Tobin is an expert in research data management tools and best practices throughout the research data lifecycle. She thinks broadly about establishing and improving the services and support provided to Northwestern researchers, including the Research Data Storage Service (RDSS), the Globus data transfer tool, workshops and one-on-one consultations. Topics Tobin can help with include choosing the right data storage for research projects, efficiently organizing and declutter your research data, streamlining research data workflows, complying with data security requirements, and sharing research data with collaborators.
Tobin also collaborates with staff in the University libraries, Galter Health Sciences Library, and the Office of Research on a larger data management effort to support researchers with the NIH data management and sharing plan requirement and similar policies from other funding agencies and publishers.
Tobin started her career as a Microbiologist studying brain parasites in her PhD work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and then malaria transmission as a postdoc at Loyola University. She has used the skills from her scientific training to support researchers from all disciplines at four different institutions since 2014, including an NLM administrative supplement award to provide data curation assistance for a grant studying miRNAS associated with alcoholism endotypes in 2015. Tobin is also active in the research support community nationwide. She is on the steering committee for the Campus Research Computing Consortium (CaRCC) researcher-facing track which provides monthly professional development opportunities for research support staff across the country. She is also an active member and former president of the Research Data Access and Preservation Association, which advocates for creating and disseminating research data best practices for information professionals.