STRATEGIC SCIENCE COMMONS
You Were Trained to Do Science. Not to Lead It.
Leadership development built on team science research, for PIs, clinicians, and researchers who are ready to stop managing by instinct.
RESEARCH RIGOR
8 federally funded initiatives.
Curriculum tested in academic, clinical, and corporate settings.
STRATEGY TOOLS
5 evidence-based frameworks.
Used in medtech, MBA programs, and research teams that needed to stop losing people and start finishing work.
TEACHING RECOGNITION
5x Instructor of the Year.
Instruction quality recognized by leading universities for its impact on learning experience and outcomes.
MENTORSHIP HONORS
UCI-wide faculty award.
For building leadership pathways that hold up past the training.
Training and Tools. Tested.
Research Career Accelerator
The grant isn’t the problem. The scattered six months before it is.
You’re high-performing and behind at the same time. The Research Career Accelerator was built for that specific condition.
The program starts with a personalized research plan built around your actual goals: a major grant, a publication milestone, a tenure case, or a promotion you’ve been circling without traction. From there, you work through modules on research strategy, project management, and AI for research, with checkpoints designed to keep you moving rather than adding to the pile.
You’ll walk away with a plan you’ve actually stress-tested, habits that hold past the deadline, and a clearer read on where your career needs to go next.
For postdocs, early-career researchers, and scientists who are productive but not yet positioned.
Scientific Lab Accelerator
Most labs run on excellence and exhaustion.
The Scientific Lab Accelerator builds the leadership systems your research needs. Without burning out the people carrying it.
It starts with a lab audit: where your team actually is, not where you assumed it was. From there, the program works through hiring and onboarding, managing across experience levels, running effective lab meetings, and building the kind of team culture that survives a hard grant cycle.
The program is designed for lab leads, co-investigators, and PIs at any stage. Whether you’re bringing on your first RA or restructuring a lab that has grown past what informal management can hold, the frameworks apply.
For new PIs, established lab leads who’ve promoted beyond their training, and co-investigators running their first team.
Proposal Prep Challenge
You've had this grant on your to-do list for six months. You know what it needs. You just can't seem to carve out the time, and every time you sit down, something pulls you away.
The Proposal Prep Challenge isn’t a course on grant writing. It’s a 45-day structured sprint — three workshops, three private 1:1 coaching sessions, and weekly accountability — that ends with a draft you can actually submit.
The Proposal Prep Challenge moves you from scattered effort to a finished draft, with accountability built into every week. You start by building a personalized proposal plan. You end with a submission-ready document and a clearer process for the next one.
You’ll work through three virtual workshops covering each phase of proposal development. You’ll have three private 1:1 coaching sessions with Dr. Salazar Campo for review, strategy, and direct feedback. Weekly assignments keep the proposal moving forward and keep you from rebuilding the timeline for the third time in six weeks.
This challenge works for academic proposals and business applications. If you’re applying for a grant you’ve been circling for two years, or building the team management section that reviewers keep flagging, this is where you start.
For researchers preparing a competitive federal or foundation grant, and scientists building a multi-investigator or team science proposal for the first time.
Manage & Lead Better
What if you could create a team environment that excites and motivates people to come to work every day or to work remotely? Imagine being on the right path toward your professional organizational objectives. The courses below are designed for businesses and organizations, supporting both students and employees as they begin a new approach to management and develop a comprehensive team or organizational plan.
Participants will learn essential management skills, discover new strategies, and reflect on what they have learned to better align with their professional interests and positively impact the lives of employees. Unlike traditional classroom settings, all course materials—including video lectures—are available online through our program's site, making it easy to access resources and track progress from anywhere.
Learning Innovation
Learning Innovation
Twenty years inside scientific organizations taught me one thing clearly.
The researchers who struggle to lead aren’t struggling because of their science. They’re struggling because no one trained them for the part that comes after the science is done.
Managing a team you didn’t hire. Running a lab that grew faster than your systems. Navigating a collaboration where everyone agreed on the goal and nobody agreed on who decides. Writing a proposal for a project that will require people to work together under conditions none of them have been in before.
This curriculum was built from the research I’ve done on scientific teams, the grants I’ve written, the labs I’ve studied, and the scientists I’ve worked with at every career stage. It is not a repackaged leadership course with science vocabulary added. The frameworks were developed for this specific context.
If you’re a scientist who leads people, this was built for you.
Connect, Collaborate, and Grow
At the heart of Dr. Maritza Salazar Campo’s mission is a commitment to making world-class education and leadership development accessible to learners everywhere. Through a vibrant online learning community, students, professionals, and organizations can access a wealth of free online courses, certificate programs, and top courses designed to meet the demands of today’s rapidly changing world.
By enrolling in online classes, learners gain a head start in their careers and advance their knowledge. The flexible programs I offer are tailored for busy scientists, clinicians, and business leaders who need to balance professional responsibilities with ongoing education. With just an internet connection, Principal Investigators, managers, leaders, and junior team members can access individual courses, complete assignments, and learn to change their leadership approach—no matter where they are in the world.
Whether you’re looking to develop new skills, explore new interests, or gain a deeper understanding of how to have influence in your field, there’s a course or program to fit your schedule and goals.
By joining this community, learners can connect with other leaders, share ideas, and engage in discussions that foster creativity, understanding, and professional growth. The mission is clear: to provide flexible, high-quality education that empowers individuals to create better work outcomes, advance their careers, and stay ahead in the business landscape.
With a focus on accessibility, flexibility, and real-world impact, the course correction online courses and programs are a go-to resource for those seeking to gain new knowledge, earn credentials, and make meaningful progress in their careers. Explore the possibilities, enroll in online courses, and join a global network of learners dedicated to lifelong learning and career advancement.