Proposal Development Institute 2026

SENT ON BEHALF OF RANDY HEFLIN AND THE OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

Dear colleagues,

We are organizing the Proposal Development Institute (PDI) for Spring 2026 and are writing to ask you to identify early career faculty who could benefit from it. 

The purpose of the PDI program is to provide a variety of experiences that are designed to enhance the ability of tenure-track faculty and research assistant professors at Virginia Tech to successfully pursue externally funded grants and contracts to support their research and scholarly activities. 

The program is primarily designed for faculty members who are still relatively early in their development regarding the formulation of their research ideas into formal written proposals to external sponsors. The PDI program is funded through a small registration fee ($350) per selected participant, which departments and programs will commit to sponsoring by nominating their faculty members.

The PDI program will include a portfolio of activities targeting all of the participants, regardless of their affiliation. The primary workshop will occur during two all-day sessions on January 15th and 16th, 2026. In-person participation is strongly encouraged, but Zoom will also be available for those who are unable to be in Blacksburg on those days.

Additional supplementary meetings of PDI will occur every few weeks on Wednesdays 4-5 pm from January 28th through April 29th, 2026 in hybrid (Zoom and in-person) format. 

The PDI webpage has more details about the program. 

Please email to Eleanor Nelsen (enelsen@vt.edu) the names and email addresses of the early career faculty in your program that you would like to nominate for this program by December 10th.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at rheflin@vt.edu or 540-231-3899. 

Thank you and best regards,

Randy Heflin and Eleanor Nelsen