The U.S. National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Research Infrastructure Office will host a webinar to equip the U.S. Research Infrastructure (RI) Community with essential project management skills to enhance communication and performance.
Project Management Skills and Competencies: “Core” or “Soft Skills”
May 7, 2025
1:00 PM – 2:30 PM ET
Technical expertise gets projects started, but soft skills keep them on track. In this dynamic panel session, experienced project leaders will dive into the essential—but often overlooked—soft skills that drive effective project management. Topics will include building emotional trust, organizational structures, leading scientific projects, resilience, strategic communication, and transparent reporting. Panelists will share real-world examples, practical tips, and tools to navigate difficult conversations, build trust, strengthen teams, and foster collaboration. Whether you’re managing multiple teams, dealing with demanding stakeholders, or facing internal friction, this session will strengthen your human-centered skills to lead with enhanced confidence and clarity.
The first 45 minutes will consist of presentations, followed by a Q&A and then concurrent breakout sessions hosted by panelists.
This session will offer Professional Development Units (PDUs) to those with Project Management Institute (PMI) certifications. What’s a PDU?
Moderator
Sr. Program Manager, MS, MBA, PMP, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Panelists
Managing Director, Research Data Ecosystem, ICPSR, Institute for Social Research
Director, National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO)
Director of Project Management,
Earthscope
Director, Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS)
Facility Scheduling and Operations Coordinator, Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) DesignSafe
What You Will Learn
Building Trust Using Organizational Structures:
Marrying Agile Software Development and
Waterfall Reporting Requirements
Led by: Jeannette Jackson
through Strategic Communication and
Transparent Reporting
Led by: Sarah Deutsch
Leading Scientific Projects:
Line-authority vs Influence
Led by: Tony Beasley
Emotional
Intelligence
Led by: Joel D. Brock, Ph.D.
Creates More Resilient, Adaptive Teams
Led by: Daniel Zehner
This session will offer Professional Development Units (PDUs) for Project Management Institution (PMI) Certifications. After attending or viewing the entire presentation, complete the PDU Claim form to receive the necessary information to report to PMI. If you need a certificate of participation, please indicate so during registration.
This webinar will be recorded and available on-demand on the Knowledge Gateway shortly after the event. To stay informed of future RI Office events, sign up to Get Notified.
Technical Information
The webinar series will be hosted in Zoom meetings. We encourage you to review the system requirements below before joining the virtual program.
Access to Zoom
- Most recent versions of Chrome, Firefox, Edge or Safari
- Operating system: Windows 7+, Mac OS X 10.9+, or Ubuntu 12.4+
- Zoom’s Bandwidth Requirements are:
- 2.0 Mbps up and down for single screen
- 2.0 Mbps up, 4.0 Mbps down for dual screen
- For audio VoIP: 60-80kbps
- For more information, visit Zoom
Other things to consider
It can help to close other tabs, browsers and programs while streaming the live conference. It also may help to hardwire your Internet connection instead of using a wireless network connection.
If you have trouble hearing the webinar audio, check the volume on your computer and Zoom video player.
If your computer screen freezes, please refresh your browser.
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