October 7, 2025

How the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Empowers Faculty with Atom Grants

Overview

At the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the Office of Research Sponsored Programs is dedicated to equipping new faculty with the tools they need to succeed in grant writing. Leading this initiative is Lydia Perry, a grant writer who has been leveraging Atom to make the grant development process smoother and more accessible for Principal Investigators (PIs).

Challenge

New faculty often face uncertainty when beginning their journey into research grants. Many PIs approach Lydia with a simple idea, but no clear sense of where to start.

Traditional keyword-based search required them to know specific terminology, which could create unnecessary barriers at the earliest stages of research.

Solution

To bridge that gap, Lydia and her team introduced Atom’s natural language search and chatbot features. These tools allowed faculty to describe their ideas in plain English and receive relevant funding opportunities, guidance, and insights instantly.

“Being able to guide people into using natural language search to formulate their ideas has been really helpful,” Lydia explains. “They can brainstorm directly in the system and refine their thinking as they go.”

The chatbot assistant also became a valuable teaching aid, helping new PIs understand what a solicitation is asking for—from eligibility to formatting rules. This not only empowered researchers but also reduced the workload on the pre-award unit, which could now focus on high-level support rather than basic orientation.

Results

Since adopting Atom, the university has seen significant engagement from faculty members across departments. Through the admin dashboard, Lydia can monitor how PIs are using the system, tracking logins, searches, and activity trends.

“I’ve been really pleased with the number of people logging in and searching,” she says. Beyond participation, the implementation process itself was remarkably smooth. Atom integrated seamlessly with the university’s existing systems, minimizing administrative overhead. These tools not only streamlined the PI experience but also reduced the workload for the university’s pre-award unit.

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