Frequently Asked Questions

Office Hours
1-2 PM every Wednesday
Dr. Julie Bastarache’s office
2525 West End, Room 626
No need to make an appointment

Edge Team
Our expert staff can expedite access to what you need or help you navigate our resources and programs.

Email Dr. Bastarache
In-person meetings and mentor panel meetings are scheduled 4 to 6 weeks in advance. Indicate in the subject line if the reason for the meeting is urgent and/or confidential.

Edge Calendar
Find out what’s happening at Edge for Scholars.
For updates and visit  for events

Read the rest of these FAQs.

Visit our Edge Reviews page for the current calendar and deadlines.

Grant Pacing Workshops are designed to help scholars plan steady progress towards completion of an application.

Visit our Grant Pacing Workshop for details.

Manuscript Sprints are held 1-3 times per year depending on interest and staff availability. New sprints are announced via the mailing list. Email Rebecca Helton to request a new sprint.

Write a clearer, more persuasive grant application with 6 weeks of online self-guided training.

Grant Writing 101 is offered once a year in March.

The Funded Grants Library allows Vanderbilt and Meharry faculty to view and download funded grant applications.

Email Rebecca Helton requesting access. If you are an Assistant Professor, Instructor, postdoc, fellow, resident or grad student, copy your primary mentor on your request.

If you are having trouble signing in to REDCap and are using your VU account, please use these instructions to gain access.

Pilot funding is handled by a different VICTR team. Visit their pilot funding site.

The deadline for the survey of intent is January 15 (or first business day after if that falls on a weekend or holiday). You must submit one of these surveys to continue to the application stage. Full applications are due on February 15 or the first business day after. Instructions on how to apply and what to include in your application, as well as frequently asked questions, are on the VFRS page.

One of our senior mentors gives advice on writing your career development award progress reports. We also have a post on writing the RCR section of your progress report.

Visit the Seminar Archives to view slides and videos of past Edge seminars. Videos/slides are typically posted a week or two after the seminar.

Join the Edge for Scholars mailing list

Studios are managed by a different VICTR team. Visit their site to set one up.

Attend Edge seminars labeled as RCR credit-bearing (announced 1-2 weeks in advance via the mailing list). Follow instructions given in the seminar to log your attendance in StarBRITE.

You can view the campus-wide Research Education calendar and filter by RCR.

Read the many ways activities you do can count as RCR education.

Go to StarBRITE, select the Education tab, select Training, then scroll down to the Responsible Conduct of Research Education.

When that tab opens, go down to the bottom of the page and select Tracking Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Training, then click on the button that says “Here”.   This will open to the credits they have received for RCR courses.

Visit our Grant Text page. If the information you need is not there, email Rebecca Helton.

Please allow up to one week for data to be returned, longer if the request is very large or detailed.

The Adrienne Babcock Funded Grants Library allows Vanderbilt and Meharry students, trainees, and faculty to view and download funded grant applications.

Reading successful applications can help investigators understand structure, level of detail, reviewer expectations, and grantsmanship strategies that contributed to a favorable funding decision.

Email the grant to Rebecca Helton. You can either send the entire grant file as downloaded from eRA Commons or send selected pieces, whichever you prefer. We will black out any salary information. Please include summary sheets. If you resubmitted, we appreciate having both versions of the grant and both sets of summary sheets to aid in teaching how to respond to reviewer feedback.

Flight Tracker runs on REDCap. Ask Scott Pearson to enable the Flight Tracker for Scholars External Module on a REDCap project for you. The software will lead you through the rest of the setup and start collecting data automatically.

The Flight Tracker consortium meets on Zoom on the first Wednesday of every month at 1pm Central Time. An optional Troubleshooting/Support meeting is held on the third Wednesday of every month at 1pm Central Time. Finally, a “newbie” session is held at various times each month. Email Scott Pearson for an invitation to any of these. Flight Tracker also has an in-app Help section with an FAQ.

Find and track mentorship training and generate transcripts with the Mentorship Training Directory.