Cary Institute 2013 FEE Course Mock NSF Panel ExerciseKathie Weathers

Cary Institute Senior Scientist and former (2009-2010) Rotating Program Officer for NSF

Unsolicited proposals 1x year:

preproposals (4 pages); invited full (~30 pages)

Some special competitions E.g., sustainability, climate investment

proposals, centers, long-term ecological research (LTER)

NSF: BIOLOGY’s mission

Enable discoveries for understanding life

Evolutionary Processes

Directorate for Biological Sciences(BIO)

Division of Environmental

Biology(DEB)

Population andCommunity Ecology

EcosystemScience

Division of Integrative

Organismal Systems(IOS)

BehavioralSystems

Developmental Systems

Neural Systems

ResearchResources

HumanResources

Division ofBiological

Infrastructure(DBI)

Division of Molecular and

Cellular Biosciences

(MCB)

BiomolecularSystems

Cellular Systems

Genes and GenomeSystems

Emerging Frontiers (EF)

Plant GenomeResearch Program

Systematic Biology &Biodiversity Inventories

Physiological & Structural Systems

Research & Education Communities

Proposal Preparation Time

Org. submitsviaFastLane N

SF

NSFProg.Off.

Prog,Off.

Anal.&

Recom.

DDConcur

ViaDGA

Organization

Min.3

Revs.Req.

DGA Review & Processingof Award

Proposal Receipt to DivisionDirector Concurrence of Program Officer Recommendation

GPGAnnouncement

Solicitation

NSF AnnouncesOpportunity

Returned Without Review/Withdrawn

Mail

Panel

Both

Award

NSF Proposal & Award Process & Timeline

Decline

90 Days 6 Months 30 Days

Proposal Receiptat NSF

DD Concur Award

How and by What Criteria are Proposals Evaluated?

How? The Research

Community EVERY proposal

(44,000!) receives no fewer than 3 reviews, often ~6 reviews

Written reviews Panels review and

recommend The Program Directors

Recommend Research Futures Balance the Portfolio

Merit review criteria

I. What is the intellectual merit of the proposed activity?II. What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity?

At NSF, these are consideredequally important merit criteria

What makes a competitive proposal?

Timely and compelling idea; transformative research

Sound justification for the work Simple hypothesis(es) Clear, succinct experimental design and

realistic scope of work Preliminary data or record of publication Clear management plan Goals for future work Written and proofread carefully

How Many Iterations?

How Many Awards/Principal Investigator at any One Time?

When NSF Funding Success is Achieved…

Probably at least 2nd resubmission

One of the <20% 3 years duration/grant 0.7-1.7 months’ salary 6X more senior

personnel and students supported vs postdoctoral associates

4X as many men as women proposers Equal success