The Strategic Partnerships and Research Collaborative (SPARC) Team is a highly specialized, end-to-end proposal development team that partners with investigators to transform ambitious research ideas into competitive, fundable initiatives.
Together, they provide comprehensive support for complex, multidisciplinary proposals—aligning projects with sponsor priorities, coordinating large teams, and ensuring submissions are compelling, competitive and fully compliant. By combining strategic insight with operational excellence, the SPARC Team strengthens the university’s ability to secure major external funding and advance research that addresses pressing national and global challenges.
Mission
To facilitate complex, interdisciplinary, center-level research proposals that further Case Western Reserve University’s institutional priorities.
Testimonial
"Since I started my career at CWRU, I have never worked with a grant proposal development support team that is as capable, as responsive, as meticulous, and as friendly as the SPARC Team. I can confidently say that the creation of the SPARC Team is the most impressive and impactful investment in the research enterprise at CWRU in a very long time."
- Umut Gurkan, Wilbert J. Austin Professor of Engineering and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Case School of Engineering
Request SPARC Support
If you are interested in working with us, please complete the request form for SPARC Team support. If you have questions about SPARC, please email us at sparcteam@case.edu.
Our Services
Strategic Planning
Investigators can receive expert guidance to strategically align their research with shifting funder priorities, foster collaborations and adapt proposals for greater competitiveness.
Proposal Management
Complex, multi-investigator proposals are managed from start to finish, improving organization and communication so researchers can focus on their science.
Proposal Development
Researchers benefit from comprehensive support in turning scientific ideas into fundable proposals through narrative development, alignment with review criteria, and impactful messaging.
Budget Support
Large-scale, compliant budgets and justification templates are developed to meet federal and university requirements, ensuring clarity and ease of review.
Technical Illustrations
Clear, cohesive graphics enhance proposals by translating complex concepts into compelling visuals.
Multi-Phase Review
A comprehensive, phased review approach enables systematic improvement and quality control.
Submission
The entire submission process is managed in close collaboration with stakeholders, ensuring proposals are consistent, compliant, and submitted on time through all required portals.
Post-Submission Support
Coordinated assistance helps researchers navigate post-submission negotiations, including coordinating timelines and revising technical or budgetary materials as needed.
Strategic Planning
With funders' priorities and requirements rapidly changing, the federal research landscape has become increasingly complex—making it harder than ever for investigators to position their work competitively and allocate resources effectively toward their short- and long-term goals. Our team works alongside investigators to navigate that complexity strategically, helping them build and strengthen proposals that are well-positioned to succeed. Our support includes the following:
- Mapping investigator expertise against agency priorities.
- Facilitating interdisciplinary collaborations.
- Positioning an investigator’s research to solve agency challenges.
- Determining how to adapt a previous proposal to align with new mechanisms or requirements.
- Identifying focus areas for resubmission.
Proposal Management
SPARC specializes in developing complex, interdisciplinary, center-level proposals for federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Defense (DOD), and Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). Since 2022, we have helped the university secure more than $100 million in funding.
Central to this success is our stem-to-stern approach to proposal management that improves organization and efficiency and fosters collaboration, ultimately freeing investigators to focus on science. Proposal management support includes:
- Ensuring timelines, tasks, and deliverables are clearly defined and tracked.
- Facilitating communication among multi-investigator teams.
- Coordinating contributions from multiple investigators and institutions.
- Assessing and mitigating risk.
- Helping resolve conflict.
Proposal Development
SPARC helps investigators transform strong scientific ideas into compelling, fundable concepts by providing strategic and practical guidance throughout the proposal development process—from ideation through submission. Our support is grounded in helping investigators develop a reviewer's mindset, so they can more effectively emphasize the innovation and feasibility that funding agencies are looking for. We:
- Support collaborative writing, harmonize tone and terminology, and ensure consistent messaging.
- Help articulate the broader impacts and translational potential of research in language that resonates with reviewers.
- Facilitate concept development and framing discussions, including outlining a narrative strategy for positioning the science within the broader context of federal priorities.
- Provide assistance on white papers, quad charts, and pitches for early-stage funder feedback.
- Share successful sample language for high-impact sections.
- Ensure alignment with review criteria by mapping proposal content to evaluation criteria.
- Craft, solicit, and compile letters of support/collaboration.
- Ensure alignment with institutional and federal policies.
- Provide exemplars and templates (e.g., Data Management and Sharing Plans, Mentoring Plans, and Multi-PI Plans).
Budget Support
SPARC Financial Specialists possess extensive expertise in developing large-scale (>$10M), complex budgets for multi-investigator proposals involving multiple sub-awards. We:
- Design standardized budget templates to ensure full compliance with federal and university requirements.
- Design budget justification templates for large, complex budgets that comply with federal funder requirements.
- Ensure ease of budget and justification review by institutional officials and funding agencies.
Technical Illustrations
Our highly skilled technical illustrator and graphic designer will enhance proposals by translating complex technical content into clear, compelling graphics. Our illustrator can create complex illustrations, center logos, and ensure that data is visualized cohesively across a proposal. This visual narrative improves reviewer comprehension, highlights key innovations, and elevates the overall professionalism of the submission, making proposals more competitive.
Multi-Phase Review
SPARC facilitates multi-phase reviews to enable systematic improvement, quality control, and strategic alignment at every stage of document development. SPARC ensures that reviewer expectations are met by:
- Coordinating internal and external reviews with expertise in the domain, grant writing, and administrative components.
- Comprehensively reviewing the entire document set using research-based principles to revise the clarity, coherence, consistency, and readability of proposal content.
Submission
Working in close alignment with departments and collaborating institutions, they coordinate proposal routing through SpartaGrants and manage all related processes—from interinstitutional agreements to investigator COI certifications—in order to deliver consistent, compliant, and well-integrated submissions. SPARC streamlines the internal review process and ensures timely submission by:
- Building the application in SpartaGrants and funders’ portals.
- Coordinating with PASA.
- Monitoring the internal review process.
- Revising proposal materials if required by specialist review.
Post-Submission Support
SPARC has extensive experience helping investigators quickly and comprehensively respond to just-in-time requests during the negotiation phase. We work closely with investigators to:
- Assess requirements.
- Coordinate timelines.
- Mobilize institutional officials.
- Review contract terms.
- Revise technical and budgetary components.