Office of Proposal Development

1
Strategies for Success at NIH a Faculty Panel
Discussion

• Office of Proposal Development
• Division of Research Graduate Studies
• February 19, 2008
• John Ivy
• johnivy_at_tamu.edu
• 458-4280

2
Today's Agenda

• Word from our sponsor
• the Office of Proposal Development
• Overview of NIH
• Structure, funding mechanisms, funding
  opportunities, review criteria, the review
  process
• Faculty Panel
• QA, discussion, wisdom

3
Office of Proposal Developmenthttp//opd.tamu.edu
/

• Unit of the Division of Research and Graduate
  Studies
• Supports faculty in the development and
  preparation of research and educational proposals
• Junior faculty
• Center-level initiatives
• Multidisciplinary research teams
• Research affinity groups
• Diversity in the research enterprise

4
OPD Proposal Support

• Assistance with finding funding opportunities
• Information on particular programs
• What is the funding agency looking for?
• Experiences of other TAMU faculty who have
  applied for that program
• What types of projects have been funded?
• Project planning
• Strategic planning based on review criteria
• Education and outreach components
• Proposal editing
• Conformity with solicitation requirements
• Clarity and organization
• Grammar, punctuation, spelling
• What OPD does not do

5
OPD Website http//opd.tamu.edu/

• Funding opportunities
• Upcoming seminars
• Proposal resources
• Resources for junior faculty
• Craft of Grant Writing workbook
• Presentations from past seminars

6
OPD Staff

• 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 social and behavioral sciences, editing and
  rewriting, p-mcbride_at_tamu.edu
• Jean Ann Bowman Ecological and environmental
  sciences/agriculture-related proposals and
  centers, jbowman_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
• John Ivy NIH and related agency initiatives in
  the biomedical sciences, partnerships with the
  TAMU Heath Science Center, johnivy_at_tamu.edu
• Libby Childress Scheduling, resources, training
  workshop management, project coordination,
  libbyc_at_tamu.edu

7
NIH Mission

• NIH is the steward of medical and behavioral
  research for the Nation. Its mission is
• science in pursuit of fundamental knowledge about
  the nature and behavior of living systems and
• the application of that knowledge to extend
  healthy life and reduce the burdens of illness
  and disability.

8
NIH Goals

• It's goals are
• foster fundamental creative discoveries,
  innovative research strategies, and their
  applications as a basis to advance significantly
  the Nation's capacity to protect and improve
  health
• develop, maintain, and renew scientific human and
  physical resources that will assure the Nation's
  capability to prevent disease
• expand the knowledge base in medical and
  associated sciences in order to enhance the
  Nation's economic well-being and ensure a
  continued high return on the public investment in
  research and
• exemplify and promote the highest level of
  scientific integrity, public accountability, and
  social responsibility in the conduct of science.

9
NIH 20 Institutes, 7 Centers
10
National Institutes of Health

• NIH is a basic research agency
• Each Institute has its own mission
• Each Institute has its own budget
• Each Institute has its own activities
• Each Institute has its own ways of doing things
• When youre planning to submit a grant, check
  with Program Officers from different institutes
  to determine their specific policies and interest
  in your science.

11
FY 2007 Operating PlanNIH Discretionary Budget
Authority 29.228 Billion

• gt80 awarded to gt325,000 extra-mural researchers

12
Unsolicited vs. Solicited

• NIH makes a distinction between solicited versus
  unsolicited proposals
• Unsolicited (investigator-initiated) proposals
  (82)
• Parent Announcements (Program Announcements, PA)
• Solicited (agency-initiated) proposals (18)
• Program Announcements (PA)
• New research programs and updates to ongoing
  programs (renewable)
• Request for Applications/Proposals (RFA/RFP)
• One time request to fulfill specific agency
  research objective or need

13
NIH Funding Mechanisms

• Three principal types
• Training T F
• Kareer K
• Research Project Grant R
• R01, R03, R21

14
Identify NIH Funding Opportunities

• NIH Office of Extramural Research
• http//grants1.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm
• http//grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/index.html
• Search by keyword
• Browse by Requests for Applications (RFAs)
• Browse by Program Announcements (PAs)
• Automatic funding alerts
• Institutes and Centers (IC) homepages
• Listed at http//www.nih.gov/icd
• Go to IC homepage
• Browse or search their Research Funding or
  "Extramural Funding section

15
Identify NIH Funding Opportunities

• Grants.gov
• http//www.grants.gov/search/agency.do
• Search by keyword
• Search by funding opportunity number
• Search by CFDA number
• Search by category
• Search by agency
• Automatic funding alerts

16
(No Transcript)
17
Parent Announcements
18
Identifying NIH Solicitations by Topic
19
Success Rate FY 2007It's competitive out there!

• Research Project Grant application overall
  success rate
• 47,455 applications
• 10,100 funded
• 21.3 success rate
• New 18.2
• Continuation 38.7
• Supplements 33.7

DP1, DP2, P01, R01, R03, R15, R21, R33, R34, R36,
R37, R55, R56, RL1, RL2, RL5, RL9, U01, U19
20
Speak with the Program Officer early and often

• Do your homework first
• Make an appointment
• Listen to the response
• Request clarification
• Follow up

21
Know your NIH Review Criteria

• Significance
• Ability of the project to improve health or
  advance the field
• Approach
• Feasibility of methods and appropriateness of
  budget
• Innovation
• Originality of research
• Investigator
• Education, training, relevant experience
• Environment
• Suitability of facilities and institution support

22
Understand the NIH Review Process

• Center for Scientific Review
• http//cms.csr.nih.gov/
• News and Reports
• Peer Review Meetings
• Resources for Applicants
• Describes the peer review process
• Offers a video of a mock review session
• NIH Grant Review Process Video
• Provides a list of study section rosters

23
Understand the NIH Review Process

• Review process is merit-based
• All applications receive three individual reviews
• Streamlining Reviewers identify those they
  believe in the bottom 50
• Study Section discusses the top 50 of
  applications (i.e., applications that have not
  been streamlined)
• Priority score (100-500) and percentile ranking
  are sent to PI
• Scientific Review Officer prepares a written
  summary of your proposal based on written
  critiques and Study Section discussion
• Summary statement is sent to PI

24
Write for Reviewers

• Reviewers are
• Smart, accomplished, dedicated, and fair
• Reviewers also are
• Busy
• Overworked
• Tired
• Skeptical
• May not be as knowledgeable about the details
  of the proposed topic as is the PI

25
Revisions

• Three strikes youre out
• Read the reviewers comments
• Take a break
• Re-read the comments
• Dont take them personally
• Read the reviewers comments, AGAIN
• Begin working on the revisions, incorporating the
  revisions that you think make your proposal
  better than the previous submission
• If you have a question about a particular
  comment, contact the SRO or the IC Program Officer

26
Additional Resources

• Office of Proposal Development,
  TAMU http//opd.tamu.edu/
• Funding Opportunitieshttp//opd.tamu.edu/funding-
  opportunities
• Resources for Junior Facultyhttp//opd.tamu.edu/r
  esources-for-junior-faculty
• The Craft of Grant Writing workbookhttp//opd.tam
  u.edu/the-craft-of-writing-workbook
• National Institutes of Health http//www.nih.gov/
  
• Grant Application Basicshttp//grants.nih.gov/gra
  nts/grant_basics.htm
• All About Grants Tutorialhttp//www.niaid.nih.gov
  /ncn/grants/default.htm
• Annotated R01 Research Plan and Summary
  Statementhttp//www.niaid.nih.gov/ncn/grants/app/
  
• Mock Peer Review Videohttp//www.csr.nih.gov/Vide
  o/Video.asp
• CRISP funded biomedical researchhttp//crisp.cit.
  nih.gov/

27
Panelists

• Robb Chapkin, Ph.D.Professor and University
  Faculty Fellow, Dept. of Nutrition and Food
  Science, College of Agriculture and Life
  Sciences, TAMU
• Paul Hardin, Ph.D.Professor, John W. Lyons
  Chair, Dept. of Biology, College of Science, TAMU
• Geoffrey Kapler, Ph.D.Professor and Associate
  Head, Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Medicine,
  College of Medicine, HSC

28
Panelists (cont.)

• Marcia Ory, Ph.D., M.P.H.Regents Professor,
  Dept. of Social and Behavioral Health, School of
  Rural Public Health, HSC
• Thomas Spencer, Ph.D.Associate Professor and
  AgriLife Research Faculty Fellow, Dept. of Animal
  Science, College of Agriculture and Life
  Sciences, TAMU
• Jane Welsh, Ph.D.Professor, Depts. of Veterinary
  Integrative Biosciences and Veterinary
  Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, TAMU