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chaparral

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Everything posted by chaparral

  1. Thanks! I might contact my host PI... I’ve been cautiously optimistic this whole time because I volunteered to stay on tenure this next year. (Thus no living expense money required, the way I see it. All I need is the travel funds for a plane ticket.) but thanks for the response! This whole process has been a bit of an enigma to me and any insight is really helpful ?
  2. Congrats!!! Mine for Australia still says Awaiting NSF Approval :’( do you mind if I ask how you found out? Did you get an email? Did your fastlane status change also?
  3. Actually I also waited to tell some people! But I told my international collaborator right away and the folks who manage the funding at my university... and by Thursday I thought it must be really real so I started telling people and making plans to leave.
  4. This happened to me too :'( I am quite sad, but I really appreciate roadrunner797's perspective on this! We just gotta keep at it and hope for a positive outcome in a few months.
  5. This happened to me too :'( I'm just really really sad. Four days is long enough to get excited, start making plans, etc. It's going to be a rough couple months, I think. :'( In hind sight, maybe I should have known??? I guess it was a bit early to hear back but the email seemed so official, and when I signed into Fastlane my GROW status was changed to "approved." I think I'm going to need telephone confirmation for every other grant I ever receive for the rest of my life! (assuming I ever get a grant again... sob) I wonder if this happened to everyone?
  6. Awesome! Double check by reading the solicitation on the GRFP website (you should do that anyway), but I believe the primary constraint is that you can't completely change fields (e.g., physics to biology).
  7. 1) I think you should definitely apply now if you can pull it together. You can apply twice: once now, and once either as a first year grad student or a second year grad student. If you don't apply this year, you only get one chance instead of two! If you don't get it this year, you will still have the feedback from the reviews to inform your next attempt. I have heard that undergrads are compared with other undergrads, etc. If you think your application would be competitive compared to other undergrads, all the more reason to apply. NSF says they want to fund scientists early in their careers. 2) In my case the 34k replaces the university TAship I would otherwise have needed. I have heard that in rare cases universities will stack fellowships, especially to attract an incoming student with a GRFP, but I wouldn't count on it. You would need to check with your university. 3) My (successful) proposal was quite specific. I outlined a hypothesis, research plan with methods, the university where I would do the research, and how I would interpret results. However, if you get funded, you don't have to do anything in that proposal. You don't even need to attend the school that you said you would. NSF just wants to see that you have the ability to craft a solid research proposal. Having said that, I wasn't ridiculously specific on the methods. Space is limited. Hope this helps! Best of luck. Don't be afraid to ask your professors for feedback.
  8. I was awarded last year. My figure legend had Times New Roman, size 10 font. In the actual figure, I used Arial and I sized the figure so that it was about size 10 font. However, if I had not been awarded and had to do it over, I would have used Times New Roman. It's not worth the risk in my opinion. Can you replace any of your figures with a sentence in the text? I originally had two figures, but someone told me it looked too crowded. I removed one figure and as a result the proposal was easier to read since I had separate headings with spaces between paragraphs. Hope this helps!
  9. Pretty sure. The NSF GRFP award letter states that you cannot accept another federal award regardless of fellowship status, meaning even while you put the NSF GRFP "on reserve." Also, I think the rules changed in 2011 to ensure this. Previously, you could put the GRFP on reserve for 2 years, forfeit one year (to take the 3 years NDSEG), and then use GRFP for the remaining 2 years. Here it is: "Starting with the 2011 Fellows forward, GRFP Fellowships cannot be concurrently accepted or combined with another Federal Fellowship, irrespective of the Fellow’s Status. Federal Fellowships are defined as awards that are made to individuals from the US Government (e.g., Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, National Institutes of Health, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Agriculture, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration.)" By now, I kind of hope that's the case, since I just declined NDSEG.
  10. I also received both. I believe there is no way to keep both; both award letters are very specific about that. I will take the GRFP for several reasons: 1. The GRFP lets you spread out funding over 5 years, which lets me keep my first year departmental fellowship. NDSEG makes you take it in the next 3 years. 2. The GRFP has international research opportunities, such as GROW, which I will apply for. 3. The NSF is the main funding source for my field of research; I want to get off on the right foot with them! I've heard (no authoritative source) that receiving/accepting the GRFP can help you when you apply for future NSF grants. The only advantages I see for the NDSEG are that it is slightly more competitive, (about 7% success vs 12% for GRFP), and they give you $1000 extra each year for health insurance. Any other thoughts?
  11. chaparral

    NDSEG 2016

    I have to say, I am really impressed with NDSEG this year. It sounds like the waiting process in previous years has been brutal, but this year they kept us informed on the Facebook page months in advance, with continued updates and a relatively early notification. Also, it sounds like they will be more clear about whether you are on the waitlist or not.
  12. chaparral

    NDSEG 2016

    I got it too, but I will decline, since I already accepted GRFP. GRFP is better for my purposes, since I can put the fellowship on reserve the first year to use an institutional fellowship. But hey, I hope that means one of y'all on the waitlist will get an email saying you got it!
  13. chaparral

    NDSEG 2016

    Is it true that fellows are each supported by a specific branch of the DoD? My project fell into one of their categories (Biosciences), but I can't think of a specific branch that would want to support my project.
  14. Which concept, if you don't mind me asking?
  15. 7 is a lot! Also, international conference is impressive.
  16. Well... worst night of sleep ever. Glad I woke up though. Awarded. E/E E/E E/E Undergrad/recent grad, no publications (which they DID point out but gave me an E anyway). Based on comments, I think it helps that I had a bunch of presentations plus an invited presentation at national meeting. Thank you all for beings such a wonderful support group! Congrats to those who got it, and please don't be discouraged if you didn't get it this time. It depends on so many factors that are out of your control.
  17. I feel like the whole point of your research statement IS intellectual merit. We read the bit about separate headings, but my advisor told me not to put "intellectual merit" in my research statement because he felt the whole thing (prior to the "broader impacts" heading) counted as intellectual merit. Having said that, I would feel a lot better right now if I'd put that heading in... darn.
  18. Waking up at a normal hour... if I set an alarm, check it, and go back to sleep its gonna be like a weird dream (probably nightmare).
  19. Time goes by fastest when you're sleeping... just saying that's my master plan! T minus 1 hour.
  20. I wonder if NSF will give advice on this score... maybe they want to see more 1st years vs 2nd years? But pending more information I think my odds are better in year 2.
  21. well next year, the first year graduate students from this year AND the undergrads from this year can apply (then they will be 1st and 2nd year grad students). For the sake of argument, let's say that all the 2nd year grad students apply. Why wouldn't they? Some of the 1st years will apply, and some will wait. In two years, people will have to chose. The people who chose to wait (now 2nd year grad students) will apply, and some of the 1st year students will apply. Edit: So next year, I will be competing against 1.5 classes of grad students, and in 2 years it should only be 1 class, lets say 1/2 1st year and 1/2 2nd years.
  22. Two years from now. By then I should have 3 publications, at least. Also, I will have time to implement some of the broader impacts I proposed this year. That is the ultimate support for broader impacts, stuff you've already done! Also I think this is a crucial transition time. Next year, I will be competing against 2 classes of grad students, whereas in 2 years there should be about half as many grad students. Do y'all agree?
  23. Yeah, well my friend is a great worker and a quality student, and he came into the lab at a good time. Don't get me wrong, he totally deserved to be author! But his contribution happened over only about 8 weeks. I've got almost 3 years and no publications to show yet! haha but I got one heck of a data set
  24. That is a great question. I think I prefer knowing when I will know. Last year I was a Fulbright Finalist, and they told me I would find out in March. It wasn't until mid-April that I found out I didn't get it... that was after a lonnnnggg month of fearly/constantly checking my email. I think that was much worse than this.
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