Science Funding (otherwise known as how to make your PI really happy and find someone to pay for you to do what you love)

 NIH’s mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability

 To promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense....

 Human Health and Medicine

 Not human health and medicine

Cancer???

Alzheimer’s Disease ???

Gene transcription

 The NIH invests nearly $30.1* billion annually in medical research for the American people.*  More than 80% of the NIH's funding is awarded through almost 50,000competitive grants to more than 300,000 researchers at more than 2,500 universities, medical schools, and other research institutions in every state and around the world.competitive grants  About 10% of the NIH's budget supports projects conducted by nearly 6,000 scientists in its own laboratories, most of which are on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland.NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland

 The Consolidated Appropriations Act of FY 2014 (also called the Omnibus) legislation will provide the National Science Foundation with $7.172 billion, an increase of $287.8 million (or 4.2 percent) over the FY '13 Current Plan (CP) level of $6.884 billion, and is $454 million (or 6 percent) below the FY '14 request. This amount is $177 million (or 2.5 percent) above the House previously recommended FY '14 level, and $254 million (or 3.4 percent) below the Senate recommended FY '14 level.

 R grants – Research Grants  T and F grants - Training Grants  K grants – Research Career Development  P grants – Program Project Grants and Centers  SBIR/STTR grants – Small Business Grants

Training, Individual 40% 41% 45% 47% 49% 44% 39% 35% 31% 29% 30% 33% 32% 30% 29% 28% F30 60% 61% 63% 71% 81% 69% 57% 49% 44% 40% 45% 46% 49% 40% 35% 37% 40% F31 46% 48% 51% 52% 58% 53% 43% 39% 31% 30% 34% 36% 31% 34% 28% 30% F32 38% 39% 44% 45% 39% 37% 33% 30% 27% 26% 30% 27% 28% 26% 24% F33 35% 21% 35% 44% 42% 53% 44% 36% 26% 52% 50% 14% 17% 60% 40% All Other Fs 47% 59% 48% 54% 42% 33% 67% 21% 33% 15% 75% 0% 18% 0% 9% 25% 0% Training, Institutional 62% 64% 63% 66% 63% 58% 54% 48% 43% 44% 48% 50% 54% 48% 42% T32 64% 67% 62% 58% 53% 49% 42% 49% 48% 50% 52% 47% 48% 42% T34 50% 53% 51% 47% 70% 54% 48% 50% 36% 33% 47% 31% 33% 50% 29% 48% All Other Ts 39% 74% 65% 70% 73% 72% 66% 37% 60% 62% 34% 78% 63% 74% 65% 48% 38%

 Research grants  Career grants  Training grants

Pro pos als 30, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 542 Awa rds 10, 059 9,1 48 9,9 76 9,5 97 9,1 15 9,9 35 9,3 80 9,1 87 9,8 49 9, , , , 380 9, , , , , , 996 Fun ding Rat e 34%30%33%32%30%33% 32%33%31%30%27%24%23%25%26%25%32%23% Table 1 - NSF Proposal, Award and Funding Rate Trends Source: Report to the NSB on NSF's Merit Review Process Back to the Report Back to the Report

 Submit the best grant!

 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)  Estimated Number of Awards: 2,000  Anticipated Funding Amount: $333,440,000  Each Fellowship consists of three years of support during a five-year fellowship period. NSF provides a stipend of $32,000 to the Fellow and a cost-of-education allowance of $12,000 to the graduate degree-granting institution for each Fellow utilizing the fellowship support in a fellowship year.  Pending the availability of funds in 2015, it is anticipated that the stipend will increase to $34,000, as indicated in NSF's FY2015 Budget Request to Congress.  BIO Program deadline for 2015 is November 4 th !!!!

Career LevelYears of Experience Stipend for FY 2012 PredoctoralAll$22,032 Postdoctoral0$39,264 1$41,364 2$44,340 3$46,092 4$47,820 5$49,884 6$51,582 7 or More$54,180 Predoctoral and Postdoctoral: Next F series deadline is December 8 th, with additional April and August deadlines!!!!

 THINK BIG!!! THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON WHY YOU CAN’T CONTRIBUTE SIGNIFICANTLY TO AN R GRANT AS A GRADUATE STUDENT OR POSTDOC

 Am I ready to begin writing?  Can you state a clear overarching hypothesis?  Can you outline 3 specific goals which you hope to achieve?  Can you outline 3 more specific goals if the first 3 are dismal failures?  Can you outline 3 more specific goals if the next 3 are also dismal failures?  Have you successfully planned, executed, and interpreted at least one novel experiment all by yourself?

 Am I ready to show my draft to my mentor?  Have you spell checked your writing?  Have you asked at least three peers to read your grant and give you feedback?  Can you clearly identify and articulate the strengths and weaknesses of your own proposal overall and for each aim?

 Am I ready to submit?  Can you summarize your research plans in a single concise figure?  Can you clearly state the significance of the work in one sentence?  Have you gone through a formal review of your grant yourself and asked at least three peers and three faculty members to do the same?

(IMPACT)

(INNOVATION)

(APPROACH)

(INVESTIGATOR AND ENVIRONMENT)

 Quit procrastinating!  Get rid of flowery language!  KISS: KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID! Is there one word that can replace 3?  Remember: It doesn’t matter what you think, it ONLY matters what your reviewers think. If they don’t like your grant, it is YOUR fault!