Biomedical Research Coordinator Selected to Serve on Certification Writing Committee

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Peg Hart

Peg Hart, research coordinator in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, has been selected to serve as a member of the Research Administrators Certification Council's Certified Research Administrator (RACC's CRA) Item Writing Committee. The two-year appointment began March 1.

Expectations of committee members include participating in Item Writing sessions and creating questions focusing on specific areas of need or changes in research administration. The resulting questions would be considered for inclusion in the exam question bank for future versions of the Certified Research Administrator examination. The four-hour examination consists of 250 multiple-choice questions. One must be certified in order to serve on RACC CRA committees.

"I took the exam last November, so I still can recall the stress of studying for the CRA exam and worrying about being asked about obscure information," Hart said. "I don't want to find footnotes at the end of a little-used documents to create questions. I want to help prepare questions that test for knowledge that research administrators actually use. Testing for familiarity on procedures encountered in the course of one's daily activities seems more appropriate."

Raj Rao, head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, said he is extremely proud of Hart for being selected to serve on this committee.

"This clearly demonstrates her willingness to help others in the research community so that we can develop the ecosystem necessary to push our research agenda forward," Rao said.

According to the RACC, the CRA designation certifies that an "individual possesses adequate knowledge for serving as a professional research administrator of sponsored programs, particularly federally funded research grants and contracts."

The number of CRAs at the U of A doubled in size over two years. Currently there are seven.

About the U of A Biomedical Engineering: The Department of Biomedical Engineering has established itself as one of the premier research departments on campus that is committed to training undergraduate and graduate students to become leaders in the field of biomedical engineering. More information can be found at can be found at biomedical-engineering.uark.edu