How to Find and Win Funding: Strategies for Faculty at Predominantly Undergraduate Institutions Lucy

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How to Find and Win Funding Strategies for
Faculty at Predominantly Undergraduate
Institutions Lucy DeckardTexas AM
UniversityOffice of Proposal DevelopmentL-deckar
d_at_tamu.edu979-458-4290
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Texas AM UniversityOffice of Proposal
Development OPD-WEB

• OPD-WEB (http//opd.tamu.edu/)
• Funding opportunities
• Junior faculty support
• Proposal development resources
• Grant writing seminars and workshop materials
• Grant writing workbooks and toolkits
• Funding news

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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 funding agency
  program officers
• Lists of helpful links for the various agencies
• Toolkits for various types of grants

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Workshop Overview

• Getting Started
• Finding Funding Opportunities
• Understanding the Funding Agency
• Writing the Proposal

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Getting Started

• Network!
• Talk to colleagues who has funded them?
• Go to conferences
• Meet program officers funding research in your
  field
• Look for collaborations that will help you
• Join the community of researchers in your field
• Establish a research/education agenda for the
  next few years
• Build on (but go beyond) your graduate work
• Generate preliminary data and publications

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Getting Started

• Build your funding track record
• Start with small grants
• Look at a variety of funders
• Be strategic in deciding which grants to pursue
• Find mentors who have been well-funded in your
  research area
• Ask their advice and listen closely
• Ask to see their proposals (successful and
  unsuccessful)
• Ask them to read your draft proposals

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Getting Started

• Consider collaborations
• Partnering with a more established researcher can
  help you build your track record
• Each member of a collaboration should contribute
  a clear set of complementary skills
• Discuss roles and tasks early make sure you have
  a clearly-defined part of the project that is
  yours
• Discuss division of resources early
• Discuss outputs of the project (papers, book
  chapters, etc.) and who will take the lead on each

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Getting Started

• Produce well-written, well-thought-out proposals
• Expect to have your first and second proposals
  declined (even the most successful researchers
  have 20 or less success rate)
• Learn from the reviews and try again

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Getting Started

• Consider applying for grants aimed specifically
  at new investigators and junior faculty
• NSF CAREER
• DoD Young Investigator
• USDA New Investigator
• Foundation Career Development Grants
• See http//opd.tamu.edu/funding-opportunities/fund
  ing-opportunities-by-category/programs-for-junior-
  faculty.html

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Funding Strategies for PUI Faculty

• Assess your and your institutions strengths
• Access to special facilities?
• Access to underrepresented students?
• Access to non-traditional students?
• Connections to community colleges?
• Connections to local high schools?
• Connections to industry?
• Look for funding opportunities or collaborations
  where you can capitalize on these strengths
• Look for funding opportunities specifically for
  PUIs

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Finding Funding Opportunities
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Unsolicited vs. Solicited Proposals

• Unsolicited
• Investigator-initiated no specific solicitation
  or RFP
• Typically long-running program relatively
  general statement of research topics of interest
• For NSF and NIH, recurring due dates or target
  dates each year
• Rare for Mission Agencies (DOE, USDA)

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Unsolicited vs. Solicited

• Solicited
• Terminology
• Request for Proposal (RFP)
• Program Solicitation
• Request for Application (RFA)
• For NIH, Program Announcement (PA)
• Tied to specific agency initiative
• May only last a few funding cycles or may go on
  for years
• Have specific additional evaluation criteria
• Often have specific formatting requirements

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Ways to Find Funding

• Talk to colleagues doing similar research
• Look for funding sources credited in books and
  journal articles describing similar research
• Use the web and other information resources

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Information on the Internet

• Funding Agency websites
• Compilations of funding opportunities
• Automatic e-mail notifications services
• RSS feeds
• Database services
• Google

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Funding Agencies

• http//opd.tamu.edu/funding-opportunities
• Compilations and Directories of Funding
  Agencies
• Federal Program Daily Grant Opportunities
• Grants.gov, Federal Register, etc.
• Foundation Funding Links
• Notes about agency web sites
• First place funding opportunities will show up
• Pages with funding opportunities can be buried
  when you find a good one, make a note of the url
• Look for unsolicited proposal opportunities
• Look for additional info on opportunites

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Compendia of Funding Opportunties

• All Federal Funding Opportunities
• http//www.grants.gov/
• Foundations
• http//fdncenter.org/pnd/rfp/index.jhtml
• University grants office websites
• Texas AM
• http//opd.tamu.edu/funding-opportunities
• Subscribe to OPD Monthly Newsletter by e-mailing
  mikecronan_at_tamu.edu with subject line subscribe
  to funding opportunities
• RSS feeds by discipline
• Iowa State, Duke, University of North Carolina,
  etc.
• List with links at http//opd.tamu.edu/funding-opp
  ortunities/funding-opportunities-posted-at-other-r
  esearch-universities

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Email Alert Services

• NSF
• http//www.nsf.gov/mynsf/
• NIH Guide LISTSERV_
• http//grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/listserv.htm
• Dept. of Education
• http//listserv.ed.gov/cgi-bin/wa?A1ind05Ledinf
  o
• http//www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/edinfo/index.ht
  ml
• Federal Grants
• http//fedgrants.gov/ApplicantRegistration.html
• Foundations
• http//fdncenter.org/newsletters/
• More listed at
• http//opd.tamu.edu/funding-opportunities/electron
  ic-funding-alert-services-email-alerts

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RSS Funding Feeds
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RSS Funding Feeds
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Funding Resource Links
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Funding Resource Links
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Funding Resource Links
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Funding Resource Links
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Database Services

• Community of Science (COS)
• Available through your Office of Sponsored
  Projects
• Input profile with key words get e-mail
  notifications
• Be sure to fine-tune search parameters

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Google is Your Best Friend

• http//www.google.com/
• Search for research opportunities
• Find funded programs, abstracts
• Find workshops, conferences, seminars
• Find reports, publications, project documents
• To search within a site, type keywords siteurl
  of site
• E.g., preservation languages sitewww.nsf.gov

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Ways to Improve Your Success in Finding Funding

• Get to know most likely funding agencies
• Mission, vision
• Funding mechanisms
• Recurring funding opportunities
• More on this later
• Check funding opportunities regularly
• Fine-tune search parameters for subscription
  databases
• Learn how to quickly evaluate a potential funding
  opportunity (more later)
• Keep a list of funding agencies, funding
  opportunities with urls (e.g., MS Word table with
  hotlinks)

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Example Grants.gov search
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National Science Foundation

• Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI)
  program
• http//www.nsf.gov/pubs/2000/nsf00144/nsf00144.ht
  m
• Faculty Research Projects
• Shared Research Instrumentation
• Research Opportunity Awards (supplement to
  current award at another institution)

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Other NSF programs

• NSF makes an effort to distribute portion of
  awards to faculty at PUIs examples
• NSF CAREER
• http//www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id5
  262orgNSFsel_orgNSFfromfund
• 20 of awards go to non-research-intensive
  institutions
• NSF expects budget to include some release time
  from teaching
• Research and education evaluated in terms of
  institutions mission
• Major Research Instrumentation
• http//www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id5
  260orgNSFsel_orgNSFfromfund
• Looking for impact on research infrastructure
• Enhancement of education and research

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NSF Education Programs

• Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement
  (CCLI)
• http//www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id5
  741orgNSFsel_orgNSFfromfund
• NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology,
  Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM)
• http//www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id5
  257orgNSFsel_orgNSFfromfund
• Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)
• http//www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id5
  517orgNSFsel_orgNSFfromfund
• Advanced Technological Education (ATE)
• http//www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id5
  464orgNSFsel_orgNSFfromfund

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Programs for Minority Serving Institutions

• Suite of programs for HBCUs and HSIs
• NSF
• Dept of Defense
• NASA
• USDA
• Dept of Education
• Etc.
• Programs for underrepresented students
  (institutional and individual)

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Understanding the Funding Agency
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Its not about youIts about the funder

• Understand what the funder is trying to
  accomplish by giving this grant
• Funders mission and culture
• Program objectives
• Review criteria
• Understand the funders organization and
  procedures
• Where does the money come from?
• How are proposals reviewed?
• Who will make the decisions related to your
  proposal?

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Types of Funding Agencies

• Basic research agencies (e.g, NSF, NIH)
• Mission-oriented agencies (e.g., NASA, DoD, Dept
  of Ed.)
• Foundations
• Other (industry, professional organizations, etc.)

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Basic Research Agencies vs. Mission Agencies

• NSF and NIH are Basic Research Agencies
• Independent research vision, mission
• Decisions made mainly on basis of peer review
• Relatively stable research agenda
• Long-term investments
• EPA, USDA, NOAA, DoD, etc. are mission agencies
• Mainly near-term objectives
• Scope of Work tightly defines research
  tasks/deliverables
• Can change quickly with change in political
  leadership
• Funding decisions may be based on peer review,
  geographic location, other factors

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Other Agencies that May Fund Your Project

• National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• US Department of Agriculture (USDA)
• Department of Education (DoED)
• Department of Defense (DoD)
• Department of Energy (DOE) and National Labs
• Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA)
• National Aeronautics Space Administration
  (NASA)
• National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration
  (NOAA)
• National Endowment for Humanities (NEH)
• National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
• Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
• And more, plus private foundations.

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Intramural vs. Extramural Research

• Some agencies fund only research by outside
  scientists - extramural research
• NSF and DARPA
• Some agencies fund research by internal
  scientists intramural research
• NIST and the National Labs
• Many fund both intramural and extramural research
• E.g., NIH, DoD, USDA, etc.
• Often a good idea to develop relationships and
  collaborate with internal scientists
• Some agencies encourage faculty to participate as
  visiting researchers during the summer

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Backgrounding the Funding AgencyQuestions to Ask

• What are its mission and goals?
• What are its investment priorities, strategic
  plan?
• What time horizon are they aiming for?
• How do they get their funding?
• What procedures do they use to notify community
  of funding opportunities?
• Who influences their planning and goals?
• What language do they use?

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Backgrounding Funding AgencyQuestions to Ask

• What is their culture like?
• What procedures do they use to review proposals
  and make funding decisions?
• What are their review criteria?
• How are they organized?
• Who are the personnel and what is their
  background?
• What have they funded in the past?
• What is their budget?

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Backgrounding the Funding AgencySources of
Information

• Web site
• Solicitation
• Organization Chart
• Strategic Plan/ Roadmap
• Bios of Program Officers
• Reports, Publications
• Contacts with Program Officers (visits,
  conferences, phone and e-mail conversations)
• Agency workshops and seminars

• Leadership Speeches
• Congressional Testimony
• Current Funded Projects Databases
• Project Abstracts
• Contacts with Funded Researchers
• Contacts with former Program Officers
• Contacts with former Reviewers

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Funding Agency Investment PrioritiesExamples

• National Science Foundation
• Strategic Plan 2003-08 (http//www.nsf.gov/od/gpra
  /Strategic_Plan/FY2003-2008.pdf)
• Office of the Director (http//www.nsf.gov/od/)
• National Institutes of Health
• NIH Roadmap (http//nihroadmap.nih.gov/)
• NIH Director Elias Zerhouni (http//www.sciencemag
  .org/feature/plus/nihroadmap.pdf)
• NIH Directors Page (http//www.nih.gov/about/dire
  ctor/)

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Funding Agency PrioritiesExamples

• Department of Education
• Dept of Ed Strategic Plan http//www.ed.gov/about/
  reports/strat/plan2002-07/index.html
• Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative
  Services
• Mission Statement, Strategic Plan and Goals
  http//www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/aboutus
  .html
• Reports and resources http//www.ed.gov/about/offi
  ces/list/osers/reports.html
• USDA Strategic Plan 2002 2007
  http//www.usda.gov/ocfo/usdasp/usdasp.htm

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Federal Awards Made Databases

• NIH Computer Retrieval of Information on
  Scientific Projects (CRISP)
• http//crisp.cit.nih.gov/
• NIH Extramural Awards By State and Foreign Site
• http//grants.nih.gov/grants/award/state/state.ht
  m
• NSF Award Data
• http//www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/
• NASA NSPIRES Past Solicitations and Selections
• http//nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations
  /solicitations.do?methodpaststackpush
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
  Grants On-Line Database (GOLD)
• http//www.gold.ahrq.gov/

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Federal Awards Made Databases

• USDA Current Research Information System
• http//cris.csrees.usda.gov/
• Department of Defense (DoD) Congressionally
  Directed Medical Research
• http//cdmrp.army.mil/scripts/search.asp
• Department of Defense (DoD) SBIR/STTR Awards
• http//www.dodsbir.net/awards/Default.asp

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Federal Awards Made Databases

• Department of Education (ED) Grant Awards
• http//www.ed.gov/fund/data/award/grntawd.html
• Department of Energy (DoE) Project Summaries
• http//www.osti.gov/rdprojects/
• Department of Health and Human Services
• http//taggs.hhs.gov/AdvancedSearch.cfm
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Grants
  Information and Control System
• http//www.epa.gov/enviro/html/gics/index.html
• Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
  Grants Awarded
• http//www.imls.gov/search.asp

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Federal Awards Made Databases

• National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
  Recent Grant Awards http//www.neh.gov/news/recent
  awards.html
• Federal RD Project Summaries and Awards
• (NIH, NSF, EPA, DoE, USDA, SBA)
• http//www.osti.gov/fedrnd/
• Health Services Research Projects in Progress
• grants and contracts awarded by major public and
  private funding agencies and foundations.
• http//www.academyhealth.org/hsrproj/search.htm
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
  Administration
• state by state summaries of awards made
  http//www.samhsa.gov/statesummaries/index.aspx

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Funding from Foundations

• Foundation Center (Find Funders)
• http//foundationcenter.org/findfunders/
• Foundation Finder
• http//lnp.foundationcenter.org/finder.html
• 990 Finder
• http//foundationcenter.org/findfunders/990finder/
  
• http//foundationcenter.org/findfunders/990pffly.p
  df
• http//foundationcenter.org/getstarted/tutorials/d
  emystify/

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Looking DeeperResearching the Solicitation or
Program
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Sifting through RFPs Deciding Whether a Funding
Opportunity is For You

• What do they want to accomplish through this
  program?
• How much money is allocated and how many awards
  are anticipated?
• Who is eligible to apply?
• What are the budget guidelines?
• What, if any, partnerships are required?
• What products does the funder expect?

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Reading the Solicitation

• Read and re-read the solicitation!
• The solicitation is not a list of suggestions it
  is a list of requirements
• It is a window into the thinking of the funding
  agency

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Things to Look for in the Solicitation

• Purpose of the program
• Research topics of interest
• Changes from previous programs
• Inspiration for program and references
• Program requirements
• Proposal requirements
• Budget guidelines
• Review criteria
• If you are pursuing an unsolicited
  opportunity, you will have to find these things
  out using other available information sources

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Request for Proposals, RFP

• Program Description
• Mission Context
• Eligibility Information
• Award Information
• Review Criteria
• Program Officers
• Reference Documents
• Award Administration

• Proposal Guidelines
• Format
• Document Order
• Project Description
• Scope of Work
• Performance Goals
• Management
• Attachments
• Budget Guidelines

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Purpose of the Program

• Commonly discussed in background section
• Make sure the goals of your proposed project
  mirror the program goals
• Look for words that are repeated often
• e.g., innovative
• You will want to use those words to describe your
  project (and back up those claims)
• The outcomes of your proposed project should
  support program objectives

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Research Topics of Interest

• Understand which topics are fundable under this
  solicitation
• Read solicitation
• Look at funding history (use databases, if
  available)
• Talk to Program Officer
• Note terminology and language used you will want
  to use similar terminology in your proposal

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Databases of Funded Projects

• NSF
• http//www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/index.jsp
• NIH
• http//crisp.cit.nih.gov/
• NEH
• http//www.neh.gov/news/recentawards.html
• U.S. Dept. of Ed
• http//wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/CFAPPS/grantaward/start
  .cfm
• USDA
• http//cris.csrees.usda.gov/

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Inspiration for Program and References

• Program may be result of committee report (e.g.,
  National Academies, National Science Board,
  special study committees)
• May be documented in Workshop presentations and
  reports
• May be documented in final reports and
  publications of previously funded projects
• May be outgrowth of agency roadmap, strategic
  planning
• Read and cite these reports in your proposal

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Program Requirements

• Read carefully and make a checklist
• Plan to explain how you will meet each program
  requirement
• Start work on setting up collaborations,
  partnerships if needed
• Supporting letters may be needed for your
  proposal
• To be competitive, you must meet all program
  requirements

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Explicit Proposal Requirements

• Note carefully formatting rules (page limits,
  fonts, margins, etc.) these may be in a
  separate document
• Look for suggested or required sections
• Make an outline that mirrors solicitation
• Include checklist of everything that must be
  addressed, divided by sections keep this
  checklist through early drafts
• Note supplementary documents needed
• Bios, Lists of Current Funding, Letters of
  support, Facilities and Equipment, etc.

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Unsolicited Programs

• Program description
• Agency mission
• Funded programs
• Proposal guides

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Unspoken Expectations

• Qualifications and experience of PI(s)
• Infrastructure provided by PIs institution
• Preliminary data
• Very important!
• Varies greatly depending on agency, discipline,
  etc.
• Info sources
• Previous awardees
• Previous reviewers
• Program officers and previous program officers

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Talking to the Program Officer

• Do your homework first
• Read solicitation carefully
• Read background documents
• Investigate previously funded projects
• Prepare a concise description of your project
• Goals, objectives, outcomes
• One short paragraph
• Try e-mail and phone
• If possible, use e-mail to set up phone
  conversation
• Ask open-ended questions and listen carefully

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Talking to Previous Awardees

• Most previous awardees very generous (unless they
  will be competing with you for renewal)
• Ask about program reviews, feedback from program
  officer
• Be aware that programs may evolve and criteria
  change
• Previous awardees often also reviewers
• May make sense to cite results of previous
  awardee or forge a connection with previously
  funded programs

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Review Criteria

• Most important part of solicitation!
• Plan how you will meet each review criterion
• Structure your proposal outline to reflect review
  criteria
• If you are weak in an area, plan how you will
  address this

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Review Process

• Could be
• Standing review committee
• Ad hoc panel
• Ad hoc mail reviews
• Internal review
• Combination
• Who will be your reviewers and what is their
  background?

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Things You Need to Know About Competing for
Research Funding
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A Proposal is Not an Academic Article

• Must be persuasive
• Must communicate passion
• Must communicate impact
• Must be easy to understand by readers with
  various backgrounds
• Must tie research to the goals of the funder
• Focuses on future, not past
• Must inspire confidence in researchers abilities
  and resources

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You must convince the reviewers

• This is a project that should be done
• It supports the goals of the agency and program
• It will yield significant results
• It is more important (or cooler or more
  significant) than other proposed projects
• You (and your team) are the right people to do it
• You have the skills and resources to be
  successful
• You have thought through the project
• And most importantly, you must.

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Intrigue the Reviewers
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• There is no amount of grantsmanship that will
  turn a bad idea into a good one, but there are
  many ways to disguise a good one.
• William Raub,
• former Deputy Director, NIH

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Writing the Proposal
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Introductory writing tips

• Summary and introduction are key
• May be all reviewers read
• Must excite and grab the attention
• Reviewers will assume errors in language and
  usage will translate into errors in the science
• Dont be overly ambitious in what you propose,
  but convey credibility and capacity to perform

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Introductory writing tips

• Sell your proposal to a good scientist but not an
  expert
• Some review panels may not have an expert in your
  field
• Agencies reviewers fund compelling, exciting
  research
• Proposals are not journal articles

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Following agency guidelines

• Read solicitation and/or proposal guide carefully
  for formatting requirements and follow
  scrupulously
• Font and font size
• Page limits
• Biosketch formats
• Citation format
• Avoids disqualification of your proposal
• Avoids irritating reviewers

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Make your proposal easy to read

• Reviewers often have 8 or 10 proposals to read
• Use white space, underlining, bold, bullets,
  figures, flowcharts to make main points easy to
  find
• Put main idea of sections and paragraphs up front

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Structure of Proposal

• Often dictated by solicitation or other agency
  document
• NSF Grant Proposal Guide
• NIH SF424
• DoD Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)
• Also guided by evaluation criteria
• ED often assigns points for each criterion

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Proposal Sections Examples

• Project Summary
• Project Description/Research Narrative
• Goals/Objectives/Specific Aims
• Introduction/Overview
• Background and Significance
• Approach/Methodology
• Research Plan
• Preliminary Data
• Broader Impacts (NSF)
• Literature Cited
• Budget
• Budget Justification
• Biosketches
• Funded Projects
• Equipment and Facilities

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Summary

• May be the only thing the reviewer reads
• Must grab the reviewer
• Should communicate concisely
• Intellectual framework of proposed project
• The goals and signficance of the proposed project
• Who will be conducting the project and, briefly,
  their qualifications
• Project outcomes
• Must communicate excitement
• Check for additional requirements
• E.g., intellectual merit and broader impacts in
  NSF proposals
• Project name, category, etc.

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Goals/Specific Aims

• State specific, measurable goals of your project
• Tie to program/agency mission and goals
• If hypothesis-based research, state your
  hypothesis
• Discuss expected outcomes

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Introduction/Overview

• Provides a framework for the reviewer
• Remainder of proposal will flesh out this
  framework
• Opportunity to make important points up front
• Communicate your excitement!

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Background/Literature Review

• Spend some time researching this
• This section should tie closely to your proposed
  research
• What are the holes in current knowledge that your
  work will fill?
• How does your research extend and advance
  knowledge in the field?
• Do not be dismissive of previous research
• Be thorough in citing important work but be
  concise

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Significance

• Explain explicitly why proposed research is
  important
• Tie to agency and program goals
• Relate to review criteria
• Make this easy to find

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Preliminary Data/Previous Work

• Be aware of expectations regarding amount of
  preliminary data
• Varies by agency
• Varies by program
• Varies by discipline
• Higher risk projects may require more preliminary
  data
• Discussion of preliminary data must connect
  clearly to proposed project

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Approach/Research Plan/Methodology

• Be very clear about how you will accomplish your
  stated goals and objectives
• Include details
• What, specifically, will you do when you get the
  money?
• Schedules and milestones may be helpful
• This is especially important if you are a
  relatively new researcher
• Address any potential dead ends, roadblocks,
  show-stoppers and how you will deal with them
• Avoid ambiguous terminology be very specific!

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Connect narrative text to budget

• Budget categories are defined by the funding
  agency
• Be sure activities discussed in narrative are
  reflected in budget
• Connect narrative text to the budget to ensure
  appropriate balance and proportion,
• If a budget justification section is requested,
  use it to complement and deepen the narrative
  detail

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Beware of Boiler Plate

• Thinking of proposal narrative as boiler plate
  will result in a mediocre, disjoint proposal
• Begin each proposal as a new effort, not a copy
  paste
• Be very cautious integrating text inserts
• Strong proposals clearly reflect a coherent,
  sustained, and integrated argument grounded on
  good ideas

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Project assessment and evaluation

• How will you know if you were successful?
• Describe what will be measured in order to assess
  how well project met each of its objectives
• Who will conduct assessment?
• Discuss logistics
• Formative assessment conducted throughout
  project and results fed back to improve project
• Summative assessment final assessment at end of
  project

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Institutional Environment and Support

• Especially important for PUI
• Explain clearly where your institution is and
  whom you serve
• Discuss explicitly the infrastructure and
  facilities available
• Make it clear that you have space, facilities,
  etc. that you need
• Describe how your proposed project fits into the
  mission and goals of your institution

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Letters of Collaboration or Support

• Check agency and program rules
• Get letters from partners whose support is
  important to the project
• Letters should be specific (write an initial
  draft for them)
• Start early

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Get Others to Read Your Draft

• Ask for advice at the planning stage
• The more people who read it critically, the
  better your proposal will be
• Look for people who will be critical
• Start early to allow time for revisions

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Interpreting Reviews

• If you are funded..
• If not.
• Put the reviews away for a few days
• Then take them out and read carefully
• Call the program officer for more feedback
• Evaluate if you should resubmit

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Interpreting Reviews Planning to Resubmit

• Were certain issues mentioned consistently?
• Plan how to address those issues
• Did the reviewers misunderstand your proposal?
• Plan how to make your text more clear
• Was no clear issue mentioned?
• May not have excited reviewers enough
• May not be an area they wish to fund now
• May not fit into their research portfolio
• Many funded proposals were funded after multiple
  submissions intelligent perseverance is
  the key!

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Questions and Discussion
98
The National Science Foundation
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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)

100
NSF Structure

• 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

102
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/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_k
  eygpg
• http//www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf09
  _29/gpg_index.jsp effective April 2009
• 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.

104
Types of Funding Opportunities

• Dear Colleague Letter
• Informs proposer community of upcoming
  opportunities, special competition for
  supplements, etc.
• EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research
  (EAGER) Small-scale, high-risk exploratory
  research
• 300K or less over 2 years
• Approved by program officer (talk to program
  officer before submitting!)
• See GPG for instructions
• Grants for Rapid Response Research (RAPID)
• Natural or anthropogenic disasters and similar
  unanticipated events
• 200K or less over 1 year
• Talk to program officer

105
Funding Opportunities

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

106
The NSF CAREER Program

• Duration 5 years
• Funding level minimum 400K total (except min.
  500K total for BIO directorate)
• Eligibility
• Have a PhD
• Untenured, holding tenure-track Asst. Prof.
  position or equivalent
• Have not competed in CAREER more than two times
  previously
• Have not won a CAREER award
• Due Typically third week in July exact date
  depends on directorate
• CAREER page http//www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.j
  sp?pims_id5262orgNSFsel_orgNSFfromfund

107
Success Rate for New Investigators CAREER
Compared to Other Awards
(From presentation at Fall 2007 NSF Regional
Grants Conference Year not Specified)
108
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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Points to Emphasize

• State benefits of your research clearly
• Why is it important and how is it novel?
• How will it advance knowledge in field?
• Societal benefits
• Research Plan should be specific and detailed
• Clearly state measurable goals and outcomes
• Discuss how you will address any possible
  problems
• Be sure to emphasize integration of education and
  research
• Measurable goals (e.g., number of students,
  diversity goals, etc.)
• Connect to existing NSF projects if possible

110
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

111
Performance ExpectationsReview Criteria

• Intellectual Merit
• How important is the proposed activity to
  advancing knowledge and understanding within its
  own field or across different fields?
• How well qualified is the proposer (individual or
  team) to conduct the project?
• To what extent does the proposed activity suggest
  and explore creative and original concepts?
• How well conceived and organized is the proposed
  activity?
• Is there sufficient access to resources?

112
Review Criteria

• Broader Impacts
• Advance discovery while promoting teaching,
  training and learning
• Broaden participation of under-rep. groups
• Dissemination
• Societal benefits
• Improve infrastructure for research
• Discuss throughout proposal AND in separate
  section in both Project Summary and Description
• Special Criteria
• Program-specific
• Listed in solicitation under Proposal Review
  Information

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NSF Panel Review(most research divisions)

• The panel is an advisory committee composed of
  10-20 people depending on of proposals
• Each proposal must receive at least 3 reviews
• In panel, each reviewer describes his/her views
  of the proposal to the rest of the panel
• The panel as a whole then discusses the proposal
• The proposal is then placed in a funding
  recommendation category
• (e.g. Fund, Fund if Possible, Do not fund)

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Pained by reviewer comments? Get over it!
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Resubmitting proposals

• Take reviewers comments to heart
• Somewhere between advisory mandatory
• Assess next step
• Start over
• Major renovation
• Minor renovation
• Re-conceptualize
• Drop the idea

119
Resources

• NSF web site www.nsf.gov
• Info on divisions and programs
• http//www.nsf.gov/staff/orglist.jsp
• Guide to Programs
• http//www.nsf.gov/funding/browse_all_funding.jsp
  
• Tip to search within web site go to google and
  search keyword sitewww.nsf.gov
• Office of NSF director (recent speaches)
• http//www.nsf.gov/od/
• NSF Grant Proposal Guide
• http//www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_k
  eygpg
• Gives requirements, formats, etc.
• Awards search of funded proposals
• http//www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/
• NSF E-mail notifications
• https//service.govdelivery.com/service/multi_subs
  cribe.html?codeUSNSFcustom_id823
• Get up to date information via e-mail
• http//www.drexel.edu/provost/graduatestudies/haze
  lrigg.pdf
• NSF Regional Grants Conferences
• http//www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/outreach.jsp

120
Tips for Success

• Review proposals that have been funded
• Contact PIs
• Have more than one person read your proposal
  prior to submission
• Peers AND scientists not in your area.
• If Rejected Try Again
• Talk with the Program Officer
• Pay attention to Reviewers comments
• Attend a Grant-writing workshop

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Sources for Copies of Successful Proposals

• On the web
• http//opd.tamu.edu/seminar-materials/seminar-mate
  rials-by-date/nov.-19-2008-nsf-career-seminar/nov.
  -19-2008-nsf-career-seminar
• http//serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/earlycareer
  /research/NSFgrants.html
• http//valis.cs.uiuc.edu/sariel/papers/01/career/
  career.pdf
• http//www.math.uic.edu/bshipley/career.education
  .pdf
• Talk to colleagues
• Check award databases and ask talk to successful
  PIs