Competing for Funding at NSF March 22, 2006 Part of OPD Spring Seminar Series Lucy Deckard Ldeckardt

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Competing for Funding at NSFMarch 22, 2006Part
of OPD Spring Seminar SeriesLucy
DeckardL-deckard_at_tamu.edu458-4290
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Office of Proposal Development

• Unit of Vice President for Research Office
• Supports faculty in the development and writing
  of research and educational proposals
• center-level initiatives,
• multidisciplinary research teams,
• research affinity groups,
• junior faculty research,
• diversity in the research enterprise.

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Members, Office of Proposal Development

• Jean Ann Bowman, Ecological and environmental
  sciences/ agriculture-related proposals and
  centers, jbowman_at_tamu.edu
• Libby Childress, Scheduling, resources, training
  workshop management, project coordination,
  libbyc_at_tamu.edu
• Mike Cronan, Center-level proposals, AM System
  partnerships, new proposal and training
  initiatives, mikecronan_at_tamu.edu
• Lucy Deckard, New faculty initiative,
  fellowships, physical science-related proposals,
  equipment and instrumentation, interdisciplinary
  materials group, OPD web management
  l-deckard_at_tamu.edu
• Phyllis McBride, Craft of proposal writing
  training, NIH and related agency initiatives in
  the biomedical, social and behavioral sciences
  editing and rewriting, p-mcbride_at_tamu.edu
• Robyn Pearson, Education, liberal arts, social
  behavioral sciences, and humanities-related
  proposals, support for interdisciplinary research
  group development, educational proposals, editing
  and rewriting, rlpearson_at_tamu.edu

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Office of Proposal Development, OPD-WEB

• OPD-WEB (http//opd.tamu.edu/) is an interactive
  tool and faculty resource for the development and
  writing of competitive research and educational
  proposals to federal agencies and foundations,
  including
• Funding opportunities
• Junior faculty support
• Proposal development resources
• Grant writing seminars and workshops
• Grant writing workbooks and toolkits
• PI perspectives on competitive proposals

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For more info

• Go to http//opd.tamu.edu, click Seminar
  Materials, then Seminars by Date and look for
  this seminar (first link)
• For an electronic version of this presentation
• For additional resource materials
• Articles and presentations by NSF program
  officers
• Lists of helpful NSF links
• Toolkit on NSF

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OPD Seminar/Panel Discussion Series

• Generic Competitive Research Strategies
• March 21, 2 - 5 pm, 601 Rudder 
• Competing for Funding at NSF 
• Feb. 22, 2 - 4 pm, 601 Rudder 
• Interdisciplinary Research Collaboratives Social
  Science and Education Research
• March 28, 2 4 pm, 601 Rudder
• Pursuing Research Funding from DoD and the
  Nationals Labs
• March 29, 2 - 4 pm 601 Rudder 
• CAREER/Young Investigator and Other Programs for
  Junior Faculty
• March 31, 130 430 pm 301 Rudder
• Research Funding in the Agricultural Sciences
• April 6, 10 am - noon , 301 Rudder
• NIH Presentation and Panel Discussion
• April 12, 2 - 4 pm , 224 MSC

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Craft of Proposal Writing Workshops

• Developed and presented by Phyllis McBride
• One-day workshops for Faculty and Staff
• May 17, 8 am 5 pm
• Advance registration required
• Seminar-long grant writing workshops
• Offered spring and fall
• See http//opd.tamu.edu/people/semester-long-grant
  -writing-workshop
• For info on all upcoming OPD seminars and
  workshops and to register, see
  http//opd.tamu.edu/events

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Seminar Series Objective

• Share with the entire AM research community the
  significant research expertise, competitive
  research proposal development strategies, and
  funding agency perspectives of faculty panelists
  who are
• Highly successful in obtaining research funding
• Former proposal reviewers
• Former federal agency (faculty) program officers

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Objective of this Seminar

• To answer questions and discuss issues related
  to strategies for competing for research funding
  at NSF
• Senior faculty who have mentored junior faculty,
  served on review panels, served as program
  officers at federal funding agencies
• Junior faculty who are currently negotiating the
  challenges of establishing a research program

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Seminar Structure

• The Basics of NSF (2 255 pm)
• Lucy Deckard NSF organization, procedures, info
  sources, etc.
• Mike Lindell Elements of a Successful NSF
  Proposal
• Panel Discussion and QA (3 4 pm)

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Panel Members

• Dr. David Bergbreiter, Dept. of Chemistry
• Dr. George Jackson, Dept. of Oceanography
• Dr. Michael Lindell, Dept. of Landscape
  Architecture and Urban Planning
• Dr. Don Naugle, Dept. of Physics
• Dr. John Oswald, Dept. of Entomology
• Dr. Carol Stuessy, Dept. of Teaching, Learning
  and Culture

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Overview

• Organization of NSF
• Types of funding opportunities
• NSFs mission and goals
• Proposal requirements and Evaluation Criteria
• Review Process

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NSF Structure

• Divided into directorates
• Biological Sciences (BIO)
• Computer and Information Science and Eng (CISE)
• Education and Human Resources (EHR)
• Engineering (ENG)
• Geosciences (GEO)
• Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS)
• Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE)
• Office of Polar Programs (OPP)
• Each directorate divided into divisions and
  programs -see http//www.nsf.gov/staff/orglist.jsp
  
• Submit most proposals to specific disciplinary
  program
• Also cross-cutting programs

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Funding Opportunities

• Helpful NSF web pages to search for funding
  opportunities
• Guide to Programs
• http//www.nsf.gov/funding/browse_all_funding.jsp
  
• About Funding http//www.nsf.gov/funding/aboutf
  unding.jsp
• Active Funding Opportunities (by due date)
• http//www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_list.jsp?orgNSFor
  drcnt
• Award Search http//www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/index.
  jsp

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Types of Funding Opportunities

• Program Description or Program Announcement
  (unsolicited)
• Administered by disciplinary programs within
  directorate and division
• Typically due once or twice per year (sometimes
  due dates sometimes target dates or
  windows) 1 3 PIs
• Follow Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) for formatting,
  eligibility, etc.
• http//www.nsf.gov/pubs/gpg/nsf04_23/
• Synopsis of research interests and abstracts of
  funded proposals on web site

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Types of Funding Opportunities

• Solicitations
• More focused than program announcements
• Often tied to particular agency initiative
• NSF-wide and cross-cutting opportunities
• Often apply for limited period of time
• Give specific format, criteria and other
  requirements that may differ from GPG
• Supplements
• Additions to existing grants
• Research Experiences for Undergraduates, Research
  Experiences for Teachers, Research Opportunity
  Awards, etc.

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Types of Funding Opportunities

• Dear Colleague Letter
• Informs proposer community of upcoming
  opportunities, special competition for
  supplements, etc.
• SGER (Special Grants for Exploratory Research)
• Small-scale, high-risk exploratory research
• 100K or less
• Approved by program officer (talk to program
  officer before submitting!)

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Funding Opportunities

• In addition to research grants, NSF funds
• Instrumentation
• Conferences and Workshops
• Doctoral Research in Selected Areas (Doctoral
  Dissertation Improvement Grants)
• International Travel

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NSF Culture and MissionCore Strategies, 2001-2006

• Develop intellectual capital
• discover, learn, create, identify problems and
  formulate solutions
• develop potential of underutilized groups
• Integrate research and education, K-Ph.D.
• develop reward systems that support teaching,
  mentoring and outreach
• Promote partnerships
• optimize impact of people, ideas, tools

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NSF 2006 Priority Areas

• Biocomplexity in the Environment (BE)
• seeks a more complete understanding of the
  dynamic interactions among living things and
  physical processes in the environment.
• Human and Social Dynamics (HSD)
• fosters breakthroughs in understanding human
  action and development, as well as knowledge
  about organizational, cultural and societal
  adaptation and change
• Mathematical Sciences
• enables progress across disciplines through
  advances in math and statistics research and
  supports the development of a mathematically
  literate workforce
• Nanoscale Science and Engineering (NSE)
• systematic understanding, organization,
  manipulation and control of matter at the atomic,
  molecular and supramolecular levels.
• Cyberinfrastructure
• contributes to the development of a widely
  accessible information technology (IT) backbone
  that will ultimately enable innovative science
  and engineering research and education as well as
  next-generation IT capabilities.
• http//www.nsf.gov/news/priority_areas/

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NSF Culture

• Each directorate has its own culture and
  priorities
• Get to know the directorates and divisions that
  could fund your work
• Read web site goals, priorities of directorate,
  division, programs
• Get to know program directors
• Use funded programs data base to find out what
  has been funded recently - http//www.nsf.gov/awar
  dsearch/index.jsp
• Volunteer to serve as reviewer
• Attend NSF national and regional workshops

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RFPs Analyzing an NSF Solicitation

• Who is eligible to submit?
• What is the funding level and funding period?
• What is NSFs objective?
• What are the review criteria?
• What is the review process?
• Do they refer to reports, other programs?
• What projects have been funded in the past?
• Example Solicitation http//www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002
  /nsf02111/nsf02111.htm

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Grant Proposal Guidehttp//www.nsf.gov/pubs/gpg/n
sf04_23/

• Default authority for formatting, page length,
  etc.
• Includes info on
• Biosketches
• Budgets
• Additional documents
• Procedures
• Exceptions from GPG must be detailed in
  solicitation

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Typical NSF proposal components

• Cover Sheet (form filled out on Fastlane)
• Project Summary (1 page)
• Intellectual merit
• Broader impacts
• Project Description (15 pages)
• References Cited (no page limit)
• Biographical Sketches (2 pages each see GPG for
  format include sketch for all senior personnel,
  definition in GPG)
• Current and Pending Support (for all senior
  personnel no page limit required info in GPG
  no set format required)
• Budget (Fastlane form, filled out in
  collaboration with Proposal Administrator)
• Budget Justification (narrative description and
  justification of budget items)
• Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources
  (describe directly applicable equipment, etc.
  not necessarily required for all proposals)
• Special information and Supplementary
  Documentation
• As needed. Examples letters of collaboration
  letters of support No page limit.

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Formatting

• 1 inch margins all around
• GPG
• The height of the letters must not be smaller
  than 10 point AND
• Type density, including characters and spaces,
  must be no more than 15 characters per 2.5 cm
• In Times New Roman, minimum size meeting these
  requirements is 11.5 pt 10 pt Times New Roman
  exceeds allowable type density
• Proposals not meeting formatting requirements may
  be returned without review

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Budgets

• Proposal administrator (Research Foundation,
  TEES, TAES) will assist you with budget
• Follow budget requirements in solicitation, Grant
  Proposal Guide
• Example Categories
• Senior Personnel 1 PI and up to 4 Co-PIs
  allowed unlimited number senior personnel
• Graduate students
• Undergrads
• Other personnel
• Travel
• Equipment
• Materials and supplies
• Participant Costs
• Subcontracts
• Publication Costs

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Submission

• Submit through Fastlane web interface
• Must be registered (check with proposal
  administrator)
• Will change to Grants.gov
• Must route proposal and budget for approval

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Review Process

• May be ad hoc or panel review (at least three
  reviewers)
• Proposal rated
• Excellent, Very good, Good, Fair, Poor
• Comments included as feedback
• NSF tries to return reviews within 6 months of
  due date