Most postdocs ask themselves questions about their future goals only when forced to by the imminent end of their fellowship. Why is that? Many assume they are going on into research careers with known career trajectories. In academia, it is the tenure track. In industry, it is the climb from senior scientist to project manager. Why take time out from experiments that search for a cure for the com...
OTHER GRANT WRITING ARTICLES Just 22 years after the Declaration of Independence, President John Adams signed a law that created the Marine Hospital Service, a medical center for merchant seamen. It later evolved into the Public Health Service and, in turn, the National Institute of Health or NIH. (The Institute would become plural later.) During both world wars, a few select institutions in New ...
PREVIOUS ADVICE question.gif Dear GrantDoctor, Although a colleague's grant submission was reviewed favorably, funding was denied and minor revisions were recommended. All of the requisite changes were made and resubmitted the following year, but instead of being accepted, its rating dropped considerably. We found that the [review] committee had been reorganized, and not one expert on the origina...
PREVIOUS ADVICE question.gif Dear GrantDoctor,I'm wondering about the new review process for National Research Service Awards (NRSAs). I'm concerned that my fellowship grant, which is going in for a re-review, is going to fall through the cracks. Could you tell me how the review process has changed and what the process for re-reviews is? Who should I contact for more information?L Dear L, The NIH...
AHA! After months of daily tedium, you've done the last experiment. You thought you'd never finish. Now all you have to do is write the paper. How hard can that be? The experiment went flawlessly. Besides, you like to write. You chuckle. And you thought this science thing was going to be hard. You write the paper. You send it to the journal. You celebrate. You can't wait to get the reviews. You a...
From the National Science Foundation: Proposal Preparation Page From the Chronicle of Higher Education: NSF Report Warns of Declining Graduate Enrollments in Science How Not To Kill A Grant Application: Part One: Murder Most Foul Part Two: Abstract Killers Part Three: So What? Part Four: Lost at Sea Part Five: Review the Facts Grant Reviews: Part One: Introduction to the Review Process Part Two: ...
BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX Adapted from an article published in the April 2001 Women in Neuroscience newsletter . Serving as a reviewer and editor for a scholarly journal in your field is a key step in the career progression of a research scientist. It is a lot of work, and can take a toll on your lab and the time you can give to students and postdocs. The payoff comes not from financial compensat...
OTHER GRANT WRITING ARTICLES Twilight marks the end of another working day in the city. Couples stroll hand-in-hand toward cafés, bars, and restaurants, laughing as they melt into the night. You stand, heart pumping, perspiring, and bleary eyed as you watch the FedEx van pull away and round a corner. Your grant application is on its way! For many postdoctoral scientists and junior faculty, applyi...
OTHER GRANT WRITING ARTICLES "The role of the National Institutes of Health [NIH] is to give away $20 billion a year for research." So says Donna Dean, the senior adviser to NIH's acting director who hosted a grants seminar, "Working on Preparing a Competitive Grant Proposal," at the annual Howard Hughes Medical Institute's fellows' meeting on 25-27 September in Chevy Chase, Maryland. But it is y...
The Science Careers editors provide grant writers with critical lessons for writing a proposal for a grant from the National Institutes of Health's main funding vehicle, the R01 program.
Young scientists are often taken by surprise when peer review first drops into their lap. Although this time-honored process by which scientists advise editors on the importance of scientific manuscripts submitted for publication is a central component of academic research, few graduate students or postdoctoral fellows receive any formal exposure to peer review. So what do you do when an editor c...
OTHER GRANT WRITING ARTICLES The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is planning to revamp, restructure, and reorganize the way it processes grant applications--from changing and renaming the review groups, to establishing the role of the reviewer, to questioning the usefulness of preliminary data in research grant applications. Although the system that NIH uses to review the 40,000-plus applicat...
"Wow, an article in Big-Time Science Magazine! Congratulations! You're sure to get tenure now!" So you say to your buddy with the curly red hair as you walk down the hall. During this walk/conversation, the two of you may question why you made this statement, what the real differences are between journals, and why some are considered to be more prestigious than others. This article will discuss t...
Other grant writing articles Eighty percent of their annual budget (which is just under $4 billion) supports 20,000 individual projects. In 1997, 15% of federal resources that went to fund academic R&D came from the NSF. In comparison, 60% came from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), whose sprawling 300-acre campus lies only 10 miles north of its federal counterpart. The two federal agencie...
Please note: an updated edition of this guide is now available. * What's this document for? If you're a scientist doing research that's directly related to human health, you need to know your way around the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Every young biomedical scientist seeks NIH grants; indeed, the first R01 is a milestone in every biomedical research career. cdcseal.gif Unlike most other ...
TOKYO--Japan's Ministry of Education is taking its grant-selection process out of the hands of bureaucrats and turning it over to researchers. The new approach, to go into effect next year, will rely on scientists who have agreed to serve as part-time program officers, as well as on a larger pool of referees. The aim is to improve the quality of the reviews by making the process "more transparent...
Money from a spigot. Credit: Comstock (Image: Comstock) In This Issue: XML symbol RSS feed * Research funding * Student and institutional support programs * GrantsNet Express * Deadline Watch * GrantsNet sponsorship New Research Funding Programs Department of Defense. Department of Defense Lung Cancer Research Program Concept Awards New this year, the fiscal year '09 Lung Cancer Research Program ...
If you're on the academic career track, chances are you hope to be tenured some day. But will tenure still exist by the time you make it that far? Tenure is under attack, having been criticized by business-oriented administrators as inefficient and by women as inequitable. As a result, 39 states reportedly are considering policies that would introduce or intensify review of tenured-faculty perfor...
