Nancy Amato, Texas A&M University Tracy Camp, Colorado School of Mines Kathryn McKinley, Microsoft Research/UT Austin Lori Pollock, University of Delaware CRA-W Mid-Career Academic Track

CRA-W Computer Research Association Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research Mission increase the participation and success of women in computing research

CRA-W Programs Graduate Students Undergraduates Academic careers Industry/government labs Undergrads: Undergraduate Research Experiences Undergrads: Distinguished lecture role models Grad Cohort: group mentoring of grad students Grad Students: Discipline Specific Research workshops PhD Researchers: group mentoring of early & mid CMW, CAPP, Hopper & Tapia

Tracy Camp, Colorado School of Mines CRA-Women Co-Chair Funding

Introduce Yourself! Your Name, Your Name, Your Institution Career Stage Research and/or Education Interests

Monitoring for Resources, Hazards, and Fun with Wireless Sensor Networks Tracy Camp Professor, Colorado School of Mines Colorado School of Mines 25 graduate students NZ Fulbright Scholar ACM Fellow Elements of my Funding Success 1. over 30 external grants awarded 2. over $20 million in external funding 3. led or co-led three large successful initiatives ($3-5 million each)

Mary Jean Harrold Very Accomplished Researcher CRA-Women Co-Chair ( )

What is the problem? Why is it interesting? What are possible solutions? Why should you solve it? KEY: motivate the problem well (else reviewers won’t care about your solutions) Weave a Convincing Story Mary Jean Harrold (STARS 2009)

What Makes a Good Proposal? Mary Jean Harrold (STARS 2009) Seven Criteria (see handout) CARE: Is it an important problem? NOW: Why now? IDEAS: What are your initial ideas? RESULTS: What are your prelim. results? PLAN: Is your plan sensible? CAN-DO: Why you? LEGAL: Have you followed the rules?

Funding Pre-Tenure vs. Funding Post-Tenure … take advantage of the freedom Find your passion! (if you haven’t already) – Solving societal problems? make the world a better place! – Curriculum innovation? improve student lives! – Science policy outreach? tell the public how important we are! External visibility and leadership are critical

Collaboration: Then & Now Collaboration as you advance in your career –Your Role –Before: more likely was participant and member of team –Now: may take on stronger, leading role in initiating collaboration and project –Motivation/Benefits –Before: cool problems, networking opportunities, funding –Now: bigger and more visible cool problems, leadership opportunities (set the agenda), mentoring junior colleagues

Collaboration: Why & How l Successful collaboration is a multiplier –Enables you to achieve more than you can on your own, is fun and brings new friends and colleagues l Unsuccessful collaboration can be a negative multiplier –Wastes time, is stressful, creates hard feelings

Collaboration: Do’s & Don’ts l Do –collaborate with successful people (check them out) –be a good collaborator yourself (timely, quality, etc.) –recruit good students (review applications, try a student out, teach grad reading class, summer REUs) l Don’t –collaborate with freeloaders (learn to say no)

Collaboration: Let’s Discuss! l How might you respond to a collaboration request from freeloaders? l What can you do to recover when you’re a collaborator and are finding yourself falling behind on responsibilities? Share responses

Other Funding Do’s Visit funding agency sites regularly – Talk to appropriate program manager(s) – Volunteer to serve on review panels especially for types of proposals you plan to submit – Expand your funding sources Seek advice/examples from colleagues – Ask successful colleagues to review your proposal and Listen to their feedback – Borrow sample proposals from successful colleagues Understand the program you are submitting to – Read the program announcement carefully – Read funded summaries/proposals of projects from that program

Other Funding Do’s Fund your research through a variety of sources If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again – Read reviews carefully – Don’t take it personally – Talk to program manager – Be persistent Write a few GOOD proposals – Immature ideas/plans rarely get funded – Borrow sample proposals from successful colleagues

Funding: Discussion Questions How do I create a dream team for a large grant proposal? What do I do when a Co-PI is not taking on their responsibilities as part of a large grant? When a large proposal is not funded, how should I proceed (given the significant burden of putting it together)?

CRA-W Wants Your Feedback Please give us your feedback about this session and any other CRA-W mentoring sessions you attend! –