Foundations Relations & Huck Institutes Collaborative Panel
Automated Biological Calorimetry Facility , Bioinformatics and Genomics , Cell and Developmental Biology , Center for Biorenewables , Center for Brain Behavior and Cognition , Center for Cellular Dynamics , Center for Chemical Ecology , Center for Eukaryotic Gene Regulation , Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics , Center for Malaria Research , Center for Mathematical Biology , Center for Medical Genomics , Center for Molecular Immunology and Infectious Disease , Center for Molecular Investigation of Neurological Disorders , Center for Molecular Toxicology and Carcinogenesis , Center for Movement Science and Technology , Center for Neural Engineering , Center for Neurotechnology in Mental Health Research , Center for Reproductive Biology and Health , Center for RNA Molecular Biology , Center for Root and Rhizosphere Biology , Center for Statistical Genetics , Center for Structural Biology , Center of Excellence in Industrial Biotechnology , Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facility , CSL Behring Fermentation Facility , Ecology , Ecology Institute , Flow Cytometry Facility , Genome Sciences Institute , Genomics Core Facility , High Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging Facility , Huck Catalysis , Immunology and Infectious Diseases , Infectious Disease Institute , Insect Biodiversity Center , Neuroscience Institute , Metabolomics Core Facility , Microbiome Center , Microscopy Facility , Molecular Cellular and Integrative Biosciences , Molecular Toxicology , Neuroscience , Physiology , Plant Biology , Plant Institute , Proteomics and Mass Spectrometry Core Facility , Regenerative Engineering and Translational Ecosystem Forum , Sartorius Cell Culture Facility , Seed Funding , Transgenic Mouse Facility , X-Ray Crystallography Facility
Featuring:
Karen Kemirembe
Associate Director, Office of Foundation Relations, Penn State
Maria Petrilak
Associate Director of Foundations, Corporate and Foundation Relations, Penn State College of Medicine
November 6, 2025 @ 01:00 pm to 02:00 pm
Zoom
University Park
Join moderators, Karen Kemirembe and Maria Petrilak from University Foundation Relations and the following panelists, as they share how they collaborate with researchers to manage foundation funding from start to finish, discussing key challenges and strategies for success.
Scott Simon, MD earned his BA in political theory at Princeton University and his MD at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. He completed his neurosurgery residency in neurosurgery with a fellowship in endovascular neurosurgery at Vanderbilt University. He is currently a professor of neurosurgery at the Penn State College of Medicine as well as Division Director of Cerebrovascular Surgery, Endovascular Fellowship Director, and the Medical Co-Director of the Penn State Health Stroke Program. In addition to practicing as a CAST certified subspecialist in cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery Dr. Simon also has funded research in biomedical engineering and computer modeling of the cerebral vasculature in acute ischemic stroke as well as metabolism in animal models of intracerebral hemorrhage. Dr. Simon is on the executive council of the Council of State Neurological Societies, the Pennsylvania Neurosurgical Society and the AANS/CNS Joint CV Section and the editorial board of Neurosurgery.
Christina Grozinger, Ph.D. is the Publius Vergilius Maro Professor of Entomology, director of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, and founding director for the Center for Pollinator Research and Insect Biodiversity Institute at Pennsylvania State University. Grozinger is a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She was awarded the 2021 National Academy of Sciences Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences and 2023 Penn State President’s Award for Excellence in Academic Integration. Grozinger is chair of the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board Pollinator Subcommittee and serves on the ad hoc study committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine which will conduct a consensus study on the status of insects in North America. Grozinger received a B.S. degree in chemistry and biology from McGill University, an M.S. and a Ph.D. in chemistry and chemical biology from Harvard University and was a Beckman Institute Fellow at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Joshua Gross, Ph.D., is a neuropharmacologist with interests in G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) biology, nutritional neuroscience, neuroendocrine physiology, and preclinical drug discovery. Dr. Gross obtained his PhD from West Virginia University in Cellular & Integrative Physiology and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Marc Caron at Duke University. Dr. Gross’ lab investigates the molecular mechanisms of GPCR signaling in the context of food reward and diet-related metabolic disease. They employ an array of techniques—ranging from in vitro molecular pharmacology to in vivo physiological analysis in transgenic mouse models.
