Proposals Marie desJardins ([email protected]) CMSC 601 April 18, 2012 Sources Robert L. Peters, Getting What You Came For: The Smart Student’s Guide to Earning.
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Proposals Marie desJardins ([email protected]) CMSC 601 April 18, 2012 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. 4/18/12 2 Outline Proposal Contents General Advice Sources of Funding Proposal Evaluation 4/18/12 3 Proposal Contents Know Your Goals Dissertation proposal Convince committee you’re on the right track Funding proposal Convince reviewers and program manager to give you money 4/18/12 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... 4/18/12 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 4/18/12 7 Long-Term Goals Vision Big picture Broad focus Motivation behind your work 4/18/12 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 4/18/12 9 Specific Goals What part of the big picture will you focus on? What specific tasks will you accomplish? 4/18/12 10 Methods and Experiments How will you demonstrate success? How will you test your claims? Data sets, domains, experimental methodologies, evaluation criteria 4/18/12 11 Feasibility Why should we believe you will be able to carry out this research plan? 4/18/12 12 Risks What might go wrong? How will you recover? What’s your backup/contingency plan? 4/18/12 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? 4/18/12 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) 4/18/12 15 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) 4/18/12 18 General Advice 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 4/18/12 20 Proposal Evaluation 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 4/18/12 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 4/18/12 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!) 4/18/12 27