The NIH K vs. the NSF CAREER

On Tuesday, ORDE offered a seminar on the NIH Research Career Development (K) award versus the NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award. Surprisingly, we had a lot of folks who were interested in learning about both of them although they're quite different. So, I thought I'd write today about some key differences between these two grant programs for early career investigators.

What they're about?
As mentioned, both the NIH K and the NSF CAREER programs are early career development programs, however, the NIH K award is a mentored award, meant to give the candidate space/time to develop through training, mentorship, and research into an independent investigator who is competitive for an NIH R01 or similar award. The other thing to note is that there are a variety of different K awards for different types of researchers.

The CAREER on the other hand, is geared toward already independent investigators to help them hit the ground running in their nascent research careers. No Co-PIs or mentors are allowed on the award, whereas mentors are required for the mentored K award.

Who they're for?
As you've probably guessed from the section above, the K award is for Postdocs or faculty members who are in need of 3-5 years of mentoring and research career development, but who can show the potential to be a competitive independent investigator (capable of getting an R01) by the end of the award.

The CAREER is oriented toward independent early investigators looking to integrate their research and education. Despite the common misunderstanding that the CAREER is the first award researchers should apply for from the NSF, in truth, NSF reported that in 2014, just over half of awardees receiving the CAREER were first-time NSF awardees. This means that about half of CAREER awardees each year, have received previous research funds from the NSF.

Eligibility
In terms of eligibility, you must hold a doctorate. For the K, you must need mentoring and be a new investigator (have not received an R01 or another significant, independent award). For the CAREER, you must be a tenure-track Assistant Professor (untenured as of October 1st).

Criteria
The criteria for both awards include some of the staple criteria from their funding agency, but also have some unique aspects for the award.

K Criteria:

• Candidate
• Career Development Plan
• Research Plan
• Mentors
• Environmental and Institutional Commitment

CAREER Criteria:

• Intellectual Merit
• Broader Impacts
• Integration of Education
• Integration of Diversity 

Deadlines
As you work toward the deadline for the NSF CAREER or the NIH K award, be sure to remember to give yourself as much time as possible to develop your project, seek letters, reach out to Program Officers, write your grant, and have colleagues review it. Remember that most people will be submitting their grants the day they're due, so there will be high traffic and things can go wrong at many levels. We suggest submitting before the due date!
K Due Dates: June 12, October 12, and February 12
CAREER Due Dates: July 19, 20, or 21 (depending on directorate) 

Resources:
NSF CAREER vs. NIH K prezi - ORDE 
NSF CAREER Presentation - NSF
NIH K Kiosk - NIH 
NSF CAREER Toolkit - ORDE