Proposals Marie desJardins ([email protected]) CMSC 691B March 16, 2004 September1999 October 1999 Sources Robert L.
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Proposals Marie desJardins ([email protected]) CMSC 691B March 16, 2004 September1999 October 1999 Sources Robert L. Peters, Getting What You Came For: The Smart Student’s Guide to Earning a Master’s or Ph.D. (Revised Edition). NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997. Peter J. Feibelman, A Ph.D. Is Not Enough! A Guide to Survival in Science. Basic Books, 1993. Tom Dietterich, CS 519 course slides, Oregon State University. Caroline Wardle, Obtaining Federal Funding, CRA-W Workshop Slides, 1993/1994/1999. 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 2 Outline Proposal Contents General Advice Sources of Funding Proposal Evaluation 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 3 Proposal Contents September1999 October 1999 Know Your Goals Dissertation proposal Convince committee you’re on the right track Funding proposal Convince reviewers and program manager to give you money 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 5 Proposal Strategy Just having a good idea is not enough! Need to convince reviewers that: The problem is important You have a good approach to solve the problem Your approach is likely to succeed You have a well developed research plan Chicken-and-egg problem If you don’t have preliminary results and a well developed approach, you’re not likely to make a convincing case for success If you already have preliminary results and a well developed approach, you’re already doing the research! → By the time you get the funding, you’ll be done! ...so with the funding you get, you’ll write the journal papers, and start developing preliminary results for the next proposal... 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 6 Topics to Cover Long-term goals Significance Specific goals Methods and experiments Feasibility Typically 15 pages or less! Risks Current state of knowledge Timetable Budget/budget justification Biographies 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 7 Long-Term Goals Vision Big picture Broad focus Motivation behind your work 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 8 Significance Why do you want to work on this problem? Why will other people care about it? ...in the field ...in other fields ...in society ...in the program ...on your committee 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 9 Specific Goals What part of the big picture will you focus on? What specific tasks will you accomplish? 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 10 Methods and Experiments How will you demonstrate success? How will you test your claims? Data sets, domains, experimental methodologies, evaluation criteria 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 11 Feasibility Why should we believe you will be able to carry out this research plan? 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 12 Risks What might go wrong? How will you recover? What’s your backup/contingency plan? 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 13 Current State of Knowledge Who else has worked on this problem? Why have previous approaches been unsuccessful? ...or if this is a new problem, why are new approaches needed? How does your method build on, or depart from, previous approaches? 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 14 Timetable Typical research grant: 2-3 years, sometimes up to 5 Typical dissertation timeline (from proposal): 1-3 years What are your milestones? Approximately when do you expect to complete each milestone? Relevant deadlines (conference deadlines, program meetings, integrated demonstrations) 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 15 Budget / Justification How much money do you need? Why is each line item important to the project? 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 16 Biographies Typically one- or two-page abbreviated CV 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 17 References For thesis proposal only: Annotated bibliography is very helpful Can include important/relevant papers that you plan to read, but haven’t read yet. (should discuss these separately in Related Work section) 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 18 General Advice September1999 October 1999 General Proposal Advice Start writing early! First impressions count: A good introduction/summary is absolutely essential!! Be neat! Be as specific as possible Don’t make your reviewers work too hard Keep revising Get feedback from peers and mentors Resubmit if necessary Read other people’s proposals 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 20 Sources of Funding September1999 October 1999 Government Agencies NSF NIH DoD DARPA AFOSR ARL Departments of Education, Energy, ... Other agencies 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 22 Industry Sponsored research Partnerships Equipment grants 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 23 Proposal Evaluation September1999 October 1999 NSF Review Criteria Intellectual Merit Increasing knowledge and understanding within a field Qualifications of proposers Creativity and originality Scope and organization of proposed research Access to resources Broader Impact Teaching, training, and learning Participation of underrepresented groups Enhancement of research infrastructure Dissemination of results Benefits to society 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 25 NSF Ratings Excellent Perhaps 10% of proposals; should definitely be funded Very Good Top 1/3 of proposals; should be considered for funding if sufficient funds are available Good Middle 1/3 of proposals; worthy of support (but likely will not be enough funding for this category) Fair Bottom 1/3 of proposals; not likely to be considered for funding Poor Proposal has serious deficiencies and should not be funded Typical funded proposal has at least one Excellent and two Very Goods Many NSF programs have a 10% funding rate 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 26 NSF: How it Really Works Specific areas are usually not targeted... ...but some program managers have areas they like or dislike ...and sometimes your research won’t fit in any of the NSF programs, especially if you’re doing interdisciplinary work It never hurts to visit and chat with the program manager(s) Peer review panel provides primary input If you don’t get a good peer rating, you’re doomed Panelist who knows your area inside and out can shoot your proposal down (or champion it!) Panelists who don’t know your area can shoot you proposal down (or be intrigued by it!) 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 27 DARPA Proposal Roadmap Goal Tangible benefits to end users Critical technical barriers Main elements of proposed approach Rationale Why will the proposed approach overcome the technical barriers? Nature of expected results Risk if the work is not done Criteria for evaluating progress Cost of the proposed effort 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 28 DARPA: How it Really Works Who you know is of primary importance Marketing to program managers is key Contributing to the development of program announcements (BAA = Broad Agency Announcement) Awards are contracts (many deliverables; much program manager control) 4/6/04 September1999 October 1999 29 NSF vs. DARPA Politics and agency goals notwithstanding... NSF awards are grants No specific deliverables (except annual reports) Little program manager control Work on what you want to (but do good work!) Funding rarely goes away, once awarded Extremely competitive Less $$ DARPA awards are contracts 4/6/04 Many deliverables Much program manager control Focus might change Funding might disappear Once you’re hooked in, the money can be pretty steady More $$ September1999 October 1999 30