Thoughts on preparing an NSF CAREER proposal 2007 NSF CAREER Proposal Writing Workshop Maria C. Yang Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering University of Southern California

Overview Things to do before writing Writing the proposal itself Final thoughts My background –BS – MIT, ME –MS – Stanford, ME –PhD – Stanford, ME –Industry – 3 years –Instructorship – Caltech ME –Asst Prof – USC ISE 2005 CAREER Workshop attendee 2006 NSF CAREER Award

Before writing Doing the homework

Learn about the NSF Decide on right program –Many programs may be relevant –Tricky for interdisciplinary work –Search recent award abstracts Topics & investigators close to you What programs do they submit to? Attend NSF CAREER workshop if possible

Not a “regular” proposal Don’t just modify an old unsolicited Plan for your overall faculty career –Key is to show your professional “vision” –Where do you see your research, teaching, service in 5, 10, 20 years? Contributions to the field, # papers, # students, types of classes, professional service –Question-answering process influence writing Helpful for career planning, not just proposal

Read other CAREER proposals Sources –CAREER Workshop mock panel review –Colleagues Read both successful and not –Unsuccessful ones make clear what to avoid

Get advice Talk to experienced individuals in your field –Faculty colleagues, former advisors, mentors –Increase the breadth of vision Ask them if they’d be willing read University-sponsored forums –USC Dean’s office reading “service”

Note for resubmissions If you have submitted a CAREER proposal before without success –Take cold, hard look at old proposal –Take review panel advice to heart –Rewrite from scratch Ideas further developed New, interesting work

Writing the proposal itself Be concise

Proposal writing Start early Crisp, concise research statement –Convince panel of your vision Leave time for industry collaboration and letters of support Program for broader impacts Getting feedback from others

One sentence summary of proposal Sounds simple, but time consuming Reviewers understand immediately –Shows you know what you are talking about –Reviewer fatigue First sentence of Project Summary –Why is your work basic research (vs. development)? (Hazelrigg’s law) –Why is your work compelling? Broad and inspiring –Narrow: “I want to incrementally improve x using technology y.” –Broad: “My interest is in determining the limits of x in the domain of y to fundamentally reframe our understanding of z”

First 2-3 pages of proposal Make it accessible to technical layman Only some panelists understand work in great depth –But every reviewer should appreciate larger goals Scientific American test Colleagues in other fields, husband/wife/partner, best friend, parents If they grasp first few pages, the review panel will, too

Establish collaborations w/ industry (If applicable) Shows wider applications of work Start ~ year early –Establish how you might work together –Bonus: Preliminary results –Letters show substance in partnerships Commitment to collaboration Testbed for research Funding

Leave time for review by others Outside perspectives help breadth Allot a few weeks –Everyone is busy –Senior people are even busier –Need time to incorporate feedback Remind reviewers gently if they don’t respond

Broader Impacts Show how your work accessible to world Opportunity to differentiate your proposal –New graduate class –Other forums/populations? –Don’t need to teach kindergarteners quantum What is appealing about work to lay public? What forums do you have available to you? Start early to establish collaborations –USC outreach example

Final thoughts Think positive

15 pg summary of your career plan Chair/Dean asks you what you want to do over next several years –Answer should be a CAREER proposal Project appropriate amount of confidence –Too much - not believable –Not enough - reviewers won’t take you seriously –Signals to others that you are willing to invest yourself