meowser Posted May 13, 2009 Posted May 13, 2009 Sounds like the budget details will only come out after the National Science Board meeting wraps tomorrow (at the earliest). Otherwise, the only new info in those posts was that the GRFP numbers won't actually triple for a couple more years. So I suppose that is a bit of sad news for the non-second years amongst us. Other than that, we still know just as much as we did before (ie. close to nothing).
meowser Posted May 13, 2009 Posted May 13, 2009 And for all the rest of the crazy NSF stalkers out there: http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/meetings/2009/0513/csb.jsp
beak3chimps Posted May 13, 2009 Posted May 13, 2009 I'm no biologist, but there's a postdoc here who is doing work on how eye-movement patterns and how one searches their memory during recall is characterized by the same equation as animal foraging. Foraging rules. Yeah, there are only so many ways to optimize search algorithms. What will really blow your mind is how well stuff like diffusion of chemicals inside organism cells scales up to diffusion of animals across a landscape. Biology+Math=awesome.
shuette Posted May 13, 2009 Posted May 13, 2009 Yeah, there are only so many ways to optimize search algorithms. What will really blow your mind is how well stuff like diffusion of chemicals inside organism cells scales up to diffusion of animals across a landscape. Biology+Math=awesome. Whoa. Maybe diffusion of chemicals inside cells scales up to diffusion of something like a perceptual category from incoming exemplars. E.g. learning. That would rock my pants off. Math is fun.
e_sac Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 Someone post already, we gotta break 200 pages by the time the results are officially released! :-) ...And I might just want to rank up to caffeinated already...
Hekog Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 Last night, I had a dream about getting an early look at my rating sheets. Details to follow later.
denidzo Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 Someone post already, we gotta break 200 pages by the time the results are officially released! :-) ...And I might just want to rank up to caffeinated already... Okay, let's see ... is anyone doing research/interning this summer? What are you doing, where, and why?
meowser Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 Last night, I had a dream about getting an early look at my rating sheets. Details to follow later. I can't even begin to describe the number of dreams I have had about this stupid fellowship over the past 1.5 months. I don't know why because, honestly, it doesn't matter much for me at all in terms of grad school path. But I still wants it...bad. Hekog, your dream sounds intriguing. Please do follow up. Must get to 200 pages...
meowser Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 Caffeination! (I figured I'd make this landmark post while drinking my morning coffee.)
meowser Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 Press release from today regarding FY2010 budget: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?c ... &from=news "Graduate Research Fellowship Program. The prestigious program is the flagship for the federal government in supporting advanced education in a broad array of science and engineering disciplines as well as international research activity. To launch the Presidential initiative of tripling the number of new fellowships awarded annually by FY 2013, the request supports 1,654 new Fellowships in FY 2010."
denidzo Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 Press release from today regarding FY2010 budget: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?c ... &from=news "Graduate Research Fellowship Program. The prestigious program is the flagship for the federal government in supporting advanced education in a broad array of science and engineering disciplines as well as international research activity. To launch the Presidential initiative of tripling the number of new fellowships awarded annually by FY 2013, the request supports 1,654 new Fellowships in FY 2010." A year too early, that's what we are! Maybe they'll allow for a halfway between point for 2009, and award about 1200 total this year? Of course, I'd love to see the whole 1654 THIS year, because that would mean I've got more of a chance to get one! Good catch, meowser.
denidzo Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 I can't even begin to describe the number of dreams I have had about this stupid fellowship over the past 1.5 months. I don't know why because, honestly, it doesn't matter much for me at all in terms of grad school path. But I still wants it...bad. Hekog, your dream sounds intriguing. Please do follow up. Must get to 200 pages... I've had more dreams about this award in the last month than anything else. It's sad when you can almost taste it.
Dudeblight Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 wow guys. I dream about space monsters and zombies and fun stuff. At least dream about flying, or showing up to lab naked.
scienceteacher7 Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 Hi, I've been reading this a lot but I've only posted twice, so I'll do my bit to contribute to the 200 page goal. Yeah, I had an hm last year....and I don't want it again for a second year...that would make me a finalist/alternate/runner-up for a big fellowship for the 7th time and it would be nice to get one of them once...I know a guy who's had many of them and he's actually kind of an asshole...so I'm getting more skeptical of the reviewer decisions each year. Anyway, I've been reading this from Asia...paying almost every day to check my email and to get the info delayed and delayed...sometimes checking when I've had severe traveler's illness, just hoping to get something to brighten-up my mostly bed-ridden day! It just goes on and on and on and on and on.....like an amoeba...will we hear today? ever? can you really believe the one week when two weeks turned into 6 or 7? I've enjoyed hearing that others are in the same boat. Got to go...the creepy guy next to me in the internet cafe is watching questionable videos and that signals my time to exit! best
Dudeblight Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 Most people will admit the decision process is a mess. Some applicants are outstanding must-funds, but most people are qualified and put together a decent proposal. Hence the emphasis on broader impacts. Speaking of broader impacts, I'm curious if anyone goes to a "feeder" school where they set you up with a charity activity etc and you dont really have a choice. How did you feel about the whole process? All is fair, and all, and its great that they get everyone volunteering, but how valuable is the experience with what they set you up with?
liatris Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 I am the only student in my department applying for this fellowship and possibly the only one from my university, which is sad because I go to a big public school. I wish that the university pushed everyone to apply. Friends at other schools have applied and received the fellowship, just like everyone else in their department. Having a system of other grad students that have won the fellowship and a network of faculty familiar with the process is a HUGE advantage. I think it is a brilliant idea to match students with a charity and push them to apply. If you were in charge wouldn't you?
meowser Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 You never know... "GRFP will be unavailable from 11:00 PM ET Thursday, May 14th - 2:00 AM ET Friday, May 15th for scheduled maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience."
denidzo Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 I am the only student in my department applying for this fellowship and possibly the only one from my university, which is sad because I go to a big public school. I wish that the university pushed everyone to apply. Friends at other schools have applied and received the fellowship, just like everyone else in their department. Having a system of other grad students that have won the fellowship and a network of faculty familiar with the process is a HUGE advantage. I think it is a brilliant idea to match students with a charity and push them to apply. If you were in charge wouldn't you? I am the only one from my department who applied, and there is one awardee from our school in the first list this year - hard science, where I'm a social scientist. Ours is a big public university also, and they offer us several informational and training sessions each year to learn how to apply for the fellowship, along with the opportunity to read past years' winning applications to see what it looks like. But in our department, nothing ever gets mentioned about it. They expect that we will pursue funding on our own, which is a little scary. If you don't know what's out there, how can you know to apply, especially in the first year of grad when things are a little intense anyway? I am hoping to make it to the first awardee for our department in a very long time. Maybe the note that th site is going down again is good news, although in the past it was simply routine maintenance.
beak3chimps Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 I actually know someone who was told by their major professor *not* to waste their time applying. Ouch. I'm with you, liatris & denidzo. Departments should instill early on the idea that funding attracts more funding, and that even the effort to apply is something to be respected. My major professor made it pretty clear that not applying was not a good option for his students, heh. Onto happier topics: Summer research. I'm going to collect domestic dog genetic samples from seven countries this summer, so woohoo!
liatris Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 I actually know someone who was told by their major professor *not* to waste their time applying. Ouch. I'm with you, liatris & denidzo. Departments should instill early on the idea that funding attracts more funding, and that even the effort to apply is something to be respected. My major professor made it pretty clear that not applying was not a good option for his students, heh. Onto happier topics: Summer research. I'm going to collect domestic dog genetic samples from seven countries this summer, so woohoo! Our graduate coordinator told his students not to bother applying! I wonder if we are at the same school.
denidzo Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 Onto happier topics: Summer research. I'm going to collect domestic dog genetic samples from seven countries this summer, so woohoo! Tracking patterns of domestication, or another research goal?
foobaraq Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 Press release from today regarding FY2010 budget: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?c ... &from=news "Graduate Research Fellowship Program. The prestigious program is the flagship for the federal government in supporting advanced education in a broad array of science and engineering disciplines as well as international research activity. To launch the Presidential initiative of tripling the number of new fellowships awarded annually by FY 2013, the request supports 1,654 new Fellowships in FY 2010." Mehhh... Hard to imagine they will award more than 1600 this year then... The previous messages that indicated the total number of awards would be in the lower end of 900-1600 were probably right...
zebov Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 Okay, so they've release exact dollar amounts now: Page 3: http://www.nsf.gov/about/budget/fy2010/ ... fy2010.pdf GRFP Funding (in millions) ------------------------------- FY09: $115.06 (Regular) + $45.56 (Stimulus) = $160.62 FY08: $96.02 This means, in total, there is a %67 increase in GRFP funding from 2008 to 2009. So far, the increase in awardees is 4% (950 versus 913). If these numbers are right and all kinds of assumptions are made, this would mean we could possibly expect ~575 more awards to be given out.
dumbmatter Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 Okay, so they've release exact dollar amounts now: Page 3: http://www.nsf.gov/about/budget/fy2010/ ... fy2010.pdf GRFP Funding (in millions) ------------------------------- FY09: $115.06 (Regular) + $45.56 (Stimulus) = $160.62 FY08: $96.02 This means, in total, there is a %67 increase in GRFP funding from 2008 to 2009. So far, the increase in awardees is 4% (950 versus 913). If these numbers are right and all kinds of assumptions are made, this would mean we could possibly expect ~575 more awards to be given out. great work! but the regular funding includes money for all the previous winners too. so if that $45 million is only going to fund the first year of new awards (and i don't know that this is true, maybe they are going to preallocate 3 years of funding for the stimulus awardees), that would mean more like 1000 new awards. but who knows.
kdilks Posted May 14, 2009 Posted May 14, 2009 I am hoping to make it to the first awardee for our department in a very long time. Maybe the note that th site is going down again is good news, although in the past it was simply routine maintenance. Except for that day when the site "went down for repairs", and came back up at 2am with the list of first round winners...
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