NSF GRFP 2011-2012

[mrcrzister]

Does anyone know what percentage of HM people got promoted to Awarded last year??

[vertices]

Does anyone know what percentage of HM people got promoted to Awarded last year??

If this does happen, I'm guessing that we don't have enough people hear to estimate a percentage. Also, if it does happen, I wonder if they do it by field of study since the rankings aren't global. For example, if a Social Sciences person declines, do they take the next highest ranked Social Sciences HM? In that case, likelihood would be somewhat dependent on the number of other/better funding opportunities in your field of study.

[NeuroGal]

My reviews were:

IM/BI

E/VG

E/G

E/G

= Honorable Mention

They noted my publication history, undergrad GPA, reference letters, and how well thoughout the research proposal was. The BI didn't include enough clear plans and integration with my research.

[slu]

I applied as a 1st year Ph.D. student. My reviews were:

IM/BI:

VG/VG

E/Fair

I did not receive a third reviewer. My negative comments were:

First reviewer, IM (VG): Discuss more regarding experimental (or otherwise) validation of theoretical and computational results.

First reviewer, BI (VG): Discuss more regarding the broader impact of the research topic itself.

Second reviewer, IM (E): No negative comments.

Second reviewer, BI (Fair): Discussion of broader impacts was absent in previous research document. Also, insufficient discussion of broader impacts in research proposal.

I feel very disappointed because I feel I had an excellent research proposal. Having not applied last year, this was my first experience trying to gauge where and how to incorporate BI. The first and second reviewers obviously differed greatly in their opinions of my BI discussion. I just wish I could've gotten the third reviewer.

I will definitely try again this coming Fall, but it will be more competitive.

Edited April 5, 2012 by slu

[firefly luciferase]

Does anyone know what percentage of HM people got promoted to Awarded last year??

This might not be an accurate way of determining, but typically 2000 awards are given. However, if you look at the 2011 offered award list, there are 2077 applicants listed. So potentially 77 of the original awardees declined the fellowship, and 77 HMs got bumped up. There are 2051 awardees listed for 2010.

[mrcrzister]

This might not be an accurate way of determining, but typically 2000 awards are given. However, if you look at the 2011 offered award list, there are 2077 applicants listed. So potentially 77 of the original awardees declined the fellowship, and 77 HMs got bumped up. There are 2051 awardees listed for 2010.

Very good observation. Thanks. So basically each field/subfield has on average 1 or 2 people declining the award.

[rng]

Hi everyone

for those who knows the NSF system better--can you help me out? I'm a first year right now and received a traineeship for my second year. I was wondering if I can use the NSF 3rd-5th year that way I do not double dip in both funds my second year.

If that is possible, do you know what is the way to do this? I find the policies/guidelines on NSF website little confusing between 'reserve' vs 'defer'.

Thanks so much! Appreciate it!

Edited April 7, 2012 by rng

[jbr00ks9]

Does anyone know how to change the GRFP institution? My application was for UNC, but I've decided to go to Yale. I know it isn't a problem to switch, as I'll be in the same discipline (Environmental Sciences), but I cannot find it on the website. Also, my contact person is at UNC, so it's a bit awkward to just call them.

[Pitangus]

Does anyone know how to change the GRFP institution? My application was for UNC, but I've decided to go to Yale. I know it isn't a problem to switch, as I'll be in the same discipline (Environmental Sciences), but I cannot find it on the website. Also, my contact person is at UNC, so it's a bit awkward to just call them.

Once you accept the award, you are given the option to declare your tenure plans for the year. During that process you will be asked if the listed organization (school) and field of study are correct; if you say no will be able to change the organization and/or field.

Edit: Didn't mean to double post below, my apologies.

Edited April 9, 2012 by Pitangus

[Pitangus]

Hi everyone

for those who knows the NSF system better--can you help me out? I'm a first year right now and received a traineeship for my second year. I was wondering if I can use the NSF 3rd-5th year that way I do not double dip in both funds my second year.

If that is possible, do you know what is the way to do this? I find the policies/guidelines on NSF website little confusing between 'reserve' vs 'defer'.

Thanks so much! Appreciate it!

I will not claim to know the system well, but I've been looking into this as well because I would like to use a college fellowship my first year if possible. There are other threads that discuss this, though the answers vary.

Here's my interpretation:

"Reserve" means not taking the fellowship for that year; you can do this twice in the five-year award period that starts from the year you won the fellowship. I believe you are allowed to reserve in order to use another funding source, provided this source is not another federal fellowship.

"Defer" means pushing back the five-year award period itself, and is only allowed in special circumstances, such as military service and medical complications.

From the NSF (http://www.nsf.gov/p...62/nsf12062.txt):

5. May I defer my Fellowship?

No. There is no general Fellowship deferral - only approved

Military or Medical Deferrals. Deferrals are different from

Reserve years. While on deferral, a Fellow's clock stops, i.e.,

the remaining time available for Tenure or Reserve periods is not

affected. Reserve years are counted in the 5-year period allowed

for the Fellowship.

So I'm thinking when most people say "defer" they really mean "reserve" (in NSF terms). Anyone with actual experience is welcome to elaborate/contradict.

Edited April 9, 2012 by Pitangus

[jbr00ks9]

Once you accept the award, you are given the option to declare your tenure plans for the year. During that process you will be asked if the listed organization (school) and field of study are correct; if you say no will be able to change the organization and/or field.

Edit: Didn't mean to double post below, my apologies.

Wonderful - thanks! I was afraid to start that process because I wasn't sure if I would be accepting the organization as well.

[AnnzPB]

Has anyone ever had problems with changing their institution AND their minor field of study? I got the award as someone not yet in grad school, and the school I am choosing to attend and the minor field of study I will be pursuing their are different from the ones I listed on my application.

[Jana Olson]

I believe the wording below is a bit restrictive - from my award letter:

"Fellowships are funded for a maximum of three years and may be used in any three, 12-month units, starting in Summer (June 1) or Fall (September 1) over a five-year period that begins in 2012 (your award year).

That means if you accept, you have to take at least one year of funding immediately. Which means you can't defer all of it immediately, and if you're allowed to take multiple fellowships NSF must come first for a year, at least, in order to keep it. My award letter doesn't say anything about accepting other fellowships, but there may be other sources in the NSF website that do.

[eco_env]

Am I the only one that got a "Poor"? (VG/G, G/P). Wow.

[anthro.fish]

I believe the wording below is a bit restrictive - from my award letter:

"Fellowships are funded for a maximum of three years and may be used in any three, 12-month units, starting in Summer (June 1) or Fall (September 1) over a five-year period that begins in 2012 (your award year).

That means if you accept, you have to take at least one year of funding immediately. Which means you can't defer all of it immediately, and if you're allowed to take multiple fellowships NSF must come first for a year, at least, in order to keep it. My award letter doesn't say anything about accepting other fellowships, but there may be other sources in the NSF website that do.

I think you're misinterpreting the language here. It is saying that you may start receiving NSF funding as early as this Summer or Fall. I am declaring my first year as a Reserve year, in order to take advantage of a university fellowship. My Coordinating Officer (at my home institution) has already confirmed that this is allowed.

[rng]

I think you're misinterpreting the language here. It is saying that you may start receiving NSF funding as early as this Summer or Fall. I am declaring my first year as a Reserve year, in order to take advantage of a university fellowship. My Coordinating Officer (at my home institution) has already confirmed that this is allowed.

I confirmed with my coordinating officer as well. I was trying to arrange a training fellowship from my dept for my first year

[Pitangus]

I agree with anthroman and rng. The statement "begins in 2012 (your award year)" refers to the 5-year award period. You take the stipend for "any three, 12-month units" within that 5-year period.

[obot]

Congrats to everyone who received an award or HM!

I got HM in Life Sciences - Genomics:

E/VG

VG/E

E/VG

I guess you have to have at least one reviewer completely love your application? I applied for bioinformatics/systems biology so maybe I should have gone the CS route: Computer Science - other, Bioinformatics. I might not be eligible next year either cause I'm getting my master's from my current program and doing my PhD elsewhere.

Edited April 10, 2012 by obot

[almondmilk]

Help! Any appeal stories out there?

Hi all. I received an honorable mention in the NSF GRFP competition this year, and my reviews have only left my baffled...

I got glowing reviews, except that two reviewers said that I didn't connect my project to existing literature.

This is baffling because.... I did. The entire second paragraph in my proposal does just that. It's like they somehow just completely missed that part of the proposal. It just doesn't make any sense, and I don't even know what to think.

I would really like to somehow bring this to the attention of the program officers in hopes that they could perhaps give my application another look?

Normally I wouldn't be one to appeal a decision like this, but since the only criticism I got is an objective matter that I can refute/correct by simply pointing them to the correct portion of my proposal, I feel like it is worth a shot.

Does anyone know of any successful appeal stories? Or should I just accept this as one of those times when life doles out a crappy hand?

Any advice/insight would be much appreciated!

[eco_env]

Help! Any appeal stories out there?

Hi all. I received an honorable mention in the NSF GRFP competition this year, and my reviews have only left my baffled...

I got glowing reviews, except that two reviewers said that I didn't connect my project to existing literature.

This is baffling because.... I did. The entire second paragraph in my proposal does just that. It's like they somehow just completely missed that part of the proposal. It just doesn't make any sense, and I don't even know what to think.

I would really like to somehow bring this to the attention of the program officers in hopes that they could perhaps give my application another look?

Normally I wouldn't be one to appeal a decision like this, but since the only criticism I got is an objective matter that I can refute/correct by simply pointing them to the correct portion of my proposal, I feel like it is worth a shot.

Does anyone know of any successful appeal stories? Or should I just accept this as one of those times when life doles out a crappy hand?

Any advice/insight would be much appreciated!

if they didn't notice it, you didn't make it obvious enough. several of my reviewers did the same thing (saying I didn't do something, when I actually did and wrote about it). Reviewers read proposals quickly; it's your job to make important parts stick out (but don't ask me how, because i clearly fail in this respect).

[Chronos]

The way I made it explicit in my research proposal essay was by separating each section with a header. These are the headers I used:

-Keywords

-Background --> this is where I set up and talked about the literature

-Research --> two subsections of "Objective 1" and "Objective 2"

-Broader Impact

-References

I wanted it to make it easy for the reviewers to follow along and apparently it worked. Good luck to you in the future.

Edited April 16, 2012 by Chronos

[AnnzPB]

^^ Yup, that is what I did as well, and it worked out. I was advised to literally pull language from the NSF GRFP program solicitation and website and make headings out of it. It's a great strategy to help the reviewers along, and perhaps even more importantly, it really helped me stay on task and laser-focused in my writing process. Below are the headings that I used in my personal statement and my proposed research statement.

Personal statement headings: I did these headings as italicized and underlined with a period at the end, and then started the next sentence immediately after the heading (as opposed to putting an enter and starting on the next line)

• Advancing discovery and understanding through research.
  
• Integrating research with teaching and learning.
  
• Advancing diversity in science and benefiting society.
  
• Broad dissemination of scientific and technological knowledge.
  
  I didn't use headings in my previous research statement. I just put superscripts throughout my essay to denote publications and presentations, which I put at the end of the essay in size 11 font.
  
  Proposed research statement headings
  • Title
    
  • Keywords
    
  • Background
    
  • Proposed research
    
    • Participants
      
    • Materials
      
    • Procedure
      
    • Anticipated results
      

    [*]Intellectual Merit

    [*]Broader Impacts

    Hope this is helpful to future applicants!

Edited April 16, 2012 by AnnzPB

[Jimbo2]

Unfortunately there are no appeals... and nobody that didn't get the fellowship agrees with their reviews (including me haha). For example, I got a "good" (i.e., the average score) on my IM by one reviewer despite having completed 5 different research projects directly applicable to my field including an NSF REU, 6 presentations, ~10 technical reports, and attending the (undisputed) top school in my field in the nation, all of which I made very clear in my application. The reviewer said that my academic record was "good, but not outstanding;" if I got a G instead of a VG because my undergraduate gpa is a 3.4, I would argue that is complete BS for the purposes of this application, and they have no business cutting the GRE scores but keeping often subjective and inconsistently inflated transcripts. The reviewer also mentioned that I don't have a peer-reviewed publication, but having original research go as planned to the point where it produces publishable results is a matter of luck and in fieldwork-based aquatic ecology you can't just churn out peer-reviewed papers. But I digress .

Edited April 16, 2012 by Jimbo2

[AnnzPB]

Does anyone know whether NSF awardees who are starting grad school this fall are allowed to start their stipend in the summer?

[anthro.fish]

I think you can, if you can prove that you'll be engaged in either research of coursework (you'll have to have your advisor and your university's Coordinating Officer sign off).