The Implementation Group (TIG) provides an experienced team with in-depth and first-hand knowledge of federal research agencies and research and education program development. We work predominately with universities and colleges to provide a range of services to help individual investigators and multidisciplinary teams:

• identify federal funding trends and upcoming opportunities;
• plan and organize their resources to maximize their comparative advantages; and
• successfully capture competitive awards.

Founded in 1994, TIG has a long track record of assisting educational institutions, coalitions, and nonprofit organizations to target, capture, and implement federal and private sector contracts and grants. We match clients’ strengths and priorities with funding opportunities, and work as a team with faculty and senior leadership to strengthen proposals during the research development process. A direct result of this work is increased research capacity and competitiveness for our clients.

TIG works with its university clientele to seek and secure federal research and development (R&D) opportunities as well as enhance its academic stature and visibility among federal decision-makers. Working closely with clients, we specialize in federal R&D programs trends, strategic planning, faculty training and mentoring, proposal development, and effective communication and visibility of project outcomes. TIG focuses on Strategic Research Development and Strategic Assessment.

Research Development

Dr. Kelvin Chu, a former academic and National Science Foundation (NSF) Program Officer in the Office of Integrative Activities (OIA) is President and COO of TIG. Dr. Chu has 17 years of experience in research development and building research capacity in academia and at the federal level. He has expertise in program integration of research and education, evaluation and assessment of large-scale programs, and cyberinfrastructure initiatives. At NSF, Dr. Chu managed projects totaling $137 million in the physical, life, mathematical, and social sciences. As a faculty member, he received over $44 million to run large NSF- and NIH-funded centers.

André Boldon is a founding principal of TIG and has unmatched talents crafting project narratives from infant ideas to multimillion dollar federal investments. She has successfully secured TIG’s largest awards for clients and is highly sought after in the R&D space to work on the premiere federal competitions for university clients.

Dr. Jessica Moon brings nearly a decade of experience developing competitive research proposals across federal agencies, foundations, and state and regional funders. In prior roles, she led grant development and research capacity–building for an NIH-funded center and advised on a wide range of biomedical research initiatives. She also brings experience from health tech venture capital, where she sourced and evaluated startups and advised on SBIR/STTR strategy. Jessica is on the Board of Directors and Treasurer for the National Organization of Research Development Professionals.

Strategic Assessment

Dr. Heather McInnis leads this arm, leveraging her interdisciplinary science training and international research experience to assist universities, research coalitions, and program leaders evaluate and assess research capacity and competitiveness, institutional strategies and policies, and programmatic activities and impacts. Dr. McInnis has provided independent evaluations of more than $900 million in federally funded research programs invested in 20 U.S. jurisdictions to inform planning, research portfolio development, interdisciplinary collaboration, and community engagement. Prior to TIG, Dr. McInnis spent a decade with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) where she served as Associate Director of the Research Competitiveness Program and led external assessments of large-scale, interdisciplinary STEM programs and institutional research capacity in the U.S. and abroad.

TIG principals and subject matter experts are drawn from awardees and former officials of all federal R&D and Education agencies. These individuals are national scientific and educational leaders. This diverse set of talents and relationships sets TIG apart from other consulting firms. TIG has a 30-year successful track record of advising faculty teams, conducting pre- reviews of proposals prior to submission, and working directly with individual researchers and teams to materially strengthen their proposals. Our understanding of the federal grant and contract process is based on broad experience in developing, administering, and implementing research and development, technology, education, arts, diversity, workforce development, and other capacity building initiatives across the major federal agencies.

TIG can develop comprehensive strategies for team science, encompassing the creation of implementation roadmaps, evaluation frameworks, logic models, and outcome-focused strategies. Our expertise lies in crafting data-driven evaluation plans that integrate both formative and summative elements, providing robust support for implementation and reporting purposes. Leveraging TIG’s extensive network of subject matter experts, we offer invaluable independent feedback, fostering continuous improvement and facilitating sustainability planning through peer-to-peer collaboration.

TIG’s network of Subject Matter Experts bring agency experience to projects, proposals, and other client efforts. Comprised of leading science and technology (S&T) and education researchers, directors of large-scale Centers, ex-agency officials, international researchers, and other funded investigators, these individuals review applications across federal agencies, offer detailed suggestions to improve the competitiveness of proposals, and assist in color teams. TIG ensures that proposals are responsive to guidelines and that the final project is well-articulated, well-supported, and properly assembled. TIG’s individualized technical assistance provides critical support in increasing the competitiveness of your proposal.

Given high faculty workloads and the increasing complexity of contemporary science and demands to cover a plethora of issues in federal grant proposals, institutions often find themselves up against tight deadlines. Through staff time allocations and our dedicated extensive external consultant network, we are able to provide turnaround times on proposals, when necessary, in as short as a few days.

TIG works directly with faculty and administrators to craft proposals, sponsor proposal development and funding opportunities workshops, facilitate faculty visits to agencies and agency visits to client institutions, establish partnerships, and provide direct assistance writing/editing proposals. TIG has helped clients to attain small, medium, and large-scale awards from virtually every major funding agency, including the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Homeland Security, Labor, Transportation, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Science Foundation.