Writing Effective Proposals for DUE in NSF

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Writing Effective Proposals for DUE in NSF

• Bert E. Holmes
• (bholmes_at_nsf.gov)
• Division Undergraduate Education
• National Science Foundation
• January 24, 2009

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Caution

• Most of the information presented today
  represents the opinions of the individual program
  officer and not an official NSF position.

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Make Your Project Better Plan from the
Beginning

• Seven Helpful Hints

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Helpful Hint Number 1 Read the Program
Announcement

• NSF has no hidden agendas. Its all there in the
  program announcement.
• Talk with a program officer to make sure that
  your ideas fit in the program. If the program
  officer tells you that your ideas are too narrow
  or dont fit a program, look for other sources.
• Make sure that your project is worthwhile,
  realistic, well-planned, and innovative.
• Do what you say you will do.

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Helpful Hint Number 2 Care About the Project

• Work on projects you care deeply about. Let that
  caring and commitment come through in the
  proposal and then as you and your team carry out
  the project.
• Caveat 1 Dont become such a one song person
  that you cant listen to others.
• Caveat 2 Dont be tempted to be cute in the
  writing.
• Keep the enthusiasm, caring, and passion you show
  in the proposal as you carry out the project.
  Have fun.

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Helpful Hint Number 3 Build on What Others Have
Done

• Like any research project, you must build on what
  others have done before you and then add to the
  base of knowledge. Dont reinvent the wheel.
• Read the literature, go to conferences, talk with
  others.
• Be current.
• Discuss the value added of your project. What are
  you adding to the knowledge base?

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Helpful Hint Number 4 Think Teamwork

• Successful projects are often team efforts,
  although individuals matter too.
• You work in an department. Departmental and
  collaborative efforts are more likely to be
  successful than one person efforts.
• You must have support of administrators. Keep
  them involved, make them look good, give them
  credit, find out what they need to support you.
• Finish the first draft and give it to a peer(s)
  to read and critique (pick folks who will tell
  you the truth), put it aside for several days and
  then you re-read it.

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Helpful Hint Number 5 Use Good Management Skills

• Have a realistic time line and implementation
  schedule from the beginning and stick to it.
• Have milestones and specific deliverables (with
  dates)
• For collaborative proposals use carrots when you
  can (but be prepared to use the baton when you
  must). Dont reward until people deliver.

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Helpful Hint Number 6 Have Measurable Goals and
Objectives

• Measurable Goals
• -What will be delivered?
• -What is needed to convince others that this
  works?
• -Are activities tied to goals?
• -Is evaluation tied to goals
• Enhancing student learning, improving education
  and other similar things are lofty goals, but not
  measurable.
• Have the Evaluation Plan developed by the
  external evaluator during proposal preparation.

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Helpful Hint Number 7 Pay Back Time

• Keep NSF or your funder informed. They have to
  report too. Its all a cycle.
• Send in reports on time. Use the required format.
• Send in highlights, information about awards,
  student impact, pictures, etc.
• Give credit to NSF or other funders, your
  administrators, your team members, your
  department, etc. Giving credit to others makes
  you look better and get you better support later.
• Offer to be a reviewer and to help others.

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NSF Proposal Review and Decision Process

Mail Reviews
Award (Via DGA)
Declination
Central Processing
Program Manager
Division Director
Investigator/ collaborators
Withdrawal
Panel
Inap- propriate
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WHAT MAKES AGOOD PROJECT?

• REALISTIC
• WORTHWHILE
• WELL-PLANNED
• INNOVATIVE

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The ProposalCriteria for Evaluation

• 1. Peer Reviewed
• 2. Criteria for Evaluation
• What is the intellectual merit of the proposed
  activity?
• What are the broader impacts of the proposed
  activity?
• Specifically address each in the summary.

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Intellectual Merit

• Addresses a major challenge
• Supported by capable faculty and others
• Innovative and interesting research idea
• Rationale and vision clearly articulated
• Informed by other projects
• Effective evaluation and dissemination
• Adequate facilities, resources, and commitment
• Institutional and departmental commitment

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Broader Impacts

• Integrated into the institutions academic
  programs
• Contributes to knowledge base and useful to other
  institutions
• Widely used products which can be disseminated
  through commercial and other channels
• Improved content and pedagogy for faculty and
  teachers
• Increased participation by women,
  underrepresented minorities, and persons with
  disabilities
• Has benefits to society

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Top Eight Ways To Write a Good Proposal That
Wont Get Funded
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Flaw 8

• Inflate the budget to allow for negotiations.
• Instead
• Make the budget reflect the work plan directly.
• Provide a budget explanation that ties your
  budget request to project personnel and
  activities.
• Make it clear who is responsible for what.
• Provide biographical sketches for all key
  personnel.

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Flaw 7

• Provide a template letter of commitment for your
  (genuine) supporters to use. (They will!)
• Instead
• Ask for original letters of support that detail
  what your collaborators will do and why
  involvement in your project will help them.

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Flaw 6

• Assume your past accomplishments are well known.
• Instead
• Provide results from prior funding this
  includes quantitative data and information on
  impact.
• Describe how new efforts build on this previous
  work, and how it has contributed to the broader
  knowledge base about educational improvement.
• Recognize that the reviews are diverse and not
  all familiar with your institutional context.

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Flaw 5

• Assume the program guidelines have not changed
  or better yet, ignore them!
• Instead
• Read the solicitation completely and carefully.
• Address each area outlined in the solicitation
  that is relevant to your project.
• Check the program solicitation carefully for any
  additional criteria, e.g. the Integration of
  Research and Education, or integrating diversity
  into NSF Programs, Projects, and Activities

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Flaw 4

• Dont check your speeling, nor youre grammer.
• Instead
• Check and double check first impressions are
  important to reviewers.
• State your good ideas clearly. Ignore the bad
  ones.
• Have a trusted colleague who is not involved in
  the project read your drafts and final proposal.
• Note Dont use complimentary when you mean
  complementary or principle investigator when you
  mean principal investigator , etc.

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Flaw 3

• Substitute flowery rhetoric for good examples.
• Instead
• Ground your project in the context of related
  efforts.
• Specify who you will work with and why.
• Detail the tasks and timeline for completing
  activities.
• Specifically address intellectual merit and
  broader impacts and use the phrases explicitly in
  the project summary.

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(Fatal) Flaw 2

• Assume page limits and font size restrictions are
  not enforced.
• Instead
• Consult the program solicitation and the GPG
  (Grant Proposal Guide) carefully.
• Proposals that exceed page and/or font size
  limits are returned without review.

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(Fatal) Flaw 1

• Assume deadlines are not enforced.
• Instead
• Work early with your Sponsored Research Office
  (SRO).
• Test drive FastLane and make sure your SRO knows
  how to drive too!
• Set your own final deadline a day or so ahead of
  the formal deadline to allow time to solve
  problems.
• Stay tuned Grants.gov is coming

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WAYS TO PARTICIPATE

• Grant Holder
• Principal Investigator
• Member of Project Team
• Member of a coalition
• Reviewer of Proposals

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But Most Important!

• Have fun!