Research development specialist helps social scientists solve societal problems

Nellie Kassebaum | Research Development Specialist | Institute for Policy & Social Research

Social scientists often have insights that can solve problems in partnership with communities, but they need funding to deploy these solutions. Nellie Kassebaum is one of many staff members who help KU researchers secure those funds.

Kassebaum is a research development specialist at the Institute for Policy & Social Research, one of KU’s 11 designated research centers. Her time at KU began as an undergraduate student, where she earned a degree in English before completing a master’s in public health at Colorado State University. After working as a COVID-19 contact tracer and research assistant, Kassebaum returned to KU in 2023.

In her current role, Kassebaum supports principal investigators throughout the grant application process. This is especially true in the pre-award phases that determine whether the researcher earns the funding.

“Nellie has a great eye for detail and an unwavering commitment to excellence. She will always go the extra mile on a project,” said Carrie Caine, associate researcher at IPSR.

Kassebaum supported KU’s Phase I and Phase II applications to the National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator, which funded research related to water quality and quantity in Kansas. IPSR researchers worked with partners within and beyond the university to install sensors in water wells and build an online dashboard that published data from those sensors for city water officials and state agency staff to help conserve Kansas’s water resources.

The project also provided unique learning opportunities for students. Undergraduate mechanical engineering students designed the sensors that monitored harmful algal blooms in state water wells. Data science students helped create the dashboard.

“Working with Nellie is always so reassuring,” said Will Duncan, assistant research professor in economics, who led the project. “She goes above and beyond preparing the documents and helping guide the timeline when submission materials should be ready. She feels like an active collaborator in the proposals, and I always feel like she deserves more credit.”