Opportunities and Challenges in Obtaining NSF Funding

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Opportunities and Challenges in Obtaining NSF
Funding

• Parag R Chitnis
• Program Director
• Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences

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Outline

• Information about NSF- Mission and goals
• Funding Opportunities
• Disciplinary Programs
• Other Opportunities
• Education Grants
• Proposal review process
• Research proposal preparation

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NSF on the web- An indispensable
resourcewww.nsf.gov
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National Science Foundation Enabling the
nations future through discovery, learning and
innovation.

• Is an Independent Agency of the Federal
  Government
• Was established in 1950 to promote and advance
  scientific progress in the United States by
  sponsoring scientific research and by supporting
  selected activities in science and engineering
• Does not conduct research itself.
• Advances progress in science, mathematics and
  engineering
• Strategic Goals-
• People, Ideas, Tools, Organizational Excellence

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National Science Board
Office of Inspector General
National Science Foundation Director
Deputy Director

• Office of the Director
• Legislative Public Affairs
• Equal Opportunity Programs
• General Counsel
• Integrative Activities
• Polar Programs
• International Programs

• Directorates
• Biological Sciences
• Computer Information Science
  Engineering
• Education Human Resources
• Engineering
• Geosciences
• Mathematical Physical Sciences
• Social, Behaviorial Economic Sciences
• Offices
• Budget, Finance Award Management
• Information Resource Management

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Example of Directorate Organization
Directorate for Biological Sciences
Division of Environmental Biology (DEB)
Division of Integrative Organismal Biology (IOB)
Division of Biological Infrastructure (DBI)
Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences
Ecological Biology
Human Resources
Biomolecular Systems
Behavioral Systems
Ecosystem Science
Research Resources
Cellular Systems
Developmental Systems
Genes and Genome Systems
Population and EvolutionaryProcesses
Environmental and Structural Systems
Plant Genome Research Program
Systematic Biology and Biodiversity Inventories
Functional andRegulatory Systems
Emerging Frontiers (EF)
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Outline

• Information about NSF- Mission and goals
• Funding Opportunities
• Disciplinary Programs
• Other Opportunities
• Education Grants
• Proposal review process
• Research proposal preparation

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Funding Opportunities

• Unsolicited Proposals in Disciplinary Programs
• Regular research grants- RUI
• CAREER program
• SGER and conference grants
• Supplements for broadening participation and for
  enhancing research impacts
• Solicited proposals for specific programs
• C-RUI grants
• Center grants- ST centers, MRSEC, NSEC
• Training grants- IGERT, REU sites, GK12
• Instrumentation grants
• Priority areas
• Education Grants

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Regular Research Grants

• Unsolicited
• Any topic
• BIO Directorate does not consider disease related
  research proposals.
• BIO Directorate does not consider duplicate
  proposals unless you are a beginning
  investigator.
• Research Programs and Clusters are described on
  the web page.

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RUI Research in Undergraduate Institution

• Objectives
• To support high-quality research by faculty
  members of predominantly undergraduate
  institutions
• To strengthen the research environment in
  academic departments that are oriented primarily
  toward undergraduate instruction
• To promote the integration of research and
  education
• Eligibility
• Institution
• NSF-supported fields, More undergrads than grads,
  lt10 doctoral degrees/year,
• Department
• No Doctoral program or participation in such
  program
• Investigator
• Does not advise doctoral students
• RUI Impact Statement
• Describes the expected effects of the proposed
  research on the research and educational
  environment of the institution

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cRUI Cross-disciplinary Research at
Undergraduate Institutions

• Objectives
• to support research efforts involving faculty
  from different fields and undergraduate students
  at predominantly undergraduate institutions.
• to catalyze a cultural change in undergraduate
  research and education -- for students, faculty
  and institutions -- by establishing innovative
  models for collaboration that transcend
  traditional disciplinary boundaries.
• Eligibility
• Same as RUI
• Program suppots
• faculty at PUIs to develop multidisciplinary
  research programs
• Development of new research-based education and
  training activities integrated in the proposed
  multidisciplinary research.
• Participation of two-year colleges and
  minority-serving institutions through
  partnerships with research-intensive
  institutions, provided that the submitting
  institution is RUI-eligible and that primary
  research activities are performed at the RUI
  institution.

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CAREER Proposals

• Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program
• Eligibility
• untenured assistant professors
• Features
• Plans for research and education for the next
  five years
• Minimum of 500,000 for five years
• Once a year
• Some CAREER awardees receive PECASE awards
• Check the program announcement

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Award Supplement Opportunities

• Research Experiences for Teachers (RET)
• Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)
• Research Opportunity Awards (ROA)
• Research Assistantships for Minority High School
  Students (RAMHSS)
• Informal Science Education Supplements
• International Research and Education Supplements
• Facilitation Award for Scientists and Engineers
  with Disabilities

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ROA Research Opportunity Awards

• To enable faculty at predominantly undergraduate
  institutions, including community colleges, to
  pursue research as visiting scientists with
  NSF-supported investigators at other
  institutions.
• Typically for summer experiences
• Usually about 25,000, including indirect costs.
• Supplement requests should
• Clearly describe the research to be conducted by
  the ROA visitor
• Contain a statement from the host about his/her
  role in the proposed research efforts
• Elucidate the contribution of the proposed work
  to the visitors future research plans and impact
  on his/her home institution
• Contain a budget with appropriate explanatory
  information
• Include a biographical sketch for the visitor

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REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates)
sites

• To initiate and conduct projects that engage a
  number of undergraduate students in research.
• A well-defined common focus that enables a cohort
  experience for students.
• To involve students in research who might not
  otherwise have the opportunity, particularly
  those from academic institutions where research
  programs are limited
• Typically for summer research

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Opportunities for Undergraduate Education

• Advanced Technological Education (ATE)
• Federal Cyber Service Scholarships for Service
  (SFS)
• Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
  Talent Expansion Program (STEP)
• Teacher Preparation Continuum (TPC)
• Robert Noyce Scholarship Program

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ATEAdvanced Technological Education

• For improving education of technical workforce in
  biotechnology, environmental technology,
  information technology, manufacturing, and
  related fields
• Two-year colleges take leadership role
• Two tracks
• Projects support for exemplary educational
  programs (materials development, faculty and
  teacher development, experiences for students)
• Centers provide comprehensive resources,
  regional or national clearinghouses for
  educational materials and methods

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DUE ProgramsCurriculum Development

• National Science, Technology, Engineering, and
  Mathematics Digital Library (NSDL)
• Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement
  (CCLI)

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NSDLNational Science Digital Library

• Create, develop, and sustain a national digital
  library of resources for STEM education
• Projects provide
• Pathways for users to connect with content
• Services that enhance the impact, value, and
  effectiveness of user interfaces
• Collaborations among educational institutions,
  professional societies, corporations,
  foundations, and government encouraged

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CCLICourse, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement

• Vision
• Excellent STEM education for all undergraduates.
  
• Goal
• Stimulate, disseminate, and institutionalize
  innovative developments in STEM education through
  the production of knowledge and the improvement
  of practice
• Three phases
• Phase 1 Exploratory Projects
• Phase 2 Expansion Projects
• Phase 3 Comprehensive Projects
• Phases reflect the scope, scale and state

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Five Components of the Cyclic Model

• Successful CCLI projects include one or more of
  these components
• Conducting Research on STEM Teaching Learning
• Creating Learning Materials and Teaching
  Strategies
• Developing Faculty Expertise
• Implementing Educational Innovations
• Assessing Learning and Evaluating Innovations

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Examples of CCLI Projects

• RESEARCH ON TEACHING AND LEARNING
• Projects addressing new and revised models of how
  undergraduates learn STEM concepts
• NEW LEARNING MATERIALS
• Software, textbooks, new pedagogies
• FACULTY EXPERTISE
• Workshops, summer institutes
• IMPLEMENTING INNOVATIONS
• Instrumentation for adapting curricular
  innovations, salaries for implementing new
  pedagogies or curricula
• ASSESSING LEARNING
• Development and validation of new testing tools
  and processes

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Opportunities for Biomedical Research

• Disease related goals- Not eligible
• Research with disease-related goals, including
  work on the etiology, diagnosis or treatment of
  physical or mental disease, abnormality, or
  malfunction in human beings or animals, is
  normally not supported.
• Animal models of disease conditions or the
  development or testing of drugs or other
  procedures for their treatment also are not
  eligible for support.
• Research in medical bioengineering- Eligible
• Research in bioengineering with diagnosis- or
  treatment-related goals, that applies engineering
  principles to problems in biology and medicine
  while advancing engineering knowledge is eligible
  for support. Bioengineering research to aid
  persons with disabilities also is eligible.

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Outline

• Information about NSF- Mission and goals
• Funding Opportunities
• Proposal review process
• Process
• Submission to decisions
• Criteria
• Intellectual merit
• Broader impacts
• Research proposal preparation

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NSF Proposal Award Process Timeline
Returned As Inappropriate/Withdrawn
NSF Proposal Generating Document
Scientific Review
Administrative Review
Minimum of 3 Reviews Required
NSF
Via DGA
Award

• Organization
• submits
• via
• FastLane

Proposal Processing Unit
Program Director Analysis Recom.
Division Director Concur
Mail
Panel
NSF Program Director
Both
Organization
Research Education Communities
Decline
Proposal Receipt at NSF
DD Concur
Award
90 Days
6 Months
30Days
DGA Review Processing of Award
Proposal Preparation and Submission
Proposal Review and Decisions
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Steps in Review Process

• Receipt
• Printed, checked for format, assigned a number,
  transferred to Division
• Assignment to a program (or cluster)
• Administrative Review
• Checked for compliance
• Both review criteria
• Format
• Appropriateness
• Scientific Review
• ad hoc reviews
• Panel review
• Decisions
• Award or decline recommendation by Program
  Director
• Concurrence by Division Director
• Award notifications by Division of Grants and
  Agreements

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Return Without Review

• Inappropriate for funding by the National Science
  Foundation
• Submitted with insufficient lead-time before the
  activity is scheduled to begin
• A duplicate of, or substantially similar to, a
  proposal already under consideration by NSF from
  the same submitter
• Does not meet NSF proposal preparation
  requirements, such as page limitations,
  formatting instructions, and electronic
  submission, as specified in the Grant Proposal
  Guide or program solicitation)
• Is not responsive to the GPG or program
  announcement
• Does not meet an announced proposal deadline date
  (and time, where specified)
• Was previously reviewed and declined and has not
  been substantially revised.
• Proposals that do not separately address both
  criteria within the one-page Project Summary will
  be returned without review.

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Steps in Review Process

• Receipt
• Printed, checked for format, assigned a number,
  transferred to Division
• Assignment to a program (or cluster)
• Administrative Review
• Checked for compliance
• Both review criteria
• Format
• Appropriateness
• Scientific Review
• ad hoc reviews
• Panel review
• Decisions
• Award or decline recommendation by Program
  Director
• Concurrence by Division Director
• Award notifications by Division of Grants and
  Agreements

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Merit Review Criteria

• NSF invests in the best ideas from the most
  capable people, determined by competitive merit
  review.
• The intellectual merit of the proposed activity
• Creativity and originality
• Potential to advancing knowledge and
  understanding within and across fields
• Conceptualization and organization
• Qualifications of investigators
• Access to resources
• The broader impacts of the proposed activity
• Discovery while promoting teaching, training and
  learning
• Participation of underrepresented groups
• Enhancement of infrastructure for research and
  education
• Dissemination of results to enhance scientific
  and technological understanding
• Benefits to society

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Outline

• Information about NSF- Mission and goals
• Funding Opportunities
• Proposal review process
• Research proposal preparation
• Initiation
• Writing
• Tips
• Submission and afterwards

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Step 1 Initiation

• Idea There is no substitute!
• Have a cutting edge idea
• Identify your strengths and uniqueness
• Find the right program, solicitation or
  announcement

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Develop your brilliant idea

• Basic Questions
• What do you intend to do?
• Why is the work important?
• What has already been done?
• How are you going to do the work?
• Make sure it is innovative and exciting
• Survey the literature
• Talk with others in the field
• Can you convince people that you can do the
  project?
• Obtain preliminary data
• Develop arguments to support feasibility
• Determine available facilities and resources
• What you have
• What collaborators can help with

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Proposal Development Strategies Individual
Investigator

• Determine your long-term research/education goals
  or plan
• Develop your bright idea
• Survey the literature
• Contact Investigators working on topic
• Prepare a brief concept paper
• Discuss with colleagues/mentors
• Prepare to do the project
• Determine available resources
• Realistically assess needs
• Develop preliminary data
• Present to colleagues/mentors/students
• Determine possible funding sources
• Understand the ground rules

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Proposal Development Strategies Individual
Investigator (contd)

• Ascertain overall scope and mission
• Read carefully solicitation instructions
• Determine where your project fits
• Ascertain evaluation procedures and criteria
• Talk with NSF Program Director
• Your proposed project
• Specific program requirements/limitations
• Current program patterns
• Coordinate with your organizations sponsored
  projects office

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Finding the right program

• What to look for
• Goal of program or announcement
• Eligibility
• Special requirements
• Deadlines or target dates
• Where
• www.nsf.gov
• Program Directors (phone, email)

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Step 2 Proposal Writing

• Where to find information?
• Grant Proposal Guide
• It is revised each October
• Get it (www.nsf.gov)
• Read it
• Follow it
• What is your aim?
• Parts of a Proposal
• Tips for writing an effective proposal

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Grantsmanship makes a difference

• Know your audience.
• Think about the reviewers.
• Write accurately, concisely and clearly.
• Make the reviewers job easy.
• You never get a second chance to make a first
  impression.
• First page tells it all.
• Figures and tables get your point across clearly.
• The reviewer may not be an expert in your
  specific field.

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Parts of A Proposal

• Cover sheet and certifications
• Project summary
• Both intellectual merit and broader impacts
  described
• Table of contents
• Project description
• References cited
• Biographical sketches
• Budgets and justification
• Current and pending support
• Facilities, equipment and other resources
• Special information/documentation
• NO reprints or preprints
• Single Copy Documents
• Reviewer suggestions

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Project Summary

• Include both criteria
• Intellectual Merit
• Describe the scientific problem and why it is
  important
• State the overall objective of the project
• State the specific aims
• Describe how the aims will be achieved
• Broader Impacts
• Educational activities
• Outreach
• Potential applications
• Keep it focused

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Project Description

• The key to getting an award
• Overall concept / rationale
• Hypothesis-driven or Data-driven
• Execution
• Careful
• Thorough
• Appropriate

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Project Description

• Results from prior NSF support (required if
  applicable)
• Objectives and expected significance
• Relation to the PIs longer term goals
• Relation to present state of knowledge
• Experimental methods and procedures
• Sections optional
• preface, background, preliminary studies,
  specific objectives, significance, experimental
  plan

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Biographical Sketch

• Appointment and affiliation
• Training
• No more than ten references
• Synergistic activities
• Mentors
• Collaborators
• Students

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Budget

• Amounts
• Reasonable for work - Realistic
• What to ask for and What not to ask for
• Be reasonable and realistic
• Ask for what you need
• Equipment, Travel and PI salary
• Cost of educational activities associated with
  research
• Well Justified - Need established
• In-line with program guidelines
• Cost-sharing
• only if solicitation requires it

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Current and Pending Support

• List everything
• current, pending and anticipated
• Be careful of overlap
• Perception of overlap could be detrimental in the
  review.
• Dual submissions
• when they are allowed

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Nota Bene

• Both criteria addressed in project summary as
  well as in description
• Project description 15 pages with allowed type
  size and formatting
• No appendices
• Importance of project summary and budget
  justification
• Fully describe current and pending support
• Citations must be complete
• Information about collaborators, etc.
• For Biology Proposals
• No duplicate submissions
• No disease/health related proposals

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Proposal Writing Tips
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1. Get help with proposal writing

• Read
• NSF publications
• Successful proposals
• Look before you leap
• Serve as a reviewer (ad hoc or on a panel)
• Read successful proposals
• Talk with people
• Program officers
• Current or former rotators

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2. Start early and dont be shy

• Write
• Rewrite and rewrite again
• Get critiques from
• Mentors
• Previous members of review panels

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3. Be reasonable

• Be aware of the scope
• Too ambitious vs. Too narrow
• Be honest and up-front
• Address issues instead of trying to hide them
• Acknowledge possible experimental problems and
  have alternatives

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4. Make it easy for the reviewers

• Simplify and streamline
• Make sure you get your overall idea across!
• Pay attention to details
• Run the spell checker and proof-read
• Prepare clear photos, graphs, etc.
• Make the font size as big as you can

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5. If you have to resubmit

• Stay calm!
• Take ten breaths, hours, days
• Examine the criticisms carefully
• Keep in touch
• Call, email or visit your program director
• Rapid resubmission does not help!
• Take time to self-evaluate the proposal and the
  project

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Why do some proposals fail to get funding?

• Absence of innovative ideas or hypothesis
• Will provide only an incremental advance
• Not exciting or cutting edge
• Errors
• Unclear or incomplete expression of aims
• Faulty logic or experimental design
• Less than rigorous presentation
• Unrealistic, sloppy or incomplete
• Resources and facilities not in place
• PI qualifications/expertise not evident
• Necessary collaborations not documented

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Step 3 Submission and afterwards

• Submission
• Check before you submit
• Print out from FastLane to ensure pdf conversion
  is correct.
• File update module
• After submission
• You may be asked to address compliance issues
• Acknowledgment and proposal status page
• Update before panel meeting

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Step 4 Grant Management

• Do what you promised
• Send annual reports
• Supplement opportunities
• REU- Research Experience for Undergraduates
• ROA- Research Opportunity Awards
• RET- Research experience for teachers
• Minority students or post-doctoral fellows
• Instruments
• Plan for the renewal proposal

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Getting Support in Proposal Writing

• NSF Publications
• Program Solicitations
• Grant Proposal Guide
• Web Pages
• Funded Project Abstracts
• Reports, Special Publications

• Program Directors
• Incumbent
• Former Rotators
• Mentors on Campus
• Previous Panelists
• Serving As A Reviewer
• Sponsored Research Office
• Successful Proposals

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NSF on the web- An indispensable
resourcewww.nsf.gov