Having Success with NSF E-Book

Ping Li

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

This book is designed to help researchers achieve success in funding their National Science Foundation (NSF) research proposals. The book discusses aspects of the proposal submission and review process that are not typically communicated to the research community.  Written by authors with successful track records in grant writing and years of experience as NSF Program Directors, this book provides an insider’s view of successful grantsmanship.  Written in a practical approach, this book offers tips that will not be found in official paperwork and provides answers to questions frequently asked of NSF Program Directors.  The purpose of the book is to improve your NSF grant-writing skills and improve your chances of funding.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Title page

Copyright page

Preface

About the Authors

Chapter 1 Getting Started

1.1 INTRODUCTION

1.2 FIRST STEPS

1.3 BEFORE WRITING THE PROPOSAL

Chapter 2 Preparing Your Proposal

2.1 INTRODUCTION

2.2 GETTING TO KNOW THE PROGRAM OFFICERS

2.3 HOW TO READ A PROGRAM SOLICITATION: WHERE IS THE IMPORTANT INFORMATION?

2.4. WHAT MUST I INCLUDE IN MY FULL PROPOSAL?

2.5 INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS

2.6 SUPPLEMENTARY DOCUMENTS

2.7 COLLABORATIVE PROPOSALS

2.8 FACULTY EARLY CAREER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

2.9 RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR UNDERGRADUATES

2.10 RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE INSTITUTIONS

2.11 OTHER SPECIAL TYPES OF PROPOSALS

2.12 HUMAN AND VERTEBRATE ANIMAL SUBJECTS

Chapter 3 Submitting Your Proposal

3.1 GETTING READY TO SUBMIT

3.2 SUBMITTING PROPOSAL DOCUMENTS

CHECKLIST FOR NSF PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

Chapter 4 Reviewing of Your Proposal

4.1 INTRODUCTION

4.2 WHO’S WHO IN THE REVIEW PROCESS

4.3 PANEL MEETING, PANEL SUMMARY, AND CO-REVIEW

4.4 REVIEW DECISIONS

Chapter 5 Revising Your Proposal

5.1 WHY REVISION?

5.2 FIRST STEPS IN REVISION

5.3 STRATEGIES AND TIPS IN WRITING A REVISION

5.4 FINAL REMARKS ON REVISION

Chapter 6 Managing Your Grant

6.1 THE GOOD NEWS LETTER: NEGOTIATIONS WITH YOUR PROGRAM OFFICER

6.2 ENTERING BUDGET REVISIONS INTO FASTLANE

6.3 MOVING ALONG THE RECOMMENDATION CHAIN

6.4 MANAGING YOUR GRANT

6.5 BUDGETING AND THE MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT SPENDING MONEY

6.6 CHANGES TO THE PROJECT

6.7 SUBMITTING ANNUAL, FINAL, AND PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT

6.8 NO-COST EXTENSION

6.9 COMMUNICATION IS KEY

Chapter 7 Extending the Horizon

7.1 WHAT’S NEXT

7.2 LEVERAGE FURTHER RESOURCES

7.3 FROM SMALL PROJECTS TO LARGE-SCALE STUDIES

7.4 GETTING YOURSELF INVOLVED

Index

Cover Image: head © iStockphoto/jpa1999; microscope, DNA, atom © iStockphoto/Kathy Konkle; board © iStockphoto/browndogstudios

Copyright © 2013 by Wiley-Blackwell. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Li, Ping, 1962–

Having success with NSF: a practical guide / Ping Li, Karen Marrongelle.

p. cm.

 Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-118-01398-4 (pbk.)

1. Science–Research grants–United States–Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. National Science Foundation (U.S.)–Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Marrongelle, Karen. II. Title.

 Q180.U5L486 2013

 501.4'4–dc23

2012016536

Preface

The experience of writing research proposals for funding is essential today for scientists of all ranks. In the process of writing and submitting grant proposals, researchers can better organize their thoughts for exactly what they want to do in a new project, which methods they want to use, how long they plan to do the research, and so on. Even if research funding is not obtained, the exercise of proposal writing is often beneficial to the research process, sometimes almost as important as the actual research itself. Today people are also mindful that there is a huge pressure, especially on early-career investigators, to write proposals and bring grant dollars to the researcher’s home institution; one’s ability to seek and receive funding from federal grant agencies is often used as a yardstick for important personnel decisions by the institution’s administration.

As a major federal funding agency, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has the mission of promoting the progress of science and supporting research and education in the United States. It is a major engine for scientific discovery, learning, and innovation in the United States, and indeed across the globe through its international partnership efforts. NSF is the funding source for about 20% of all federally supported basic research conducted by U.S. colleges and universities, and has played a pivotal role in building the 21st-century research infrastructure for America’s science and engineering programs. Scientists across most disciplines can find their home programs at NSF, and as such, it is important for researchers to understand the workings of the NSF review and funding process.

This book grew out of our professional service experiences at NSF. Between 2007 and 2010, the two authors served in their capacities as NSF program directors in the Directorate of Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences and the Directorate of Education and Human Resources, respectively. Our NSF services involved the usual duties of a Program Officer, including overseeing program review, managing program budgets, and making informed recommendations of meritorious projects for funding. More important, we had also been actively involved in cross-directorate activities and initiatives, including integrative activities bridging the social/behavioral sciences, education sciences, and computational sciences. Having interacted with many investigators on a daily basis for several years and with many issues, we developed the idea of writing this book, with the hope that the discussion given here will provide a practical guide to investigators, enhancing their understanding of the NSF process and their abilities to write a successful NSF grant proposal.

This book is designed to help researchers, especially early-career investigators, who are interested in applying for NSF grants. Although the specific procedural details may pertain only to NSF, some of the basic principles involving proposal preparation and review may be of general interest to grant proposal writers, no matter where they apply for funding (e.g., we occasionally compare NSF’s review process with that of another major federal funding agency, the NIH). This book is not designed, however, to replace researchers’ efforts in understanding the specific guidelines laid out by NSF. Researchers who intend to apply for an NSF grant should consult the important information listed on the NSF website (http://www.nsf.gov/) and, specifically, the NSF Grant Proposal Guide. In other words, this book covers issues that relate more to the practical issues in preparing grant proposals, which may not be specified in the guidelines. The book is distinguished from grant writing guides exactly in the “practical” aspect of it, because many of our discussions are based on our personal experiences as NSF Program Officers, from dealing with hundreds of actual questions from investigators or potential investigators and from interactions with colleagues within NSF and across federal agencies. The book includes answers to many questions and provides tips regarding the writing process and beyond, many of which cannot be found elsewhere.

Before our time at NSF, we were both NSF-funded project leaders in research, so we knew about the process of applying for and receiving research funding from the agency. We learned that NSF recruits new Program Officers as “rotators,” active scientists from the research community who wish to serve and provide new perspectives to the NSF program management process for an extended period of time, and we were lucky to have the opportunities to serve. We wanted to gain a different type of experience, trying to know what happens on the “other side” of academic research. Clearly, not everyone has the will or the opportunity to spend an extended period of time at NSF as a Program Officer. For those who do have the opportunity to serve, as we did, it means hard work, long periods of absence from family, and significant disruption to active research programs of their own. In writing this book and sharing our NSF experience, we are hoping that it will help the reader to learn how the NSF process works, without he or she needing to have served at NSF. At the same time, we hope that this book may also be helpful to our colleagues currently working at NSF, in that the use of this book, which provides answers to many common questions, could potentially reduce the number of emails or phone calls to those working at NSF.

Given that some changes at NSF may have taken place between the writing of the book (mostly in 2011) and its publication, some of the information presented here may be less accurate or even outdated (e.g., some programs may have been discontinued, while new programs have been initiated). However, we believe that the information provided in the book is mostly up to date, and we have incorporated the newest changes in the revised Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) of which the Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) is a critical part. The new GPG becomes effective on January 14, 2013 (see http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2013/nsf13004/nsf13004.jsp), and the most important changes involve the enhanced merit review criteria and guidelines recommended by the National Science Board (NSB; the governing body of the NSF and policy advisors to the President and Congress). We welcome feedback from NSF colleagues, NSF-funded researchers, and anyone who is interested in being an NSF investigator, so that the book could be updated in a timely fashion in the near future.

The reader is reminded here that the opinions, ideas, and views expressed in this book do not represent those of the NSF, as neither the authors nor the publisher have official ties with the NSF. We present the book to the reader as a service to the research community based on our experiences as NSF Program Officers. Readers are strongly encouraged to consult official NSF publications and use this book in ways consistent with its aims and goals. Based on our previous experience and expertise, the division of labor for the writing of the book is as follows: Ping Li wrote Chapters 1, 4, 5, and 7, and Karen Marrongelle wrote Chapters 2, 3, and 6; the two authors have worked together on revising all chapters.

We wish to thank our families for their unfailing support, without which our NSF experience would not have been possible in the first place. Like many NSF rotator colleagues, we had been absentee spouses/parents for many days and weeks during our NSF service, and we thank our families for putting up with this. We would also like to thank our many close colleagues at NSF for their enthusiasm, dedication, and wisdom in jointly running the programs with us in the Directorates of Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE), Education and Human Resources (EHR), Office of Cyberinfrastructure (OCI), and Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering (CISE). To a large extent, this book has been written not by us but by them. Finally, we would like to thank Karen Chambers, Editor of Life Sciences, and Anna Ehler, Editorial Assistant, both at Wiley-Blackwell, who made this project possible and provided kind support throughout the process; Omair Khan, who helped us in formatting the book and providing editorial comments; and Stephanie Sakson and the team at Toppan Best-set Premedia for managing the book composition service. Needless to say, all errors and inaccuracies remain ours.

PING LIState College, PennsylvaniaKAREN MARRONGELLEPortland, Oregon

About the Authors

Ping Li is Professor of Psychology, Linguistics, and Information Sciences and Technology, Co-Chair of the Neuroscience Graduate Program, and Co-Director of the Center for Brain, Behavior, and Cognition at Pennsylvania State University. His books include The Acquisition of Lexical and Grammatical Aspect (co-authored with Yasuhiro Shirai, 2000, Mouton de Gruyter), The Handbook of East Asian Psycholinguistics (Volumes 1–3, General Editor, 2006, Cambridge University Press), The Expression of Time (co-edited with W. Klein, 2009, Mouton de Gruyter), and The Psycholinguistics of Bilingualism (co-authored with François Grosjean and other guest contributors, 2012, Wiley). He is Editor of the journal Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, Associate Editor of Frontiers in Language Sciences, and President of the Society for Computers in Psychology. He has served as Program Director for the Cognitive Neuroscience Program and the Program in Perception, Action, and Cognition at the National Science Foundation, as well as Principal Investigator (PI), co-PI, or Consultant for many projects funded by the NSF.

Karen Marrongelle is Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Standards and Collaborations at the Oregon University System and Professor in the Fariborz Maseeh Department of Mathematics & Statistics at Portland State University. She has published numerous articles and reports in the area of undergraduate mathematics education research and mathematics professional development. She has served as Program Director in the Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings at the National Science Foundation, as well as a Principal Investigator or co-PI of many projects funded by the NSF.

Chapter 1

Getting Started

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Scientific research today is quite different from what it was even a few decades ago. Modern science aims at tackling complex problems facing our society, from the understanding of the global environment in which we live, to the origin and development of organisms and life, to the construction of sustainable habitats, and to human behavior and learning. In order to investigate such complex problems, scientists must be engaged in interdisciplinary research, crossing traditional disciplinary boundaries and collaborating with other scientists who have different background knowledge and expertise. Moreover, because complex scientific problems are universally challenging, the approaches and solutions to the problems must also be globally positioned, and as such it requires international perspectives and collaborative engagements. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is a U.S. federal funding agency that promotes scientific research with interdisciplinary and international perspectives.