Research Advisors Group
Improving your research competitiveness
Our Team
Gail Blaustein
Gail Blaustein (BS, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology; PhD, Theoretical Physical Chemistry, Tulane University) is an Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry and department chair at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. Gail’s interests include developing mathematical models to predict properties of nanomaterials as well as conducting computational chemistry research. Gail's experience accessing high-performance computing for both research and educational purposes at a small college provides a unique perspective for addressing the networking challenges of introducing CI resources to smaller institutions. As a representative HPC customer, Gail's contributions to the team are invaluable for crafting proposals which are oriented to the needs of the end user.
Inna Kouper
Dr. Kouper is a research scientist at Indiana University School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering and Director of Researcher Engagement for the Research Security Operations Center (ResearchSOC). She has expertise in information behavior, science and technology studies, and data management and analytics. She has a PhD in information science from the School of Library and Information Science at Indiana University Bloomington and a PhD in sociology from the Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
In addition to her interdisciplinary research expertise, Kouper brings years of experience in grant writing and project management. She has been instrumental in securing grants from the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Sloan Foundation. Kouper led and managed funded research and facilitated collaborations in cyberinfrastructure, knowledge management, and data stewardship, including regional and international collaborations. She is an active member of the Midwest Big Data Hub and the Research Data Alliance. As a member of the Research Advisors Group, Kouper contributes to the development of new data-oriented services that will assist our clients in data management and analytics and in institutional monitoring and evaluation.
Rick McMullen
Rick McMullen serves as Associate Director of the High Performance Research Computing Center at Texas A&M University where he plans and develops research computing technologies and services, and works with researchers to develop solutions for computing and data intensive problems.
Prior to joining HPRC at Texas A&M, Rick was Senior Director for Researcher Engagement and Development at Internet2. There he worked with researchers and IT organizations across the U.S. to design and implement infrastructure to support large scale scientific research collaborations that span many institutions. He has also served as faculty, research lab director and center director for HPC units at several universities and was a founding faculty member of the Indiana University School of Informatics.
He has led many federally funded projects several of which were international scientific research partnerships. His interests include the contribution of cyberinfrastructure to research competitiveness, high performance computing and networking architectures, cloud computing and storage architectures for research; provenance and life cycle management of information assets in scientific collaborations; long term data management and stewardship; systems and services for collaboration in e-Science, and Artificial Intelligence applications that support knowledge management and decision-making in scientific research collaborations.
Rick received a PhD in Chemistry from Indiana University.
Eliot Monaco
Eliot has an MA in biological anthropology from Stony Brook University, where he studied behaviors and adaptations related to diet in nonhuman primates. His research has been published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Previously, he worked in theater and education in Chicago. Eliot is the technology and communications coordinator for Monaco & Associates Incorporated.
Greg Monaco
Monaco holds degrees in Speech/Communications (BSS, Northwestern University) and Cognitive Psychology (MS, PhD, Kansas State University).
Monaco led research teams in developmental experimental psychology at the University of Kansas and Kansas State University. He served as a program director in Computer & Information Science and Engineering at the National Science Foundation and managed a portfolio of $89 million in research awards. Monaco served as the Director for Research & Cyberinfrastructure Initiatives with the Great Plains Network Consortium and as a psychologist and administrator at the Kansas Neurological Institute in Topeka, Kansas.
Monaco left academia and state service for several years to found and develop a company to improve services to individuals with intellectual disabilities at state and community agencies. The company developed data-based software applications for institutional management and positive behavioral supports, staff training programs for public and private agencies throughout the US and Canada, and community based services in Northeast Kansas.
Monaco has been PI and co-PI on over 20 competitive awards from state and national funding agencies throughout his career. He is the author/co-author of several seminal publications in cognitive and developmental psychology.
Monaco currently serves as the President and CEO of Monaco & Associates Incorporated. He is a member of Actor's Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild-AFTRA.
Janet Poley
Dr. Janet K. Poley is Professor Emeritus in Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication at the University of Nebraska Lincoln and President/CEO Emeritus of AgSAT and the American Distance Education Consortium where she served for 20 years. Prior to that she was a Senior Executive with the U.S. Department of Agriculture leading Communication and Information Technology for the U.S. Cooperative Extension and held various executive positions in International Cooperation and Development. She has managed more than 20 million dollars in federal grants, served in short and long-term assignments in more than 50 countries, including designing and managing a project in Africa for which she received the Congressional Excalibur Award for outstanding public service. Her service on the National Science Foundation Networking Council resulted in rapid deployment of internet based educational programs through the land-grant universities and extension offices in counties throughout the United States. She has served on numerous boards of directors including that of the Sloan Online Learning Consortium and the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame. She is known for her many workshops, training, facilitation and team-building skills, program and project design, development, management and evaluation and creative strategies for engaging under-served populations in science and educational opportunities. Her scholarship activities include publications and presentations at conferences throughout the world. She has degrees in Journalism (broadcasting) and Nutrition, and her PhD is in Adult and Continuing Education.