Sarah Herzog, PhD, is the program manager for training grants and fellowships. She uses her passion for helping students to set them up for success in their grant and fellowship applications, which help to fund their research. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, crocheting, and playing the piano and violin. Read on to learn more about Sarah’s journey to the Graduate School! 

What do you do in your day-to-day role? 

As the program manager for training grants and fellowships, I am nested within the Career Development department. Day-to-day, I advise students on fellowship preparations for National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other external grants. I also work on some education and outreach initiatives, including teaching a course on fellowships. 

What projects are you working on? 

All of the application guidelines at the NIH are changing this year, so I’m revamping our fellowship and grant resources for students. This includes curating new examples for students, outlining new instructions, and working on how AI fits into all of this. So, it’s been pretty busy! 

What excites you the most about working for the Graduate School? 

I love teaching and working with students. My background is in traditional bench research, but I found that my gifts and talents really lie with advising, teaching, mentorship, and those sorts of areas. This was also an awesome opportunity for me to come in and foster scientific writing, communication, and advising, without being in a traditional professor faculty role.  

What are some of your hobbies outside of work? 

My number one “hobby”, if you can call it that, is being a mom. Other than that, I also homebrew beer with my husband and play all kinds of video games. A newer interest of mine is soap making and crochet, which ventures me back into the creative arts space. In another life, I was a musician. I played piano and violin growing up and all through college and still do today! 

What skills do you find most valuable in your work? 

Probably attention to detail and effective writing and communication. I find that a lot of scientists struggle with or don’t enjoy the communication and writing aspect. Being able to craft an example for students or to be able to do a fine review of a piece of their application, while also having the ability to write and talk science is something I use every day.  

Do you have a favorite memory at the Graduate School so far? 

I came in October, which was really great because it was right before all of the holiday events happened. The staff holiday party was the first time I got to meet the whole staff together in one room, since a lot of the work we do is hybrid. I am very social and extroverted naturally, so that was really cool. I also really enjoyed my very first student advising appointment, because it was really cool to finally be in my new role post graduate school.