1. Strategies and Resources for Funding in the Natural Sciences Gary W. Small Department of Chemistry & Optical Science and Technology Center (gary-small@uiowa.edu) CLAS New Faculty Orientation, 8/21/13

2. Issues to Consider  Current funding climate  Strategies and resources  Internal proposals  External proposals  The proposal process  Some final thoughts

3. Current Funding Climate http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/presentations/aaasrd20130807.ppt

4. Current Funding Climate http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/presentations/aaasrd20130807.ppt

5. Current Funding Climate Source: http://report.nih.gov/success_rates Source: http://report.nih.gov/success_rates

6. Strategies and Resources (Internal Proposals)  Submit as soon as proposal is viable  http://dsp.research.uiowa.edu/ui-internal-funding http://dsp.research.uiowa.edu/ui-internal-funding  http://research.uiowa.edu/ovpr/university-funding-sources http://research.uiowa.edu/ovpr/university-funding-sources  Provides funding for preliminary results  Provides informative feedback  Provides mechanism to crystallize ideas  Clear explanation of significance  Clear description of experimental design  Challenge of explaining to an audience of non- specialists (avoiding jargon)

7. Strategies and Resources (External Proposals)  Submit as soon as proposal is viable  Until funding is established, don’t let a deadline pass without submitting  Learn what has been funded recently  http://projectreporter.nih.gov/reporter.cfm http://projectreporter.nih.gov/reporter.cfm  http://nsf.gov/awardsearch/index.jsp http://nsf.gov/awardsearch/index.jsp  Note special Requests for Applications (RFA’s)  http://www07.grants.gov/applicants/find_grant_opportunities.jsp http://www07.grants.gov/applicants/find_grant_opportunities.jsp  Look for special opportunities for young investigators  http://www.spo.berkeley.edu/Fund/newfaculty.html http://www.spo.berkeley.edu/Fund/newfaculty.html  http://grants.nih.gov/grants/new_investigators/index.htm http://grants.nih.gov/grants/new_investigators/index.htm

8. The Proposal Process Idea or Hypothesis Preliminary Results Papers Proposal Papers Project Success Failure Acknowledgement: Mark Arnold, Department of Chemistry

9. Writing the Proposal  Follow instructions  Leave room to describe proposed research  Include a detailed experimental plan  Include preliminary results  Identify potential problems and suggest possible solutions  Include a timeline  Include reprints of your relevant publications (if allowed)  Don’t make it too expensive to fund  Don’t make it difficult to evaluate  Know evaluation criteria and process

10. Some Final Thoughts  Persistence is critical  Learn to limit your anger over rejection  Reviewers are usually trying to help  Address criticisms in any resubmission  Work on building your visibility  Meet program officers at agencies  Conference participation  Meet your competitors  Discover your supporters and detractors  Invite key players in your field to Iowa for a seminar  Develop your research niche  At tenure time, need to have an identifiable research program

11. Some Final Thoughts  Consider a mix of collaborative and individual work  Collaborative projects can be an important component of a research program  Allows bigger problems to be tackled  Important to be able to demonstrate your own contribution  Don’t ignore the mission-oriented agencies such as DOE, DOD, NASA  Important to develop contacts at Government labs  Take advantage of the proximity of your colleagues  Have successful colleagues read your proposals

12. Some Final Thoughts  Advice is plentiful  Consider it but in the end you have to take the path that works for you