Selling Your Ideas

Proposal Writing Workshop III

Proposal Development Team Office of Research & Sponsored Projects (ORSP)

October 26, 2009

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Introductions

Ann Gates, Associate Vice President for

Research

Flo Dick, Coordinator of Pre-Award Services

Malu Picard-Ami, Proposal Development

Specialist

Claudine Riccillo, Associate Director

ORSP Proposal Development Team

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Selling Your Proposal Idea

Characteristics

Essential Components

First Steps

Critical Proposal Sections

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CHARACTERISTICS

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Transformative Innovative Novel

Characteristics of a Sellable Proposal

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•Discuss in your group what you think these terms mean in terms of proposal writing

•Report out

Activity:

Time Limit: 5 minutes 6

• Transformative: Characterizing a range of endeavors that promise extraordinary outcomes, such as revolutionizing entire disciplines, creating entirely new fields, or disrupting accepted theories and perspectives (NSF definition)

• Innovative: Characterized by the creation of new ideas or things; forward looking, ahead of current thinking

• Novel: new and not resembling something formerly known or used; original or striking especially in conception of style

Where do you think your research fits?

Definitions

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The National Science Board’s report on Enhancing Support for Transformative Research at NSF included the following:

In practice, distinguishing between innovative and transformative research is difficult at best and, some would argue, only possible in hindsight. Indeed, the two forms of scientific progress do exist side-by-side and, often, proceed hand-in-hand and overlap each other. For example, Alfred Wegener’s theory of continental drift, which significantly transformed concepts of our world required decades of innovative research to prove its validity.

Relationship

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ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS

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Essential Components:What a project must present to be competitive

LITERATURE REVIEW AND BACKGROUND

• The proposal must show how the research and expected outcomes fill a gap in the existing knowledge.

• This can be demonstrated by:• Presenting a literature review and results of analysis• Including a section on background

MOTIVATION

• The proposal must show how the research and expected outcomes address a need

• This can be demonstrated by:• Articulating the motivation for the proposed work• Framing your work in relation to cutting-edge research in the field• Presenting preliminary research

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Essential ComponentsSIGNIFICANCE• The proposal must convince reviewers of the benefits of the research

and expected outcomes.• This can be done by:

• Describing the intellectual merit (significance) of the work.• Describing the benefits beyond the immediate project and the benefits

to society (broader impacts)

RISK ASSESSMENT AND MITIGATION (OPTIONAL)• The proposal should address risks associated with the proposed project

(or with the proposal content) in anticipation of concerns raised by panelists.

• This can be done by:• Including risk assessment• Describing how the risk will be mitigated

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First Steps

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First Steps in Selling Your Idea

Step 1 •Write a white paper that presents your idea and briefly addresses the essential components.

Step 2 •Arrange a telephone call or visit with a program officer(s) to discuss your idea.

Step 3 •Seek advice from the program officer on how to proceed, in particular which programs are best suited to seek funding for the research.

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How to Find a Program Officer

• If you’re responding to a solicitation, the contact person will be listed.

• If you want to submit an unsolicited proposal, the process varies by agency. NSF: Go to the main webpage (http://www.nsf.gov/index.jsp). On the

left click on Program Areas and choose your area, e.g., Geosciences. On the area’s webpage, click on View (GEO) Staff Directory.

NIH: Go to the Institutes page http://www.nih.gov/icd/ and find out which institute bets fits your idea. Navigate that site looking primarily at Funding Opportunities or Organizational Structure.

Other agencies, e.g., DoD: Look at their main Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs)

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•Use the links to identify the program officer(s) (PO) in your research area.

•http://www.nsf.gov/index.jsp •http://www.nih.gov/icd

Activity:

Time Limit: 10 minutes 15

• I love your idea. Send me a proposal, and I’ll get it funded—Break out the champagne.

• I love your idea. I’ll draft a solicitation that you can respond to—Celebrate, but remember that other people will be responding too, so your proposal has to be great.

• I like your idea and here are some solicitations it might fit—Read the solicitations, choose the best fit, and write a proposal that meets all its requirements.

• I like the idea but believe it fits better in “X” area – Research the area and call another Program Officer.

What the PO Might Say and What You Should Do

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CRITICAL PROPOSAL SECTIONS

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The Importance of Good Writing

Your readers are not likely to buy your idea unless the proposal is well written, at least as well written as a peer-reviewed journal article or even a good detective novel. Proposals should be:– Clear– Succinct– Well Organized– Grammatically Correct

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Literature Review

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Literature Review – Sets the Stage

o Goals:• Put the proposal into a larger context • Provide evidence of knowledge of relevant published

literature• Tie present state of knowledge explicitly to your research

o Writing a literature review:• Present background to familiarize reviewer with the research

area• Succinctly describe and cite seminal and related work• Summarize what is known and what needs to be addressed

The literature review reinforces why your work is important 20

The reviewers noted that the ideas were not new and that the PI had not made the connection with prior resultsOf course, that idea (patterns) is not new either; we could start with van Dyke album of fluid motions, with EOF or POD techniques for which Nadine Aubry and others were pioneers; no reference is given to them, no bridge is done to these approaches; neither are quoted the people trying to identify patterns using wavelets (Marie Farge and others). I can think as well of early works by MacLaughlin and collaborators on the switching of between temporal and spatial complexity on one-dimensional equations, or of the study of patterns by Newell et al. in convection or optical turbulence, not to mention finance.

I am also a little surprised that topology is not part of this game; I think it should; topology (e.g. the study of knots, including wild knots) has proven useful in the study of DNA.

Excerpted here are only the critical parts of the NSF panel review of the proposal, in hope that they may be helpful to colleagues pursuing related research. Dated: 04/30/04 http://www.cns.gatech.edu/~predrag/papers/fullTurbwww03-review.html 21

The reviewers noted that the ideas were not new and that the PI had not made the connection with prior resultsOf course, that idea (patterns) is not new either; we could start with van Dyke album of fluid motions, with EOF or POD techniques for which Nadine Aubry and others were pioneers; no reference is given to them, no bridge is done to these approaches; neither are quoted the people trying to identify patterns using wavelets (Marie Farge and others). I can think as well of early works by MacLaughlin and collaborators on the switching of between temporal and spatial complexity on one-dimensional equations, or of the study of patterns by Newell et al. in convection or optical turbulence, not to mention finance.

I am also a little surprised that topology is not part of this game; I think it should; topology (e.g. the study of knots, including wild knots) has proven useful in the study of DNA.

Excerpted here are only the critical parts of the NSF panel review of the proposal, in hope that they may be helpful to colleagues pursuing related research. Dated: 04/30/04 http://www.cns.gatech.edu/~predrag/papers/fullTurbwww03-review.html 22

Lit Review

Reference Seminal

work

The reviewers noted that the ideas were not new and that the PI had not made the connection with prior resultsOf course, that idea (patterns) is not new either; we could start with van Dyke album of fluid motions, with EOF or POD techniques for which Nadine Aubry and others were pioneers; no reference is given to them, no bridge is done to these approaches; neither are quoted the people trying to identify patterns using wavelets (Marie Farge and others). I can think as well of early works by MacLaughlin and collaborators on the switching of between temporal and spatial complexity on one-dimensional equations, or of the study of patterns by Newell et al. in convection or optical turbulence, not to mention finance.

I am also a little surprised that topology is not part of this game; I think it should; topology (e.g. the study of knots, including wild knots) has proven useful in the study of DNA.

Excerpted here are only the critical parts of the NSF panel review of the proposal, in hope that they may be helpful to colleagues pursuing related research. Dated: 04/30/04 http://www.cns.gatech.edu/~predrag/papers/fullTurbwww03-review.html 23

Risk—framing

your work

Motivation and Significance

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YOU WANT THE REVIEWERS TO REACH THE SAME CONCLUSION AS YOU DID!

MOTIVATION AND SIGNIFICANCE

• Why did you decide to do this project?• Why is your research important?• Who benefits from the results of the research?

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Motivation and Significance

MOTIVATION:•State the need(s) or the problem•Explain the logic behind the need for the proposed research•Explain who has the need(s)•Use data that substantiates the need at the local, national, or global level as appropriate

SIGNIFICANCE:

•Explain why the research or project is important•Address in terms of intellectual merit and/ or broader impacts (NSF)

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•Read the example project summary•In groups, discuss

•Has the researcher made a strong case demonstrating the importance of the project? Why?

•Highlight elements that could make it stronger, if any, and explain

•Report out Activity:

Time Limit: 10 minutes 27

Project Summary

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Project Summary

• Purpose: To provide agency administrators and reviewers with a quick and concise overview of the proposal

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THE place to sell your idea!

Project Summary

• Purpose: To provide agency administrators and reviewers with a quick and concise overview of the proposal

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THE place to sell your idea!(Also sell your idea in the first

paragraph of the project description)

Project Summary: Guidelines

• Describe the goal (hypothesis) of the proposed project– Align with the goals of the RFP and funding agency

• Present an overview– Motivate the need for the project and how effort will lead to solution

or understanding of broader problem– Discuss conceptual framework– Describe approach or methods that will be used– Explain why the submitters are the right people

• State the significance of the proposed work– Describe how it meets the principal evaluation criteria

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Presentation by Agency-1

• NSF: Project Summary– Includes Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts

• NIH: Project Summary (Abstract)– Includes broad, long-term objectives and specific aims– Reference the health relatedness of the project– Provide a concise description of the research design and

methods – Describe relevance of the proposed research to public

health.

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Presentation by Agency-2• SBIR/STTR: Project (Executive) Summary

– Identify the potential innovation.– Describe anticipated results or outcomes.– Explain potential commercial application.

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Intellectual Merit• How important is the proposed activity to advancing

knowledge and understanding within its own field or across different fields?

• How well qualified is the proposer (or team) to conduct the project (comment on quality of prior work)?

• To what extent does the proposed activity suggest and explore creative and original concepts?

• How well conceived and organized is the proposed activity?• Is there sufficient access to resources?

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Broader Impacts• How well does the activity advance discovery and

understanding while promoting teaching, training, and learning?

• How well does the proposed activity broaden the participation of underrepresented groups (e.g., gender, ethnicity, disability, geographic)?

• To what extent will it enhance the infrastructure for research and education, such as facilities, instrumentation, networks, and partnerships?

• Will the results be disseminated broadly to enhance scientfiic and technological understanding?

• What may be the benefits to society?35

GROUP ACTIVITY

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Activity:

Time Limit: 30 minutes 37

Evaluate the IntellectualMerit and Broader Impactsof the project summaries.

SUPPORTING SECTIONS FOR SELLING YOUR IDEAS

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Facilities – Equipment – Other Support

o Describe existing equipment to be used in the research

o Describe available facilities

o Assess the adequacy of the organizational resources available

o Request funding for needed equipment not available

o Include university infrastructure that supports research

o Describe administrative support from the university

o Align work with institution’s strategic plan

Convince the reviewers that you have the resources and support to perform the research.

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Budget – Some Considerations

o Reinforce your credibility with a realistic budgeto Estimate accuratelyo Pay attention to time and effort required and actual cost of this

efforto Be as concrete and specific as possible in your justification o Sell the expertise of the team in the justification

Selling your ideas requires having a realistic and well-justified budget.

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ORSP Development Team

Fall 2009

Proposal Writing Remaining Workshops

Session IV - November 11th

Project Management, Evaluation & Assessment

1:00-3:30pmLocation: Blumberg Auditorium (UTEP Library)

Session V - December 2nd

Budget Preparation1:30-3:30pm

Location: Blumberg Auditorium (UTEP Library) 41

Resources

ORSP Development Team

ORSP Research Administrators

ORSP web page Expertise System

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Proposal Development Team Contact Information

Ann Gates agates@utep.edu

Flo Dickfdick@utep.edu

Claudine Riccillocriccill@utep.edu

Malu Picard-Amimarialp@utep.edu

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Reflection

What did you learn today that was new?

What elements of the workshop did you find the most

relevant?

What would you like to learn more

about?

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