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This is post 3 of 3 in my summer evaluation series. If you missed the last two, check out:

• A real-life example of evaluation in the Science of Reading project

• Asking questions and getting answers: The power of focus groups

Usually evaluation is about a program, a project, or an organization. Today it's about YOU.

Earlier this summer, I had a chance to present a paper with some really smart friends at the American Society for Engineering Education conference in Montreal, Canada.

Dr. Allie DeLeo-Allen, Dr. Krystal Cruse, Dr. Anne Case Hanks,

Alicia Kiremire. Not pictured: Dr. Katie Evans

Our team studied university faculty's capacity to pursue external funding... and what actually WORKS to grow that capacity.

(Spoiler alert: what works is collaborating with someone who's done it before. We call it collabo-gleaning.)

If you're a university faculty member, please check out our full paper!

Otherwise...

Here's a free self-assessment to evaluate your own grant-writing capacity.

Use this tool, and in five minutes, you'll find out what makes up your current capacity to write grants and what you should do next. The terminology is geared toward university researchers, but feel free to adapt it to your own situation!

And finally, want to implement collabo-gleaning at your university?

Our research group is currently in the process of identifying new partners and expanding our study. If you're interested, please reach out to me.

Thanks for reading, and I hope we have given you some ideas as we all keep learning!

Full paper citation: DeLeo-Allen, A., & Kiremire, A. B., & Evans, K., & Case Hanks, A., & Cruse, K. C. (2025, June), Unveiling the mystery: A capacity development framework for early-career STEM educators pursuing external funding. Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada. https://peer.asee.org/57752