Grant tips from the semester

Last week, with help from our dear student assistant, we posted videos from our Spring seminars on our vimeo site. Below, I share the links and a couple of tips from each of these seminars.

NIH K Grant Planning

• K grants are about the wo(man), the plan, and the fan (the candidate, their integrated research/development plan, and their mentor/mentorship team)
• The mentored K grants are targeted toward early career faculty and postdocs who need additional training/mentoring through the K to be ready to go after a major grant independently, like an R01.

Working with Community and External Partners

• A good partnership requires good communication and a relationship that benefits all partners.
• When reaching out to organizations, begin with someone you would work with and discuss how you might work together to build buy-in at lower levels before going to the decision-maker.

Career Programs

• While candidates for the NIH K cannot have had a major independent award previously, many NSF CAREER recipients have had NSF independent awards previously.
• For any career grant, it's helpful to start off by identifying where you want to be as a researcher in five years and to map out what you need to do to get there.

Pitching Your Research

• Understand who your audience is and what they want.
• Keep your message simple.
• Make your pitch conversational.

National Science Foundation 

• When developing your project, reach out to a Program Officer to get input.
• Remember, the NSF is looking to fund good science, first and foremost.

Writing an ORS Grant Proposal

• Write these grants for the layperson.
• Do not use jargon.
• Explain your research and why it's important.

Those are a couple of quick tips from each of these seminars, I encourage you to check out the videos for those relevant seminars that you missed this spring.

Resources:

ORDE Website

ORDE Vimeo Site