“Idea to Grant” Beginning the search for research funding John Eiler

1. “Idea to Grant” Beginning the search for research funding John Eiler Geological and Planetary Sciences March 16th, 2004

2. Outline • Should I write a proposal? • When should I start, and how long will it take? • The care and feeding of program officers • Brainstorming, caucusing, and pilot studies • Outlines • How much money do I ask for? • Seven deadly sins; five golden rules

3. Should I write an NSF proposal? Do I really need money? Do I have any other grants or ‘funny money’ that can be used? Is it worth the wait and trouble? Does the project connect to the goals of an NSF program? Would it fit better in another agency? Is the project mature enough to compete effectively? Proposal-writing is about trading time for money. Both are valuable; always be sure you trade to your advantage.

4. Should I write a renewal NSF proposal? Is this still a good problem ? Did I fail, or just not quite finish? Has this morphed into a new project? Will my group stagnate if I keep working in this area? Does my program do ‘accomplishment based’ renewals?

5. Picking through the trash Re-animating rejected proposals • A large fraction of rejected proposals are not good and should die a quiet death. • Re-submissions are supposed to wait 1 year, and should involve substantial revisions and improvements. • Always respond positively to criticism. • Reviewers and panels have short memories. Wait for Tony’s talk for more specific advice! “Look, mom, last-year’s failed MRI proposals!”

6. When do I start ? • There is a ca.6 to 8 month lag between when you sit down to write and when money shows up at your door. • You can sometimes spend money ca. 1-3 months before it arrives on campus. Don’t count on this, and don’t make a habit of it. • Pick a panel and deadline ca. 2-6 months before submission. Six is good; two is common but usually produces sub-par proposals. • The most important activity you can pursue in the months before writing is the ‘pilot study’—a solid, first pass at the problem.

7. Brainstorming, caucusing and pilot studies Brainstorming: Think through your proposal to be sure it is logically sound, contains something original or out of the ordinary, and includes work that will be a service to your research community. Would you want someone else to get money to do the project? (…answer should be ‘yes’). Caucusing: Your research will ultimately be judged in the court of scientific discourse, so it should not be conceived in a vacuum. Talk to your colleagues about your plans. Would they want to do the work themselves? Do they think your ideas are really novel? Do not isolate yourself out of fear of competition or criticism. Pilot studies: These are incredibly effective. They demonstrate commitment and ability, illustrate expected products and interpretations, and give you a test whether your original ideas are really so hot. I suggest making them the center piece of every proposal. They should not be used as an excuse to raise money for studies you have already finished.

8. The care a feeding of your program officer • Who are program officers? Accomplished academic scientists spending ca. 5-10 years at NSF as a service to the community and a change of pace from teaching and research. Some like the work and stay longer. Treat them like colleagues. • Who is my program officer? Find out as soon as possible. You can check the web, but it is best to talk with close colleagues about this persons’ background, likes, etc. • How do I develop a relationship with him or her? In lots of small ways. Seek him or her out at major meetings, to talk about science and his/her interests. Call when you are planning a proposal, at a quiet time of year. Do not rely on e-mail. “casual Friday” in the D.C. offices

9. The care a feeding of your program officer • What do they want to talk about? Program officers are interested in you and your work, but not as much as you are. Talk to them about things they will find interesting: Their work at NSF; their scientific discipline; major efforts at NSF, DOE or NASA that they might know about. • What does my program officer want to do with his/her program? This is key. Most seem to mentally divide their programs into things they should support because it is their job, and things they want to support because they find them interesting. Learn which is which. • What if I don’t want what they want? Continue to talk to them, but don’t force proposals or mold your interests to meet their goals.

10. Crunch-time • Have completed brainstorming and pilot studies ca. 1 month before submission. • Don’t start committing words to the page any later than 3-4 weeks before submission. • Do the busy-work first. There is lots of it, and it breaks writer’s block. This includes: CV, list of current and pending support, list of facilities and resources, most of your reference list, and all or most of two sections of the project description. • Most programs have real deadlines; a few (esp. instrument programs) are ‘soft’ • Administrators need ca. 2-3 days to process your proposal

11. The Outline • Results of prior support (ca. 2 pages). What did I do with the last check you wrote me? Do not brag, ‘shingle’, pad or exaggerate. State the facts of your accomplishments. • The problem (ca. 3 pages). Summarize the nature of the problem to be addressed, and successes or failures of previous efforts. Why is this a good subject? How is it related to other areas of science? What will change about your discipline of it is solved? • The approach (ca. 3 pages). What is your angle? What are you going to do that substantially solves or advances this problem? • Pilot study (ca. 3 pages). Concretely demonstrate how your approach works by way of a model study, ‘breadboard’ instrument, or comparable first pass through a problem. • Work plan (ca. 3 pages). What, exactly, are you going to do? What is your time-table? Do you need specimens or equipment; if so, where will they come from and when? What are the anticipated products of your research? How will you know when you are done and whether you succeeded? Identify and clearly state the risks or weaknesses of your proposal (they are probably obvious to others anyway). • Wider impact (1 page). What will you do that advances NSF’s goals of education, diversity and advancement of the foundational infra-structure of your field?

12. The ‘cartoon-strip’ outline • Roughly draft ca. 10-15 figures and 1-3 tables that are relevant to your proposal, and write ca. 50-100 word captions for each. • Put them in order, as you would if you were giving a talk on the subject. • Pare them down until you have seven or eight total figures and tables. • Re-draft and re-size them so they look nice and are big enough to read at arm’s length. Each should cover ca. 1/4 - 1/3 of a page. • Write the ‘hard-wired’ sections of your proposal (results of prior support; statement of wider impacts). • You have now finished 1/3-1/2 of your proposal! Write the main body of the text to follow the logical flow of the figures and tables.

13. How much money do I ask for? • Always ask for what you need. • Make sure what you need is comparable to an average grant from your division to a person of your seniority/group size. • Common, reasonable requests: 1/3 to 2/3 of a major piece of equipment 100 % of graduate student salaries+benefits 50-100 % of postdoctoral salaries+benefits ca. 15 % of your salary, but usually distributed over several grants Travel for one meeting per person per year Supplies and goo-gahs equal to ca. 10-25 % of the salaries • Go for 3 years of support when you have a very strong case and a proven track record. • 1-year grants for things other than instruments are usually more trouble than they are worth.

14. Seven deadly sins • Proposal is incomplete (lacks some required section) • Proposal lacks concrete, tangible goals • Chosen approach does not speak directly to the problem • No clear prediction of the differences between ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ results • PI has no credibility with a problem or method • Beating on a solved problem • Using an out-dated or otherwise inferior approach

15. Five golden rules • Never write a proposal unless you need the money • Never ask for money to do something you don’t really value • Set a limit on the number of proposals you will write per year, and stick to it • Do not get pulled into collaborative proposals unless you believe in them • Set goals that will provide a service to your field