Drop-in virtual informational session for the 2025 VBRN Summer Internship Program
2025-01-30 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | VT
Drop-in virtual informational session for the 2025 VBRN Summer Internship Program:

Thursday, January 30, 2025 | 12:00-1:00 PM – Zoom link

Summer Internship Drop-in Info Session
2025-02-07 12:00 - 13:00 | VT
Drop-in informational session on Friday February 7, 2025 at 12:00 – Zoom link

Genomics Data Carpentry
2025-03-17 - 2025-03-18 | VT
Monday March 17 – Tuesday March 18, 2025, from 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM both days
Registration is open!
Workshop website

This online-only workshop is intended for people working with high-throughput sequencing data and focuses on helping them upgrade their workflow from relying on spreadsheets and GUI platforms to using command-line tools and accessing remote computing power. Learners will be introduced to core Bash commands and will learn to write custom Bash scripts to automate an analysis pipeline. They will be introduced to some commonly used command-line bioinformatics tools and file formats. This workshop does not cover individual methods for working with RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, or other specialized datasets, but instead focuses on core principles for efficient and reproducible research with sequencing data.

VBRN Career Day 2025
2025-04-02 14:30 - 19:00 | 1 College St, Burlington, VT 05401
VBRN Career Day is an annual undergraduate research symposium and career networking event for VBRN students!

Register Now

Agenda
2:30-3:00   Registration and poster set-up
3:00-4:00   Student poster session 1 (even)
4:00-5:00   Student poster session 2 (odd)
5:00-6:00   Dinner
6:00-7:00   Networking sessions: 1) student career paths session & 2) faculty thematic interest groups

During the networking portion of the event from 6:00-7:00, students can network with invited speakers who are professionals from a variety of STEM disciplines and medicine. During this same time, faculty will have an opportunity connect with faculty researchers during the VBRN Thematic Interest Group (TIG) Networking event. In this faculty session you may learn about the VBRN Thematic Interest Groups, their research and related activities, and network with TIG members from our baccalaureate partner institutions and UVM. We hope that you will join us!

Plotting and Programming with Python
2025-05-29 - 2025-05-30 | VT
Thursday May 29 – Friday May 30, 2025 – two full days
8:30 AM – 5:00 PM

Registration is open!

In this workshop, learners will gain confidence in using the command-line to navigate their file structure and work with files on their computer, write custom Bash scripts to automate repetitive analyses, learn the core concepts of version control and be able to implement a simple Git workflow for tracking their own work. Additionally, this workshop will cover Python programming basics, focusing on working with core data structures including tabular data, using conditionals and loops, writing custom functions, and creating customized plots. JupyterLab and strategies for getting help will also be introduced. This workshop is appropriate for learners with no previous programming experience.

Grant Writing Workshop 2025
2025-11-07 12:00 - 17:00 | Roy Room, Dion Family Student Center, 94 Place Saint Michel, Colchester, VT, 05439, United States
Saint Michael’s College
Roy Room, Dion Family Student Center
Register for this event
The VBRN Grant Writing Workshop will be held from 12:00-5:00 PM Friday, November 7, 2025, at Saint Michael’s College, Colchester, VT. Attendance at this workshop will be required for all faculty intending to apply for Exploratory or Pilot Award funding from July 1, 2026-June 30, 2027 or Project Award funding for July 1, 2026-June 30, 2028. Attendance is recommended for a faculty who have received VBRN funding in the past and are interested in applying for individual NIH, NSF, or other federal or non-federal grant support in the future.
The program will consist of an informational session followed by small group breakouts to review the submitted pitch papers described below. Lunch is included prior to the start of the program with roundtables dedicated to VBRN Thematic Interest Group networking and VBRN Core Facilities. There will be tables for established thematic groups (Disease Ecology, Bioorganic Chemistry, Neuroscience, Health and Movement Science, Data Science, and Plant Biology) as well as emerging groups currently in development (CURE, Monitoring Indicators for Human Health).
Key dates for 2026 VBRN applications:

Request for Applications (RFA) will be available on the VBRN Awards page in early October
Pitch paper due: Wednesday, October 22, 2025 – Email your pitch paper to your BPI coordinator with a working title for your proposal and 5 key words. This is a mandatory requirement to participate in the grant writing workshop. Also, provide contact information for suggested reviewers if you have them.
Grant Writing Workshop: Friday, November 7, 2025
Letter of Intent due: Monday, December 1, 2025
VBRN Application due: January 30, 2026
VBRN Award funding decisions: end of March 2026

GWW Tentative Agenda:

12:00-1:30
Lunch + TIG meetings + Research Core tables

1:30-1:45
VBRN announcements

1:45-2:45
Informational sessions: “Current national research priorities and trends in the federal funding landscape” with Dr. Jeralyn Haraldsen, Director of Research Development, UVM “NSF EPSCoR state and federal funding opportunities, e.g. EPSCoR Faculty Pilot Awards and Research Fellows” with Dr. Bernard “Chip” Cole, Director, VT EPSCoR, VT Space Grant & NASA EPSCoR, UVM

2:45-3:00
Break

3:00-5:00
Panels/pitch paper reviews

Details on the Pitch Paper (draft Specific Aims page)
Faculty interested in VBRN funding will submit a NIH-style proposal. Because our network is comprised of primarily undergraduate institutions, VBRN encourages faculty to submit AREA R15 and R16 grants for extramural funding. Please note that the NIH AREA R15 review criteria are used in the VBRN review process and for the pitch papers. Faculty interested in EPSCoR funding will submit a NSF-style proposal. NSF EPSCoR review criteria are used in the review process and for the pitch papers.
For the pitch paper, faculty are asked to include at a minimum Specific Aims of the proposed research (one-page total). Optionally and additionally, VBRN faculty may include draft Significance and Innovation components of an AREA R15 application (two-pages total, including the Specific Aims page). NSF EPSCoR faculty may include draft Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts components of an NSF application.
VBRN is currently working to recruit local reviewers to participate in the small group breakouts; typically, these include local experts in areas that are appropriate for the PUI faculty applicants. If you have any suggested reviewers you would like to recommend, please share their contact information with your BPI Coordinator. VBRN will then reach out to any suggested reviewers.
The Specific Aims page:
The Specific Aims page is particularly critical as your “calling card” to your readers. During an actual NIH Study Section, only the three reviewers (Primary, Secondary and Reader) will read your full application closely, but all panelists will typically scan the Specific Aims page during the review to get an overview of the proposal. Hence, your Specific Aims page is critical for selling your application to the whole panel. Most applicants will typically format their Specific Aims page using a standard formal structure. It starts with a short paragraph that will introduce the main scientific question and then present a statement of the central hypothesis that your work will test. Next, write a short paragraph for each of the 2-4 principal objectives (Aims) of the study. Each Aim should include the premise behind the Aim, a description of how the Aim will be achieved, and what the likely impact of successful completion of the Aim will be to the field at large. Some PIs conclude their Specific Aims page with a brief impact statement describing how completion of the research will positively impact on the NIH Mission. A good Specific Aims page convinces the reader of the importance of your question, the logical strength of your central hypothesis, and the strength of your approach in testing this hypothesis.
Significance and Innovation components:
The Significance and Innovation sections function to convince the reader of the overall urgency of your scientific question, and whether you have devised a novel and forward-looking approach to test your main questions. Essentially, a well written significance section answers the why of your grant and convinces the reader that the problem needs further research. It should support your premise for the importance of the question and help frame why your hypothesis is reasonable. The Innovation section is an argument for the novelty of your approach. Typically, novelty is expressed in the form of a novel hypothesis, a new scientific approach or technique, and a novel conceptual framework to study and analysis.
For additional resources on writing Specific Aims as well as Significance and Innovation sections contact VBRN (vbrn@uvm.edu).
An excellent guide for writing NIH grant proposals:
Robertson, John D. et al. The Grant Application Writer’s Workbook: National Institutes of Health Version. January 2019 edition. Buellton, CA: Grant Writers’ Seminars and Workshops, LLC, 2019. Print. For NSF grant proposals reference:
Robertson, J. D., Russell, S. W., & Morrison, D. C. (2018). The grant application writer’s workbook. National Science Foundation, FastLane version. (01/2018 edition.). Grant Writers’ Seminars and Workshops, LLC.
NIH Review Criteria include the following components. Consider these in the preparation of your pitch paper.
Overall Impact
Reviewers will provide an overall impact score to reflect their assessment of the likelihood for the project to make useful scientific contributions to the research field(s) involved, to provide research opportunities to undergraduate students by engaging them in primary research activities, and to strengthen the research environment of the institution, in consideration of the following review criteria and additional review criteria (as applicable for the project proposed).
Significance
Does the project address an important problem or a barrier to progress in the field? Is the prior research that serves as the key support for the proposed project rigorous? If the aims of the project are achieved, will the data be publishable and useful to the field? If funded, will the AREA grant have a substantial effect on the applicant institution in terms of strengthening the research environment and exposing undergraduate students to research?
Innovation
Does the application take advantage of, challenge or build on current research concepts and models or research techniques? Are innovative approaches to engaging undergraduate students in research proposed?
If you have any questions about the workshop, please contact your BPI Coordinator or vbrn@uvm.edu.

VBRN Grant Writing Workshop 2026
2026-01-24 09:00 - 12:30 | Roy Room, Dion Family Student Center, 94 Place Saint Michel, Colchester, VT, 05439, United States
Location
Dion Family Student Center (Roy Room)
94 Place Saint Michel
Colchester, VT 05439

Tentative Program Agenda:
9:00-10:00 AM    Breakfast (hot breakfast will be served)
10:00-12:30 PM   Mentoring the Mentor Workshop (in-person)

The workshop will be led by Dr. Charlie Irvin, Professor of Medicine and Molecular Physiology and Biophysics in the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont. Dr. Irvin has led many “mentoring the mentor” workshops through the years. He will be joined by a panel of experienced mentors from primarily undergraduate institutions in the network who will share their experiences supporting student researchers, including mentoring styles and lessons learned. Attendees will take away ideas for developing their own personalized mentoring plans.

Parking information will be provided next week.

VBRN Career Day 2026
2026-04-01 15:00 - 19:00 | DoubleTree Hilton Hotel, 870 Williston Rd, South Burlington, VT, 05403, United States
VBRN Career Day is an annual undergraduate research symposium and career networking event for VBRN students. Students present their research during the poster sessions and during the networking portion of the event, students can network with professionals from a variety of STEM disciplines and medicine. During this same time, faculty will have an opportunity connect with faculty researchers from across the network.
Registration
If you intend to attend, please register in advance.

Tentative Schedule of Events:

3:00-3:30
Registration and poster set-up

3:30-4:15
Poster session (even)

4:15-5:00
Poster session (odd)

5:00-5:15
Buffet Dinner starts

5:15-6:45
Networking (two concurrent sessions): 1) Student career paths roundtables & 2) Faculty networking

6:45-7:00
VBRN Awards

Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Workshop
2026-06-02 09:00 - 17:00 | Norwich University, Milano Ballroom, 612 S Main St, Northfield, VT, 05663, United States
Workshop leaders: Lawrence Blumer, Ph.D. (Morehouse College) and Christopher Beck, Ph.D (Emory University)
Registration link

CURE workshop description:
CUREs are high impact learning-teaching activities in which students conduct authentic science investigations in the context of a lecture or laboratory course. Participants in this workshop will begin developing a CURE activity that they will implement at their home institution and potentially conduct education research on their CURE implementation. We invite faculty to join us as a team of 1 or more. Working with a partner from your institution is not required, but can be helpful for planning how to address institutional specific barriers and after the workshop when participants are implementing the plans they made at the workshop. The new CURE activity may be in any area of STEM and at least one of the faculty on your team should be directly involved in developing and teaching the new CURE. Participants in this interactive workshop will be guided by the workshop facilitators (Drs. Christopher Beck, Emory University, and Lawrence Blumer, Morehouse College) to create a step-by-step plan to develop and implement a CURE activity. Participants will leave with a concrete plan for moving forward with implementation. Register for the workshop using this registration link. If you have questions about the workshop, please email hdriscol@norwich.edu.

Introductory Software Carpentries Workshop: Unix, Git & R for Reproducible Data Analysis
2026-06-23 - 2026-06-24 | VT
In-person only (UVM campus) | 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Maximum is 25 participants
Registration and workshop website coming soon

Workshop Description:
In this workshop, learners will gain confidence in using the command-line to navigate their file structure and work with files on their computer, write custom scripts to automate repetitive analyses, learn the core concepts of version control and be able to implement a simple Git workflow for tracking their own work. Learners will work with tabular data and other core data structures, use conditionals and loops, write custom functions, and learn to create publication-quality graphics to communicate your research findings effectively. This workshop also introduces RStudio and strategies for getting help. This workshop is appropriate for learners with no previous programming experience. If you have questions or would like additional information, email hdriscol@norwich.edu.

VBRN Faculty Retreat 2026
2026-07-22 09:00 - 15:30 | UVM Davis Center, 590 Main Street, Burlington, VT, 05405, United States
Please note that if you were VBRN funded this year (2025-2026) or will be funded next year (2026-2027), your attendance at this event is mandatory.
Register for this event here
Location: Dudley H. Davis Center, 4th floor, Silver Maple Ballroom on the UVM campus (590 Main St. Burlington, VT 05405)

Tentative Program

9:00 – 9:30 AM

Registration and coffee

9:30 – 10:00 AM

Welcome remarks from VBRN Director, Dr. Chris Francklyn, and program announcements

10:00 – 11:00 AM

VBRN Research Spotlight I: Oral presentations

11:00 AM -12:00 PM

VBRN Research Spotlight II: Poster presentations (even + odd sessions 30 min)

12:00 – 12:15 PM

Remarks from Dr. Kirk Dombrowski, UVM Vice President for Research

12:00 – 1:00 PM

Networking lunch

1:00 – 2:00 PM

Discovering Night Science (Dr. Oliver Bogler)

2:00 – 3:00 PM

Navigating the publishing landscape (Dr. Gary Ward, UVM)

3:00 – 3:30 PM

Retreat review/comments and wrap-up
