Grant Support


The Achievement and Assessment Institute provides life cycle grant support to both AAI staff and KU faculty whose research supports our mission. Our dedicated team will work with you throughout the entire life of the grant; from your initial searches for opportunities, all the way through any reporting obligations during closeout.

Learn more about life cycle grant support below. You will also find more information about AAI's specific grant services, along with a link to additional grant and project development resources to help guide you through the process.


Pre-award Support

Pre-award support provides grant and contract proposal assistance with searching for funding, application preparation, proposal submission, and additional services depending on individual proposal needs and amount of time before an agency deadline. A longer lead time before an agency deadline allows for the highest level of support and maximizes the competitiveness of a proposal.

For more information regarding pre-award support, browse through the list of services below and visit AAI's pre-award services page.

Pre-Award Proposal Preparation Services

  • Search for external funding opportunities
  • Meet to discuss your project and develop an outline and timeline
  • Assist with analyzing and interpreting funding agency guidelines
  • Engage the program officer
  • Assist with the budget and budget justification
  • Prepare agency application forms and online registration
  • Provide templates and boilerplate content
  • Provide high-level reviews of proposal drafts
  • Facilitate gathering of proposal components
  • Copyedit final project narrative and abstract*
  • Review proposal for format and compliance with KU and agency standards
  • Assemble the proposal for submission in the required format
  • Liaise with KUCR to obtain institutional review and approval
  • Assist with proposal submission, hard copy or online

*Upon advance request and availability, proposal narratives can be sent to an external editor for copyediting and proofreading services.

Post-award Support

The post-award support phase of the grant support lifecycle includes assistance with monitoring, administering, and maintaining the grant. This includes project management and advising services for principal investigators and center administrators on financial activities and compliance as established by federal and state laws, agency regulations, and university policies and procedures. Support is also provided for managing expenditures to ensure that costs are allowable, reasonable and consistent with funding agency regulations. AAI staff can also assist with the preparation of annual progress and performance reports for your grant.

Additional post-award support services can be found in the list below.

Post-Award Grant Administration Services

  • Examine awards for suitability of terms and conditions
  • Administer project by monitoring awards and sub-awards for compliance
  • Analyze monthly financial reports, communicating with PI regarding financial progress and coordinating activities at end of budget period
  • Maintain all accounting records for all awards
  • Coordinate personnel and purchasing activities with PI, including searches, new hires, GRA appointments, budget adjustment forms, journal vouchers, travel authorizations, cash advance requests, travel reimbursements, invoices, check requests, expense reimbursements, purchase orders and reconciliation of purchasing cards
  • Ensure payroll distribution for faculty, graduate research assistants, student hourly assistants and other staff as needed
  • Liaise between PI and KUCR to communicate and resolve any issues that arise concerning expenditures and/or compliance issues and to request provisional awards
  • Assist with expenditure reporting for progress reports and annual performance reports to funding agencies
  • Work with KUCR to create and submit budget revisions, no-cost time extensions, supplemental budgets and scope of work to funding agencies

Grant Support Contact Information

We would love to talk with you about partnering with AAI for all of your grant-related needs! If you have questions about our grant services or would like to speak with a staff member regarding a grant, please see the contact information below.

Budgets, Finance, and Purchasing

Georgianna Correll, Associate Director for Finance and Administration

Email: gcorrell@ku.edu

Pre-Grant Services

AAI Grant Management Team

Email: aaigrantmanagement@ku.edu