GoldenDog
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Posts posted by GoldenDog
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For what it's worth, Rob Ross had discussed why it takes time for decisions to go out:
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It would be super helpful if everyone sorts their statements in the drive into the selected/not-selected folders. Get to try again next year!
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Not selected. I wouldn't be too hard on yourself, as alot of this can just be that the panel selection wasn't quite right, or the topic wasn't something they wanted to see this year. Will try again next year.
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Just now, vpaglioni3 said:
Nothing that would make a significant difference, but once you're around the DoD space for a bit, you start to pick up on specific language and formatting that is used in presentations/documents/etc. For instance, a lot of DoD management like to see charts & visuals, even in shorter documents - that's not necessarily the case elsewhere, where people may think you're just 'padding' your document length. I don't think I can explain it much better, it's just stylistic choices that are prevalent around the DoD that don't necessarily show up elsewhere.
Sure; can you elaborate on goal versus objective?
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10 minutes ago, vpaglioni3 said:
My adviser worked for a DoD lab, and I had DoD production-level experience, so we were able to use specific DoD language (i.e. 'objective' over 'goal', 'task' over 'step', little things like that), add in some informative graphics (quad charts & Gantt charts run the DoD in some areas), structure the essay sections to flow like the DoD would expect (no examples off the top of my head)
like I said, the best it would get you is a tiebreaker, but it's something
Is there anythnig worth reading on this? I don't totally follow.
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Just now, vpaglioni3 said:
I don't think we'll be able to say definitively that a DoD connection helps directly or not. However, there are indirect benefits to having worked in/around the DoD space prior to applying. You get to know the language they use, what they like to see in reports, how to structure your report for maximum impact, etc. Tangential benefits that can maybe get you over the finish line, but won't run the race for you.
Care to elaborate or share some examples?
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Just now, 3st3rb said:
I'd be down to share essays. Though I wouldn't want to just post it here. So maybe a google drive folder people have to ask to join or something.
I could be down for that.
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It's not clear to me if the did connection matters. Is there any reason to believe that it does?
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Just now, 3st3rb said:
One way I've heard the outcomes described is that NSF awards the person and NDSEG awards the project.
That also sounds slightly true, but if that was totally the case then GPA/GRE etc would matter relatively little. I don't know how true that is there.
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I think that in general, the way to win NSF is fairly different from winning NDSEG. NSF is much more transparent about their process and they are looking for specific things: broader impacts and intellectual merit and all that they encompass, diversity in a variety of forms (e.g. geographic), and other items. As a result of their process being more transparent, there are alot more tricks you have to know to totally play defense and prevent yourself from giving the reviewers an excuse for a rejection.
NDSEG seems more cut and dry. They don't give you feedback, so the process if very opaque. They claim to have some selection criteria, but I don't know how strictly its used. I would be unsurprised if there were quota's and cutoffs based upon GPA and school. In other words, the fellowship is less holistic, which I think is unfortunate and ultimately not the best way of selecting students.
A big problem with both fellowships is when students' advisors just write the research statement, or the writing is pulled from their Prof's research proposal. At least for NDSEG, this advantage is less unfair since there are just less tricks to be incorporated.
However, I'm interested to hear how people wrote their applications. I was an NSF winner so maybe I'm just less familiar with this fellowship.
- enburgia and alcoholistic
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30 minutes ago, alcoholistic said:
While I respect the difficult job that Rob and the rest of the NDSEG staff have, I would rather them say "We hope to get this out by Monday" and then release it today, than to keep saying "We are shooting for the end of the day today" 3 days in a row.
Yes, exactly my point. He could easily have even just gone with "I'm not sure when this will be sorted out" since the beginning of this month.
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9 minutes ago, decembergang2020 said:
He's doing the best he can with the information he's given. Hindsight 20/20. There's no one individual at fault, and no matter how anxious we feel, the people on the other side are almost certainly more stressed trying to get the decisions out asap.
Eh. I think that one thing I've learned in graduate school so far is that speculation and unwarranted assumptions primarily lead to regret above all else. Unless there was something significant that changed, I'd still say he could have avoided making such statements. There is a reason that you see a lot of administrators hedge when asked questions.
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45 minutes ago, OhTheStress said:
Poor Rob. I really do think he deserves a huge round of applause and some kind of thank-you gift for putting up with our crap and the DoD's crap.
Does anyone still have fax machines anymore? My old job had one and the only thing it was ever used for was getting fax spam (which is apparently a thing).
You're not wrong, but at the same time he should have known better than to confidently state that everything would be done by the 15th. That is totally on him, regardless of the DOD.
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Basically, there is no healthy reason to worry about the dates.
- enburgia and TrottingAtom
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45 minutes ago, robertac93 said:
The number of 4/16 updates is already high enough that it is above the expected 5% award rate, so he could very well be correct.
I would be careful about this, and about interpreting any data from that sheet strictly, just because there is likely a selection bias in who decides to fill out.
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As far as I'm concerned, the only new info we will have is if someone talks to Sysplus today. Otherwise, there are plenty of other things more worth worrying about.
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Honestly, there is no new information, and we have no real reason to believe that we can read these tea leaves-- compulsively checking this page is probably not healthy.
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Another lurker here. I won NSF in 2018, and applied NDSEG the same year that the annoying "budget" issues resulted in less fellowships being awarded. I'm now finishing my MS degree, hoping to get PhD funding. I submitted ONR Mechanical (with BAA #N00014-20-S-B001) on Dec. 4, which is also when my app shows as last updated (12/4). Here is to hoping that the dates mean nothing!
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38 minutes ago, crystal1712 said:
Well if DoD cut the program from 200 to 69 they're probably already looking at cutting the program all together. I don't think it has anything to do with STI-TEC I actually think they're trying to make sure the program stays in tact. In regards to them failing miserably they're new at it and everyone/company makes mistakes they said they were taking all comments into consideration so I think everyone should chill on the comments and give them a chance its their first year and people were upset with ASEE as well so a new contractor isn't always the best option because there will just be another year of this.
You're making an awful lot of assumptions... STI-TEC has little or no influence on the number of awards given. At the same time, there is also no reason to conclude that criticizing the administration (STI-TEC) would hurt the program funding. There is a difference between them saying that criticizing the program is bad, and criticizing them is bad.
Additionally, they have known of these issues for months and haven't addressed them. The one job that STI-TEC has is data management. They clearly failed at that. They have been doing data management for a while, and when that's your "core competency..." I personally have no pity for them, based upon their conduct. For example, they didn't even have their kickoff meeting for this fellowship until nearly December. They didn't even define criteria until Nov. 27th (~4 months after receiving the contract). Clearly, this contract isn't a priority for them.
- KD35 and NeoOzymandias
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I got my rejection email this morning, after having emailed and called multiple times on Friday.
1 hour ago, Eigen said:Sadly, they probably aren't very far off base in this funding climate.
There is a difference between the funding being removed versus finding a different contractor to take care of this. STI-TEC has failed miserably.
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37 minutes ago, KD35 said:
My application was definitely processed since I got both the finalist and update information notifications, so it’s not like I was missing a rec / GRE / etc and disqualified automatically. She just said she would assume I had been rejected and to email them. She said “they told me that all emails have been sent out” which is obviously false, so it seems like she doesn’t actually know. I wish I could get in touch with “they.” We at least deserve to know one way or another, this whole thing has been an absolute debacle.
Yeah, she clearly has little close affiliation with the people actually handling this...
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43 minutes ago, KD35 said:
I got nothing as well, emailed sti-tec but haven't got a response yet (besides the instant automated one which says to wait up to two weeks for a response. Lol)
Two of my friends also got nothing. Although Barb doesn't seem to know any more than we do, at this point I'm inclined to agree with her that it most likely means we got rejected.
I mean based on prev comments I made, NDSEGF component of STI-TEC is in Ohio. So the question is if Barb is really in Tulsa or Ohio. If Tulsa like the area code indicates, then yeah I'd bet she literally knows nothing more than us. She always refers us to the email address. So I'd bet she doesn't know anything. But, your're the one who talked to her on the phone. I don't know what her tone was. I can see why she would say no email==reject, or better phrasing, I could see how she would assume no email== no processed application.
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5 minutes ago, Entangled Phantoms said:
Oh I agree. Just saying these guys are a second rate defense contractor. Which means their only talent is winning bids. I remember their shotty website and complaints about the security of their portal. They won the bid and completely mailed it in. Right away. No first year of even trying.
Calling your reps to lambasted STI is a great idea.
Oh yeah, lets be clear-- for many of these defense contractors and SBIR grant-based companies, they rely on connections more than anything. Often the contracts they bid on were written with a scope such that they are nearly the only company allowed to bid. I will be contacting my reps, regardless of my results. This contract should still be with ASEE.
NDSEG 2020 20201
in The Bank
Posted · Edited by GoldenDog
The awardee list was posted on NDSEG's website, with 159 awardees.