GRANT WRITING WORKSHOP BIOLOGY Ami Ahern-Rindell …

GRANT WRITING WORKSHOP
       BIOLOGY

      Ami Ahern-Rindell
        University of Portland
          ahernrin@up.edu


            Brad Stith
    University of Colorado-Denver
             Ami Ahern-Rindell
· Reviewer:
  ­   NSF Graduate Fellowship Program
  ­   NSF ILI (instrumentation)
  ­   NSF CCLI (course, curriculum, laboratory improvement)
  ­   NSF URM (Undergraduate Research Mentoring)
· Grants from:
  ­ NSF ILI (1993, 1998)
  ­ Kresge
  ­ Murdock Charitable Trust
                        Brad Stith
Panels:
· NSF Cell Biology (Signal Transduction)
· CCLI
· Collaborative-RUI

~$1.8 mil Grants From:
· NSF: Cell Biology & Ibn Animal Developmental Mechanisms
· LIPHA (French Pharmaceutical Co)
· NIH AREA
  Funding Sources for Primarily
 Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs):
1. National Science Foundation (NSF)

2. National Institutes of Health (NIH)

3. Other...Industry or Private Foundations
               Funding:

· If there is no undergraduate research
  funding from your administration
  ­ Set up a student research club
     · student clubs receive money each year from
       student fees
     · equipment marked "research club" which can be
       shared
     · collect preliminary data for a big grant
      1. NIH AREA Program

· Has averaged ~33% funding (lower now,
  10%)
· AREA budget typically 1000th of the total
  NIH budget (25 billion 25 million)
· Medical focus
· Typically 3 years, $50K each year
· Renewable
      2. NSF Funding for PUIs
· ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and
  Advancement of Women in Academic Science
  and Engineering Careers
· CAREER: Faculty Early Career Development
· CCLI: Course, Curriculum and Laboratory
  Improvement
  ­ equipment for teaching
· MRI: Major Research Instrumentation
  ­ Instrumentation for research-intensive learning
    environments
· RCN: Research Coordination Networks
  ­ Foster interactions among scientists
    NSF Funding for PUIs Cont.
· REU: Research Experiences for Undergrads
  ­ Group of 5-10 faculty
· RIG CAA BP: Research Initiation Grants and
  Career Advancement Awards to Broaden
  Participation in Biology
  ­ Under represented groups
· RUI: Research in Undergraduate Institutions
  ­ Funds faculty research
· URM: Undergrad Research and Mentoring
  ­ Increase number and diversity of students pursuing
    graduate studies in biological research
· STEP: Science, Technology, Engineering, and
  Mathematics Talent Expansion Program
  ­ Inc. number of students w/ degrees in these fields
   Proposal Evaluation Criteria
· Merit
  ­ Sound research design and methodology
  ­ Abilities of PI
  ­ Institutional support
· Broader Impacts
NSF and "BROADER IMPACTS"

HOW DOES YOUR PROPOSAL:
· Promote teaching and training?
· Involve underrepresented groups?
  ­ gender, ethnicity, disability, geographic, etc
· Enhance infrastructure?
  ­ facilities, instrumentation, networks, partnerships
· Disseminate results?
· Benefit society?
    Promote Teaching and Training

· From K-grad school
· Hands-on activities for students
· Involve K-12 and/or college teachers
· Student presentations at national,
  regional, and local meetings
· UG/Grad/PostDocs involved in teaching
· Develop/Disseminate novel "pedagogic
  approaches to teaching"
 Involve Underrepresented Group(s)
  Gender, Ethnicity, Disability, Geographic
· Explain how you will:
  ­ Involve minorities in lab/educational activity
  ­ Work with minority institutions
  ­ Do research collaborations with
    teachers/researchers at minority institutions
  ­ Visit minority institutions "Campus visits"
  ­ Conduct workshops or conferences where "diversity
    is a priority"
  ­ Disseminate to minority faculty/students
          Enhance Infrastructure
 Facilities, Instrumentation, Networks, Partnerships

· Is equipment not currently available?
· Why is equipment needed?
· Who would use equipment?
  ­ in a collaboration?
  ­ would students use equipment?
  ­ faculty from other dept/institutions?
· Would you develop new techniques with
  equipment?
· CCLI....
             Disseminate
· Publications
· Conferences and workshops
· Partner with museums, nature/science
  centers, schools
· Use lay presentations/exhibits at
  libraries, radio/TV, museums
· Present data on web, on CDs
                    Benefit Society
· Document improvement of:
  ­ Schools
  ­ Student education
  ­ Student outcomes
     · Awards for presentations
     · Student grants
     · Students go on to professional or grad school
· Prove the value of your program:
  ­ Use letters from students stating that working in your
    lab facilitated
     ·   Entry into grad school
     ·   Understand a lecture topic
     ·   Development of their presentation skills
     ·   Get a better job, etc.
          Benefit Society Cont.
· Partner with federal, state or local
  governmental agencies to affect change in
  policies
· Disseminate to the lay person as well as
  your professional peers
     EVALUATION/ASSESSMENT
· SEE NSF BOOKLETS:
1. 2002 User-Friendly Handbook for Project Evaluation
  (http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?nsf02057)
2. User-Friendly Handbook On Mixed Methods
  (education)http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?nsf97153
3. User-Friendly Handbook for Project Evaluation:
   Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology
   Education .
  http://www.ehr.nsf.gov/EHR/RED/EVAL/handbook/handbook.
  htm

· Note: include a faculty member who specializes in
  program evaluation (in Education, Psychology, or
  Sociology)
          Do You Know the Value
             of Your Institution?
          Actual text you can use....
· "Liberal arts colleges and small universities
  that focus on undergraduate education have
  been hiring science faculty at record rates the
  past few years. Educators say this trend is one
  of the many signs of research vitality at these
  small schools, which TRAIN A
  DISPORTIONATE SHARE OF THE
  NATION'S SCIENTIFIC WORKFORCE
  COMPARED WITH THE BIG RESEASRCH
  UNIVERSITIES."
·   SOURCES: Academic Excellence, www.rescorp.org; SCIENCE,
    13 JULY; 293:193, 2001, the NSF report "Undergraduate Origins
    of Recent(1991-95) Science and Engineering Doctorate Recipients"
    (NSF 96-334) [http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/nsf96334/start.htm ]
· "When productivity is taken into account, several liberal arts
  colleges rank with research-intensive universities for number of
  bachelor's degree recipients who go on to earn a S&E doctorate.
  One report indicated that 15 of the top 25 institutions-ranked by
  the proportion of the baccalaureate recipients who earned
  doctorates in the sciences between 1951 and 1980-were liberal arts
  colleges.[Sam Carrier and David Davis-Van Atta, Maintaining
  America's Scientific Productivity (Oberlin, OH: Oberlin College,
  1987)] Similar findings were also presented in a report on
  "Persistence in Higher S&E Education." [ Betty Maxfield,
  Persistence in Higher Science and Engineering S&E Education:
  S&E Baccalaureate to S&E Doctorate Production (Washington,
  D.C.: Library of Congress, Office of Technology Assessment,
  1988)]
·      By field, baccalaureate colleges provided the baccalaureate
  education of 15 percent of science doctorate holders, almost four
  times the proportion found among engineering doctorate holders
  (chart 3). These institutions play a significant role in the
  baccalaureate origins of recent doctorate recipients in
  chemistry,mathematics, social sciences, psychology and biological
  sciences (table 4)."
          How Do You Start Writing?
1. First line: OBJECTIVES
2. then in the next short paragraph state
   "central aim of this project is to test..."
3. Then, state only A FEW goals.
·   "Lacks focus" is a typical comment (esp new grant
    writers). Your first draft can have all that you
    believe that is important and interesting, THEN cut
    until it hurts, leaving only 3 specific aims (or less)
    that are highly related.
·   Of the total 100 grants (range of 80 to 120), one
    panel member may read about 15 grants=huge
    amount of work-days of reading. KEEP YOUR
    PROPOSAL SIMPLE! Panel member probably not
    in exact same field...but some are.
· List evidence supporting your idea or
  model (set up a house of cards), then say
  this evidence is not sufficient (knock over
  the house of cards), say you will test it
  "explicitly with the following
  experiments:"
· Emphasize methods/field that you are
  familiar with; what you have been
  trained in- you should be an expert. If
  you have not done the method, find
  someone who has and get a letter
 PARAGRAPH ORGANIZATION
(this way you can reference with "(see II.3.a)."
     For example:

I. TITLE HERE
    I.1 first section, paragraph
           I.1.A. for next paragraph
           I.1.B. for second paragraph
    I.2 second section
II. TITLE HERE
· READ IT ALOUD TO YOURSELF

· If you do not include "possible problems
  and their resolution," you may get the
  comment "the PI has not thought this
  through..."
· this section can also do massive damage--
  always suggest solution but...
HAVE SOMEONE READ YOUR
      APPLICATION
·   They look for gaps in logic or steps
·   Someone inside your field
·   Someone outside your field
·   Give them lots of time
·   Utilize CUR reader service....
·   Attend the CUR Proposal Writing
    Workshop (yearly)
· Are there OTHER GRANTS already given in your
  area? (how much did they get? what are they doing- is
  it the same as I suggest?); NIH AND NSF SEARCH
  ENGINES
  Ask other Faculty Members (use CUR listserv?) for
  their old successful grants

· IF RESUBMISSION:
  ­ OUTLINE, NEAR THE BEGINNING, THE PRIOR
    CRITICISMS AND YOUR RESPONSE (YOU MAY GET
    THE SAME REVIEWER WHO WILL GET MAD IF YOU DO NOT
    ADDRESS PRIOR CRITICISMS).
  ­ THANK THE ORIGINAL REVIEWERS FOR SPENDING
    THEIR TIME IN REVIEWING (even though they did not
    know what they were talking about)
  ­ a new reviewer will wonder why you are spending time
    going over these specific unimportant points-note "response
    to prior review"
· Hypothesis-driven? Not purely
  descriptive?

· PLANNING: Draw out expected results
  (gels: what lanes look like, controls
  needed, figures, etc)-not in grant but
  helps troubleshoot
Important for NSF:
· Get to know Program Officer at the funding
  agency (NSF, NIH, etc). Email, Call them,
  Stop by agency (without pestering)
· Email Program Officer a brief summary of
  your application; they may suggest changes,
  where to go for money...
· Out of 100 grants, about 12 will be in the
  "grey area" for funding and the
  administrator can have much input in these
  after the panel adjourns.
· Ask the PO to review grants (panels review
  ~200 grants per year...)
· TOUGHEST: Is problem exciting,
  important & of general interest?

· One of the biggest PUI problems: NOT
  ENOUGH PRELIMINARY DATA

· Use your classes to collect preliminary
  data....

· Desktop publishing required!
(Integrate graphs, use color now...)
OLD DAYS: Last minute submission....

· are avoiding last minute crunch- may
  have trouble uploading to FASTLANE or
  Grants.gov
· Buy and use Adobe Acrobat (to make
  your own PDF files...)
· Watch out for Mac problems with
  NIH/NSF grant files (formatting...)
· ILLUSTRATE PROCEDURES WITH
  FLOW CHART
· INCLUDE TIME TABLE
· You can choose who should AND
  who should not review your
  proposal- NSF vs. NIH
· To fight grant reviewer's assumption that you
  don't know how to do anything, OBTAIN
  LETTERS OF COLLABORATION OR
  SUPPORT FROM BIG RESEARCH LABS.
· 10 APPLICATIONS= 1 GRANT FUNDED.
  KEEP TRYING.
· Most important characteristic of a grant
  getter??? BE ABLE TO WITHSTAND
  REJECTION.
· GET A HOBBY FOR STRESS RELIEF.
  FIGHT BURNOUT.
· COMMON REVIEWER CRITICISM: "I
  HAVE DONE THAT TECHNIQUE AND IT IS
  NOT AS SIMPLE AS THE PI SUGGESTS"
      "IT WILL NOT WORK BECAUSE..."--
  value of preliminary data AND letters of
  collaboration.
· DEVELOPMENT OF NEW TECHNIQUE
  VERY DANGEROUS FOR PUI
  RESEARCHER
· APPLY PROVEN TECHNIQUE IN NEW
  UNIQUE SITUATION
       BUDGET ADVICE
MATCHING FUNDS:
· REQUEST FOR EQUIPMENT?
· A COURSE RELEASE?
· PAY FOR IMPROVEMENT OF
  FACILITIES?
· Describe evidence of "INSTITUTIONAL
  SUPPORT" (release time for faculty?
  Intramural support? Setup money? Lab
  space? Lab refurbished by university?
  NSF will not set up your lab per se)
            BUDGET ADVICE
· Suggest 1-3 students at $7-9/hr, up to 20 hrs week in
  academic year-more in summer ($3000-3500 for 8-
  10 weeks)
· Ms. Graduate student salary $10,000/ yr. (May be
  paid to undergraduate)
· Ph.D. STUDENTS EARN $25-30k/ yr.
· Add in two months (or more) salary for PI (if not,
  reviewers criticize this).
· If equipment >$5000 requested: note copay by
  university.
· You need to carefully define what will be done with
  the equipment (for CCLI, go through lab exercise,
  what student learns, involve inquiry based lab).
· How many other departments or faculty can use the
  equipment? Teaching use?
· Do you need a staff person to run the complex
  equipment?
· Maintenance contracts?
· How/ does learning how to use the equipment help
  students get a job in industry, or go to grad school?
     TIME IS YOUR MAIN FOE
· TECHNICIAN-Half time or full(full: $22-25
  k/yr, over $30k for experienced research
  associate).
· OR INCLUDE A "TEACHING POST-DOC"
  (No teaching experience, but lot of research
  experience ­will work in your lab part-time)
· Can you share a research assistant with
  another lab?
· COLLABORATIONS are encouraged by
  NSF...but
Remember to allow for time before the deadline
· to scan in letters of collaboration or photos (some
  scanned images such as pict files work in Word but
  are not accepted by NSF--you only find this out
  when you view the NSF version of your files)...
· Uploading to NSF/NIH can take time...
· For all funding sources: goal would be to finish your
  first decent draft a month a head of time. You can
  upload it to the NSF at this time and then print off
  from the NSF web site (does the printed version look
  correct? Check to make sure that your formatting
  got to the NSF intact). Then you can work on
  individual sections over the next period of time.
· Can you submit an update?The NSF allows 1-2
  pages (so your grant is extended by two more
  pages!) (check with your program officer
  about this and the date for submittal).
· Close any loopholes that occurred to you after
  submittal or collect any data that you could not
  collect in time for the original submission.




             GOOD LUCK!