NDSEG Biosciences

[Tan_Tan]

I am a second year microbiology student at UC-Riverside and am studying melanized yeasts found in biological crusts.  

Not a lot of students at my university even know about the NDSEG, and even less in my department, which is why it's so critical for me to look for other people who also applied in the Biosciences and were actually successful in achieving the honor. 

 

The NDSEG application seems very different than any of the other fellowships I have applied for and I am still confused.. is the first prompt only about 3,000 words and about my goals? From what I can tell the new website has been confusing a lot of people.. and it doesn't explicitly say 3000 words, but other online sources have mentioned this. Also, there really is no direction for the research prompt, how would I write this one? I understand that I need to pick one of the disciplines.. but in these fields which are more engineering heavy, how does one write a bioscience one that intrigues them?

 

Any type of guidance would be greatly appreciated.

[accast528]

This year they have changed the requirements from what was previously requested (1 page of general research statement (3,000 words) to 3 pages of a full proposal).  It is still unclear how much detail they want in the 3-page proposal.  I emailed them to inquire, and they referenced me back to their main website for any questions about instructions.

[lambda]

On 9/25/2018 at 3:16 PM, accast528 said:

This year they have changed the requirements from what was previously requested (1 page of general research statement (3,000 words) to 3 pages of a full proposal).  It is still unclear how much detail they want in the 3-page proposal.  I emailed them to inquire, and they referenced me back to their main website for any questions about instructions.

lol nice, I was thinking about asking them as well. Guess I won't!

[lambda]

On 9/24/2018 at 2:33 AM, Tan_Tan said:

I am a second year microbiology student at UC-Riverside and am studying melanized yeasts found in biological crusts.  

Not a lot of students at my university even know about the NDSEG, and even less in my department, which is why it's so critical for me to look for other people who also applied in the Biosciences and were actually successful in achieving the honor. 

 

The NDSEG application seems very different than any of the other fellowships I have applied for and I am still confused.. is the first prompt only about 3,000 words and about my goals? From what I can tell the new website has been confusing a lot of people.. and it doesn't explicitly say 3000 words, but other online sources have mentioned this. Also, there really is no direction for the research prompt, how would I write this one? I understand that I need to pick one of the disciplines.. but in these fields which are more engineering heavy, how does one write a bioscience one that intrigues them?

 

Any type of guidance would be greatly appreciated.

I am in the same boat with questions, but no answers...maybe we can talk them out on here though?

[Tan_Tan]

On 11/20/2018 at 10:14 AM, lambda said:

I am in the same boat with questions, but no answers...maybe we can talk them out on here though?

Sure! Sorry my email wasn't updating me that other's were responding to my inquiry. I am about to submit- any luck finding any new info out for NDSEG? I sent an email to the person assigned to my topic and they too just sent me general info about asking my PI how to fill these out.. Like thanks?
Here's their email responses : 
"Hi Tan-Tan,

I've forwarded your questions regarding NDSEG application to Ms. Jennifer Ardouin, ARO's Education Outreach Program Manager - Jennifer (cc'd here) will assist you directly.

Thank you,
Bob K"

I then received- I had initially asked if they could tell us who the 2018 winners were so I could contact them individually and ask how the process went on their end:
"Hello Tan-Tan

We received the email below from our contacts at ARL/ARO in regards to your NDSEG application.

Last year, we did request both a personal essay and research proposal, just as we are this year. The main difference is that the research proposal needs to be specific to the BAAs list on the website. More detailed instructions are listed inside of the application as well as on the website. 

NDSEG applicants are not traditionally engineering. In fact, we have many bioscience applicants and fellows. The program eligibility provides students from almost any STEM major to apply and we have a healthy mix of all disciplines. 

For help writing your proposal, we would recommend reaching out to your research advisor, graduate advisor, a post-doc in your lab, etc. We cannot provide specifics on how to write a proposal but we believe any of these individuals will be able to do so! Most of them have written many and can provide insight on what is best for these types of applications. You are welcome to use the research you are currently working on to tie into DoD, you do not need to transform your whole plan to fit the proposal.

At this time, we will be unable to provide the list of fellows. You could, perhaps, reach out to the fellowships coordinator for UCR to see if they can provide names of any University of California students. Additionally, you may be able to find them on social media.

We appreciate you reaching out and wish you the best of luck!


The NDSEG Fellowship Team"

Which felt like not much guidance. I was curious if they wanted a 1 year, 3 year of 5 year plan. I wrote a 5 year one just in case. 
 

On 11/20/2018 at 10:13 AM, lambda said:

lol nice, I was thinking about asking them as well. Guess I won't!

 

On 9/25/2018 at 12:16 PM, accast528 said:

This year they have changed the requirements from what was previously requested (1 page of general research statement (3,000 words) to 3 pages of a full proposal).  It is still unclear how much detail they want in the 3-page proposal.  I emailed them to inquire, and they referenced me back to their main website for any questions about instructions.

Yeah! Thanks for telling us your experience, mine was pretty much the same. Vague. ?