W E N J I N Z H O U , P H . D .C O M P U T E R S C I E N C E A N D E N G I N E E R I N G

WHAT I LEARNEDFROM NSF CONFERENCE

DISCLAIMER

• Merely my personal take-home message• Everyone’s opinion is different• Discussions and questions

THREE SUGGESTIONS

• Talk to Program Director• Talk to Program Director• Talk to Program Director

[Sayeef Salahuddin, NSF CAREER WORKSHOP 2013]

Faculty Field Trip

HOW TO TALK TO PD?

• Contact SOON• Avoid busy spring panel season (April - June)• Good time: Jan – Feb

• How?• Pitch your idea• 1 page proposal abstract• Mention to talk on the phone soon• 2-3 slides if meeting in person• Email one PD and CC all, DO NOT send separate emails

THE POWER OF PD

905 1,428

10612

17838

5095

12111,912

1 80

2189

3985 3355

No Score Poor Fair Good Very Good Excellent

Declines

Awards

Distribution by Average Reviewer Ratings for Awards and Declines, FY 2012

10,721

10,254

9,757

10,317

11,352

11,024

14,642

13,014

11,185

11,534

29,024

33234

31840

31732

32752

32883

30573

42544

40366

37089

27%24% 23%

25% 26% 25%

32%

23% 22%24%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

FY 2003 FY 2004 FY 2005 FY 2006 FY 2007 FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011 FY 2012

Awards Declines Funding Rate

NSF Competitive Awards, Declines& Funding Rates

PROPOSAL REVIEWERS

• DO suggest reviewers• Help the program officers, ease their job• Higher chances that your proposal is reviewed by proper

experts

• DO exclude reviewers that have “conflict of interest” with you• Names only• No reasons needed

“DISEASE”

• Very sensitive to NSF, especially NSF BIO• NSF do not fund any disease related research• NIH does• Focus on clarifying that the interest is not for the

“disease”, but the fundamental understanding of biology

BUDGET

• Budget justification is VERY important• Too high: 3-year proposal vs. 5-year• Too low: PI don’t know what they are actually getting

into• Ex. If you are proposing a massive project but asking for

only 3 Ph.D. students, reviewers will think that you don’t know what you are doing.

• Don’t get points for low budget

• Aim for REALISTIC budget

COMPETE WITH R1 INSTITUTES

• What helps?• Teaching release• “Does the PI have time to do this?”• Smaller institutes often lose the competition by over-commitment to

teaching• Waived overhead• Graduate support• Matching fund

• Important: Should NOT go into budget, violating “cost sharing”• Put into “facilities, equipment, and others” • Considered as “volunteering uncommitted cost-sharing”

LETTERS/SUPPLEMENTARY DOCUMENTS

• Reviewers are not required to read these• DO NOT put any information related to merits

• Letter of support from Chair/Dean are not needed AND not preferred• Story: PI gets asked the question by PD

• Except for NSF CAREER, chair letter required, not the dean

BECOME A REVIEWER!

• Introduce yourself and your research experience• Express that you want to become a reviewer for

their program• Ask them when the next panel will be held• Offer to send 2-page CV with current contact info• Stay in touch if you don’t hear right back.

NSF CAREER

• NSF encourage transformative proposals• BUT, in reality, it is hard for a transformative

proposal to get funded!• Risk factor too high• Most people don’t believe it• Most people will argue about it

• REALITY: NSF CAREER closer to be a career achievement award you need to build up a body of work before writing the CAREER

[Sayeef Salahuddin, UC Berkeley, CAREER 2012]

NSF CAREER

• What’s really different? • Comprehensive education/outreach plan

• Go beyond what is expected from any Assistant Professor in your field

• Must NOT eat up all the research time• Don’t be naïve!• Change something in high school education system?• Big turn down, unless you have already done so

• Must have assessment plans• Use data to show current involvements and results

NSF CAREER

• Keep trying!• Sayeef Salahuddin, UC Berkely• 2 submissions (2 years apart)

• Nate Foster, Cornell University• 1 submissions (actual 3 trials. 1 last-min, 1 withdraw, 3 years

apart)• Ani Hsieh, Drexel University• 3 submissions (4 years apart)

• Tommaso Melodia, SUNY Buffalo• 3 submissions (4 years apart)

RESOURCES• Award Search• see what has been funded and who was the program officers

• Research.gov • many useful information, outcome report

• PAPPG• Proposal and award policies and procedures guide

• GPG• NSF Grant Proposal Guide

• Program solicitations • especially important b/c they include instructions to follow;

collaborative funding opportunities• Dear colleague letter • Notifications of opportunities or special competitions for supplements to

existing NSF awards

G O O D LU C K ! ! !

ASK EARLY, ASK OFTEN!