urbanecologist

Yay, great news!

I don't have advice for your specific questions, but I have bad news to deliver: it sounds like you're probably too far along in grad school to be eligible for the GRFP. https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2016/nsf16588/nsf16588.htm "Effective as of the 2017 competition (Fall 2016 deadlines), graduate students are limited to only one application to the GRFP, submitted either in the first year or in the second year of graduate school... Applicants who have completed more than twelve months of graduate study or have earned a previous graduate or professional degree are eligible only if they have had an interruption in graduate study of at least two consecutive years prior to November 1 of the year the application is submitted."

Ugh, didn't get it, but I knew it was a long shot. "Status: 1st Round Reviews - SME Panel". Thanks to everyone on this thread for explaining how we could find out, because clearly the contractor handling the fellowship doesn't understand how it works, and I never got any sort of email notice. Congrats to the winners!

That confused me a bit, too. I emailed them and asked if conference poster presentations should be listed in the publications section, but that question was in an email with several questions, and they ignored that one. (I have my posters on my CV, though.) I've tried to ask a number of questions that I haven't gotten clear answers on, and found some bugs in their Survey Monkey web forms that they seem to have fixed now. I called once, and the person who answered the phone sounded like a general receptionist/tech support who knew less about the NDSEG than I do.

I didn't see a thread for the NDSEG Fellowship for this application cycle. It looks like previous years have had plenty of confusion and website issues, so I imagine I'll want to hear from other applicants as the process moves along. I think my research is a much better fit for the NSF GRFP (which I've already submitted), but one aspect of my research aligns with an Army funding priority from its BAA, so I'm going to throw a Hail Mary application. I've read a few successful essays from when the application process just asked for a one page essay to cover both your personal history and your research proposal, but I haven't read any successful applications with the new format of a 500 word personal statement and a 3 page proposal. (Maybe this is the first year for this format?) Good luck, everyone!