For Faculty, Staff, Post-Docs

• Introduce yourself to the other members of your department and learn what types of research they are doing.
• Work with your department chair to establish an initial mentoring committee that will help to guide you over the first few years of your career UB.
• View the Faculty and Staff Directory and Faculty Affairs pages for more information about research interests and capabilities throughout the School of Dental Medicine.
• Contact the Senior Associate Dean for Research to discuss your research background and your current plans for building your research program.
• The Office of Research Support is available to assist with proposal development and submission.

Begin to develop your laboratory (if you are a bench scientist) and/or clinical capabilities for the performance of your research.

Work with your primary mentor to understand the lab/clinic’s current research goals and capabilities, and how you fit into that picture. 

If you want students to work with you on your research project, consider what type of students you want.

Talk with the program directors in one or more of the advanced education programs for recommendations about students who are looking for a research project. Be clear about whether you have funding for a student stipend and tuition, and whether you want someone part-time or full-time.

Contact the Dental Student Research Group and offer to be a research mentor.

Start with UB’s Student Advising Services, particularly the pre-health group and its associated pre-health clubs.

Some departments support their own grant administrators, while other departments share an administrator on a part-time basis. We recommend that you check with your department chair for the name and contact information of the grant administrator in your department. The University’s office of Sponsored Projects Services also provides many grant administrative services, but does not prepare purchase requisitions or personnel appointments. 

The SDM Office of Research Support (ORS) was established to provide the necessary infrastructure to support the research endeavors of SDM faculty, trainees, and students. ORS aids in developing proposals to outside funding agencies and tools for standardization of budgeting. ORS also provides oversight management of sponsored programs. It has the responsibility of ensuring compliance with sponsors and university expectations for managing sponsored program funds. Additionally, ORS serves as a resource for the SDM regarding sponsor policies and federal regulations. In this role, ORS:

• Provides assistance across the entire grant life cycle (pre- and post-award).
• Serves as a resource for UB SDM regarding sponsor guidelines and applicable federal, state, and local regulations.
• Provides training in pre- and post-award grants management.
• Hosts workshops, seminars, and trainings related to grant writing.
• Organizes the annual SDM Student Research Day and assists with administration of the Summer Dental Research Program and Dental Honors Thesis.

For more information, please contact:

It can be a good idea to change the specific focus of your research, particularly if you have hit a long “dry spell” without research funding. But how do you do that without affecting your scholarly productivity or the support of people in your laboratory? Think carefully about a new or modified research focus. For example:

• What is your expertise in the area?
• What is the outlook for research funding in this area? 
• What resources will you need to establish or refine your expertise and laboratory/clinical capabilities to address the challenges of the new area?
• Who are the likely and collegial collaborators?

One way to maintain your scholarly productivity, while plotting your new course, is to do an extensive literature search that links your more traditional research area with the new area. This literature search should then be prepared as a manuscript for submission to a scientific journal. Good review articles tend to be frequently cited and can improve the journal’s and your own “impact factor.”