UW–Madison’s Mollie McQuillan was recently selected for the William T. Grant Foundation’s competitive Early Career Reviewer Program, which recruits early-career researchers to serve as peer reviewers of grant proposals submitted to the foundation for studies on improving the use of research evidence.
McQuillan is an assistant professor with the School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis.
McQuillan is also a faculty affiliate of the Interdisciplinary Training Program in Educational Sciences, the Center for Demography and Ecology, the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies, the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research’s Collaborative Center for Health Equity, and the Institute for Diversity Science. Their research examines the intersection of educational policy, leadership, school climates, and the health of LGBTQ+ and other gender-expansive people in PK-12 schools.
The William T. Grant Foundation funds research in the social sciences, with a particular focus on reducing inequality in youth outcomes and improving the use of research evidence in public policy and practice settings.
Apart from reading and evaluating grant proposals in their areas of expertise, those who take part in the Early-Career Reviewer Program receive personalized feedback from foundation program officers and have access to additional reviews prepared by senior peer-reviewers. This program aims to build early career researchers’ understanding of the proposal evaluation and peer-review process, an experience that’s designed to strengthen participants’ own proposal writing skills — and ultimately advance their careers.