How to strategies for finding research funding

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How to strategies for finding research funding

• By Mike Cronan Lucy Deckard
• Office of Proposal Development
• Office of Research Graduate Studies
• Texas AM University
• 305 J. K. Williams Administration Building
  (845-1811)
• http//opd.tamu.edu/

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OPD Presenters

• Mike Cronan, PE (inactive), Director, was named a
  Regents Fellow (2000-04) by the AM System Board
  of Regents for his leadership role in developing
  funded research and educational partnerships
  System-wide. He has 22 years of experience in the
  development and writing of successful research
  and educational proposals.
• B.S., Civil Engineering (Structures), University
  of Michigan, 1983
• B.A., Political Science, Michigan State
  University, 1968
• M.F.A., English, University of California,
  Irvine, 1972
• Registered Professional Engineer (Texas 063512,
  inactive)
• Lucy Deckard, Associate Director, leads OPD's new
  faculty and graduate fellowship initiative, and
  works on proposal development activities related
  to science and engineering. Ms. Deckard has 18
  years of experience working as a materials
  engineer, conducting applied research at both
  Lockheed Martin as well as at Hughes Research
  Labs.
• B.S., Materials Science, Rice University, 1981
• M.S., Materials Science and Engineering,
  Northwestern University, 1990

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Office of Proposal Development

• Supports faculty in the development and writing
  of research and educational proposals to federal
  agencies and foundations--
• Center-level initiatives,
• Interdisciplinary research teams,
• New junior faculty,
• Institutional diversity initiatives,
• Health Science Center collaborations,
• Multi-institutional research partnerships.
• Offers a full suite of grant writing training
  programs to help faculty develop and write more
  competitive proposals.

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OPD Member List

• Jean Ann Bowman, PhD (Physical Geography/Hydrology
  ), earth, ecological, environmental,
  jbowman_at_tamu.edu
• Libby Childress, Scheduling, workshop management,
  project coordination, libbyc_at_tamu.edu
• Mike Cronan, PE (inactive), BS (Civil/Structures),
  BA, MFA, Center-level proposals, research and
  educational partnerships, new proposal and
  training initiatives, mikecronan_at_tamu.edu
• Lucy Deckard, BS/MS (Materials Science
  Engineering), New faculty initiative,
  fellowships, engineering/ physical science
  proposals, equipment and instrumentation,
  centers, l-deckard_at_tamu.edu
• John Ivy, PhD (Molecular Biology), NIH biomedical
  and biological science initiatives,
  johnivy_at_tamu.edu
• Phyllis McBride, PhD (English), proposal writing
  training, biomedical, editing,
  p-mcbride_at_tamu.edu
• Robyn Pearson, BA, MA (Anthropology), social
  sciences and humanities proposals, editing and
  rewriting, centers, rlpearson_at_tamu.edu

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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 Raubformer Deputy Director, NIH

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Types of university proposals

• Research (basic, applied, mission, applications,
  contract)
• Educational
• Hybrid research and education
• Small , few PIs
• Large , multiple PIs, centers
• Supplements to grants

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Solicited unsolicited proposals

• Proposals may be initiated in two general ways by
  the university researcher
• 1) in response to a published solicitation
  (solicited proposal, RFP, BAA, PA) or
• 2) initiated by the investigator (unsolicited
  proposal).
• E.g., NIH Parent Announcements
• http//grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/parent_announce
  ments.htm

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Unsolicited/Investigator Initiated Proposals

• Program Description or Program Announcement
  instead of a solicitation
• More general statement of interests of funding
  agency or program
• Typically the main source of research funding for
  individual researchers funded by NSF, NIH, DoD
• Majority of external research funded by NSF
  (50) and NIH (80) result from unsolicited
  proposals
• Formatting guidelines often in a separate
  document
• NSF Grant Proposal Guide
• NIH SF424 Application Guide
• DoD long-term Broad Agency Announcements

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Funding unlikely to pan out

• Grand visions
• Ambitious plans to improve the world
• Administrative infrastructures
• Bricks mortar
• Unfocused ideas enthusiasm

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If you dont write grants, you wont get any

• Target the proposal at the intersection where
• research dollars are available
• your research interests are met
• a competitive proposal can be written within the
  time available.

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Searching for funding

• Develop search protocols to fit research
  interests
• Know relevant agencies
• Learn grant cycles.

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Search in the right places

• Talk to funded colleagues in your discipline
• Read research publications for references to
  funding sources

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Focus on your research interests
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Searching for research funding

• Define a general disciplinary domain of interest
  (e.g., science, social science, humanities,
  education, health and biomedical sciences,
  engineering, etc.)
• Characterize the nature of the research interests
  within the disciplinary domain (basic, applied,
  applications, contract, mission agency)
• Identify funding agencies whose mission,
  strategic plan, and investment priorities are
  aligned with the specific research interests

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Searching for research funding

• Further align research interests with funding
  agency funding opportunities by
• reviewing past funding solicitations,
• reviewing agency mission statements,
• reviewing strategic investment plans and related
  documentation.

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OPD-Web Funding Opportunities
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Grants. gov

• The Grants.gov web portal serves as a single
  point of access for all federal agency grant
  announcements. New funding announcements from
  federal agency are posted to this site daily, and
  a range of other features allow subscribing to
  email funding alerts, linking to agency web
  sites, and searching for funding among agencies.

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Grants.gov Funding Email Alerts
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Search Grants.gov Opportunities
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Solicitation Modifications

• RSS feeds and email alerts also post
  modifications to program announcements that are
  made prior to the due dates
• This is particularly important for DoD BAAs that
  have long open periods, or RFPs from mission
  agencies
• Grants.gov New/Modified Opps by Agency
• http//www07.grants.gov/rss/GG_OppModByAgency.xml

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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