1 / 30

Mastering Proposal Writing: Strategies and Guidelines

Learn how to craft compelling proposals for research funding, with insights on proposal contents, strategy, and evaluation criteria. Get tips on setting goals, demonstrating feasibility, managing risks, and more.

mcallisterk
Download Presentation

Mastering Proposal Writing: Strategies and Guidelines

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Proposals Marie desJardins (mariedj@cs.umbc.edu) CMSC 691B March 16, 2004 Updated April 14, 2008, by Charles Nicholas

  2. 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.

  3. Outline • Proposal Contents • General Advice • Sources of Funding • Proposal Evaluation

  4. Proposal Contents

  5. Know Your Goals • Dissertation proposal • Convince committee you’re on the right track • Funding proposal • Convince reviewers and program manager to give you money

  6. Proposal Strategy • Just having a good idea is notenough! • 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...

  7. Topics to Cover • Long-term goals • Significance • Specific goals • Methods and experiments • Feasibility • Risks • Current state of knowledge • Timetable • Budget/budget justification • Biographies Typically 15 pages or less!

  8. Long-Term Goals • Vision • Big picture • Broad focus • Motivation behind your work

  9. 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

  10. Specific Goals • What part of the big picture will you focus on? • What specific tasks will you accomplish?

  11. Methods and Experiments • How will you demonstrate success? • How will you test your claims? • Data sets, domains, experimental methodologies, evaluation criteria

  12. Feasibility • Why should we believe you will be able to carry out this research plan?

  13. Risks • What might go wrong? • How will you recover? • What’s your backup/contingency plan?

  14. 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?

  15. 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)

  16. Budget / Justification • How much money do you need? • Why is each line item important to the project?

  17. Biographies • Typically one- or two-page abbreviated CV

  18. 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)

  19. General Advice

  20. 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 • Serving on panels is one way to do this!

  21. Sources of Funding

  22. Government Agencies • NSF • NIH • DoD • DARPA • AFOSR • ARL • Departments of Education, Energy, ... • State agencies: MIPS, DBED

  23. Industry • Sponsored research • Partnerships • Equipment grants

  24. Proposal Evaluation

  25. 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

  26. 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

  27. 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!)

  28. 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

  29. DARPA: How it Really Works • Who you know is of primary importance • Marketing to program managers is key • White papers, or a visit! • Contributing to the development of program announcements (BAA = Broad Agency Announcement) • Awards are contracts (many deliverables; much program manager control)

  30. 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 $$ • DARPA awards are contracts •  Many deliverables •  Much program manager control •  Focus might change •  Funding might disappear •  Once you’re hooked in, the money can be pretty steady •  More $$

More Related