Meet Kimberley Gascho
Kimberley Gascho | Assistant Director, Electronic Research Administration
Kimberley (Kim) Gascho has spent more than 20 years at Purdue University, building a career around supporting research administration and making complex processes easier for faculty and staff. She began as a clerk in the Mechanical Engineering Business Office before moving into Engineering Pre-Award, eventually serving as the Engineering Pre-Award Center Manager. Today, as Assistant Director of Electronic Research Administration, Kim supports the systems and processes behind Purdue’s Electronic Research Administration system, or PERA.
Having worked on both the pre-award and electronic research administration sides of the proposal process, Kim understands how much faculty are balancing when preparing a submission. Her goal is to make sure Purdue’s systems and support teams handle as much of the administrative process as possible so researchers can concentrate on developing the strongest proposal they can.
For Kim, that means a simple message to faculty: provide the proposal information, then let Purdue’s research administration teams help with the rest.
“We want faculty to focus on grant writing, not navigating the administrative process.” – Kimberley Gascho
Making PERA Work for Purdue Researchers
One of Kim’s biggest professional victories was helping implement PERA across Purdue—a major undertaking involving six modules, a short implementation timeline and teams from across the university.
Despite the scale and complexity of the project, Purdue successfully launched the system on time and under budget. For Kim, the accomplishment was about more than implementing new technology. It brought sponsored research and compliance processes together in a more connected system and demonstrated what Purdue teams could accomplish through a coordinated university-wide effort.
Today, Kim and her colleagues continue supporting the different areas within PERA, with Kim focusing particularly on the Grants module.
When Should Faculty Start a PERA Record?
Earlier than you might think.
Kim encourages faculty—especially those who are new to Purdue—to contact their pre-award office or begin their PERA record as soon as they have an idea they may want to pursue.
Starting a record doesn’t mean a researcher has committed to submitting a proposal.
“Just because you put something in the PERA system doesn’t mean you have to submit.”
Instead, starting early gives the pre-award team more time to work with faculty, address questions, and help develop the strongest possible submission.
And for faculty who find PERA intimidating at first, Kim recommends taking advantage of the system’s training resources. Rather than requiring users to sit through lengthy training sessions, resources are broken into small, manageable pieces—including videos that can be as short as two minutes.
A Few Questions with Kim
What is your favorite part of partnering with Purdue faculty?
Helping researchers spend more of their time focused on the science and the writing.
Kim enjoys knowing that Purdue’s research administration teams can take some of the administrative weight off faculty while they develop their proposals.
What was your very first job?
A paper route—and one that came with an early lesson about commitment.
Kim was about 12 years old when she began riding her bike through the neighborhood delivering newspapers and collecting payments from customers. Regardless of the weather, her mom reminded her that taking the job meant taking responsibility for getting it done.
“You made a commitment.”
Looking back, Kim believes the experience helped shape her work ethic: when you take something on, you stick with it.
What is your favorite spot on Purdue’s campus?
“I think our Union’s beautiful,” Kim says, from the large windows to the ballrooms and the building as a whole.
It also holds special meaning for her family: her oldest daughter held her wedding reception there, giving Kim some particularly wonderful memories connected to the space.
What are you currently reading, watching, or listening to?
Kim is currently reading The End of Normal by Stephanie Madoff Mack, which explores the aftermath of the Bernie Madoff scandal from the perspective of his daughter-in-law and her family.
An avid reader, Kim says she’ll choose a book over television. This one caught her attention because of its exploration of how quickly a life that appears settled and successful can dramatically change.
Need Help with PERA?
Kim’s biggest advice is to start early and use the resources available to you.
Faculty can access PERA, training materials and additional resources through the Purdue Electronic Research Administration (PERA) website.
