About the Speakers

Dr. Jose Alcaine currently serves as the director of research services and as an affiliate assistant professor within the Department of Foundations of Education for the School of Education. Alcaine brings extensive experience in higher education and research administration to include both pre-award and post-award administration to his role as director of research services in the VCU School of Education. He is involved in the school's research development, proposal preparation and submission, and in faculty and graduate student professional development programming.

Alcaine previously worked for the VCU Office of Research, where he gained wide-ranging experience and institutional knowledge of VCU activities and research efforts. Before coming to VCU, Alcaine gained extensive experience in higher education and research administration at Tulane University in his hometown of New Orleans, where he worked in support of academic, research and clinical faculty as well as doctoral fellows in the School of Medicine.

Alcaine holds a Ph.D. in public policy and administration from VCU’s Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs. He also holds the designation of Certified Research Administrator (CRA) granted by the Research Administrators Certification Council (RACC), a national accrediting body in the field.

Alcaine is active in service to SOE and VCU through leadership positions in committees and other campus groups. He is also active in professional organizations and societies including Pi Alpha Alpha (PAA) Public Affairs National Honor Society, American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM), and Society of Research Administrators International (SRA).

Meredith Sisson, PhD, joined the National Scholarship Office in 2016, having previously worked in the National Fellowships Program at Johns Hopkins University (JHU). There she worked closely with applicants for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program and with the Johns Hopkins Hodson Scholars program. 

She completed her doctorate in the History of Art at JHU in 2015, after having held a Gerda Henkel Stiftung predoctoral fellowship to conduct dissertation research in Rome, Italy. Dr. Sisson earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in the History of Art from the Johns Hopkins University, and her B.A. in Art History from Dartmouth College. 

When she's not chasing around her kids, Meredith likes to practice yoga and to cook.

Mary Strawderman holds a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Post-master’s, she earned a certificate in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as well as a certificate in Research Administration. She is currently working toward a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from VCU’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs. Previously, she worked on a federally funded Community Living grant project before going into research administration at VCU as a Senior Grant and Contract Administrator in the Division of Sponsored Programs. She works currently as a Research Development Administrator in VCU’s Division of Research Development, where she facilitates extramural research funding proposals, supports research teams, identifies funding opportunities, manages project timelines, oversees targeted activities for special projects, collects and analyzes data, and administers training.