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CONFERENCE 2018
PROPOSALSLIKE IT’S
Writing and Illustrating Grant Proposals for the Information Age
Tobin Spratte | Michael Northrop Arizona State UniversityJessica Brassard Michigan Technological University
2019
AD 1219• Sir, your proposal to the Archbishop of
Canterbury is on track for delivery next month.• This pie chart has too much gold leaf, and we
need to mention our history of shepherding serfs on the Earl of Shaftesbury’s land. And what about Friar Bernard’s exegesis on the parable of the barren fig tree?
• Got it. But if we make these changes, the archbishop won’t be getting our proposal for another six and a half years.
THE DIGITAL REVOLUTIONTHE INFORMATION AGEAND
INFORMATIONOVERLOAD
6.9ZETTABYTES
Americans in 2013 consumed
360MILLION
times the amount of printed material in the Library of Congress
INFORMATIONTSUNAMI 18,264,840
MEGABYTES
Every minute, Americans together chomp through
304,414NSF PROPOSALS
This is like reading through
19607213000 BC
Writing develops
Rise of scientific
thought and texts
900 BC
Philosophical and religious texts appear
624 BC
Dawn of math and astronomy
Islamic Golden Age
First universities
created
1088
Scientific Revolution
1543
Digital Revolution
2003
Hungry for Data
35GB per day
2019
.7GB per day
1989
CHANGED CONSUMPTION HABITS
8SECONDS
Average length of a television commercial
20MINUTES
Selective sustained attention span
20PERCENT
Amount read of any given text
MINI POLL
How many of you read print?
How many of you read on a screen?
How do reviewers read proposals?
How many of you work on proposals with relaxed guidelines?
HOW PEOPLE READ AND REMEMBER
THE TIMES, THEY ARE A CHANGIN’
RESISTANCE IS FUTILE
RESILIENCE IS KEY
WHO MOVED MY PROTEASE ENZYMES?
EXAMPLES OF CHANGE
twitter chatter#dataviz, #scicomm
FINDING INSPIRATION
twitter chatter#sciart
FINDING INSPIRATION
twitter chatter#dataviz
FINDING INSPIRATION
MAKING THE MOST OF GRAPHICS Doug McNeall & Ed Hawkins, Making
Better Scientific Graphics, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, England, March 2018, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UfL9hNCKvQol4OQZwna0PLvzVYvwdxuL/view
The principles of design provide basic guidelines that dictate the arrangement of objects within a composition. They include:• Balance: the symmetrical or asymmetrical arrangement
of objects to create visual weight• Rhythm: the repetition or alteration of elements
to create movement, pattern, or texture• Proportion: the comparison of dimensions or
distribution of form where scale is relational• Dominance: emphasis is placed on relationships
of scaled design elements• Unity: the relationship between
individual elements to create wholeness• Repetition of Form: Using similar design elements
throughout the proposal
KEY DESIGNRULES
Both figures created in PowerPoint
YOURTOOLS DON’TMATTER
Rive
r or L
ake
Wastewater Treatment plant
Humans
Incineration Drinking Water Treatment Plant
Humans
Wastewater Treatment plant
Air
Land Application of biosolids, fertilizers,
pesticides on Agricultural lands
Landfill
Dry & Wet Deposition
Rivers and Lakes
Rivers and Lakes
Incineration
Incineration
Land Application of Biosolids, Fertilizers, and Pesticides on
Agricultural Lands
Land Application of Biosolids, Fertilizers, and Pesticides on
Agricultural Lands
Humans
Humans
Dry and Wet Deposition
Dry and Wet Deposition
Mineral & Soil Weathering
Volcanoes
Volcanoes
Air
Air
Wastewater Treatment Plant
Wastewater Treatment Plant
Drinking Water Treatment Plant
Drinking Water Treatment Plant
Landfill
Landfill
Mineral & Soil Weathering
YOURTOOLS DON’TMATTER
BRANDING AND IDENTITY
https://www.statista.com/statistics/188312/top-bottled-still-water-brands-in-the-united-states/
A LESSON FROM BILLBOARDS
Zone 1
Zone 4
Zone 2
Zone 3
Zone 1
Zone 4
Zone 2
Zone 3
Zone 1
Zone 5
Zone 2
Zone 3
Zone 4
Zone 6
Keep the figure simple by creating a caption that defines the details.
PROCESS SCIENCE ENVIRONMENT
QUICK FIGURES
Stuart Lindsay* (PI)Raymond DuBois* (Co-PI)
Robert RosProject 1 Lead
Yang Jiao
Mina Bissell* Project 2 Lead
Dan FletcherClaire Robertson
Ke Xu
Karen AndersonCore 1 Co-Lead
Joni MottCore 1 Co-Lead
Joshua LaBaerCore 2 Lead
Pauline Davies Education and Outreach
Unit Lead
Paul Davies*
Center Administrator
Jason SteelJin Park
NIH
Cheryl Nickerson
ENGAGE YOUR SOPHISTICATED AUDIENCEGRAPHICS ARE ALWAYS USEFUL• Most useful if they
are strategic
• Stylized tables and bullets can be just as effective
GRAPHICS ARE ALWAYS USEFUL
INFOGRAPHICS MADE EASY
DefineProperties
Synthesis
SpecializedcharacterizationandMachinelearning
DeviceAssembly
MaterialsbyInverseDesignApproach
• MachineLearningbased• AdvancedandCorrelated
Characterization• High throughput
LowEnergyStructures
DeviceOrientedMaterial’sDesign
• HighComputationalPower• HighThroughputMaterial
Screening
HighThroughput screeningforcandidates
Narrowbesto
fclass
SET YOURSELF APART
CREATE ADISTINCTADVANTAGE
DESIGN IS NOTA SILVER BULLET
But it can be a silver lining.
YOUR BRAND EXTENDSBEYOND COLOR AND LOGO
RESPECTTHE SPACE
Figure 1 Our center is organized to quickly, efficiently respond to industry needs and concerns while maximizing input and ideas from participating faculty across all institutions and thrusts.
Figure 1 Center organization chart.
Boring.
WRITING21ST CENTURYAUDIENCEFO
R TH
E
THE FIRST RULE OF PROPOSAL WRITING IS
THE SECOND RULE OF PROPOSAL WRITING IS
Know thy audience.
COROLLARYTO RULE TWO
Know thy audience.Be ClearClear writing is an indicator of clear thinking.
THECURSE OF KNOWLEDGE
“The main cause of incomprehensible prose is the difficulty of imagining what it’s like for someone else not to know something that you know.”
– Steven Pinker
WHAT’S IN ITFOR THEM?
Logos Pathos
Ethos Expertise, authority
EmotionsReason
THE ART OFRHETORIC
CULTIVATING A CULTURE
• Proposal development vs. faculty development
• Encourage enthusiasm• Work with faculty (especially
early-career faculty) and teach them to stand up for proposals (*with merit) which also show an aesthetic
HOW TO MOVE THE NEEDLE
TRANSFORMING FACULTYFROM MECHANICS TO ARTISTS
Hire a consultant
Talk to your Marketing and Communications unitHire a graphic designer
Hire a student
FINDING THESKILLS
BEFORE WETAKE OFF Q
&A
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