{"id":236183,"date":"2025-10-09T07:30:36","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T11:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=236183"},"modified":"2025-10-07T13:53:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T17:53:42","slug":"grant-trails-shows-how-research-funding-benefits-connecticut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/10\/grant-trails-shows-how-research-funding-benefits-connecticut\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Grant Trails\u2019 Shows How Research Funding Benefits Connecticut"},"content":{"rendered":"

What happens when a researcher wins a grant?\u00a0Where does the money actually go?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s\u00a0a fair question.\u00a0Headlines declaring that a\u00a0researcher has been awarded\u00a0a large sum\u00a0of money\u00a0\u2013 whether\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0$200,000 or $2 million — can\u00a0make it seem like they are individually profiting by this amount.\u00a0But in reality, when\u00a0a UConn researcher wins a grant, most of the money\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0go to them.\u00a0It\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0even go to UConn.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, it ripples outward, enriching communities across the state.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To help people visualize this, a team of UConn software engineers created a tool called \u201c<\/span>Grant Trails<\/span><\/a>.\u201d Recently updated with FY24 data from the UConn and UConn Health research offices, Grant Trails traces the flow of grant dollars through communities across Connecticut.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt started out as a fun project for our undergrads to work on,\u201d says Dan Schwartz, Vice Provost for Academic Operations, who had the idea to launch Grant Trails in 2017. \u201cWhat it illustrates, now, is increasingly important and useful in our current time.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Schwartz says he hopes Grant Trails can continue to be a resource for people, both in the UConn community and beyond, to see the direct impact of research grant funding.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like there was some misconception with regard to how we spend our money \u2013 like that the money coming in just kind of enriches the university, when really, we\u2019re practically like a pass-through,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u201cGrant dollars come into the university, but then they get funneled outward \u2013 to people, to businesses, to carry out a whole host of needs.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Grant dollars pay the salaries of not just the principal investigator (PI) on the project, but every researcher working with them, including graduate students and postdocs. Grant dollars pay to keep the lights on in labs (and, more importantly, to keep the fume hoods running).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Connecticut\u2019s coast, grant dollars\u00a0pay for scientists to\u00a0<\/span>monitor\u00a0marine mammal\u00a0health<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0In Farmington, they pay for\u00a0cutting-edge\u00a0medical imaging equipment like UConn\u00a0Health\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>cryogenic electron microscope<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0Grant dollars pay for social workers\u00a0to provide\u00a0<\/span>mental health support in schools<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0And grant dollars pay for\u00a0UConn Humanities Center researchers to collaborate with\u00a0faculty on the other side of the globe\u00a0for conversations about\u00a0<\/span>the meaning of AI in our lives<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Between paying salaries for individuals, utility bills for facilities, and contracts with businesses across the state, grant money doesn\u2019t just stay around Storrs (or Farmington, Stamford, Avery Point, or Hartford). <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From Concept to Code<\/h3>\n

In addition to his Vice Provost role,\u00a0Schwartz\u00a0is\u00a0also\u00a0an associate professor in the Department of Physiology and Neurobiology\u00a0and\u00a0was formerly the\u00a0Director of the\u00a0<\/span>Center for\u00a0Open Research Resources and Equipment (COR\u00b2E)<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0As a\u00a0scientist,\u00a0his interests lie\u00a0in developing new computational techniques to support research\u00a0(\u201cmy lab is\u00a0kind of split\u00a0between software development and experimental biology,\u201d he says),\u00a0so his involvement with\u00a0COR\u00b2E and Grant Trails was\u00a0only natural.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2016-17,\u00a0Schwartz\u00a0launched and led\u00a0Squared Labs, a\u00a0student software development group\u00a0that\u00a0worked to create digital tools\u00a0to\u00a0assist\u00a0UConn faculty.\u00a0After a few rounds of internal transformation, Squared Labs\u00a0and its projects\u00a0ultimately found\u00a0their home in the newly formed\u00a0<\/span>Internal Innovation & Insights group (i3),<\/span><\/a>\u00a0headed by Director Joel Salisbury.\u00a0Salisbury, along with senior application developer Brian Kelleher, now helms the ongoing maintenance of Grant Trails.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOver the years, we\u2019ve helped refine the data set and ensure its accuracy,\u201d says Kelleher. Together, he and Salisbury have troubleshot solutions to common problems, like the inherent difficulty of ascertaining where all the work on a specific grant is taking place.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

i3\u00a0continues to\u00a0develop custom websites, software, and apps for researchers at UConn and elsewhere.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire point of\u00a0i3\u00a0is to innovate\u00a0<\/span>for<\/span><\/i>\u00a0the University \u2013 to build tools for the University,\u201d says Schwartz.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGrant Trails is an excellent example of that mission,\u201d adds\u00a0Salisbury.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Grant Trails was and is powered in large part by student work.\u00a0Schwartz especially commends the work of\u00a0Jack\u00a0Medrek (\u201825\u00a0ENG),\u00a0Quincy Miller\u00a0(\u201824\u00a0ENG), Natalie Lacroix\u00a0(\u201822 SFA), and\u00a0Brandon Cheng\u00a0(\u201819 ENG), all of whom\u00a0contributed their\u00a0expertise\u00a0to making Grant Trails functional, informative, and visually appealing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m extraordinarily appreciative of all the hard work and talent that went into this initiative,\u201d says Schwartz. \u201cWe have amazing people here at UConn \u2013 that’s what this is really a reflection of.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A heat map worth a thousand words<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":236184,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2429,2226,1715,2404,2471,2460,2390,2076,2235,2227],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2413],"class_list":["post-236183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-awards-scholarships","category-clas","category-community-impact","category-data-science","category-economic-development","category-faculty","category-physiology-neurobiology","category-research","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-edu-homepage"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 03:55:49","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236183"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236278,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236183\/revisions\/236278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/236184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236183"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=236183"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=236183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}