Associate Vice President for Administration and Chief Business Practice Improvement (BPI) Officer Bill Dracos reported to the council at its March 19 meeting on BPI’s project to transform research administration at Emory, an effort ongoing since Fall 2011. In April, two pilot “Research Administration Shared Service Centers” will launch in public health and several departments in the medical school. The goals of this effort include simplifying and streamlining the process of administering research grants, from pre-award to post award. Located near the departments they serve, the shared service centers are designed to move many key activities of research administration closer to faculty, to better provide assistance from professionals with detailed knowledge about the individual awards. Following the roughly six-month pilot period, additional centers will phase in in other schools. Eventually, ten to twelve centers will open across campus. “Many of the pre-award functions you experience now won’t change,” Dracos said. “But on the post-award side, you should see improvement.” For more information about the Transform Research Administration Project, visit tra.emory.edu (requires Emory ID and password for login).