Andreica Maldonado
Program Director
Research Grants Program
Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust

After living in the mainland United States for six years, Andreica Maldonado returned to her homeland to join Parallel18 as a Startup Executive. At Parallel18, Andreica managed a group of 16 startups during each cohort, meeting with them on a daily basis and executing the acceleration curriculum effectively, which includes measuring weekly growth through KPI meetings.

She also was in charge of reviewing and analyzing startup performance and developing midpoint evaluations. In addition, she connected the most prominent startups with investors, mentors, companies, and universities and ensured that the grants were disbursed and spent wisely by the entrepreneurs.

Since December 2017, she leads the Research Grants Program in which she is the spokesperson for agency programs in dealing with the scientific community, Puerto Rican government officials, and other agencies and stakeholders. Supervise the promotional efforts to disseminate information about the grants program to the public at-large. Develop requests for applications (RFAs) or Requests for Proposals (RFPs) designed to solicit specific types of grant or contract proposals from the scientific community. Implement the review process, oversee the identification and screening of reviewers, and organize peer-review groups to evaluate letters of intent and/or research proposals on the basis of their scientific merit. Under the direction of the Grants Committee, lead efforts to set yearly funding priorities, determining best practices and policies for proposal review, grants award, and grants management, and providing evaluations of the grants programs and recommendations for improvement. In addition, she is responsible for the distribution of the “Post Hurricane Maria Aid for Researchers” initiative funds, that is designed to help Puerto Rican investigators continue their projects and reestablish operations in their laboratories

Previously, she was a project manager and senior program coordinator at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey’s Center for Leadership and Management. At Rutgers, she managed the New Jersey County Welfare Agencies Leadership and Management Development Project. In that capacity, she conducted research, produced reports, and delivered presentations at each of the state’s 21 counties.

She also has experience in working with disparate community cohorts, including seniors, women, and adolescents, in New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Puerto Rico.

Andreica holds a B.A. in General Social Sciences from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez and a Master’s Degree in Nonprofit and Public Management from the Rutgers University School of Social Work.