Workshop on the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program

Workshop on the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Carrie Partch Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry UC Santa Cruz Slides available at: http: //bit. ly/UCSC_NSF-GRFP

What is the NSF GRFP? The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program provides three years of support for the graduate education of individuals who have demonstrated their potential for significant research achievements in STEM or STEM education. NSF especially encourages women, members of underrepresented minority groups, persons with disabilities, veterans, and undergraduate seniors to apply. 3 years of support • $34, 000 stipend • $12, 000 cost-of-education allowance (tuition & fees) The program goals are: 1) to select, recognize, and financially support, early in their careers, individuals with the demonstrated potential to be high achieving scientists and engineers 2) to broaden participation in science and engineering of underrepresented groups, including women, minorities, persons with disabilities, and veterans.

Other benefits to having an NSF fellowship Graduate Research Opportunities Worldwide (GROW) • Supplemental funding to take advantage of expertise, facilities, data and field sites abroad • Develop an international network of collaborators • Ideal if your research addresses problems of a global nature Graduate Research Internship Program (GRIP) • Supplemental funding to participate in collaborative research under the guidance of research mentors at federal facilities and national laboratories NSF Career-Life Balance Initiative Facilitation Awards for Scientists and Engineers with Disabilities (FASED) Access to XSEDE Supercomputing Resources (www. xsede. org)

Eligibility US citizenship, national or permanent resident status by application deadline Senior undergraduate / postbaccalaureate • Applicants must begin graduate-level study by fall of the year the award is accepted First or second year graduate student • Limited to only one submission in graduate school Applicants who have completed > 1 year of graduate study or have an M. S. are eligible only if they have had an interruption in graduate study of at least two consecutive years prior to Nov. 1 of the year the application is submitted • See Solicitation for more details • These applicants must address the reason(s) for interruption of their initial graduate studies in their Personal Statement

Other funding opportunities Graduate and Postdoctoral Extramural Support (GRAPES) https: //grad. ucla. edu/funding Searchable database of graduate & postdoctoral funding • • Specific fields of study Citizenship status Before or after advancing to candidacy Awards exclusive to under-represented groups or women

Fellowships by field Total fellowships awarded: ~2000 Number of applications received: ~13, 000 -16, 000 STEM Ed. Social Science Psychology Chemistry Computer Science / Info. Systems Physics & Astronomy Engineering Math ~12 -15% success rate! (+13% Honorable Mention) Life Sciences Materials Geosciences FY 2016

Fields of Study that are not allowed Counseling or social work, patient-oriented research, epidemiology, outcomes / health services research Biomedical research for which the goals are directly health-related: • Etiology, diagnosis or treatment of physical or mental disease • Animal models of disease for developing or testing drugs for treatment of disease • Statistical modeling for the purpose of diagnosis or epidemiology Chem 230: Grant writing – Spring Qtr. NIH Ruth Kirschstein Fellowship (2 -3 rd yr) Bioengineering research is OK: • To aid persons with disabilities • To diagnose or treat human disease, provided the applicant applies engineering principles to problems in medicine while primarily advancing engineering knowledge Better safe than sorry – contact the GRF Operations Center with questions (866) 673 -4737 email: info@nsfgrfp. org

Outline of application process Fast. Lane GRFP Application Module:

Outline of application process Fast. Lane GRFP Application Module: Education & Work Experience • Relevant to your field of study Honors, Fellowships, Scholarships, Conferences, Publications • Can cut/paste from CV Electronic Transcripts • including class schedule for current quarter References • Names and email addresses for 3 -5 referees (3 required) • Must rank 1 -5 (4 & 5 are back-ups)

Reference Letters At least 3 reference letters must be submitted by Nov. 2 (5 p. m. ET) • If >3, the applicant must rank them – only these will be considered for the application Who should you ask to write you a letter? 1. Your current research advisor 2. Someone else who knows how you perform research (i. e. former advisor, collaborator) 3. Someone who knows about your broader impacts (STEM Outreach Coordinator, Teacher) Referees must address how they know you and highlight : • Your potential for contributing to a diverse science and engineering workforce • Their opinion about your chance for success – specific anecdotes are invaluable! • If a referee is your advisor, they should comment on the originality of the proposal and explain what role she/he had in assisting you with the proposal Provide reviewers with your CV and bullet points that address the review criteria!

The review process Reviewed by virtual panels of expert scientists and engineers selected by the NSF • Applications are sorted based on the primary Field of Study You are not guaranteed an expert in your subfield, so write your proposal accordingly! LIFE SCIENCES Biochemistry Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Biophysics Cell Biology Developmental Biology Ecology Environmental Biology Evolutionary Biology Genetics Genomics Microbial Biology Neurosciences Organismal Biology Physiology Proteomics Structural Biology Systematics and Biodiversity Systems and Molecular Biology PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY Astronomy and Astrophysics Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics Condensed Matter Physics Nuclear Physics Particle Physics of Living Systems Plasma Physics Solid State Theoretical Physics SOCIAL SCIENCES Archaeology Biological Anthropology Communications Cultural Anthropology Decision Making and Risk Analysis Economics Geography History and Philosophy of Science International Relations Law and Social Science Linguistic Anthropology Linguistics Medical Anthropology Political Science Public Policy Science Policy Sociology Urban and Regional Planning

Primary review criteria Average number of applications read by each reviewer: 40 -50 You want to be in the top 5 -10 proposals for each reviewer! Each written statement must address both review criteria: Intellectual Merit (your potential to advance knowledge) • academic performance • research skills & productivity • transferable skills in communication, collaboration, management, etc. • ability to conduct novel research and finish graduate school Broader Impacts (your potential to benefit society) What are the consequences of training you & completing your project? • research impacts (discoveries / new thinking) • university (training / education) • local / community (outreach)

How to explicitly address review criteria Intellectual Merit: demonstrate how well qualified you are to complete projects throughout your graduate career by highlighting your: • Academic performance (grades, scholarships, awards) • Appropriate knowledge and background for your Field of Study • Research skills (programming, lab experience, field work) • Research productivity (presentations, publications – posters or talks) • Transferable skills (communication, collaboration) Broader Impact: show you have advanced your field while promoting teaching, training, and diversity within: • Your specific field of interest • The university level (community college students, undergrads, graduate students) • Beyond the university (K-12 students and/or educators, the general public) Address NSF GRFP's mission statement by being explicit about how you will broaden the participation of under-represented groups (e. g. gender, ethnicity, disability, geographic, etc. ).

Formatting requirements for written statements Your application will be administratively rejected if you do not follow the following requirements: • Standard 8. 5” x 11” page size • 1” margin on all sides • Default single-spaced formatting • 12 -point Times New Roman or Computer Modern (La. Te. X) font Exception: 10 -point font may be used for references, footnotes, figure captions and text Use formatting to your advantage – use of bold or underlining can draw attention to key points in your proposal Tori Klein Use headers for Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts to draw attention to these criteria

Personal, Relevant Background, and Future Goals Statement – 3 pages Write a compelling story that explains who you are and why are you pursuing a Ph. D. Tell the reviewers about the personal and professional experiences that work together to contribute to your motivation and preparation for pursuing a career For personal experiences, describe: • What happened and how did it impact your choice of career or other activities? • What are the broader impacts of this experience and how it influenced you? For each research experience, describe: • What was the project and why was it important? • How did you become involved with the project? • What was your contribution and how did your part fit into the whole project? • What are the broader impacts of the project? How have you been contributing to the body of knowledge in your field and what are your chances for continued success?

Research Plan Statement – 2 pages Identify and formulate a scientific question and describe how you will address the question • Keep jargon to a minimum! • Start with a broad intro and explain why this is an interesting and important problem worthy of attention general state broad interest / relevance identify the gap in knowledge or technical capability state the objective for this proposal specific state your hypothesis and your approach (specific aims) to resolve this important lack of understanding define how your expected results will advance your field and address the mission of the NSF

Use strong formatting to structure your Research Plan Statement Formatting can draw attention to important sub-sections in your proposal: Introduction – make sure to highlight the key problem or gap in knowledge Objectives / Aims – state clearly what you are going to do Methodology – include information on controls, feasibility and access to resources Anticipated Results – how will you evaluate your success? Alternate interpretations? Intellectual Merit – is your proposed work creative or potentially transformative? Broader Impacts – how will this research contribute to the greater benefit of society? How will your disseminate the results broadly to K-12, the general public, and colleagues? References Figures can help illustrate complex models or data, but they are not required

Write your proposal to address review criteria! Reviewers are asked to consider the following five questions: 1. What is the potential for the proposed activity to: a. advance knowledge and understanding within its own field or across different fields? b. benefit society or advance desired societal outcomes? 2. To what extent do the proposed activities suggest and explore creative, original, or potentially transformative concepts? 3. Is the plan for carrying out the proposed activities well-reasoned, well-organized and based on a sound rationale? Does the plan incorporate a mechanism to access success? 4. How well qualified is the individual, team or organization to conduct the proposed studies? 5. Are there adequate resources available to the PI to carry out the proposed activities?

Create an integrated proposal that paints a holistic picture of you Don’t treat the research statement completely separately from your personal statement – it should integrate your life experiences and career goals from your personal statement Undergraduate / other research experience Outreach / leadership activities Life experiences Your personal statement should paint this narrative Proposed research & outreach activities Career goals & & impact as as an an independent scientist Academic interests Your research statement should fill in the gaps – how will your project help you get here?

Common pitfalls Lack of a story: No connection between the personal and research statements – reviewers should understand why you are proposing this work based on your life story / interests A good story will make your application memorable. Lack of Broader Impacts: Highlight the following to boost your application: • Research Presentations/Publications • STEM Outreach with K-12, under-represented populations, local community • Mentoring and Leadership (committees / organizational work, events for fellow students) Overly complicated / ambitious research proposal: Reviewers will most likely not be specialists in your field – strive to convey the feasibility, importance and excitement of your work Weak writing: "I hope", "I think", "I believe”, “I will try” Make sure reviewers known that you will be doing the work and data analysis – avoid statements like “We will”

Important dates Proposal due dates Oct. 23 Life Sciences, Geosciences Oct. 24 Computer / Information Science and Engineering, Materials Research Oct. 26 Psychology, Social Sciences, STEM Education and Learning Oct. 27 Chemistry, Mathematical Sciences, Physics and Astronomy Interdisciplinary work is encouraged! • applicant must indicate relative effort for each Field of Study and submit by deadline for the primary Field of Study Reference letter due date Nov. 2 Applications with 2 (out of 3) letters will be reviewed, but those with < 2 will be returned Notification of Award Winners and Honorable Mentions Early April 2018

Getting a running start… UCSC NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Proposal Bank: • List of recent NSF GRFP awardees at UCSC with contact info • Access to funded proposals & reviewer comments from different disciplines • Email cpartch@ucsc. edu for access to the Team Drive Please respect the generosity & confidentiality of awardees – do not pass these on to others! Other sites with detailed advice and access to writing samples from funded proposals: http: //www. malloryladd. com/nsf-grfp-advice. html http: //www. alexhunterlang. com/nsf-fellowship http: //www. clairemckaybowen. com/fellowships. html http: //grfpessayinsights. missouri. edu/index. php worksheets to help you get started!

Thanks to UCSC NSF Fellows for proposals & advice! Chemistry Tori Klein Ecology and Organismal Biology Kate Cary Monika Egerer Chris Law Physics & Astronomy Eric Gentry Psychology Christy Starr Social Sciences – Geography Rachel Voss Geosciences Kimberley Bitterwolf Danielle Glynn Structural Biology Niki Goularte Colby Sandate Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology Oscar Fernandes-Cazares Lily Le Veronica Urabe STEM Diversity Zia Isola