Contacting Program Officers

Working with Program Officers (POs) is an important element of the grant development process. POs are able to offer insight into the grant-making agency's priorities as well as offer information that may not be as clear in the program announcement. Also, if and when you are not funded, a conversation with the PO can provide you additional context on the reviewers' feedback and advise you on where to revise and bolster your proposal for your submission.

Even though POs are a fantastic resource, many early career investigators are nervous and choose not to reach out to a PO when developing their first proposals. So, below I offer some specific advice on initially reaching out to POs.

First, it's a good idea to meet a PO early on. Many POs you might work with attend national conferences and meetings (back in pre-pandemic times when we physically attended such conferences). When such physical meetings start again, you can track POs down in presentations they give or sometimes find them in the exhibit hall at the agency's booth. POs will often have slots of time set up to meet with interested investigators and be happy to slot you in, but they may also be scheduling such meetings virtually, so reach out via email before the conference to see if you can secure 15-20 minutes with them. Use the time to tell them about your research agenda and get their insight into agency priorities and where your best entry point into funding might be.

When it comes time to develop a proposal, and you want to reach out to a PO to see if your project is a good fit, below I've outlined some basic steps for contacting your PO:

Write up a project description:
Before you email a PO, make sure you have a one-two page project description ready to go. The reason you should do this before reaching out is that likely once you've emailed a PO, the first thing they'll ask for is your project description. So, be ready for that. Otherwise, you'll be scrambling to get it together so you don't leave your PO hanging once you've reached out. Also, make sure your write up is in the format that the agency expects in your ultimate proposal, e.g., writing a draft Specific Aims for the NIH or a draft of the Project Overview for the NSF.

2. email the PO
With one-pager in hand, send a brief email to your PO asking to schedule a phone call to discuss the fit of your project. Introduce yourself and include a 3-5 sentence description of your project. End with a request for a phone call. Below, is a mock email:

If you don't hear back right away, give the PO a week to respond and then email them again (including your last email) checking in. After nudging the PO a few times with no response, try finding a colleague who has been funded by the same program to see if they can make an introduction.

It can be frustrating when POs are unresponsive but be persistent because they do hold the keys to the kingdom in many ways.

Resources:
Can We Talk? Contacting Program Officers - Robert Porter
What to say and not say to Program Officers - Michael Spires