Q&A with Mayra Quintana, Program Coordinator for Northwestern Scholars
Northwestern Scholars is the University’s faculty researcher profiling and networking system, managed by the Research Analytics unit in the Office for Research. It is a searchable database of faculty profiles containing information about their academic appointments, affiliations (e.g., with graduate programs), research interests, research output (e.g., publications, visual and digital works, exhibitions, patents), published research data, and awarded grants. With just a few clicks, one can find subject matter experts, identify researchers and work contributing towards the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), visualize author and organization collaboration networks, and more.
To learn more about Northwestern Scholars, we sat down with program coordinator, Mayra Quintana. Read below to learn how her role within the Office for Research supports graduate education.
As the program coordinator, I provide day-to-day administrative and operational oversight of Scholars while working closely with the director of research analytics. I ensure that the data within Scholars is up-to-date—troubleshooting issues as they arise and reporting them to relevant parties as needed, coordinating with Research IT and the system’s platform vendor to maintain operations, and testing/implementing system upgrades as required. I also respond to queries through the Northwestern Scholars Support email account and provide basic training and user support for functions within the Scholars web portal and the administrative reporting backend.
Can you tell us what inspired your decision to engage in this work?
I have worked in higher education for many years and find it rewarding when I can help with students, faculty, and departmental needs, even if indirectly. I also have some research experience and enjoy answering specific questions by creating tailored Scholars reports and analyzing the returned data.
What resource(s) do you and Northwestern Scholars provide for graduate students?
The data within Scholars can be searched, filtered, and reviewed in the Portal. Scholars can assist graduate students with:
- Finding subject matter experts as they consider faculty advisor options or look to add members to their dissertation committee. Instructions on how to Find an Expert are available here. A downloadable document is included as well.
- Research concepts (specific to the listed research output), identified and updated regularly by the system’s Fingerprint engine. Via simple and advanced searches performed right in the Portal, one can easily find published work on a specific topic, and further filter by type (e.g., article, book, conference proceeding), Publication Year, tagged SDGs, etc.
- Several Person- and Publication-specific metrics that are available and visible in Scholars, e.g., Scopus h-indices, and PlumX metrics. We can report on other metrics, e.g., the FWCI Score, even though they are not visible in the portal. Reporting on metrics is done via the administrative reporting backend.
Important to note: The “Export search results” option via the portal is limited to a few fields. Please contact us with specific report requests and we will be happy to generate comprehensive reports for you.
How can graduate students most easily connect with you and the Northwestern Scholars team?
Inquiries and requests can be submitted through Northwestern Scholars Support at nuscholars@northwestern.edu. I can also be reached directly at mayra.quintana@northwestern.edu.
What's one fun fact you can share about yourself?
I collect ribbons (pretty, classic, unusual) which I use as the starting point of each wreath I create. A chosen ribbon’s color, print/design, material, texture, and/or construction determines the overall look/feel of the final product, which is both fun and challenging. I also include a bird (paper, straw, wood, metal, glass; large, small) in each one. Sometimes they blend in, sometimes they stand out. If a bird ‘does not go with the wreath’s theme’, I still include one, strategically hidden so only I know it is there.
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