NSF GRFP 2011-2012

[Dynamom]

First post on this board (Eigen - I accidentally hit a red arrow on one of your posts - sorry!)

I just stumbled onto this forum a couple of days ago after hanging out in the Fulbright room, looked into it and realized that I've spent the past decade doing research in STEM Education (am a re-entry student) and I DO need $$$ for a PhD! My campus is holding the informtional meeting about this grant next week. Only drawback I see is this year you are not allowed to hold two federally funded fellowships. Reality check: getting either Fulbright or GRFP is a long shot, but all you can do is put your best foot forward, right? I think it was Juillet that successfully re-applied in Year 2 of grad school? That's encouraging.

Question - I believe I read that international travel would be funded if deemed necessary/important for the project. How does that work - does that come out of the $30,000? Similarly, how are incentives for respondents/participants handled?

thanks so much - you guys are an awesome community - it's a great to know I'm not the only out there with anxiety about this process.

[weninger]

Folks,

As you guys already know, you are an awesome community. I used theGradCafe as a resource when I was applying and now I suppose I should make a donation:

I won the NSFGRFP and NDSEG fellowships (Computer Science). My essays are available online for your use. My essays address many of the opinions that you guys seem to have been debating (references, broader impacts, etc).

http://www.cs.illino...1/research.html (at the bottom)

Also, I'm on the admissions committee at my school (Top 5 in CS). Let me know if you have any admissions questions.

Edited September 26, 2011 by weninger

[gingermint]

Can someone tell me where to find the definitions for semester hours and quarter hours? According to the app it's under the FAQ- but I can't find it. I have 5 grad classes and 15 credits.

<<<<<<<If yes, it is required to list the department and hours completed. If there are no hours completed to report, you must enter 0 for the information to be processed. For the Semester Hours or Quarter Hours definitions, please visit the GRFP FAQs located under the Quick Links or refer to the Applicant User Guide.>>>>>>

According to the app it's under the FAQ or in the App Guide- but I can't find it.

Thanks!

[Robin G. Walker]

Need tips on writing the three GRFP essays? I have several resources that may be helpful. Go to http://gradschool.missouri.edu/NSF-GRFP - Dr. Robin G. Walker, University of Missouri Graduate School

[itsbcos]

I think I'm out of luck, but I figured that I'd ask to see if anyone had any insight.

For some reason I never saved the pdf of my reviews from last years application, I just looked at it online. Now that they've switched to officially accepting applications for 2012 when I look in the "See my reviews" (or whatever it's called) button in my account and it doesn't have my review from last year anymore. I remember all of the general comments from the reviews, but it would be nice to read through them again. Does anyone know how to get access to old reviews after the new round of applications has started?

[juilletmercredi]

I think it was Juillet that successfully re-applied in Year 2 of grad school? That's encouraging.

Yes, that was me. I didn't even get Honorable Mention my first year - I almost didn't want to bother my second time around.

Question - I believe I read that international travel would be funded if deemed necessary/important for the project. How does that work - does that come out of the $30,000? Similarly, how are incentives for respondents/participants handled?

Not exactly. The $30K is a living stipend. They used to have an international travel award of $1,000 for each fellow, but they have since changed it to the Nordic Research Opportunity. You can now get the $1,000 if you apply for scholarship/research/study in Norway, Finland, Sweden, or Denmark. But it's not for general international travel anymore.

And the stipend is to support the student. If you need incentives for participants, you'll have to apply for a separate grant to some granting organization; the NSF GRF doesn't provide that support.

I don't know how to view old reviews; I kinda wanted to review my old ones too, but I can't find them anymore. I feel like I saved them somewhere, though.

[Eigen]

Actually, if you look at it, the NRO is much more than 1k. It's a comprehensive support for travel (up to 5k, I think) and living expenses- partially payed for by the NSF, and partially funded by the Science Foundations in those partner countries.

[irugga]

I'm a student with a disability which is often misunderstood and stigmatized. It is serious but treatable once identified, and the identification took years. It manifested for me during my undergraduate work, and as a consequence I have a large gap in my transcripts (total disability) followed by taking courses part time (recovery) and a change in both school and major. I am more healthy now and the disability is not getting in the way of my graduate work.

When I applied last year, I didn't include any reference to this because of fear of discrimination. However, I'm worried that by not bringing it up I might be leaving the reviewers wondering if I'm someone who is unfocused and can't follow through on things.

Does anyone have advice on how I should handle this?

[IRdreams]

I'm a student with a disability which is often misunderstood and stigmatized. It is serious but treatable once identified, and the identification took years. It manifested for me during my undergraduate work, and as a consequence I have a large gap in my transcripts (total disability) followed by taking courses part time (recovery) and a change in both school and major. I am more healthy now and the disability is not getting in the way of my graduate work.

When I applied last year, I didn't include any reference to this because of fear of discrimination. However, I'm worried that by not bringing it up I might be leaving the reviewers wondering if I'm someone who is unfocused and can't follow through on things.

Does anyone have advice on how I should handle this?

This is the sort of thing I might bring up discretely with a trusted letter writer. Emphasis on trusted. They will likely have insight into how people within your field are likely to view such a disclosure. Moreover, if they deem that this is information that should be pasted on, I suspect a LOR is the most appropriate form for accomplishing this. The LOR will let the reivewers know the situation and provide secondary evidence that you are on track and likely to stay that way. It also won't derail your essays from the science in explaining what seems to be a percieved dificiency in your record. Also, if I was your LOR writer I would spin this as a tale of overcoming adversity so they can make it a positive for you while providing important context for your pre-graduate academic career.

There is of course another route. Make this an element of your application explicitly. I think that this is the more courageous route if you can pull it off well. I would do this by subtly suggesting that your presence within the field increases the field's diversity. This type of argument would be especially strong if you can show that your BI activities also promote the diversity of classroom and science by the inclusion of previously excluded voices due to medical/learning concerns. I do think for this to successful, it needs to be a component in a multipronged and consistent narrative that shows your improvement as well as activism as part of a coherent whole. If you BI activities don't suggest this, I would leave it to the trusted LOR writer to discretely address and hopefully successfully spin.

[IRdreams]

Lol...sorry for the bad English. I clearly should not write these during an insomnia moment.

[irugga]

This is the sort of thing I might bring up discretely with a trusted letter writer. Emphasis on trusted. They will likely have insight into how people within your field are likely to view such a disclosure. Moreover, if they deem that this is information that should be pasted on, I suspect a LOR is the most appropriate form for accomplishing this. The LOR will let the reivewers know the situation and provide secondary evidence that you are on track and likely to stay that way. It also won't derail your essays from the science in explaining what seems to be a percieved dificiency in your record. Also, if I was your LOR writer I would spin this as a tale of overcoming adversity so they can make it a positive for you while providing important context for your pre-graduate academic career.

There is of course another route. Make this an element of your application explicitly. I think that this is the more courageous route if you can pull it off well. I would do this by subtly suggesting that your presence within the field increases the field's diversity. This type of argument would be especially strong if you can show that your BI activities also promote the diversity of classroom and science by the inclusion of previously excluded voices due to medical/learning concerns. I do think for this to successful, it needs to be a component in a multipronged and consistent narrative that shows your improvement as well as activism as part of a coherent whole. If you BI activities don't suggest this, I would leave it to the trusted LOR writer to discretely address and hopefully successfully spin.

Thanks for the advice! My strongest "narrative" could be about teaching and learning, which could integrate this. I'd appreciate it if I could get your, or anyone else's advice on whether my idea would be a good theme.

I'm not sure on the forum etiquette for potentially long and personally specific posts. Do I correctly assume it would be more appropriate to PM someone who is willing to help?

[hupr]

For those who applied for this during their first year, did you get faculty from your new institution to write letters for you (even though they probably don't know you that well) or did you ask the same letter writers as for your grad school application?

[Agradatudent]

I'm asking the same letter writers. When they get to know me, then I'll have them write letters for me.

[ryanmor]

Any thoughts as to where to mention prestigious scholarships awarded while an undergraduate? I received a Goldwater Scholarship (STEM research award) based on my undergraduate research work. Would this best fit in my PS where I briefly mention that research experience or is it better off being said in the Past Research essay?

[Eigen]

I would just put other scholarships/fellowships in the "Awards and Honors" blank left for you earlier in the application.

As to letter writers: I'd get at least one of the three from your new institution.

Applying as a second year, I used my old thesis advisor, and two current faculty. I'd say you should be able to get at least one faculty member at your current school on board by November of your first year.

Edited October 17, 2011 by Eigen

[cogscipixie]

NSFers-

How do you go about getting your official transcript into an electronic form? Can you simply ask if from your undergraduate institution, have them send it to you, then have it scanned? I know for a fact my undergraduate college will only have it sent via mail and not electronically or by fax. How do I go about this?

[Jimbo2]

my understanding was that you just uploaded a pdf of it, which you can get by doing File->Print and clicking pdf. is that not what everyone else is doing?

[wait_wait_dont_tell_me]

Any thoughts as to where to mention prestigious scholarships awarded while an undergraduate? I received a Goldwater Scholarship (STEM research award) based on my undergraduate research work. Would this best fit in my PS where I briefly mention that research experience or is it better off being said in the Past Research essay?

Mention this in your previous research essay for sure. I received an undergrad research fellowship and a small grant and I mentioned one in my previous research essay and another in my personal statement. They spend the most time reading your essays and spend very little time (relatively speaking) reading your application sheet....whatever you want them to see make sure you put it in your proposals! ...p.s. I was awarded a fellowship last year

[AnnzPB]

Yes, references can eat space. I stole a ridiculously compact format from one of the proposals on Rachel Smith's site: superscripted numbers in the text, and for the citations, no carriage returns and not much more than the first author's name, journal abbreviation, and year. Nobody complained, and I managed to squeeze in 15 references.

This. Remember they are speed-reading your application, and they have probably read an unholy quantity of applications before they get to yours. Spell it out. Heck, one of my reviewers thought I was a guy - that's after three reference letters with correct pronouns, the obligatory "hey look I'm a girl I mentor girls" paragraph, and a really feminine name on the review sheet. So really, don't be subtle, because it won't work.

Do you mind pasting in a few examples of how you did the references per Rachel Smith's format? I've looked through the research proposals she has on her website and am having a hard time finding the reference format that you're referring to. Thank you so much!!

[BlueRose]

I've been paged. Here is my reference section - in 10pt font, it was 4.5 lines of text.

REFERENCES: (1) Buchler et al. 2003. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. (2) Rodrigo G & Jaramillo A. 2007. Syst Synth

Biol. (3) Cao H et al. 2010. Syst Synth Biol. (4) igem.org (5) Friedland AE et al. 2009. Science. (6) Rodrigo G et al.

2007. Bioinformatics. (7) sbml.org (8) Beielstein T et al. 2002. IEEE-CEC. (9) Shanthi AP et al. 2005. IEEE-EH.

(10) Ham TS et al. 2008. PLoS ONE. (11) Haber JE. 1998. Annu Rev Genet. (12) partsregistry.org (13) biofab.org

(14) Bennett MR & Hasty J. 2009. Nat Rev Genet (15) beowulf.org

I don't feel like editing it in, but the et als and journal names were italicized.

[Eigen]

For reference, this is how mine looked- it's a slightly modified (shortened) version of the ACS style:

(1) Kung, H.-C. et al. Deaths: Final Data for 2005, National Center for Health Statistics, 2008.

(2) Nana-Sinkam, P.; Croce, C. M. Pharmacogenomics 2010, 11, 667-669.

(3) Yumin, L. et al. Hematology 2010, 15, 215-221.

(4) Davis, S. et al. Nucleic Acids Res. 2006, 34, 2294-2304.

(5) Bourdoncle, A. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 11094-11105.

(6) Guedin, A. et al. Nucleic Acids Res. 2010.

(7) Guedin, A. et al. Nucleic Acids Res. 2009, 37, 5559-5567.

(8) Huang, K. et al. Bioconjugate Chem. 2007, 18, 403-409.

Again, all in 10pt font for about 5-6 lines of text. I had a friend that did something similar to what BlueRose recommends.

[NinjaMermaid]

Thanks for all the great advice!!

My biggest fear is that I have no publications at all just 2 *tiny* conference talks. I did win some scholarships as an undergrad and a small grant for my undergrad research. Thankfully, I have a strong research background and my proposed research idea is also strong and inventive. In spite of this, I feel as if I will be viewed as a weak candidate because of my lack of pubs.

Has anyone gotten the NSF without prior pubs?

[agarcia59]

Several fellows have received the NSF with no prior publications. Good luck!

[perroquet]

Hello all, and many thanks to current grad students for all of their insight and kindness. I've got a bit of a random and horrible question. Last year, I completed an MPhil in the UK, and I'm completely confused about my eligibility. My course started 10/2010 and I handed in my dissertation on 09/2011 (it was entirely research-based so I took no courses). As of 08/2011, I had neither completed more than 12 months of graduate work (which would invalidate my application now, I think) nor had I received an advanced degree (i.e. one apart from a BS/MS, or something of that variety). Technically, I think I'm eligible and my top prospective supervisor has cautioned me against contacting the NSF folks directly.

BUT the sticky thing is that on my cv/in my application, I mention my masters work (paragraph in previous research section). I'm wondering if the reviewers---being horribly busy, pressed for time, and spouses/parents/people with lives---will see this and think "PHEW well let's toss this out lickety-split, homegirl is DISQUALIFIED!"? I don't plan to omit this, because it just feels blatantly dishonest and would leave a massive blank gap for last year, but I'm wondering if I should fill out the extenuating circumstances form?

In any event, I noticed that a current NSF fellow has a similar background (albeit one who received the award last year, and ostensibly applied while he was just beginning his MPhil---unlike me, who has nominally completed the MPhil though I haven't been awarded the degree yet...paperwork/bureaucracy). But given the comments about shifting guidelines each year, I'm wondering if I a) am ineligible (but I reckon I may as well try) and should at least write out the extenuating essay.

Very grateful for any help! Sorry for this hideously long post.

[AnnzPB]

I am applying as someone who applying to grad school at the same time as applying for the NSF. Does anyone have a sense for what proportion of the fellowships go to applicants like me vs. people already in grad school at the time of application?

And second, does anyone have any specific advice on how I should paint my candidacy given that I am not able to speak to a specific advisor and program as the place that I would be conducting my research? I have been told to pick the best school out of the places I'm applying (which happens to be where I went to undergrad), and speak about that school as the place that I am applying and would like to do xyz that I've described in the application.

If anyone has any thoughts or advice on how to navigate my circumstances based on their personal experience or hearing about it from others, I'd really appreciate it.