NSF GRFP 2020-2021

[jmillar]

Since the new solicitation has already been released, looks like it's time to start a new thread for the upcoming NSF GRFP cycle.

Biggest changes were the identification of specific priority research areas:

“n FY2021, GRFP will emphasize three high priority research areas in alignment with NSF goals. These areas are Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Information Science, and Computationally Intensive Research. Applications are encouraged in all disciplines supported by NSF that incorporate these high priority research areas.”

NSF has stated this will not change their review process: https://www.aip.org/fyi/2020/nsf-defends-new-emphases-graduate-research-fellowship-program

Thoughts? Will this change how you write your application?

Edited August 19, 2020 by jmillar

[pt369]

Hi everyone,

I'm excited to join this thread. I just finished my first drafts of the GRFP Research Statement and Personal Statement. Whoa, that was hard! I've lurking last year's GRFP thread, and I'm a bit worried. Firstly, I am a non-traditional student. I graduated with my bachelor's in 2015, and have been working since then. My professional experience is in the real of Tribal government, specifically natural resources, where I developed technical field work and writing skills. I currently work a non-profit organization in community health as a project manager. My experience boils down to lots of grant writing and management. I feel a bit like a fish out of water among folks who haven't had any interruption in their academic journey. Also, I my proposed research is in the intersection of disease ecology and Traditional Ecological Knowledge of indigenous peoples. I've received encouraging responses my former undergrad professors and potential advisors, which is encouraging. In any case, this is quite an overwhelming process and there's so much uncertainly. I hope I'm not the only non-traditional student here and that I can relate to others' experience. Best of luck to everyone! 

[tryingHardFailingHarder]

On 9/4/2020 at 4:26 PM, pt369 said:

g

Also a non-traditional applicant. I've been out since 2017 after getting my Bachelors. It's definitely intimidating. Good luck to us both!

[megiiiinium]

On 8/19/2020 at 11:59 AM, jmillar said:

Thoughts? Will this change how you write your application?

I've definitely been trying to work a QIS application into some of the research proposals; it definitely helps to have a few professors in my department who are active in the field. Only bummer is not having much experience with QIS and what interesting questions there are to address.

I am curious how others are going about choosing subfields? I am very much in an interdisciplinary field (Chem), but the subfields don't fit the normal subfields I've seen in school or even by the American Chemical Society. I've been looking at the subfields awarded last year and will be talking to my advisor about picking a subfield, but looking to hear from some others.

[mitochondria_1]

Hello, I read the solicitation but I am still wondering if the reference section needs to be 12 points or if I could use 11 point for them. Do any of you know??

[Bernt]

14 hours ago, mitochondria_1 said:

Hello, I read the solicitation but I am still wondering if the reference section needs to be 12 points or if I could use 11 point for them. Do any of you know??

I received GRFP last year. For the references section, I used size 10 Times New Roman Font and truncated citations (First Author et al. (YEAR) Journal). I put a space between each citation, as opposed to one on each line. Not sure if the rules changed this year, but I had no issues with this format last year.

[ShiningStargirl]

Hey Bernt, 

I attended a webinar hosted by the NSF people today, and they said even the references need to be size 11. The size changed to 11 point font this year. 

To double check and verify, they keep telling us to refer to the NSF Solicitation Page! 

Sincerely, 

Mabel

[PopSoc]

Anyone know how NSF is selected? So are a % of applicants selected from each category (e.g., psychology-social psychology)? or are subject areas pooled (e.g., all of psychology)?

[mitochondria_1]

On 10/2/2020 at 11:10 PM, ShiningStargirl said:

they said even the references need to be size 11.

Does that mean that the application can be written in size 11 or only the reference?

[ShiningStargirl]

52 minutes ago, mitochondria_1 said:

Does that mean that the application can be written in size 11 or only the reference?

Hi Mitochondria_1, 

Everything including references are in 11 point font. If you try putting a draft/pdf of into the GRFP module, it should also tell you if there's anything wrong! If this doesn't make sense, feel free to private message me about anything. I'd be free to talk over the phone or zoom to show you what I mean! 

Sincerely, 

Mabel

[PopSoc]

On 8/19/2020 at 9:59 AM, jmillar said:

Since the new solicitation has already been released, looks like it's time to start a new thread for the upcoming NSF GRFP cycle.

Biggest changes were the identification of specific priority research areas:

“n FY2021, GRFP will emphasize three high priority research areas in alignment with NSF goals. These areas are Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Information Science, and Computationally Intensive Research. Applications are encouraged in all disciplines supported by NSF that incorporate these high priority research areas.”

NSF has stated this will not change their review process: https://www.aip.org/fyi/2020/nsf-defends-new-emphases-graduate-research-fellowship-program

Thoughts? Will this change how you write your application?

It's changing my approach slightly. I've heard some people say it is for show because it's what congress wants, but their wording is super specific. "emphasize high priority research areas" tells me they want these sorts of proposals and will fund more of them potentially, and "will not change their review process" tells me they will still be reviewing all categories for awards, but that doesn't mean they'll have the same priority. 

 

Maybe I'm wrong in my interpretation though? 

What does everyone else thing or what have you heard?

[lkaitlyn]

On 9/26/2020 at 10:05 AM, Bernt said:

I received GRFP last year. For the references section, I used size 10 Times New Roman Font and truncated citations (First Author et al. (YEAR) Journal). I put a space between each citation, as opposed to one on each line. Not sure if the rules changed this year, but I had no issues with this format last year.

EDIT: Delayed reply. I see someone else answered. My bad. My brain is mush right now.

ORIGINAL: This changed this year. It's 11pt font for everything.

Edited October 11, 2020 by lkaitlyn

[lkaitlyn]

Responding to a couple things here:

Acceptance rates have traditionally been consistent, as in, they have roughly the same acceptance rate across the board, so categories with more submissions will have more awards than categories with fewer submissions. (For example, if acceptance rate is 10%, ~10% from every category will get an award — this does not necessarily apply to subfields.) Not sure if it's still that way this year.

And @PopSoc, I went to their webinar and was griping at them because I'm in the social sciences and we already don't have many funding sources. They said they aren't allocating more awards to the priority areas. It sounds like they're adding those priority areas as new categories one can choose, but applications in other categories (e.g., regular social sciences) won't be reviewed any differently. It basically sounded like they are just going about business as usual but trying to recruit applications that incorporate these areas, not necessarily giving more awards to these types of applications. I hope they're not just messing with us, but it at least provided some momentary comfort.

[ShiningStargirl]

How are you guys feeling leading up towards the application deadline? I feel burnt out and anxious. ?  First time applying to a fellowship! 

[Nessapants]

@ShiningStargirl Also my first time applying! I feel pretty much the same as you, but I wish you the best of luck!

[ShiningStargirl]

Just now, Nessapants said:

@ShiningStargirl Also my first time applying! I feel pretty much the same as you, but I wish you the best of luck!

That makes me feel better! I'm about to start editing my draft for the day. Good luck to you too!

[ShiningStargirl]

Question guys. What sort of stuff are you guys writing for the Intellectual Merit portion for the *Research Proposal* and what are you guys writing in the Intellectual Merit for the *Personal Statement*?

[Laurence898]

13 hours ago, ShiningStargirl said:

Question guys. What sort of stuff are you guys writing for the Intellectual Merit portion for the *Research Proposal* and what are you guys writing in the Intellectual Merit for the *Personal Statement*?

I'm a first time applicant, so this is just how I interpreted the solicitation. For the research proposal, I mostly wrote about the implications of the project & how the research could benefit science as a whole (ie the intellectual merit of the project). I also briefly mentioned how my specific research background fits into the feasibility of the project. For the personal statement, it was much more a testament to my own research background and skills - I wrote about each lab I worked in, what I got out of it, how it helped me grow etc. and ended by talking about how it fits into my career plans & what I can contribute to science. Again, that's just how I interpreted it! I'm sure there are other successful ways to approach this.

[ShiningStargirl]

Just now, Laurence898 said:

I'm a first time applicant, so this is just how I interpreted the solicitation. For the research proposal, I mostly wrote about the implications of the project & how the research could benefit science as a whole (ie the intellectual merit of the project). I also briefly mentioned how my specific research background fits into the feasibility of the project. For the personal statement, it was much more a testament to my own research background and skills - I wrote about each lab I worked in, what I got out of it, how it helped me grow etc. and ended by talking about how it fits into my career plans & what I can contribute to science. Again, that's just how I interpreted it! I'm sure there are other successful ways to approach this.

Thanks Laurence It was confusing to me cs in the directions they weren't clear! I was looking at previous winners and it would seem they took a similar approach to yours! I appreciate you taking the time to answer this. Hope you're doing well! 

[ShiningStargirl]

1.) How did you guys upload your CV? Was it as a pdf? Or did you just list accomplishments on the space provided?

2.) I don't see where to upload a pdf of our transcripts. Anyone know?

[jingllili]

Does anyone know if it's necessary to include keywords for research proposal?

[mitochondria_1]

On 10/16/2020 at 12:59 AM, ShiningStargirl said:

1.) How did you guys upload your CV? Was it as a pdf? Or did you just list accomplishments on the space provided?

2.) I don't see where to upload a pdf of our transcripts. Anyone know?

1. I didn't upload my CV as pdf, but I added "honors and awards", "publications, and "oral and poster presentation" on the section they asked for our accomplishments. 

2. You can submit the transcript once you add your school in the education section. There is a section on the right side that says "upload" once you add your school.

[mitochondria_1]

20 hours ago, jingllili said:

Does anyone know if it's necessary to include keywords for research proposal?

Yeah, you need to add keywords for the research proposal. you can add stuff that relates to your proposal (i.e I am using zebrafish as my model so I put zebrafish as a keyword)

Edited October 18, 2020 by mitochondria_1

[ShiningStargirl]

2 hours ago, mitochondria_1 said:

1. I didn't upload my CV as pdf, but I added "honors and awards", "publications, and "oral and poster presentation" on the section they asked for our accomplishments. 

2. You can submit the transcript once you add your school in the education section. There is a section on the right side that says "upload" once you add your school.

Thanks I found where to upload the transcripts! And okay, that's what I thought for the CV but I wasn't sure! 

[jameshgrn]

Anyone else not really do proper time management and is now swamped with everything? I'm stressed out :/