1. Strategies and Resources for Funding in the Natural Sciences
Gary W. Small
Department of Chemistry &
Optical Science and Technology Center
CLAS New Faculty Orientation, 8/20/14

2. Issues to Consider Current funding climate Strategies and resources
Internal proposals
External proposals
Developing a strategic plan

3. Current Funding Climate
– COGR.pptx

4. Current Funding Climate
– Forum.pptx

5. Current Funding Climate
Source:

6. Strategies and Resources (Internal Proposals)
Submit as soon as proposal is viable
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
Note special Requests for Applications (RFA’s)
Look for special opportunities for young investigators

8. Developing a Strategic Plan
Preliminary results and manuscripts
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
Don’t ignore the mission-oriented agencies such as DOE, DOD, NASA
Important to develop contacts at Government labs

9. Developing a Strategic Plan
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