Image of Brooke Thayer

Brooke Thayer

Senior Analyst, Research Development

Areas of Expertise
  • Communication
  • Office of University Research
  • Strategy and Planning
Washington, DC
Specialties
  • Research Administration
  • Research Faculty Support
  • Research Funding/Research Growth
Connect with Brooke

Background

As part of EAB’s University Research Forum team, Brooke Thayer supports chief research officers and their teams in growing and managing the research enterprise. Her research has focused on team science, interdisciplinary collaboration, faculty and proposal development, research communications and digital strategy, facilities and administrative (F&A) funding, and strategic hiring initiatives. B

As part of EAB’s University Research Forum team, Brooke Thayer supports chief research officers and their teams in growing and managing the research enterprise. Her research has focused on team science, interdisciplinary collaboration, faculty and proposal development, research communications and digital strategy, facilities and administrative (F&A) funding, and strategic hiring initiatives.

Brooke has always been passionate about higher education, but her enthusiasm for academic research was spurred by the opportunity to travel with an international consortia of interdisciplinary researchers to detect, translate, and digitize ancient Roman wall-inscriptions. This experience left Brooke with a deep appreciation for the breadth and depth of research being conducted around the globe, as well as a more nuanced understanding of the challenges associated with research administration and project management.

Outside of the office, you can find Brooke running on the National Mall, exploring the newest D.C.coffee shops, or planning her next solo trip abroad.

Education

Brooke earned a B.A. in History summa cum laude from the University of San Diego, where she also received the Academic Achievement Award for Highest GPA Honors (4.0).Her M.Ed. in Higher Education Administration is from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College. She specialized in Leadership, Organization, and Policy and was named a Peabody Honors Scholar.

Research and Insights

Chief researcher officers (CROs) and their teams have primarily focused their facilities and administrative (F&A) funding education efforts on external stakeholders, but many internal stakeholders still do not understand F&A. As a result, faculty frequently request F&A waivers, deans grant costly F&A exemptions, and university leaders propose problematic changes to F&A policies. While CROs often…

After announcing plans for a new policy on harassment in February, the National Science Foundation (NSF) officially released the finalized policy last month. Effective October 21, 2018 for new grants and extensions to existing grants, universities must notify NSF within 10 days of any finding/determination that an NSF-funded principal investigator (PI) or co-PI committed harassment…

In response to declining federal funding and intensified grant competition, universities are increasingly turning to other funding sources such as businesses and donors. These investors care about research that impacts lives and addresses global problems. This type of research requires institutions to build interdisciplinary research teams. However, current departmental hiring strategies that focus on disciplinary…