Most academic departments at the University have a research administrator—or, in large departments, a team of individuals—to oversee grants for their investigators. The research administrator/team will assist you from the grant application stage through its completion, so it’s important to maintain good communication with anyone who is involved in this process.
After the grant has been awarded, the focus will be on post-award budget matters. (The department liaison who handles post-award matters may or may not be the same person you dealt with during the pre-award process of preparing and submitting a grant application.) Your post-award contact will most likely handle the behind-the-scenes matters associated with your grant expenses, provide you with periodic updates—ideally monthly—to enable you to manage the grant funds efficiently, and meet with you quarterly or semiannually to review expenses and address questions.
At the University of Pittsburgh, note that the Office of Research doesn’t field questions from individual investigators; inquiries must go through the departmental research administrator.
