About Torguson & Associates

Kirsten has more than 30 years of experience in research administration, in all areas of the grant lifecycle. She has a Master of Science in Research Administration from the University of Central Florida (UCF) and is a Certified Research Administrator (CRA). Kirsten taught grant writing courses in the Master of Research Administration program at UCF and has held management positions in Offices of Grants & Contracts at several public and private universities. Kirsten is well-versed in federal small business funding (SBIR / STTR) and supports a diverse portfolio of small business and start-up companies. Kirsten started her consulting practice, Torguson & Associates, LLC, in 2010 and it has since grown to more than 100 clients across the country. Torguson & Associates provides a full suite of research administration related support services including temporary staffing from senior management to staff level positions (pre- and post-award), business process reviews, proposal development and grant writing, eRA software implementation support, tech transfer and IP guidance, policy and procedure development, and training and coaching services.

Denise has worked in higher education with a focus on sponsored program administration and research compliance for more than 30 years. During this time she has provided leadership within a large state university system, and worked extensively with university clients on special projects and sponsored program office reviews. Her expertise includes broad knowledge of federal, state and local government regulations and policy/procedure review, revision and development. Denise has served as audit champion lead on sponsor agency audits, internal and external audits, including the annual federal A-133 single audit.

Ethan has been working in Research Administration for several years with Utah State University, and has worked with multiple university clients, specializing in pre-award. He has served in various capacities in this time, ranging from proposal development to compliance review, and award negotiation. He became the lead trainer for Utah State University and is experienced in one-on-one training, as well as developing protocols and procedures for future and continued use. He has used and is familiar with Kuali, Cayuse and homegrown eRA systems. He enjoys troubleshooting and problem solving within research administration and always strives to "get to yes". He has an MBA from Utah State University and a BS in Communication from Weber State University. He completed his CRA in June of 2024.

Anthony holds a Master of City and Regional Planning in Sustainability and Food Systems Planning from Rutgers University and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies from SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry. In addition to his 10 years of experience in a comprehensive food systems agency in the non-profit sector, he has worked with a diverse portfolio of clients in his years of consulting. Anthony has extensive experience in grant writing and development, non-profit management, community engagement and coalitions, strategic planning, project management, evaluation, community health projects, urban planning, environmental studies, sustainable agriculture, and urban design. His expertise is particularly obvious in his ability to scale capacity for nonprofit startups and to bring projects to fruition with a focus on sustainability and equity.

Wendy has more than 20 years' experience in budgeting, bookkeeping, accounting and compliance for a not-for-profit research institute and several small businesses in Southern California. She's created a detailed QuickBooks system to track and manage grants over single and multiple years. Wendy also has vast experience preparing Indirect Cost Rate proposals and coordinating federal A-133 grant audits.

Stacey is a seasoned Sr. Grants and Contracts Administrator who collaborates with researchers and research offices to facilitate sponsored research, clinical trials, proposal development, and post award analysis and reconciliation. He has worked at several leading research institutions over the past 20 years and has extensive training in pre- and post-award grants management at the department, shared service center, and central office levels. Stacey holds a B.S. degree in Psychology from Valdosta State University.

Amanda has nearly 20 years of experience in non-profit organizations including over 10 years as a grants administrator in a large research university. She has extensive experience in pre- and post-award administration of federal, state, city, and private grants and contracts for both research and public service projects. In addition to ensuring compliant, on-time submissions of grant proposals and reports, she enjoys providing training, project management, knowledge management, and process improvement support. Amanda has an MS in Information and Knowledge Strategy from Columbia University and a BA in Asian Studies from Colgate University.

Ashuantay has more than 20 years of experience in grants and contracts administration with a focus in budget development. Throughout her career, Ashuantay has been responsible for submitting grant applications and managing federal, private, state, and non-profit grants. Ashuantay has developed and provided training on various grant topics. She also has experience with drafting regulations to develop new grant programs, creating grant guidelines, and establishing criteria for grant applicants. Ashuantay graduated with her Master in Public Administration (M.P.A) and a B.S. in Health Services Administration from the University of Central Florida in Orlando, FL.

Gail has more than 20 years of research administration experience in pre- and post-award with an NCI-designated Cancer Center. As such, her experience is primarily with competing and non-competing NIH-sponsored grants. She has experience creating and managing budgets for foundation grants and has conducted HR audits for non-profits. Gail has an MBA from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, with an undergraduate degree from California State University, Los Angeles, in Business Administration. She taught Organizational Development at the graduate level for seven years, and enjoys combining her interests in people, operations and culture when assisting non-profits and universities with their training and coaching needs.

Anita has 15 years of experience as a research administrator, specializing in pre-award. She has worked extensively in all aspects of the grant application process, from locating funding opportunities to finalizing applications for submission. She also specializes in copy editing and proofing of research proposals and scientific manuscripts for journal submission. Anita has extensive experience in assuring compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy. Anita's knowledge and expertise in the grant application and funding process, along with a well written scientific proposal, lends itself to a successful outcome!

Christine is a seasoned research administrator with over 25 years of leadership and training experience. She provides expertise in university policy development and grantsmanship process analysis to prepare institutions for increases in their externally funded research and meeting their research or training goals. She received her Ph.D. in Education from American University. She spent 17 years at Gallaudet University, the only university designed specifically for deaf and hard of hearing individuals, culminating her time there as Assistant Dean of Research. She is a Torguson and Associates senior consultant and serves on the editorial board of the National Council of University Research Administration's (NCURA) peer reviewed journal, Research Management Review. As a veteran research administrator, she provides extensive knowledge of sponsor expectations, training, proposal writing, in-depth editing and evaluation. She also facilitates submissions of large-scale, multi-institution grant proposals. Christine provides expert coaching for academic affairs leadership and mentoring of research administration teams.

Minu brings a strong background in intellectual property management, technology transfer, and research commercialization, grounded in her PhD and postdoctoral training in Life Sciences and Biotechnology. She has supported early-stage innovators and academic research teams by advising on IP strategy, market potential, and translational pathways. Her experience includes managing invention disclosures, evaluating research portfolios, preparing technologies for licensing, and developing practical, scalable processes that help small and mid-sized institutions enhance their tech-transfer capabilities. She is committed to empowering universities, labs, and emerging innovation offices with systems that drive research impact and successful commercialization.

Annie has more than 10 years of experience as a specialist in higher education and federal grants and contracts. Annie has a Master of Science in Research Administration from the University of Central Florida, and a Master of Arts in Organizational Learning and Performance. She is also a Certified Research Administrator (CRA) and Certified Pre-Award Research Administrator (CPRA). She enjoys leveraging her experience in the federal space to enhance the proposal review process to produce more responsive and compliant proposals for her stakeholders.

Pauline has more than 20 years of research and grants experience in higher education. She has served in various research-related roles, including Educational Research Consultant at the University of Birmingham School of Medicine, Executive Director of Research for Lincoln Memorial University, and faculty research instructor for WGU's Graduate School of Education. Her prior work involved assisting investigators in scholarly work and research, including program planning, grant writing, compliance, and human subjects protection. In her faculty role, she taught research methodology and guided graduate students through their culminating project's research process. Pauline holds an undergraduate degree in Psychology, a master's in education, and a Doctor of Leadership in education.

Lisa has almost 40 years of experience as a communications professional. She is a national trainer and grant writing instructor with a specialty in K-12 education, specialized youth programs including STEM/STEAM camps, workforce development programs, and program development. Lisa conducts workshops and seminars on grant readiness and provides individualized coaching to nonprofits seeking funds for capacity building and program expansion. As a grant writer, she has secured funds for a wide range of programs including those serving individuals with developmental disabilities, K-12 education, STEM programs, workforce development programs, clean energy, and nonprofit management.

Aline has over 25 years of experience in senior leadership roles at prestigious academic medical centers, including several Harvard-affiliated institutions in Boston, and the University of California, San Diego. Currently, Aline is an independent consultant, helping small biopharma and biotech companies with non-dilutive revenue management. She has dedicated her career to advancing science and healthcare through research administration and has extensive experience with SBIR/STTR grants and contracts, as well as working with agencies such as the DOD, DARPA, and ARPA She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Master of Science in Biomedical and Biotechnology Science from the University of Massachusetts and is a Certified Research Administrator (CRA).

Ginger has both pre- and post-award experience at an institution of higher education. Over the past 30 years, she has served in various capacities ranging from department level proposal submission and post-award activities for sponsored projects, to central level experience as an accountant responsible for the oversight and invoicing of external funding received from federal agencies and other colleges and universities. Ginger is experienced in award and contract negotiation and the management of subawards and subrecipient monitoring. Ginger has a Master of Science in Research Administration from the University of Central Florida. She has presented at NCURA Regional meetings and has been a full member of SRAI since 2012 where she served as Secretary and President of the Alabama/Mississippi Chapter. Currently, she is active with the Federal Demonstration Partnership's subrecipient monitoring working group.

Tracy has over 20 years of department research administration experience at the largest research unit at an R1 university. She was the university's expert in working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA). She is a Certified Research Administrator (CRA) and holds an MBA and a BS in Mathematics from the University of Oklahoma. She has shared her knowledge by teaching through the Society of Research Administrators (SRA) Department Administrator Intensive course.

Jen is a Certified Research Administrator with nearly a decade of progressive experience in university research administration and sponsored programs at an R1 research institution. Her experience spans both the departmental and central office levels. She is adept at managing all parts of the lifecycle of awards, with experience in pre-award proposal development, post-award financial and nonfinancial management and compliance, subaward administration, and award closeout. She has demonstrated experience in negotiating, executing, and managing a variety of contracts, grants, and agreements while ensuring strict compliance with federal, state, and local regulations.

Chris has extensive experience in post-award administration from working in a small college combined pre/post office to R1 research institutions for the past 35 years in departmental and central office roles. She has engaged in PI departmental support, supported basic science/medical departmental leadership with guidance, oversight and staffing and led central sponsored accounting offices' award creation, invoicing, audit/site visits, financial reporting and compliance. Chris possesses a strong understanding of regulatory frameworks in creating and refining policies and procedures to meet evolving sponsor agency requirements and business needs. In her last director's position, she participated in the implementation of Huron ecrt® Solution for Effort Reporting and Workday Administrative Suite go-live. Chris has a Master of Science in Educational Psychology and fell into sponsored research administration while studying and loved it ever since.

Jesse is a senior research administrator with over 25 years of experience in higher education, medical research organizations, and membership associations. Most recently he supervised pre-award, post-award, and compliance for an $80 million portfolio of grants and contracts. He has also served as head of research administration at both public and private universities. Jesse has served on expert panels and authored articles focused on research administration, research funding, and economic development and was previously appointed by the Governor of California as the Assistant Secretary of Science and Technology in the Trade and Commerce Agency. He holds an M.A. in International Development from the International University of Japan (国際大学) and a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Harvard University.

Heather has over 20 years of experience working for R1 universities, non-profits, and state government. She has led sponsored projects offices by developing policies and procedures, creating workload metrics, training, and development of research administrator staff, and facilitating cross functional collaboration. Heather is a seasoned contract negotiator and a highly rated presenter on the topic. Her experience with process review, analysis, and strategic oversight can support successful project launch, development, and ongoing support.

Chief Barketing Officer & Head of Team Happiness

Lily Poo is a founding member of the Torguson & Associates team, beginning her career as Receptionist—faithfully alerting us to the presence of UPS drivers, neighborhood cats, and the occasional thunderstorm. Small but mighty, she keeps the team grounded, smiling, and always moving forward. Driven by love, resilience, treats, and an impressive sense of direction (despite everything), Lily Poo brings unmatched spirit to the office. Following her promotion to Chief Barketing Officer & Head of Team Happiness, she continues to serve as a trusted source of perspective, positivity, and perfectly timed interruptions - reminding us all of what really matters.