Proposal Development Workshop: Process and Strategies

1
Proposal Development Workshop Process and
Strategies

• Texas AM - Commerce Campus Visit
• Daniel Riggle, Senior Program Associate,
• Anne Eigeman, Program Associate
• Grants Resource Center, October 30 - 31, 2001

2
Approaching Grants Application as Process

• Getting Started
• Working with Program Officers Colleagues
• Play to Strengths Start Out Smaller
• Small/Seed Grants, Internal/External Funding,
  Exploratory Research Support
• Tips on Writing/Evaluating Drafts
• General Federal and Private Funding Overview
• Agency-specific Tips for Starters (NSF/NIH)
• Getting and Using Funded Proposals, Products, and
  Services

3
Getting Started Idea to Project

• Write a short outline or prospectus (2-3 pages)
• Helps researchers formulate/develop ideas
• Assists Sponsored Research Office/GRC in seeking
  matches
• Identify possible funding sources
  (federal/non-federal)
• Sponsored Research Office/GRC help by searching
  databases, Web sites, or published sources for
  best match
• Obtain program information and contact program
  officer
• Make contact and build relationship--ask about
  being a proposal reviewer in area(s) of your
  expertise
• Consult Web often, get on listservs (increase
  network capabilities by extending contact base
  and expanding partnership potential)

4
Working with Program Officers Colleagues

• Accept program officers guidance
• Ask questions and build relationship
• Fill out application and/or write proposal
• Remember letter-of-intent/pre-proposal (if
  applicable)
• Keep reviewers in mind--work with colleagues
• Departmental colleagues and Sponsored Research
  Office can offer useful insights on drafts
• Submit early (as early as possible) for possible
  feedback from agency program officers (if they
  allow this)
• Dont get discouraged if the proposal is not
  funded
• Re-submit (with reviewer comments, agency program
  officer input, and campus colleague assistance)

5
Tips on Collaboration Writing to Strengths

• Write to your and your institutions strengths
  (and collaborate)
• Within your discipline, bounce ideas off of
  colleagues
• Take an interdisciplinary approach and think
  outside the box (benefit from other department
  colleagues experiences and expertise as they
  benefit from yours)
• Partner externally with community
  organizations, IHEs, K-12 schools, and
  businesses (funders like to get bang for the
  buck and partnerships disseminate project
  results)

6
More on Strengths Starting Smaller

• The institution itself as a strength
• Cultural/intellectual center in the community
• Communications/technological capacity often
  surpass that of surrounding community
• Starting Small (if youre just starting)
• Smaller/seed grants build portfolio
• Success with smaller grants can be leveraged in
  search for future funding
• Small/seed grants often have high success rates
  for first-time grantees

7
Small/Seed Grants Internal/External Funding

• Purposes of small, seed, or exploratory grant
  funds, and internally-generated grants at
  universities
• For new faculty members, beginning researchers,
  those returning after career interruption, or
  those exploring new, innovative, or high-risk
  research areas
• For reduced-scale projects, to break new ground,
  or explore partnerships/collaborations,
  internally and externally, to grow a project
  for later application for larger grants or
  external funding
• To encourage/reward research or other academic
  activities, colleges/universities have
  campus-wide or departmentally-generated awards,
  or incentive programs

8
Some Small, Seed, and Exploratory Programs

• Sampling of Small, Seed, and Exploratory Programs
  (347 programs, federal and non-federal, appear in
  the GRC database)
• NIH Academic Research Enhancement Awards (AREA),
  at http//grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/area.htm
• NIH Academic Career Awards, K07, at
  http//grants.nih.gov/training/careerdevelopmentaw
  ards.htm
• Agency for Healthcare Research Quality Small
  Research Grant Program, at http//grants.nih.gov/g
  rants/guide/pa-files/PAR-01-040.html
• Dreyfus Foundation Teacher-Scholar Awards
  Programs, at http//www.dreyfus.org/tc.shtml
• NSF Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Research
  Fellowships, at http//www.geo.nsf.gov/ear/earsea.
  htm
• Educational Leadership Foundation Grants, at the
  American College Personnel Association,
  http//www.elfacpa.org/

9
Tips on Writing Excellent Proposals

• What makes a proposal bad (i.e., fatally
  flawed)?
• Project does not fit agency mission (work with
  funding agency Sponsored Programs Office)
• PI is ineligible to hold grant from agency (check
  guidelines)
• Institution/Department is ineligible for program
• Proposal violates mechanical guidelines (format,
  length, budget)
• Use of out-of-date forms
• What makes a proposal fair (i.e., severely
  flawed)?
• Obsolete topic (working with faculty colleagues)
• Obsolete approach (symptom--out-of-date
  bibliography)
• Limited significance or impact (unless program
  goals limit scope)
• Logical flaws in arguments
• Project beyond capabilities of investigator,
  students, institution

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Tips on Writing Excellent Proposals

• Flaws to fix to make good or very good
  proposals? (Work with campus colleagues)
• Vague language (passive voice)--subjectwill be
  investigated
• Poor organization (misleading abstract,
  repetitive, rambling narrative, un-numbered
  pages)
• Ideas introduced that dont illuminate point of
  the proposal
• Mystery budget
• Implications of research not spelled out (Is this
  only a local question)
• A funders priority not emphasized (such as
  undergraduate research)
• Breezy, informal, cutesy language
• Scope of project impractical in time or use of
  funds (see Mystery budget, too)

11
Tips on Writing Excellent Proposals

• Now for the Dos
• Present a significant problem in a well-organized
  narrative
• Approach the problem in a practical and realistic
  way
• Describe experiments (activities) for which you
  can imagine results, interpreted in connection
  with the hypothesis/hypotheses presented
• Describe the impact of the results you intend to
  achieve, and explain why these are worth
  achieving
• Address the agencys priorities
• Present preliminary results that support
  viability of the project and your ability and
  resources to carry out the project

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Tips on Writing Excellent Proposals

• Some General Truths
• Proposal readers are well-disposed toward
  research in your field
• Poor motivation leads to lame proposals
• Over-familiarity with the project leads to
  obscure proposals and skipped logic--give your
  draft to a colleague to read
• A well-written abstract makes for a happier
  reader--write it first and then rewrite it
  afterward
• Proposals finished just before the deadline are
  not.finished--always beat the deadline by at
  least a week, preferably two.

13
Evaluating a Proposal (Yours Colleagues)

• Read the entire draft
• Make only obvious spelling/grammatical
  corrections as you go (such as its vs. its,
  effect vs. affect, numbers less than 10 not
  spelled out, not putting reference numbers after
  punctuation)
• Read the abstract
• Try to form an idea of the proposal from abstract
  (if you cant theres trouble)
• Does the abstract convince you that the problem
  is worthy of investigation?
• Does it make you want to read more? Honestly?
• Does its creativity/ingenuity impress you? (Does
  it floor you?)

14
Evaluating a Proposal (Yours Colleagues)

• Read the Background/Significance/Preliminary
  Results section
• Do you feel that you have an idea of the
  state-of-the-art in the subject of the proposal?
• Does the section clearly explain a gap in the
  knowledge, an area requiring significant
  improvement, or a real need for the activities,
  technology, etc.?
• Are you convinced (or do you think) that the
  P.I., through preliminary results or prior
  experience, will be able to address the need?
• Are you left with the feeling that the solution
  to the stated problem would produce a real impact
  in the disciplinary area?
• Pause to Check the P.I.s c.v., for academic
  preparation, work background, publications,
  access to facilities, etc.

15
Evaluating a Proposal (Yours Colleagues)

• Read the Research Plan (This should represent the
  majority of the proposal)
• Is it easy to follow, with few pauses to figure
  out What the h is s/he talking about?
• Does it follow a chronological plan, and is it
  well-conceived?
• Does it really flow, one concept leading to
  another, in the true sense of a narrative?
• Are reactions/procedures adequately supported
  with literature references, when necessary?
• Is it clear exactly what the investigator/team
  will accomplish?
• Are contingency plans considered if certain
  outcomes do not occur as expected?
• Is the language professional without being
  stuffy?
• Is the timeframe realistic?

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Simple Sample Proposal Review Questions

• What are the strengths of the proposal?
• Is the proposal written clearly for the assumed
  audience?
• Is the proposal organized logically so that it is
  easy to follow?
• Does the proposal persuade you that the project
  is significant?
• Does it persuade you that the PI can direct the
  project and see it through to completion?
• Is there evidence of institutional commitment?
• Do you have suggestions for strengthening the
  proposal?

17
General Overview of Federal Funding

• Largest supporter of university research projects
• Compartmentalized with pointed research interests
  that respond to Congressionally mandated
  priorities
• Agencies fund projects, not ideas (i.e., put
  ideas into project format, with proposals
  addressing a defined set of activities appearing
  in the program announcement)
• Support localized projects through basic
  research
• Increased support for collaborations involving
  universities, K-12 schools, community groups,
  industrial partners, local governments
• Maintain stringent reporting requirements through
  Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) to
  ensure goals of agency programs, and funded
  projects, are met
• Process program information via the Internet

18
General Overview of Foundation Funding

• About 60,000 private foundations in the U.S.
  (many have regional restrictions on giving or do
  not give to individuals)
• Sometimes, a good source for funding for projects
  for which the federal agencies provide limited
  support
• Social Sciences, Business, Arts and Humanities
• Funding is limited to very specific areas of
  interest (structured more loosely than federal
  agencies)
• More likely to give to private universities
• Information availability on foundations and
  programs varies widely
• See the Foundation Center (http//www.foundationce
  nter.org) for information

19
General Comparison of Funding Sources

• FOUNDATION
• Priorities set board, committee, etc.
• Often make small awards, good for start-up
  projects
• Limited staff and resources for staff (reply time
  can be lengthy)
• Information on policies and procedures often hard
  to obtain (seek annual reports)

• FEDERAL
• Priorities set by legislation
• More likely to make larger awards
• Larger staff/resource-base and generally quicker
  turn-around time
• Use well-established application processes
  (electronically-based, with regular proposal
  deadlines)

20
Sites of Interest for NSF Funding

• If you are unfamiliar with the NSF awards
  process
• Grant Proposal Guide (GPG), guide for preparing
  and submitting NSF proposals http//www.nsf.gov/c
  gi-bin/getpub?gpg
• A Guide for Proposal Writing, excellent guide for
  all proposers http//www.nsf.gov/pubs/1998/nsf989
  1/nsf9891.htm
• A Step-by-Step Guide for Prospective Principal
  Investigators, for various Web sites
  http//www.nsf.gov/home/programs/guide.htm
• Prospective New Awardee Guide, a special
  publication for new investigators
  http//www.nsf.gov/search97cgi/vtopic
• NSF Guide to Programs, complete guide to NSF
  mission, structure and programs
  http//www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf013
• FastLane NSFs electronic grants management
  system
• ALL proposals must be submitted using FastLane,
  effective 10/1/00 (see http//www.fastlane.nsf.gov
  /)

21
More Sites of Interest for NSF Funding

• Research past NSF awards
• Awards Abstract Database https//www.fastlane.nsf
  .gov/a6/A6AwardSearch.htm
• Search criteria include program name, division or
  unit making award, keyword or acronym, personnel,
  and other information.
• FastLane Award Search https//www.fastlane.nsf.go
  v/a6/A6Start.htm
• Search criteria include a recent awards list,
  awards by institution, awards by state, awards by
  NSF program, and full-text search.
• Results appear on screen with name and contact
  information of Principal Investigator, amount of
  award, and abstract of project.
• Custom News Service (automatically posts notices
  released across NSF in the area(s) of interest
  that you designate)
• http//www.nsf.gov/home/cns/

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Sites of Interest at NIH

• Monitor GRC publications (GRC NIH/NSF Bulletin)
  NIH Guide to Grants Contracts for NIH
  announcements.
• Use NIH Guide to Grants Contracts for access
  to electronic forms and guidance in proposal
  preparation.
• http//grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/index.html
• Seek information on funded proposals in your area
  of interest by using GRC or the NIH Computer
  Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects
  (CRISP).
• https//www-commons.cit.nih.gov/crisp/
• Work with colleagues on campus and at other
  institutions in partnerships or consultant
  activities.

23
Ideas on Getting and Using Funded Proposals

• Are funded proposals useful, and if so, how?
• Can be useful as guides (if not followed too
  closely).
• Request for funded proposal can lead to contact
  with successful Principal Investigator for
  inside information on program, funded project
  outcome, collaborative potential between
  prospective PI and PI
• How to get funded proposals (not using FOIA)
• Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is last resort,
  if other sources fail
• Use GRC, Sponsored Research Office, agency
  contacts, awards lists and databases to
  locate/request copies of funded proposals
• Prospective PI to successful PI is best to reap
  benefits of his/her experience