Biological Anthropology NSF-GRFP question

[jp5125]

Hi all,

I'm currently working on my application for the NSF-GRFP, and I have a question for those of you who have/are applying to the GRFP. My area of research interest is in non-human primate behavior and the evolution of sociality. My degree and the graduate degree programs I am applying to this upcoming cycle are in Biological Anthropology, but I was wondering if there were advantages or disadvantages to doing an interdisciplinary application split between bio anth and evolutionary biology, rather than just strictly a bio anth application.

One one hand, my focus area heavily focuses on evolutionary theory in relation to non-human primates, and i am afraid if I just make my application a bio anth one I will get paleoanthropologist sas my reviewers who might not understand or be interested in my work the same way that an evolutionary biologist would. On the flip side though, I feel like the "Life Sciences" subject area is far more saturated with applicants than the "social sciences" subject area for this fellowship, so it might be better for me just to stick to biological anthropology and leave evolutionary biology out of it to have my application compete with less people for funding.

I am curious what all of you think, look forward to your responses! 

[Bschaefer]

I think it would be best for applying with bioanth. Since you would be incorporating more theory into your project, and this should be reflecting in your proposal, then this field is probably better. Though it would be interesting for the evobio, they might hold it in the same regards to other proposals that are less theoretical just given the fields. I would reread your proposal and see which one it fits better with, but I think the bioanth would be better. Because at least with the bioanth section, you’re getting the panel that consists of people within your field compared to a much larger panel that could be doing anything within evobio