معرفی
Kelly Lin Searsmith serves as a Lecturer and Assistant Director of Sponsored Research Administration in the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a position held since September 2017. She provides faculty writing support, sponsored research administration consulting, and contributes to STEM communications curriculum development, including redesigning research paper sequences for PHYS/GLBL 280 and delivering presentations on scientific communication for REU programs.
Her educational background includes:
- Ph.D. Student in Higher Education, University of Illinois College of Education (2021-present)
- Ed.M. in Higher Education, University of Illinois College of Education (2019-2021)
- Ph.D. in English, University of Illinois (1999)
- M.A. in English, Case Western Reserve University (1990)
- B.A. cum laude in English and Psychology, Case Western Reserve University (1987)
Her research focuses on strengthening academic literacies and research infrastructure in higher education, with emphasis on audience-aware scientific communication and pedagogical innovation in STEM writing. This work bridges her 30+ years of college-level English teaching experience with contemporary research administration challenges.
She has received University of Illinois teaching awards for her graduate instruction and non-tenure track faculty contributions.
Kelly supports faculty grant development through strategic communications and sponsored research administration, leveraging prior experience as Assistant Director for Planning at NCSA eDream Institute and Director of R&D for the Scholar literacy learning environment. Her professional scope spans program management, grant writing, and international English editing.
