NSF CISE CAREER Writing Workshop Chunmei Liu Howard University 4/15/2011

Preparation  Set up an Grants.gov/fastlane account  Ask yourself whether you are ready or not  Read the solicitation carefully htm htm Single PI who holds a tenure-track position and a doctoral degree “ creative, integrative and effective research and education plans, developed within the context of the mission, goals, and resources of their organizations, while building a firm foundation for a lifetime of contributions to research, education and their integration. ”

Preparation - 2  How to write a successful NSF proposal advice.html advice.html  What is NSF review criteria/process?

Project Summary  One page  Objectives, methods, significance  Intellectual merit  Broader impact

Project Description-1  15 page limit  Objectives and Significance Why is it an important problem? Why is it an interesting problem? Why is it a challenging problem?  Background and state-of-the-art work Long term goals? Main barriers? Motivations

Project Description – 2  Research description Detailed research plan Methods Data Preliminary results The significance of the results

Project Description - 3  Description of educational activities Education goals? graduate, undergraduate students? How will the research impact the education goals? How the education activities will feed back into the research If fund a postdoc, an one page postdoctoral researcher mentoring plan is needed Evaluation plan

Project Description - 4  Plan of work and timelines  Results from prior NSF support  Deliverables

Others - 1  References Literature referenced in the project description  Biographical Sketches Educational and career background Five relevant publications Five other significant publications Long-term associates

Others – 2  Departmental letter should at least state that the PI is eligible to participate in this program No more than 2 pages  Budget  Current and pending support  Facilities

Resources  Resources for HBCU/MEI NSF/QEM CAREER Proposal Workshop Other proposal writing workshops: HBCU-UP, MRI, BRIDGE, CI-TEAM, CCLI, etc. Faculty Summer Research Programs: ORNL, Army, DOE, etc.  Ask recent awardees for their successful proposals  Ask senior faculty to review your draft proposal

Good Luck!