1. NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program
Jeff Ryan*
Professor, Chair and Director, School of Geosciences,
and (formerly) an NSF Program Director, EHR/DUE
[and a past member of the CAREER Coordinating Committee]
*with input from past and current NSF PD’s!

2. The National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is an independent granting agency of the U.S. Federal government
Budget: $7.2 billion, FY 2012
Charter: to fund fundamental research and education in the sciences, mathematics and engineering
Excluded from: clinical research (NIH), weapons research (DoD), research in (most of) space (NASA), high-energy physics (DoE)

3. NSF “Org Chart” (after Hazelrigg, 2012)
National Science Board
Director
Office of the Inspector General
Directorate for Administration
Directorate for
Engineering
Biological
Sciences
Geosciences
Directorate for Computer and Information
Science and
Mathematical
and Physical
Social,
Behavioral,
and Economic
Education and
Human
Resources
Staff Offices

4. The National Science Foundation
Information site (where all NSF funding programs are “published”):
Proposal Input site (where you go to both review proposals and to submit your own):
Project Reports site (where you document project findings for NSF and input information about public benefits:
Just now: NONE of these sites are available for us (thanks to Congressional hijinks…)

5. CAREER: Program Goals
“A Foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations.”
All NSF Research Directorates make CAREER awards.
Tying faculty research and educational efforts together is a key goal of the program.
As well, CAREER seeks to support the development of investigators from under-represented populations

6. CAREER Awards:
Funding is to support the academic career development of new faculty (it is not purely a research award…)
Is based on a professional development plan, ”a well-argued and specific proposal for activities that will, over a 5-year period, build a firm foundation for a lifetime of contributions to research and education”
Research is part of the plan (obviously!), but so is education and professional service/outreach

7. CAREER: Program Eligibility
Applicants Must:
Hold a doctoral degree as of submission date
Be untenured as of submission date
Be employed in a tenure-track (or equivalent) position as of October 1 following submission
Be employed as an assistant professor (or equivalent) as of October 1 following submission
Have not competed more than 2 times previously in the CAREER program (Three Strikes Rule…)
Have not previously received an NSF CAREER or PECASE award.
Questions? See CAREER Frequently Asked Questions, on the CAREER Program pages in (when it’s available again!)

8. CAREER: Award Duration and Size
5-year duration (very long awards for NSF, but equivalent to the pre-tenure period for most University faculty)
Minimum award size of $400,000;
$500,000 in the Biological Sciences and Polar Programs
No maximum award size (!!!), but how much bigger varies considerably by funding program and Directorate.

9. CAREER: A Program within Programs…
“Foundation-wide” means every Directorate makes CAREER awards, but they each manage their aspect of the program differently toward meeting their mandated goals.
One may apply for CAREER Program support for any RESEARCH activities supported by NSF. This means:
The research needs to be submittable to an existing NSF research funding program!
In the EHR (Education and Human Resources) Directorate, only the REESE (Research and Evaluation on Education in Science and Engineering) Program typically accepts CAREER proposals
In the disciplinary “Research and Research Related” directorates, all programs ostensibly can handle CAREER proposals (though there may be exceptions…).

10. CAREER in the Social and Behavioral Sciences
Generally, proposals must be submitted through existing SBE funding programs (these cover a lot of ground…)
Sociology
Psychology/Neuroscience (not clinical!)
Criminology
Geography/GIScience
Economics, etc.
Biggest SBE CAREER challenge – budgets!
Specifically, getting to the budgetary minimum…
A CAREER award ends up being a very large fraction of an SBE funding program (which can make a Program Officer a bit antsy…)

11. CAREER: Who should submit?
Everyone who is eligible! But…
Each NSF Directorate manages CAREER program awards differently:
ENG, CISE: Primary means of supporting junior faculty! (lots of CAREER awards made)
GEO: Historically, an honorific for the “best of the best” (fewest CAREER awards made):
SBE: Number of awards usually constrained by overall program funding
EHR: constrained by “research” funding programs (most are “implementation” or scholarship/fellowship funding).
BIO, CHE, PHY - Varies! You need to ask some hard questions of your cognizant Program Officer!

12. Writing a Competitive CAREER Proposal:
CAREER proposals are NOT normal research proposals!
CAREER proposals are requests for financial support of an integrated academic career plan
Research is part of this plan, and will define to a great degree the “storyline’ of the proposal
Education is also part of this plan (you are working at a University…)
Service is part of this plan
The proposal should spend page space (and grant money!) on each aspect of your career development activities, commensurate with their importance in your career!

13. A CAREER Development Plan…
…is a strategic plan!
A strategic plan has three parts:
Where are you today?
Where do you want to be in the future (5, 10, 20 years from now)?
How do you get from here to there?
Your proposal…
Should move you toward your professional goals
Should be compatible with your institution’s mission
and goals
Should represent a contribution to society at large

14. CAREER Proposal Preparation - First Steps
Before you write a word --
CALL your disciplinary Program Officer well in advance to talk about your interest in submitting a CAREER proposal!
He/she will tell you up front if it’s better to submit via CAREER, or via the traditional research programs.
For budgetary reasons, Program Officers always want a heads-up on any planned CAREER submissions
Large awards require budgetary planning,
CAREER submissions require different reviewers and (maybe) differing review processes….

15. CAREER: Who to Contact:
Contact the Program Director(s) who manage the NSF research program that best fits the research effort you seek to support via CAREER!
Also: each NSF Directorate has CAREER program liaisons, who serve on the CAREER Coordinating Committee (CCC). These folks can be helpful with specific questions about the solicitation, eligibility, etc.
Also helpful: CAREER Program Frequently Asked Questions - available on the CAREER program page at (when it’s working…).

16. CAREER: Proposal Development
What are your plans for research? What are your plans re: education?
Criteria for research as in a standard NSF proposal, just more succinct (no room for great detail!)
Educational activities should be consistent with your job as an educator (i.e., if you’re assigned to mentor graduate students, it should focus on graduate education…).
Don’t propose “extra” activities beyond the scope of your job, esp. if the infrastructure to do them is unclear.
Conceptual strategy re education: you are going to LEARN to be an outstanding educator
NSF knows that you didn’t learn this in grad school!
How? Identifying/adopting/ adapting best STEM educational practices in your classroom and student activities.
Also: you will be mentored by your senior colleagues (Chair’s letter….)

17. CAREER: Proposal Development
How are you going to integrate your research and education activities?
Key: it’s got to make sense!
It’s got to be “part of your job”.
It’s got to support your career development!
The best proposals tie the research and educational activities seamlessly.
Ex: classroom activities incorporating research tools/results that lead to students engaging in mentored research with you on aspects of the project.

18. CAREER Proposal DO’s
Have a strategic career plan that you can explain to a stranger!
Build on and leverage your strengths.
Differentiate this proposal from your Ph.D. work and other funded work (it can align with past work but not simply repeat/continue it)
Do the requisite background work before writing (on both the research you want to do, AND on the education/outreach efforts you will propose!)
Read and FOLLOW the NSF Grant Proposal Guide (GPG)
Establish the professional/research network you will need for success.

19. CAREER Proposal DON’Ts
Rush!
Wait until last minute (<1 month) to contact program directors
Make the proposed work (research and education) too broad and/or diffuse
Make the proposed work too narrow (it’s a career…)
Ask for too much (or too little) money!
Ignore rules (Grant Proposal Guide) and misc. items
Violation of the GPG rules will result in return without review

20. Proposal Basics
Write to your reviewers, and your Program Officer (they are your audience!)
Your proposal will be evaluated and rated by the reviewers, and recommended/declined by the Program Officer based (in part) on reviewer feedback.
Reviewers want to know four things:
What is it about (the research/educational objectives)?
How will you do it (the technical approaches)?
Can you do it (you and your facilities)?
Is it worth doing (intellectual merit and broader impact)?
Did you follow the rules? (specifically, the CAREER solicitation guidelines for proposal content)
This is, basically, all the proposal needs to convey – but it needs to convey this

21. Two Baseline Rules for writing potentially Competitive Proposals:
Don’t piss off your reviewing audience!
NSF font/size guidelines – exceed these for readability (12 point MINIMUM!)
Organize with headings
Number the pages (!!)
Captions should be with figures!
Follow the rules (= read and follow the RFP!)
The Grant Proposal Guide (GPG)
The CAREER Solicitation
The solicitation of the program through which you are submitting your CAREER proposal.

22. NSF’s “We’ll Send it Back!” Rules
MUST describe Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts in Project Summary document (now this is hardwired…)
MUST include a Data Management Plan describing plans for public access to project data (as appropriate) once the project is done.
MUST include a Postdoctoral Mentoring Plan if postdocs are part of the proposed project (and in CAREERS they generally are…)
MUST include a labeled section on Broader Impacts in the Project Descriptions

23. CAREER Specific Requirements/Opportunities
Departmental Letter - From your Chair, must confirm your eligibility to submit under CAREER, document support for your project, and commit to mentoring you through the term of the award.
Severe Limits on Supplemental Documents beyond the Chair’s letter – Check with the Program Director…
PI restrictions - Only YOU may serve as a PI on a CAREER award: no Co-PI’s. Subawards are permitted, as are participating Senior Personnel important to the project. Otherwise funds may be used as in any other NSF grant.
PECASE Awards: CAREER grantees who are U.S. citizens are eligible for PECASE (Presidential awards for Early Career Scientists and Engineers) consideration. Nominations made by Program officers and forwarded from each NSF directorate based on number of CAREER awards made.

24. CAREER Proposal Deadlines for 2014
?? (One hopes we will know soon..)
Past years: Late July
Upwards of 1800 CAREER proposals are submitted annually (!!), so generally the deadline is spread over several days, with proposals for different directorates due each day.
Be sure your Grants Specialist and you are on the same page re: submission deadlines!

25. CAREER Proposal Review
This varies A LOT by program and Directorate!
For programs with a lot of CAREERS annually: dedicated review process.
For less active programs: folded into the normal programmatic review cycle if tenable.
2 kinds of review:
Ad hoc (“mail” review) for specialist input
Panel review (for generalist/programmatic perspectives and input on education/outreach)
CAREER proposals typically are reviewed both ways (ad hoc followed by panel)
To know: Ask your Program Officer (it’s not a secret!)

26. CAREER Proposal Review
Who are your reviewers?
Specialists in your research field (Ad Hoc)
Experienced investigators broadly in-field (Ad Hoc and Panel)
Experts in STEM Education (usually Panel…)
Don’t forget the Program Officers!
They consider the “advice” of reviewers in making funding recommendations
[Very different from NIH….]
Another good reason to call your cognizant PO EARLY to set up for submission…

27. NSF Review Criteria: Intellectual Merit
The Intellectual Merit is the contribution that your research makes to your discipline’s knowledge base
Questions:
What is already known?
What is new?
What will your research add?
What will this do to enhance or enable research in your or other fields?
Why is your research important for the advancement of your field?

28. NSF Review Criteria: Broader Impact
The Broader Impact focuses on the benefit to society at large as a result of your research
Means to benefit society include:
Economic/environment/energy
Education and training
Providing opportunities for underrepresented groups
Improving research and education infrastructure
The key issue is how your research results will be applied — why would the general public care?

29. Getting Started Start EARLY Get acquainted with FASTLANE
Read the Program Solicitation (for both CAREER and for your disciplinary research program) and follow their guidelines
DO Contact your cognizant Program Officer to alert him to your CAREER submission and to discuss your idea. This may cause you to refine your idea and may prevent you from applying to the wrong disciplinary program
You can offer to review proposals in your program area, to get more familiar with the state-of-the-art and cutting-edge concerns (be careful though – they WILL take you up on this!)