1、CAREER Program Development,George Hazelrigg Jan Twomey ZJ Pei Jian Cao2006 CAREER Proposal Writing Workshop Wichita State University April 6, 2006,CAREER Proposal Writing Workshop,Workshop Goals,Provide potential CAREER awardees with recommendations on developing a CAREER proposal What is a CAREER p
2、roposal? The Larger Context DOs and DONTs Getting a Research Topic Finding a Home The Summary Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts Getting Involved,CAREER Award,Funds the academic career development of new faculty (it is not a research award) CAREER Development Plan ”well argued specific proposal
3、for activities that will build a firm foundation for a lifetime of integrated contributions to research and education” Duration: 5 years Min (in most programs, its also a Max.) amount: $400,000 Deadline for engineering: July 19, 2006 (for other directorates, see solicitations),You,Who are you? Your
4、expertise/interests Your career/life goals Your position/resources Your proposal should fit into your life plan,Your Strategic Plan,A strategic plan has three parts: Where are you today? Where do you want to be in the future (5, 10, 20 years from now)? How do you get from here to there?,Your Proposa
5、l,Should advance you toward your life goals Should be a stepping stone to the next thing Should be compatible with your institutions goals Should represent a contribution to society at large,DOs,Have a strategic plan Build on your strengths Differentiate this proposal from your Ph.D. thesis work and
6、 other sponsored work Perform thorough literature search and exploratory research before writing the proposal www.fastlane.nsf.gov Journal articles (update with personal contact) Establish and keep your contacts,DONTs,Rush Wait until last minute (1 month) to contact program directors Make the propos
7、ed work (research and education) too broad Make the proposed work too narrow Ask for too much money Ignore rules (Grant Proposal Guide) and misc. items,Getting a Research Topic,NSF,We look for proposals that Are innovative and push the frontiers of knowledge Contribute to national needs and prioriti
8、es Go beyond marginalia Integrate well with educational goals Involve research We do not support (except as incidental to the research goals of the research) Developmental efforts Computer programming Design of Commercialization,The CAREER Research Topic,The CAREER proposal is not a research proposa
9、l The CAREER proposal is a proposal detailing how you will spend $400,000 to enhance your career development Your career involves a research path, not a research project Determine your research pathyour lifelong research goalsand then identify milestones toward your goals Detail the first one or two
10、 as the research projects for your CAREER proposal,Your CAREER Research Path,Lifelong research goals Dont end with a single project May never end Have broad application Examples: To improve our ability to make engineering decisions under uncertainty and risk To perform large-scale modeling of engine
11、ering systems thereby enabling better system optimization To improve our understanding of metal cutting operations enabling improvements in machining,The Selected Research Topic,It must be research It must not have been done before It must be significant There must be higher than probability zero th
12、at you can do it It must lend itself to a viable research plan You must have the facilities to accomplish the research It should fit into your strategic plan,What is Research?,Research is the process of finding out something that we (everyone) dont already know Scientific research builds upon the ex
13、tant knowledge base and it is repeatable and verifiable,Groundwork,Know your field: What is the current state-of-the-art Who are the top ten researchers What they are doing right now Where they get their funding What they consider to be the key research issues Who would likely review your proposal W
14、hat the grant opportunities are,The Research Objective,This is probably the hardest part of the proposal Examples of how not to do it: The objective of my research is to provide a quantum leap in the design of anti-gravity boots. The goal of this project is to develop an integrated modeling tool for
15、 the hardening process. The goal of this project is to develop innovative advances to enhance wire sawing processes. Rapid prototyping machines are an important part of the vast array of tools. This research will bridge the accuracy gap in these processes by developing theoretical and technological
16、means to implement significant gains in accuracy.,The Research Objective,How to do it right: The research objective of this project is to measure the cross-section of the muon-nutrino interaction at 5 GeV. The research objective of this proposal is to determine which physical phenomena govern chip f
17、ormation in brittle materials, and to mathematically model those phenomena. The research goal of this project is to account for uncertainty in engineering design decision making through the application of utility theory.,The Research Objective,How to do it wrong (“actual” submissions): This project
18、aims to advance the research in predictive modeling for manufacturing process optimization. The proposed study will significantly advance the theory of random fields. This study will develop modeling and simulation-based technologies for building construction. New methods in robust optimization are
19、proposed for optimizing complex models under uncertainty.,The Research Objective,Doing it right: Begin: “The research objective of this project is.” Limit: 25 words or less Be specific about what you intend to find out Be specific about what you intend to find out Be specific about what you intend t
20、o find out Be sure your statement is comprehensible Put it up frontsentence one, paragraph one, page one Do not give a weather report or state-of-the-union address,Finding a Home,Questions,Is your “research” research? If it isnt, it doesnt belong at NSF If the answer is “no,” skip to the end, look f
21、or support from other sources If the answer is “yes,” what is your research topic? The right NSF home for your research depends on the topic of your research, not on the application of your research Be prepared to answer the question: “What is your research objective?” (25 words or less),Your Fundin
22、g Base,NSF should not be the sole source of funding for your research Internal support State support Industry support Other Federal agency support,Directorate for Engineering FY 06 Budget,Division of Design, Manufacture, and Industrial Innovation,Academic Research Programs: Manufacturing Processes a
23、nd Equipment Systems Cluster Materials Processing & Manufacturing (MPM) Manufacturing Machines and Equipment (MME) Nanomanufacturing (NM) Engineering Decision Systems Cluster Manufacturing Enterprise Systems (MES) Engineering Design (ED) Operations Research (OR) Service Enterprise System (SES)Bridgi
24、ng Programs Across NSF Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI),MME (Hazelrigg)Material RemovalPath PlanningMachine DesignMetrologySSF,NM (Lyons)Directed self-assemblyPatterning100 nm and under,MPM (Realff)FormingJoiningMoldingDeposition/Powder Processing,Composites Bulk materi
25、als Multi-scale,Sensors/Control & Optimization,DMII Academic Research Topics,Should I Meet My Program Officer?,Why? What do you intend to gain? Or is your goal to schmooze? (It doesnt help) Dont even think about taking your program officer to lunch If you decide to meet: Be prepared to listen (you d
26、ont learn by talking) Be prepared with questions Remember, the program officer is not the panel You can get a free trip to NSF (more later),Questions You Shouldnt Ask a Program Director,Is NSF interested in my topic? So, will you fund my research? Is this a good research topic? What research topic d
27、o you think I should work on? What are my odds? But this is my last chance, what can I do? If I send a copy of my proposal to you, will you help me edit it?,Catch 22,My research doesnt fit in any single NSF program, how about joint submission/review? Did you formulate a clear research objective? Is
28、your research objective too broad? Do you want to consider focusing your scope? Suppose my research really does span multiple programs? Contact all relevant program directors,How Could a Meeting Help?,Your program director can: Give advice on proposal submission Help you understand a review of a pre
29、vious proposal Point you to resources you can use to help write a better proposal next time Give general guidance on good proposal writing Give you ideas for collaborations,How Could a Meeting Help?,Writing the Summary,NSF Design, Service and Manufacturing Grantees and Research Conference,Writing th
30、e Summary,The most important statement is your statement of the research objective It should be sentence 1 of paragraph 1 Do not begin with a weather report: “The sky is falling. Tools are breaking. Designs are failing” Do not begin with a state-of-the-union address: “It is imperative that the natio
31、n develop a strong manufacturing base” Remember, this is not a tech paper, it is not a murder mystery (where we find out what the objective is on page 15) Dont forget the Intellectual Merit and Broader Impact statements,What We Want to Know,What is your research objective? This is what directs your
32、proposal to the appropriate program What is your approach? Outline just two or three sentences What is the specific research contribution you will make to the knowledge base (the intellectual merit)? If successful, what will be the benefit to society (the broader impact)?,Remember,Your proposal will
33、 be returned without review if, in your Summary: You fail to include explicit statements of intellectual merit and broader impact (entitle them Intellectual Merit, Broader Impactthis is not a time for creativity) The font is too small The margins are too narrow Or if you have an unauthorized attachm
34、ent We have been lenient in the past, we will not be permitted such lenience in the future,The Rest of Your Proposal,The next 15 pages of your proposal give backup and detail to your summary Start with a restatement of your research objective, clarify it, and provide a research plan to accomplish it
35、 Restate and provide detail on your intellectual merit and broader impact,Tips on Proposal Writing,Use only 12 point type Do not use figures or tables as fillereverything should contribute Everything should be legibledo not use 2 point type on figures or tables Be sure to explain exactly what is you
36、r contribution to the knowledge base Use only the required format Be sure to include intellectual merit and broader impact statements in the body of the proposal,Tips on Proposal Writing,Dont include letters of collaboration if They arent very collaborative Several letters are identical They are let
37、ters from previous proposals You dont have them before the submission deadline Dont cut and paste together new proposals from old declined proposals Proofread your proposal before you submit it, including the references and the title page,Intellectual Merit and Broader Impact Statements,NSF Design,
38、Service and Manufacturing Grantees and Research Conference,IM and BI Statements,They are required Your proposal will be rated based on them But: What are they? What should you include? How should they shape your proposal?,Intellectual Merit,The Intellectual Merit is the contribution that your resear
39、ch makes to the knowledge base Questions: What is already known? What is new? What will your research add? What will this do to enhance or enable research in your or other fields?,Broader Impact,The Broader Impact focuses on the benefit to society at large as a result of your research result Means t
40、o benefit society include: Economic/environment/energy Education and training Providing opportunities for underrepresented groups Improving research and education infrastructure,Example,The research goal of the proposed effort is to gain sufficient understanding of the dynamic forces during high spe
41、ed cutting of titanium to permit accurate prediction of chatter. Measurements of dynamic forces will. If successful, this work will lead to a theory of. Intellectual merit: The current state-of-knowledge regarding the high-speed machining of titanium is lacking in. The proposed effort will contribut
42、e to the knowledge of. This will enable further progress through. Broader impact: Titanium is finding new uses in applications such as. Improved knowledge of titanium machining will lead to more efficient production of these parts, thus leading to lower cost and more widespread use. Society will ben
43、efit through. In addition, infusion of the research results into the classroom will better prepare graduates for work in.,Education,Undergraduate Curriculum Projects Graduate Curriculum Conferences Involvement with industry, national labs Network, partnership K-12 Museum projects Should not be a boi
44、ler plate, pick and choose,Caution,Getting Involved,NSF Design, Service and Manufacturing Grantees and Research Conference,Be A Reviewer,Proposal review is an important service to your community Theres no better way to see how the system works Theres no better way to understand what makes a winning
45、proposal If you think the system is unfair, try being part of it,How to Volunteer,Contact your program director E-mail a brief (1-page) bio to your program director Be sure to include your contact information Indicate your areas of expertise,12 Steps to a Better Proposal,Know yourselfstrengths/weakn
46、esses Know the program from which you seek support Read the program announcement Formulate a clear and appropriate research objective Develop a viable research plan State your research objective up front in your proposal Frame your project around the work of others,12 Steps to a Better Proposal,Gram
47、mar and spelling countFormat and brevity are importantKnow the review processProof read the proposal before you submit itSubmit your proposal on time,Questions,Its always better to ask before you submit a proposal than after you get the reviews Remember, were from the government, and were here to help,
