for Research is proud to launch the Carolina Grants and Innovation Hub, a new unit dedicated to supporting USC faculty researchers and research administrators in their mission to develop top-quality proposals, secure research funding and enhance grant administration processes.
The CGI Hub, helmed by Executive Director of Research Development Emily Devereux, DPA, will offer a broad slate of concierge research development services and comprehensive training offerings by combining the functions of USC’s offices of Research and Grant Development and Research Training and Education Services, which have been unified under the new unit.
“The CGI Hub will serve as a one-stop shop for USC’s research community,” Devereux says. “We are excited to collaborate with faculty and with our colleagues in research offices across USC’s academic units and system campuses. Together, we will unleash the creativity and innovation of USC research by helping to streamline grant processes from proposal development all the way through closeout.”
The CGI Hub's robust services include:
- Grant writing and technical editing assistance
- Graphic design support
- Federal proposal development support
- Budget development and justification
- Guidance with proposal checklists and submission requirements
- Boilerplate language for institutional resources
- Research development toolbox for federal agency templates, requirements and ancillary documents
- Collaboration with unit research offices on SAM requirements for USCeRA and federal proposal submission portals
- Research intelligence landscapes in partnership with University Libraries
- Comprehensive, tiered training for research administrators at all levels of experience
- Faculty training programs like the popular Propel Research Mentorship Program
- On-demand training, including access to DataCamp, which is offered in partnership with the Office of the Provost
We want the CGI Hub to be a collaborative research powerhouse.
– Emily Devereux, DPA
To advance the new unit’s mission, the CGI Hub Team has grown to seven members as of January 2025, including a director for proposal development, director of research training and a grant writer for STEM research, with plans to add a grant writer for health sciences research in early 2025.
“USC research set a major funding record in 2024, and we are looking to build on that momentum in the coming year and beyond,” said Vice President for Research Julius Fridriksson. “The CGI Hub will be an important driver of research success moving forward. I encourage our faculty—including both early career and more senior faculty members—to take advantage of this new resource.”
CGI Hub leader Emily Devereux echoed Fridriksson: “We want the CGI Hub to be a collaborative research powerhouse. That’s why it’s so important for faculty and research administrators from every corner of the university to get involved. The more we hear from those we serve about what they need, what is working well and what could be improved, the more we can do to make their jobs more efficient and help them accomplish their goals.”