university of california, davis career: planning and writing a competitive nsf career proposal...
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS
CAREER: Planning and Writing a Competitive NSF CAREER Proposal
Kenneth J. LohAssociate Professor
Department of Civil & Environmental EngineeringNano-Engineering and Smart Structures Technologies (NESST) Laboratory
NSF/CMMI CAREER Proposal Writing WorkshopUniversity of Maryland, College Park
April 8, 2014
2/26
Disclaimer
There is no secret formula…
I am just like you…
I will do my best to share with you my experiences and
the important steps along the way
3/26
Why the NSF CAREER Proposal?
It’s not that good of a deal… In my time, $400K over five years or $80K per year (less than an unsolicited
grant) Takes considerable more effort to plan and write
Possibilities offered by an NSF CAREER award: Steady stream of funding for five years Supplement awards eligibility Institutionalize new education and outreach programs
Other benefits: More visibility Tenure Recognition Investment for the future PECASE eligibility
4/26
Multi-dimensional Approach
NSF CAREER Proposal
BOTTOM-UP
TOP-DOWN
RESEARCH EDUCATION
5. Why you?
4. What’s missing?
3. What’s your long-term goals?
2. What’s your passion?
1. Who are you?
6. Start the conversation
7. Find the right program
8. Plan the big stuff
9. Go make some friends
10. Communicate your vision
11. Ask for help
5/26
BOTTOM-UP APPROACHQuestions that you should be asking yourself
6/26
Bottom-up: 1. My Personal Roadmap
Birth :: Urbana, IL
GK-12 :: Taipei, Taiwan
Johns Hopkins University :: Baltimore, MD
University of Michigan :: Ann Arbor, MI
University of California :: Davis, CA
B.S. in Civil Engineering (2004)
• Chi-Chi Earthquake (Sept. 21, 1999)
• Urban damage detection using the synthetic aperture radar
• Bridge monitoring using wireless MEMS sensors (UC Irvine REU)
M.S. in Civil Engineering (2005) & M.S. in Materials Science & Engineering (2008)
Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (2008)
• Carbon nanotube-based thin films for structural health monitoring
Assistant Professor (2009 – 2014)
Associate Professor (2014 – present)• Nano-Engineering & Smart Structures Technologies (NESST)
Laboratory
• Multifunctional materials and structural health monitoring research
7/26
Bottom-up: 1. My CAREER Roadmap
2009, January: Assistant Professor at UC Davis 2009, April: Decided to submit CAREER proposal (one of my first
proposals) 2009, July: Proposal submitted 2009, December: Proposal rejected
Sadness followed…
2010, January: Prepared and applied for NSF CAREER Proposal Workshop
2010, February: Rewrote and resubmitted CAREER as unsolicited proposal
2010, March: Attended workshop 2010, June: Unsolicited proposal awarded
Hope followed…
2011, July: Began proposal preparation and getting new preliminary results
2012, July: New CAREER proposal submitted 2012, December: Proposal awarded
8/26
Bottom-up: 2. My Passion
Ask yourself these questions: What’s more important than sleep? What makes you want to skip a meal? What drives you to work those extra hours during the weekend? What fundamental research areas or problems are you passionate about?
Materials Science
Structural Engineerin
g
Biochemistry
Solve large-scale problems that
mattered to the world
Materials are everywhere, and
it’s how we interact with the
world
Controls the inner-workings
of the world
9/26
Bottom-up: 2. Discovering My Passion
Citywide damage
assessment via satellite imaging
Wireless sensors for structural
health monitoring
Densely distributed
passive wireless sensors
Carbon nanotube thin films for
spatial damage detection
UG/MS
MS/PHD
UG
PHD
FOUNDATION FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
AND EDUCATION
10/26
Bottom-up: 3. Long-term Goals
What are your long-term goals? Think 10 to 15 years ahead Consider research and education – are they integrated too? Write strategic plan for your career (and then change it later)
NSF CAREER award should be a major enabling mechanism that will help you attain your research and educational goals
11/26
Bottom-up: 4. Knowledge Gaps
Identify scientific advancements needed or knowledge gaps Necessary for transitioning from current state-of-art to your long-term goal What is the need for research and students (education)?
Identify the progression of science or future trends/needs
12/26
Bottom-up: 5. Why You?
Present compelling argument why you are uniquely positioned for solving that particular scientific problem
Use space in your project description Relate your past and current research to your proposed project
13/26
TOP-DOWN APPROACHReach out, ask questions, and write a
responsive, integrated, research and education proposal
14/26
Top-down: 6. Start the Conversation
Interact with NSF through different opportunities: NSF CAREER proposal writing workshop (check!) Physically go there and visit different program managers E-mail (maybe call) program managers Volunteer to serve on review panels Interact with program managers at conferences
15/26
Top-down: 7. Find the Right Program
One of the most important qualities about any proposal is responsiveness
NSF CMMI website: http://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=CMMI Read synopsis of each program and determine fit Can always meet, e-mail, or call program manager to learn more
16/26
Top-down: 8. Plan the Big Stuff
Formulate your research question If question were to be answered, it should bring you closer to your long-term
goal Hypothesis-driven and/or scientific research questions Include research, education, and outreach objectives
Identify main tasks or milestones that need to be achieved to address goal
Present CLEAR objective for each task Organize tasks in LOGICAL fashion Do these tasks FIT within your proposed timeline of five years and budget? JUSTIFY that you are able to perform these tasks
17/26
Top-down: 8. Feasibility
Eliminate reviewers’ skepticism by providing adequate preliminary results
Position yourself as: “high-risk, high-reward…but feasible” Clearly identify assumptions and what you are ignoring
Getting preliminary results for your proposal means starting very early
18/26
Top-down: 9. Go Make Some Friends
Identify collaborators that are absolutely necessary for project success
Setting up meetings or calls to get letters of collaboration (takes a lot of time)
Department Chair letter Meet with Associate Dean(s) Support from Dean Resource planning/budget Leverage existing resources Campus programs/groups
19/26
Top-down: 10. Read Before You Write
Before you start to write anything, read the CAREER solicitation (14-532)
PI eligibility (three tries) Tenure-track assistant professor No Co-PIs allowed Deadlines for certain divisions Project title: “CAREER: …” Page limits Broader impact and intellectual merit Project summary Project timeline Previously $400,000 budget (exact) Department letter Letter of support (1 page maximum) Data management plan (see GPG) Post-doctoral scholar mentoring plan Cost-sharing is prohibited Etc…
20/26
Top-down: 10. Who is Your Audience?
REVIEW PANEL
Multi-disciplinary reviewers
Junior, mid-career, and
senior faculty
Your competitio
n
Over-committed versus un-committed
Believers versus non-
believers
21/26
Top-down: 10. Write for Your Audience
Proposal needs to speak out to three levels of reviewers:
1. High-level
2. Overall content
3. Your ‘buddies’
Quick read Is proposal aligned to
agency? Quickly flip through Will not read carefully
Reading a magazine article
Knowledgeable, but not expert
Logical and comprehensive?
Does your plan make sense?
Detailed checking Colleagues and
competitors Technical experts Detail-oriented
22/26
Top-down: 10. Psychology of Reviewers:
Proposal reviewed based on ‘intellectual merit’ and ‘broader impact’
P
P
F
G
V
E
F G V E
BI
IM
1253564
Greatest likelihood of funding
23/26
Top-down: 10. Start Writing!
Important points to remember when writing: State and explain your long-term goal, objectives, and hypotheses Be clear and concise, not overly verbose Explain your methods and assumptions Answer the ‘what’, ‘why’, and ‘how’ Make it visually appealing (think magazine)
24/26
Top-down: 11. Ask for Guidance
There’s a lot of value in having your colleagues and friends review your draft proposal (but grow a thick skin)
Friends, colleagues, or collaborators Recent CAREER awardees (probably ones that you know well) Department Chair
Other considerations: Request successful and unsuccessful CAREER proposals Serve on a CAREER panel (rare but possible)
25/26
Presentation Summary
Vision: The long-term career goal of the PI is to drive innovative research and and to train outstanding personnel for maintaining and escalating United States’ role as the global leader in both research and education
Conduct potentially transformative, high-risk, high-reward research Prepare students for careers in a multidisciplinary, competitive, future job
landscape Develop and mentor outstanding young faculty
Objective: As a step towards this goal, the objective of this talk is two-fold…
To share my lessons learned during the PI’s CAREER proposal planning, writing, and reviewing stages
To test the hypothesis that workshop attendees will be more successful (statistically significant) at winning NSF CAREER awards in the next five years
Assessment: participant data will (hopefully) be tracked by NSF
Scope: Present to you important elements in planning and writing an NSF CAREER
proposal Use the PI’s planning process and proposal for illustrating specific techniques
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS
The PI thanks the National Science Foundation for the support of his research and the opportunity to
give this talk
This presentation would not have been possible without the help from:
Previous NSF CAREER Proposal Writing WorkshopAttending other proposal writing workshops
Mentors, role models, colleagues, and friendsProgram managers at NSF and other agencies
Anyone who has given me advice or suggestions…
Acknowledgements
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