Strategies for writing your first early career award

Hello, it’s me again. I know it has been a while since I wrote a blog post but my life has completely changed over this last year. About 7.5 months ago my husband and I welcomed a sweet baby boy into our family and he has completely changed our world :-). More on him later…. I am BACK and happy to be sharing more of my perspective with you. As some of you may know, I have been in academia for almost three years and in that time I have written three early-career type awards. I have won two and currently awaiting the results on one (fingers-crossed**). I should also tell you that I won all of these on the first try. I have also reviewed proposals for these types of awards and though there are many ways to write a winning proposal, I have learned that every winning proposal has the some of the same elements. First things first you need to do your homework. Every agency/funding source does things differently. For example, for the DOE Early Career award, you have to write a pre-proposal that is then reviewed by the specific program manager. If it fits into the scope of their program, he/she/they will then invite you to submit a full proposal. For ONR, program managers actually submit the individual proposals (that fit into the scope of their program) to a review panel who then decides on the winners. And for NSF, you have the freedom to submit to any Division and Program you want with very little pre-discussion with the actual program manager. For NIH’s Trailblazer award, not every institute participates in the award, so depending on your research area you may not be eligible to apply.

**Update: I recently learned that I won the NSF CAREER Award.

It starts with the program manager….

Regardless of the agency it starts with the Program Manager. A common mistake I see especially in agencies where the Program Manager has a lot of influence, is that people do not meet with the PM prior to submitting. Let me tell you why this is a bad idea. First you want to make sure that your research idea/ideas fit into the scope of their program especially if the money comes from their individual budget. Because it if does then they are more than likely not going to fund your proposal. Secondly if it doesn’t fit into their program, they usually will recommend another Program(s) that aligns better with your research objectives. Speaking with PM’s also gives you an idea of what they look for in proposals. For example, do they like to see proof of concepts with preliminary data, do they get expert reviewers or are reviewers outside of your research area, should ideas be hypothesis driven, do they favor collaborations with multiple PIs within their Program, are they more focused on fundamental science vs applied. Before reaching out to a PM, draft a white paper or specific aims document. A “white paper” is a 2-3 page document that briefly outlines research objectives, motivation/impact, technical plan, and outcomes of the research idea. If you have multiple ideas, it may be a good idea to put each one on separate pages (keep it to 1-page per idea). You do not want the document to be too long because they may not read it all. For that same reason, you also want the most important information to be in the first paragraph or page of the document. Additionally the first sentence should be captivating and not a generic sentence that everyone uses. Once the document is complete, send an email asking for a Zoom meeting or in-person meeting to discuss the proposed idea(s) in more detail.

The first page of the Proposal is the most important

Remember, first impressions can make or break a proposal. Before I write a proposal, I ask myself several questions: What are my specific goals? Why do I want to do this? How will I accomplish my research goals? Why I am the perfect person to explore this idea or better yet what is unique about me? And if I am successful what will be the impact of my research beyond what I am proposing? This helps me craft the first page of my proposal which in my opinion is the most important part. Because if it is captivating, it encourages the reviewer to keep reading. I equate it to the small excerpt in the back of a book. If you’re intrigued….you buy the book and read it. If it bores you…..you usually put the book back on the shelf because no one is going to run the risk of wasting their money when there are plenty of books in the store. Catch my point! In my proposals, I summarize all those questions above into the first 2-3 sentences of a proposal. People love visuals and including a Figure that details your proposed research idea on the first page can add real value to a proposal.

The technical plan is the brains of the proposal

For most proposals, the technical plan is usually the meat of the document and outside of the first page it is the second most important part of the proposal because it outlines how you plan to achieve your research goals. When writing you always want to connect your methods to the overall research objectives by detailing the scientific questions that will be answered in each technical task or method. This is mainly because reviewers may forget your research objectives by the time they get to this section. Remember, you want to tell them….tell them again…..and then one more time lol. It is also critical to detail how each technical task is connected to the other. For example, I am going to use the information from task 1 to inform task 2 which allows me to get this new result that other people have never gotten before. As a reviewer, I personally like to see preliminary data or that you have had some success using the methods you have proposed. For example, if you are proposing using a microscopy technique to visualize an artifact it may be a good idea to show an example of data you collected using the same tool. Another thing that people forget to discuss, is how they will interpret the results they get from each task. This is important because it is another way to connect your research plan to the main objectives by showing these methods are hypothesis driven.

Follow the rules

I know we were taught to break the rules…..but this isn’t the time or place. In every broad agency announcement (BAA), solicitation, and/or program guidelines is a long list of the components that each proposal must have. Please read this again. Not should have….MUST HAVE. This is important because reviewers will be asked to score your proposal based on these guidelines and when these sections are missing, it will have a negative impact on your score. I had a program manager (not one of my current ones, lol) tell me that they do not like it if someone uses space to discuss an area that is not listed but is lacking in a required area.

Every agency is not the same

There is nothing wrong with recycling proposals but you want to make sure that the submitted proposal follows the guidelines of the solicitation/BAA of the funding agency. For example, Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts are terms associated with NSF. So if you take a proposal that was initially submitted to NSF and submit it to DOE…..they will know it.

Have several people review your proposal before submitting

Because several eyes are better than two. Most people have reviewed proposals and can provide insight into what people look for in winning proposals.

How does the proposed idea contribute to your career goals

Or better yet…..what do you want to be known for and how does this proposed idea feed into that. This needs to be in the first paragraph or at least the first page of the proposal. But be careful…not every agency requires/wants a vision statement. It is also a good idea to discuss how your research will enable work by folks at your institution because it shows the impact of the proposal beyond your specific technical area

Other tips

• This is not the time to be modest. Show why you’re the perfect person. In the words of Queen B ‘If you got it, flaunt it“!
• Participate in a writing club or workshop for early career writers at your institution
• If you mention someone in your proposal…always get a letter of support from them. Follow the rules in the BAA!
• Ask colleagues for proposals they’ve submitted to similar programs…especially if they were awarded
• If one PM says no…..find one that says yes. This happened to me
• Don’t get into the weeds, not every reviewer will be an expert
• Manage your time well, these proposals require a lot of thought
• Visuals can tell a better story than words

There are many ways to writing a winning proposal. And most people do not get it on the first try so don’t be discouraged if you get rejected. If you have specific questions, please feel free to leave a comment below. Until next time!

From Aeriel, With Love