1. Report on the NSF CAREER Proposal Writing Workshop Held on November 13-14, 2004, Anaheim, CA Z.J. Pei Dept of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Kansas State University Manhattan, KS 66506

2. 2 Quick Facts about the Workshop  Four NSF programs sponsored  Three NSF program directors attended  Five recent CAREER awardees presented  19 assistant professors participated  Mock panel meetings reviewed 9 proposals

3. 3 Sponsoring NSF programs  Manufacturing Machines and Equipment (MME), Program Director: Dr. George Hazelrigg  Materials Processing and Manufacturing (MPM), Program Director: Dr. Jian Cao  NanoManufacturing (NM), Program Director: Kevin Lyons  Engineering Design (ED), Program Director: Dr. Delcie Durham

4. 4 Attending NSF Programs Directors  Dr. George Hazelrigg, Manufacturing Machines and Equipment (MME), DMII  Dr. Jian Cao, Materials Processing and Manufacturing (MPM), DMII  Dr. Linda Blevins, Combustion and Plasma Systems (a sub-element of the Thermal Systems Program), Chemical and Transport Systems (CTS) Division

5. 5 Workshop Organizers  Dr. Jian Cao, Program director, National Science Foundation  Dr. Mark Lewis, University of Michigan, 2002 CAREER and PECASE Awardee  Dr. Z.J. Pei, Kansas State University, 2004 CAREER Awardee  Dr. Afsaneh Rabiei, North Carolina State University, 2003 CAREER Awardee  Dr. Tony Schmitz, University of Florida, 2003 CAREER Awardee  Dr. Teresa Wu, Arizona State University, 2003 CAREER Awardee

6. 6 Main Activities at the Workshop  NSF Program directors present NSF CAREER proposal guidelines  CAREER awardees present their stories  NSF Program directors describe procedures for a typical CAREER proposal panel meeting  Mock panel review  Brainstorm a list of DOs and DON’Ts for writing successful CAREER proposals

7. 7 http://www.ksu.edu/career/ More Information Available

8. 8 Examples of DOs  Attend NSF grantee’s conference  Know people in your field, and more importantly, make sure they know you  Talk to people at conferences…maybe even use them  Have your proposal read by others  Have a layperson read the intro  Know your audience (Various backgrounds; Some will read closely…some may not)  Make sure that your idea FITS well in that program

9. 9 Examples of DOs  Be brave, propose significant jumps in the state-of- the-art  Be ambitious (it is a 5 year plan!)  Focus on one problem area allowing for a more cohesive proposal  Show that you have already had some success  Present your previous experiences, and the quality of it  Use all of the resources at your disposal

10. 10 Examples of DOs  Present your knowledge of what has been done on the field and what has not  Show that you have sufficient access to the necessary resources  Tell a compelling story, lead the reviewers down your path  Ensure that those not familiar with your research area can follow your story

11. 11 Examples of DOs  Find where your passion is (for educational component)  You need to talk about course development but also need to add something  Use assessment metrics for both research and education goals

12. 12 Examples of DON’Ts  Don’t write a technical paper  Don’t make the reviewers search for answers to these questions  Don’t force reviewers to read between the lines  Don’t use “we”  Don’t abuse acronyms  Don’t repeat an entire paragraph  Don’t use too many out-of-date references

13. 13 Examples of DON’Ts  Don’t depend on others (in collaboration, your work should be the driver)  Don’t be too broad  Don’t propose a center/institute

14. 14 Workshop Evaluations 1

15. 15 Workshop Evaluations 2

16. 16 Workshop Evaluations 3

17. 17 Most Helpful Activities  The panel reviews were very helpful. I learned a lot.  The mock panel review.  Mock study is quite helpful.  Mock panel review.  Mock panel.  Review/panel process.  Panel review.  Mock panel review.  Review panels.  Panel discussions and presentations.  Access to example proposals are very (extremely) helpful.  Reading the proposals, grading proposals. Panel discussions.

18. 18 Most Helpful Activities  Presentations by program directors in attendance. Presentations by previous career awardees.  Overall presentation by especially CAREER awardees experiences.  Presentations were excellent.  Awardee history.  The awardee’s story, and experience in the whole process of career proposal writing.  Successful stories.  Listening to CAREER awardees stories (initial failure or success).  Personal experiences of past winners.

19. 19 Most Helpful Activities  Meeting with program directors.  Interactions between program directors and participants were very helpful.  NSF directors.  Interactions with program director. Advise on how to construct proposal.  Chatting with program managers.  Program directors expertise.  George Hazelrigg was great.

20. 20 Most Helpful Activities  The limited number of workshop attendees. Facilitated better interactions.  The size of the workshop (20 people) was a strength. Allowed personal interaction.  the size (# of participants, # of presenters) of the workshop is effective, allows active participation, interaction with NSF directors and answers to individual questions.  Networking dinner.

21. 21 Most Helpful Activities  Summarize DOs and DON’Ts list.  Presentation on “DOs and DON’Ts.”

22. 22 Possible Future Workshop May 24, 2005 Columbia University, New York (in conjunction with NAMRC) Pending the approval from NSF

23. 23 For Your Attention