Behavioral

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National Science Foundation
Betty Tuller, Ph.D. Perception, Action
Cognition Program
Behavioral Cognitive Sciences
Division Directorate for Social, Behavioral
Economic Sciences National Science Foundation
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Overview of Presentation

• Getting to Know the NSF
• How to Get Started
• Specific Programs of Interest
• Proposal Preparation Advice

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Introduction to NSF
NSF is the only federal agency to support basic
research in most scientific disciplines (no
in-house research).
NSF Does Not Support
NSF Does Support

• Clinical work
• Counseling
• Business
• Management
• Social work
• Practice-oriented professional degree programs
• Joint science-professional degree programs
  (MD/PhD and JD/PhD)
• Medical, dental, law, or public health programs

• Chemistry
• Computer Information Science Engineering
  (CISE)
• Engineering
• Geosciences
• Life Sciences
• Mathematical Sciences
• Physics and Astronomy
• Psychology (non-clinical)
• Social Sciences (non-clinical)

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Office of the Director
Directorate for Social, Behavioral Economic
Sciences
Science Resources Statistics
Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences
Social and Economic Sciences
Science of Learning Centers Science of Science
and Innovation Policy Cross-Directorate Activities
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Division level
Behavioral Cognitive Sciences
Cognitive Neuroscience
Documenting Endangered Languages
Developmental Learning Sciences
Archaeology
Perception, Action Cognition
Cultural Anthropology
Physical Anthropology
Linguistics
Social Psychology
Geography Regional Science
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Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences

• FY09 Program Allocations (millions of dollars)
• Archaeology Archaeometry 6.9
• Cultural Anthropology 3.7
• Cognitive Neuroscience 7.6
• Developmental Learning Sciences 6.6
• Geography Spatial Sciences 7.0
• Linguistics 5.9
• Documenting Endangered Languages 2.1
• Perception, Action, Cognition 7.0
• Physical Anthropology 4.1
• Social Psychology 6.4

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GETTING STARTEDFinding Funding Opportunities
Use the NSF website! www.nsf.gov
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www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?orgBCS
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NSF-wide Opportunities

• CAREER grants
• Rapid response research (RAPID)
• Early concept grants for exploratory research
  (EAGER)
• Dear Colleague Letters
• Doctoral dissertation improvement grants
• Unsolicited competitions (Programs)
• Special solicitations (usually 5 year programs)

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Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program

• Untenured faculty (or comparable)
• Only one PI
• 400,000, 5-years minimum award
• Three proposals lifetime limit
• Has its own deadline!!
• Walk on Water expectation

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Rapid Response Research (RAPID)

• Contact program officer first !!!!!
• Research when data are ephemeral
• 200,000 maximum 1 year
• 5 page project description
• Internal review only

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Early-concept grants for exploratory research
(EAGER)

• Contact program officer first !!!!!
• Exploratory work on untested, potentially
  transformative ideas
• High-risk, high-potential payoff
• 300,000 maximum 2 years
• Eight page descriptive
• Internal review only

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Dear Colleague Letters (right margin of SBE
webpage)

• Integrating HSD Goals into Core SBE Programs
• (Complexity Science Large-scale
  Interdisciplinary Research Infrastructure)
• Environment, Society, and the Economy
• Submit to both an SBE and a GEO program
• Incentives not programs

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NSF-Wide Priority Areas

• Increasing Participation Advancement of Women
  in Academic Science and Engineering Careers
  (ADVANCE)
• Cyberinfrastructure Training, Education,
  Advancement, and Mentoring for Our 21st Century
  Workforce (CI-Team)
• Integrative Graduate Education and Research
  Training (IGERT)
• Major Research Instrumentation (MRI)
• Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
• Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)
• Research at Undergraduate Institutions (RUI)

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More!!

• Creative IT
• Cyber-enabled Discovery and Innovation
• Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems
• Innovative Technology Experiences for Students
  and Teachers (ITEST)
• Research and Evaluation on Education in Science
  and Engineering (REESE)
• Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grants
• Science of Learning Centers
• Science of Science and Innovation Policy
• Social-Computational Systems

Etc..
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Program Announcements/Program SolicitationsRead
Carefully

• Program Goal(s)
• Eligibility Requirements
• Special Requirements
• Deadline/Target Date
• Cognizant Program Director(s)
• Search previous award abstracts

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Contacting your PO

• Introduce yourself via e-mail
• Whats your training, your expertise?
• What level of appointment do you have? Where?
• Summarize your proposed research.
• What is your research question?
• How you will try to answer it?
• Why would anyone care about this question?

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NSF has two review criteria
Both criteria matter!

• I. Intellectual Merit
• Importance to the field
• Qualifications of PI(s)
• Creativity/originality
• Conception and
• organization
• Access to resources
• Transformative Potential

• II. Broader Impacts
• Training
• Diversity
• Infrastructure
• Dissemination/
• Public Awareness
• Societal Benefits

Including students in research is central to the
core values and mission of the National Science
Foundation.
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What Makes a Proposal Competitive?

• Original ideas
• Sound scientific rationale/theoretical basis
• Critical approach
• Likely high impact
• Succinct, focused project plan
• Experience in essential methodology
• PILOT DATA
• Clarity concerning future direction
• Knowledge of subject area / relevant lit review
• Realistic timeline

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Proposal Preparation

• Download, print, and keep next to you at all
  times!!!
• Grant Proposal Guide (GPG)
• Program solicitation
• FastLane
• Proposal submission
• Proposal Status
• Access to Reviews
• Post-Award
• Requests and Notifications
• Annual reports

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Dont forget

• Talk to your Sponsored Research Office EARLY
  (they submit parts or all of the grant proposal,
  especially the budget)
• Up-to-date IRB (human subjects) or IACUC
  (animals) approval with the same title as the
  grant proposal.

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Proposal Process Timeline
Minimum of three reviews required
Award via DGA
Program Officer Analysis Recommendation
Ad hoc
Division Director Concur

• Organization
• submits
• via
• FastLane

Panel
Proposal Processing Unit
Both
Decline
NSF Program Officer
Returned as Inappropriate/Withdrawn
Organization
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Youve been awarded the grant!

• CELEBRATE!
• Dont gloat.
• Read the reviews for constructive suggestions

You Have Been Declined--

• You are in the majority (70-90).
• Never enough money to fund all the good proposals
  (3 times through is not unusual)
• The preparation, application, revision, and
  resubmission experience is a chance to learn.

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• You get to see all Reviews and a Panel Summary
• ASK yourself and others
• Do the reviews give guidance for shaping the
  research in future proposals?
• Did the reviewers misunderstand your intentions?
• Was the proposal submitted to the wrong NSF
  program?
• The panel discussion is as important as single
  reviews.
• Your PO or faculty mentors can help you interpret
  the reviews.

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Common Criticisms

• No compelling rationale (no theoretical
  framework)
• No preliminary data (proof of concept)
• Experiments dont relate to the theory
• Results could have alternative explanations
• Over-ambitious
• Insufficient detail
• If the experiments work, what will we really
  have learned?

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You (almost) have your Ph.D.What now?

• http//www.nsf.gov/funding/education.jsp?orgNSFf
  und_type3
• Arctic Research Opportunities
• Postdoctoral Fellowships in Polar Regions
  Research
• International Research Fellowship Program (IRFP)