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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]ryan@usf.edu

*with input from past and current NSF PD’s!

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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)

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• National Science Board

• Director

• Office of theInspector General

• Directorate forAdministration

• Directorate for• Engineering

• Directorate for• Biological• Sciences

• Directorate for• Geosciences

• Directorate forComputer and

Information• Science and• Engineering

• Directorate for• Mathematical• and Physical

• Sciences

• Directorate for• Social,

• Behavioral,• and Economic

• Sciences

• Directorate for• Education and

• Human• Resources

• Staff Offices

NSF “Org Chart” (after Hazelrigg, 2012)

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The National Science Foundation

• Information site (where all NSF funding programs are “published”): www.nsf.gov

• Proposal Input site (where you go to both review proposals and to submit your own): www.fastlane.nsf.gov

• Project Reports site (where you document project findings for NSF and input information about public benefits: www.research.gov

• Just now: NONE of these sites are available for us (thanks to Congressional hijinks…)

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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

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• 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

CAREER Awards:

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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 www.nsf.gov (when it’s available again!)

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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.

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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…).

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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…)

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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!

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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!

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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

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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….

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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 www.nsf.gov (when it’s working…).

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CAREER: Proposal Development

1. 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….)

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CAREER: Proposal Development

2. 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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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!

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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!)

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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…

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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?

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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?

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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!)