How to obtain funding: an assistant professor’s guide – robert m. raphael
Spirit of the fighting irish
“To everyone who has ever faced adversity, whether in business, professional or personal life. I admire the person who says: Every day someone does something great. Today that person will be me.” -- Lou Holtz
Writing great grants: a three step recipe
1) Choose a significant problem
- Bonus points if not much work has been done on the problem
- More bonus points if
you have done the important work
2) Leave no question that you can accomplish your aims
- Established track record of publications
- Clear and convincing preliminary data
3) Write a clear, easy to read proposal
- “Calm down, understand the situation and communicate clearly” – We Were Soldiers
Big hurdles and pitfalls
Navigating the Scylla of building on your accomplishments and the Charybdis of creating new research problems and attacking new research areas, given your situation:
- Laboratory techniques not yet working
- Students not yet trained/busy with classes
- Teaching and other responsibilities
- Not making clear the points and connections that are obvious to you
Final do’s and dont’s
- Do not necessarily assume the person who reviews your grant will be an expert in your area or know why your research is novel
The response to a revised NIH grant is very important.
- Never appear to be angry or emotional. Just stick to the science. If a reviewer got something wrong (which often happens), just lay out the facts.
- This is hard because you have put so much effort into the grant it’s easy to take comments personally
- Criticisms are of the science, not of you!
Get grants done in advance and have colleagues read them !
- Resist the thrill of pulling it off on “third and long”
Acknowledgements
Raphael Lab
- Emily, Yong, Ryan, Jeff, Imran, Jenni, Louise
Thanks for Believing in Us!
- NSF CAREER
- Whitaker Foundation
- Texas Advanced Technology Program
- National Organization for Hearing Research
- NIH NRSA (Greeson, Organ)
- NSF-IGERT
- Keck Center for Computational and Structural Biology
- DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship
So you want someone else to pay for your research? - joan e. strassmann (eeb)
- Ask important, big questions.
- Have several projects at once.
- Write clear, well-researched proposals.
- Collaborate.
- Identify all possible funding sources and learn their cultures.
- Don’t let funding consume you. Keep publishing!
Ask important questions
- Do not redo your Ph.D. or postdoc work.
- Find a substantially new project if your proposal is rejected twice.
- Read deeply and broadly (at least 5 articles a day).
- Be creative.
- Do not be afraid to do something really different.
- Talk to lots of people about research.
Do several projects at once
- Keeps you excited.
- When one project faces problems, another could be blooming.
- Increases funding opportunities.
- Synergy in thinking about different things can suggest novel pathways.
- Increases your visibility.
Write clear, well-researched proposals
- The proposal must be impeccable, no typos, clear headers, clear flow from hypotheses to methods.
- Follow the format of the agency exactly.
- Include preliminary data and figures.
- Get sample funded proposals by asking people for them, preferably those not too close to your research.
- Have several people read your proposal.
- Leave enough time, at least 3 months.
Collaborate
- New ideas often come from collaboration.
- Techniques and approaches can be shared.
- This is the ONLY way to succeed without turning into a workaholic.
- Teamwork is fun!
- Find collaborators from a broader pool than is initially comfortable, and bridge the gaps with frequent meetings.
- Same-stage collaborators are often best.
Identify all possible funding sources and learn their cultures
- NSF and NIH are not the only sources of funding.
- Learn about those grants requiring nominations, and get them.
- Take advantage of your sponsored research office in learning about private funding.
Keep publishing
- The search for funding can be discouraging.
- Keep trying, but don’t forget to keep publishing anyway.
- Write up your research quickly.
- Write a minireview, review, perspective etc. at least every 2 years.
