Mark L. Weiss Division Director Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Wayne State University Oct.

1. Mark L. Weiss Division DirectorDirectorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic SciencesWayne State University Oct. 14th, 2010 National Science Foundation Funding Opportunities and Grant-writing Tips for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Scientists

2. 4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, Virginia

3. Outline • Basics of the National Science Foundation • SBE’s place in the hierarchy • Opportunities for support of SBE research • Core Programs • Special competitions • Points to remember as you think/write

4. Independent Agency Supports BASIC research Uses grant mechanism Low overhead; highly automated Discipline-based structure but changing Cross-disciplinary mechanisms Use of Rotators/IPAs National Science Board NSF in a Nutshell

5. National Science Foundation National Science Board Director Deputy Director Staff Offices Inspector General Computer & Information Science & Engineering Biological Sciences Engineering Mathematics & Physical Sciences Geosciences Education & Human Resources Budget, Finance & Award Management Information Resource Management Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences

6. National Science Foundation Office of the Director Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences Office of Multidisciplinary Activities Social and Economic Sciences Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences Science Resources Statistics

7. What we Support at NSF NSF does not support applied research, such as: NSF supports basic research across all fields of science, including: • Social Sciences • Behavioral & Cognitive Sciences • Chemical sciences • Computer and information science • Engineering • Geological sciences • Life sciences • Mathematical sciences • Physics and astronomy • Clinical research • Counseling • Business • Management • Social work • Practice-oriented professional degree programs

8. Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences Division …supports research to develop and advance scientific knowledge about humans spanning areas of inquiry including brain and behavior, language and culture, origins and evolution, and geography and the environment.

9. Social and Economic Sciences Division …seeks to enhance our understanding of human, social and organizational behavior by building social science infrastructure, by developing social disciplinary and interdisciplinary research projects that advance knowledge in the social and economic sciences.

10. Social, Behavioral & EconomicSciences Programs Disciplinary Inter-Disciplinary • Cognitive Neuroscience • Developmental & Learning Sciences • Documenting Endangered Languages • Perception, Action & Cognition • Geography & Spatial Sciences • Environmental, Social & Behavioral Science • Decision, Risk & Management Sciences • Science of Science & Innovation Policy • Innovation & Organizational Sciences • Methodology, Measurement & Statistics • Science & Society • Law & Social Sciences • Cultural Anthropology • Physical Anthropology • Archaeology • Linguistics • Social Psychology • Economics • Sociology • Political Science

11. Producing the Report SBE Research in the Federal Context Signed January 2009 Printed/Distributed April 2009 http://www.ostp.gov/cs/nstc/documents_reports

12. Social, Behavioral & Economic SciencesJoint Funding Joint-Funded Programs Funding Partners • NIH • CISE • BIO • Cognitive Neuroscience • Ecology of Infectious Disease • Dynamics of Coupled Natural • & Human Systems (CNH) • US Forest Service • Nanotech & Society • GEO • Cyber-enabled Discovery • & Innovation (CDI) • ENG • DoD • Cyberinfrastructure • MPS • National Security, Conflict, Coop. • NSF-Wide Initiatives

13. SBE 2020: Future Research in the Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences • Frame innovative research for the year 2020 that will enhance fundamental knowledge and benefits society in many ways. • Insights to inform and enable: • Substance, capacity, and infrastructure • Increasingly interdisciplinary and international research • Many perspectives, intellectual frameworks, scales, contexts, approaches and methodologies • Invited white papers outlining grand challenge questions that are both foundational and transformative. • Foundational: reflect deep issues that engage fundamental assumptions behind disciplinary research traditions • Transformative: leverage current findings to unlock a new cycle of research. • Results will be analyzed and discussed in many forums http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2010/nsf10069/nsf10069.jsp

14. Where to start? • AN IDEA • www.nsf.gov • Check awards by program, keyword, etc. (www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/) • Read solicitation carefully (if not unsolicited competition) • Download (and read!) Grant Proposal Guide • Think about scale and budget

15. Paths to SBE Support • Standing Program Senior Proposals • CAREER Proposals • Student Support • EAGER • RAPID • Dear Colleague Letters • Special Solicitations

16. Paths to SBE Support • Division for Social & Economic Sciences • FY10 Program Allocations (millions of dollars) • Decision, Risk, & Management Sciences $7.2 • Economics $25.8 • Innovation and Organizational Sciences $3.3 • Law and Social Science $5.0 • Methodology, Measurement & Statistics $3.9 • Political Science $9.9 • Science and Society $9.0 • Sociology $9.5 Standing Program Senior Research

17. Paths to SBE Support • Division for Behavioral & Cognitive Sciences • FY10 Program Allocations (millions of dollars) • Archaeology & Archaeometry $6.9 • Cultural Anthropology $3.7 • Cognitive Neuroscience $7.6 • Developmental & Learning Sciences $6.6 • Geography & Spatial Sciences $7.0 • Linguistics $5.9 • Documenting Endangered Languages $2.1 • Perception, Action, & Cognition $7.0 • Physical Anthropology $4.1 • Social Psychology $6.4 Standing Program Senior Research

18. Paths to SBE Support Standing Program Senior Research Division Funding Rates (FY10) Behavioral & Cognitive Sciences Social & Economic Sciences

19. Paths to SBE Support CAREER Solicitation (NSF 08-557) CAREER Proposals • Available in all NSF programs • Untenured faculty (or comparable) • Single scholar award • $400,000, 5-years minimum award • Three proposals lifetime limit • Mid to late July deadline (varies by discipline and year) • High Prestige/High Expectations • Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)

20. Paths to SBE Support Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grants Student Support • Available in some SBE programs • Small grants for dissertation research • SES • Law and Social Science • Decision, Risk, & Management Science • Economics • Law and Social Science • Political Science • Science and Society • Sociology • BCS • Archaeology • Cultural Anthropology • Geography & Spatial Sciences • Linguistics • Physical Anthropology

21. Paths to SBE Support Research Experiences for Undergraduates Student Support • Available in all programs • Two types of awards • REU Supplements: Awards added onto senior awards to sponsor undergraduate student research • REU Sites: training programs, often in the summer months, for teaching research methods to undergrads • RET (Research Experiences for Teachers): Gives K – 12 teachers experience in research in coordination with REU projects

22. Paths to SBE Support Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) Internal Merit Review • Exploratory work on untested, potentially transformative ideas • High-risk, high-potential payoff • $300,000 maximum; 2 years • Eight page description • Internal review required/ external optional • Contact program officer first

23. Paths to SBE Support Grants for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) Internal Merit Review • Research when data are ephemeral • $200,000 maximum; 1 year • 5 page project description • Internal review required; external optional • Available in all programs • Contact program officer first • For proposals having a severe urgency with regard to availability of, or access to data, facilities or specialized equipment, including quick-response research on natural or anthropogenic disasters and similar unanticipated events

24. Paths to SBE Support Dear Colleague Letters Dear Colleague Letter • Official requests for research proposals on specific topics • Often cross-disciplinary, applicable to a number of programs Examples: Dear Colleague Letter: for Creating New Cyber-enabled Data on Innovation in Organizations Dear Colleague Letter for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research Related to the Gulf Oil Spill and Other Disasters

25. Paths to SBE Support Special Solicitations Special Solicitations • Funding in targeted areas Examples: • Coupled Natural and Human Systems (CNH) • Science of Science and Innovation Policy (SciSIP) • Ecology of Infectious Disease

26. Paths to SBE Support

27. As you think and write:Remember Two Funding Criteria • Intellectual Merit • Broader Impacts

28. Official review criteria NSF has two overarching review criteria • Intellectual Merit • Importance • Qualifications • Creativity & originality • Transformational? • Conception and • organization • Access to resources • Broader Impacts • Training • Diversity • Infrastructure • Dissemination/ • Public Awareness • Societal Benefits

29. What’s included in a competitive project description? • Interesting, researchable mystery. • Lit review: Why is it a mystery? What don’t we know? Why do we care? Contribution to theory? • How will you go about solving the mystery? • What kind of data do you need? • How will you collect it? Why those methods? • How will you use that data to get an answer? • Analysis! • Why are you qualified? • Broader impacts!

30. Broader Impacts • Promote teaching, training and learning • Broaden the participation of underrepresented groups (e.g., gender, ethnicity, disability, geographic, etc.) • Enhance the infrastructure for research and education, such as facilities, instrumentation, networks and partnerships • Disseminate results broadly to enhance scientific and technological understanding • Benefit society

31. Interdisciplinary Research Definition • a mode of research by teams or individuals • integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more research areas • advances fundamental understanding or tries to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a area of research Sources of Support • Co - Review • Solicited Interdisciplinary Programs • Areas of National Importance • Center Competitions • Unsolicited Interdisciplinary Proposals • Education and Training • Workshops, Conferences, and Symposiums http://www.nsf.gov/od/oia/additional_resources/interdisciplinary_research/

32. Minimum of 3 Reviews Required Ad hoc Program Officer Analysis & Recommendation Panel Both Research & Education Communities Proposal Process NSF Proposal Generating Document Returned as Inappropriate/Withdrawn Award via DGA Organization submits via FastLane Proposal Processing Unit Division Director Concur NSF Program Officer Decline Organization Proposal received by NSF Div. Dir. Concur Award 4 months 30 days DGA Review & Processing of Award Proposal Preparation Time Review of Proposal P.O. Recommend

33. WARNING!!! Data Management Plan • All proposals must describe plans for data management and sharing • Fastlane will not allow submission of a proposal missing a plan. • Plan is reviewed as part of the intellectual merit or broader impacts Postdoctoral Mentoring Plan • If request money for a postdoc, must have plan as supplementary doc (1 page)

34. NSF Sources of Reviewers • Investigator’s suggestions • Program Officer’s knowledge • References listed in the proposal • Google • Community of Science and other databases • Reviewer’s recommendations

35. What Reviewers Think About • Engaging & focused from the beginning • Important and original topic • Doesn’t short either context or methods • Explains methods, not a laundry list • Methods match question • Includes data analysis plan • Well-prepared researcher (language skills, experience, background) • Proposal reads easily, no typos, no jargon • Inclusive & up-to-date references cited

36. Budget: doesn’t drive decision but… • Amounts • Reasonable for work -- Realistic • Well Justified -- Need established • In-line with program guidelines • Eligible costs • Personnel • Equipment • Travel • Other Direct Costs, Subawards • Facilities & Administrative Costs

37. Funding Decisions • Program Officer recommendation with: • advice from panel • input from ad-hoc reviews • Feedback to PI • Informal and formal notification • Scope of work and budget discussions • (We WILL talk to you about modifications)

38. Human Subjects • No award for a project involving human subjects can be made without prior Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval/exemption of the research activity. • IRB approval is not needed at the time of proposal submission.

39. Myths about NSF • Only funds scholars at elite graduate institutions • Only funds “famous” academics • Once declined, you are likely always to be declined • Only funds “normal science” • Advisory panels make funding decisions

40. Some CommonReasons for Declinations • “Trust-me” proposal • Not feasible • Expertise gaps • Insufficient funding • Too ambitious • Purely descriptive, not theory-based

41. Useful to submit a credible proposal,even if ultimately declined • Revise and resubmit • Discover other funding sources • Forces thinking • Build relationships • Receive reviews from experts

42. Advice • Learn to get beyond rejection • Team up • Collaborate • Ask colleagues to comment on proposals • E-mail or call Program Officer with specific questions • Encourage dissertation improvement grant proposals (check program first)

43. More Tips • Give yourself plenty of time • Don't expect to be successful by "throwing something together at the last minute.“ • Consider theoretical foundations and prospective theoretical contributions. • Read Solicitations, GPG etc. • Learn how proposals will be evaluated; Think like those who will review and make decisions • Talk to Program Officers

44. Examples of funded projects?YES • NSF makes basic information available to the public: name of the investigator, organization receiving award, the award title and abstract, and the amount awarded to date. • Link at bottom of each funding program’s web site that reads “Abstracts of Recent Awards Made Through This Program”

45. QUESTIONS?? Contact Mark Weiss (703) 292-7272 mweiss@nsf.gov OR….

46. www.nsf.gov

47. Program Information • The following slides are for your reference • They provide a brief sense of SBE Program and Program Officer names. • Word to the Wise: • Dates, names etc change. Double check on website.

48. Division of Social and Economic Sciences (SES) • Supports research to develop and advance scientific knowledge focusing on economic, legal, political and social systems, organizations, and institutions • Supports research on the intellectual and social contexts that govern the development and use of science and technology

49. SES Target/Deadline Dates (DDIGs may differ) • January 15 & August 15 • Law and Social Science • Political Science • Sociology • January 16 & August 16 • Methodology, Measurement, and Statistics • January 18 & August 18 • Decision, Risk, & Management Sciences • Economics • February 1 & August 1 • Science and Society • February 2 & September 3 • Innovation and Organizational Sciences

50. Decision, Risk, and Management Sciences • Supports research that explores fundamental issues in judgment and decision making, risk analysis, management science, and organizational behavior • Research must be relevant to an operational or applied context, grounded in theory, and based on empirical observation or subject to empirical validation Program Officers: Robert O’Connor, Jacqueline Meszaros and Jon Leland