HACU’s Visioning, Organizing, Leading, and Advancing the Research Enterprise (VOLARÉ) Institute second cohort of participants from institutions nationwide met Nov. 17-20, 2025, in Orlando, Florida to learn from presenters and experts on capacity-building for STEM research at colleges and universities.
The event began with welcome remarks from Oralia De los Reyes, Ph.D., HACU’s assistant vice president of programs and services, and John Crockett, Ph.D., San Diego State University’s associate vice president of research advancement. De los Reyes also moderated the panel “Navigating Today’s Research Landscape,” with Xiomara Santos, HACU’s executive director of government relations; Deborah Altenburg, Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities’ vice president for research policy and advocacy; and Sonja Montas-Hunter, Ph.D., former NSF program officer, serving as panelists.
Sessions and event activities included introductory presentations from participating teams, research leadership at R1 institutions, strategies for proposal writing and submission, tools to locate funding sources, leveraging AI across various stages of research, developing new or expanding existing undergraduate research programs, developing and implementing metrics, and more. The participants also attended lab tours at the University of Central Florida. See full Agenda.
The VOLARÉ Institute is an NSF-sponsored project, a HACU yearlong program providing research capacity building workshops and strategic support helping two- and four-year institutions of higher education strengthen and expand their research enterprise. With a focus on broadening participation in STEM and cultivating a diverse research workforce, the program delivers accessible tools, expert mentorship, and inclusive resources that promote long term, sustainable research development. For more on the VOLARÉ Institute, click here.
Additional photos from the event can be viewed here.
