Sowmya Anand
Director, Office of Proposal Development
217-333-2219 | sanand@illinois.edu
Sowmya Anand leads the Office of Proposal Development, providing vision and strategic direction for the office. In that role, she manages the OPD team, coordinates campus-wide Research Development activities, and supports large-scale multidisciplinary funding opportunities that contribute to the Illinois research enterprise. She received her PhD in Social Psychology from The Ohio State University. She has over 20 years of experience writing and editing proposals, managing both small scale and large scale research projects involving the use of survey methodology, and writing and editing analytic reports.
Suzanne Berry-Miller
Assistant Director, Research Strategy
217-333-4246 | berryse@illinois.edu
Suzanne supports the development large-scale interdisciplinary projects from both federal funding agencies and private foundations and works on special projects that support the Illinois research enterprise. She has more than 20 years of research development experience at Illinois and received her Ph.D. in Human Oncology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Herbert DaCosta
Senior Research Development Manager
217-300-6511 | hdacosta@illinois.edu
Herbert DaCosta supports large-scale multidisciplinary funding opportunities that contribute to the Illinois research enterprise. He has over ten years of experience writing and editing proposals in both academic and industrial settings. He has a Ph.D. in chemistry with minors in physics and computer engineering from the University of Florida and a D.Sc. in chemistry from the University of São Paulo, Brazil.
Amber Floyd
Data, Information, and Budget Resource Analyst
217-244-5195 | afloyd@illinois.edu
Amber Floyd provides support for large-scale multidisciplinary funding opportunities that contribute to the Illinois research enterprise. She has 19 years of experience in grants administration, including serving as a project director on a federal grant and 14 years of experience at Illinois as a proposal coordinator for OSPRA, currently known as SPA. Amber has a master’s degree in education from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Rajeev Malik
Director, Strategic Intelligence
217-333-8085 | rmalik@illinois.edu
Rajeev manages strategic projects for the Office of Proposal Development and is the lead for initiatives with key private foundations. He has over seven years of experience in foundation relations, helping research, develop and manage grants, and over twenty years of experience at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He has a master’s Degree in International Relations from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in history from McGill University.
Richard Sallee
Limited Submissions Manager
217-300-3082 | rsallee2@illinois
Richard leads the University’s limited submission selection process and assists with choosing submitted proposals. He has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Melissa Edwards
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation
217-265-5446 | mme@illinois.edu
Melissa Edwards works to connect people with information to tell the story of the University’s research enterprise. As Assistant VCRI, she oversees OPD activities and provides a strategic link between the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation and the campus Research Development Community. She has a Master’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.