NSF Fellows Activity Report

[Eigen]

Anyone else working on this? Most of it was pretty straightforward, but I'm finding the "Year Summary" very unclear.

It starts with requesting a 2-3 paragraph summary. Then it says it can either be 1000-5000 words, or 1 page.

None of those really match up! 1 page typed (11 pt, TR) is about 750 words tops. And 1000-5000 words is 2-3 really long paragraphs.

So basically, I have no idea what length document they're looking for. Additionally, it says it should be written "for the public", so should I put in a lot of longer explanations on how my project works?

[Tsujiru]

I can't really help on the length (except that it seems they want it short). Some people are better at writing up their research concisely than others, so they may even be suggesting you make it the length you're most comfortable with. More likely, they didn't read what they had previously written carefully when updating this year. In any case, I doubt they would reject your year summary because of a length requirement.

As for "for the public" they really do mean absolutely as little jargon as possible. I was just at an NSF orientation where they had us completely rewrite the title of our accepted projects. (I might add, this was especially hard on some of the chemists, sorry about that...). They want it written the way you would describe your work to your grandmother.

Another question in return, would you have to wait for your GRFP to run out before being eligible to apply for a DDIG?

[Eigen]

I'm not sure about the DDIG question- I know I had an internal fellowship overlap my first year, but I took an "off" year for NSF funding. Not sure if you could do the same with the DDIG.

Thats pretty much what I figured about the report.... I'm doing mine at just under a page, and tying to minimize jargon. Really hard to do with synthetic biological chemistry, though.

[emie]

It's 1000-5000 characters, not words, so that makes the 3 guidelines more similar. I wouldn't stress too much about the summary; I think the purpose is just to have a searchable public database so people can see generally what the GRFP program is funding. I second everything Tsujiru said about explaining like it's your grandmother - I was at the same NSF orientation, and it seems like they are valuing public readability over scientific precision for things like this, so words that are less specific but more widely known (i.e. not jargon) are preferred.

[Eigen]

Ok, thanks guys.

How much did you focus on research progress vs broader impacts in your progress reports?

[riceandbeans]

Another question in return, would you have to wait for your GRFP to run out before being eligible to apply for a DDIG?

I'm pretty sure that since the DDIG covers research expenses and is not considered a fellowship (and is also in your advisor's name, not yours), you can apply for it while having a GRFP.

[Daniel Himmelstein]

On 4/2/2012 at 11:15 AM, Eigen said:

Anyone else working on this? Most of it was pretty straightforward, but I'm finding the "Year Summary" very unclear.

I've posted all four years of my Fellowship Year Summaries. Alistair Boettiger has also posted a Year Summary of his. Hopefully these provide inspiration to those still working on their NSF GRFP Annual Activities Report.

 

[f_lit]

I have half-assed each and every one of my reports - this is my final year, wooooooo. Seriously, don't worry about it that much. I wrote 4 short sentences (2 each for IM and BI), and believe me they weren't wordy. (ie - I explored X. I presented at X. I continued my outreach of X.  Also, I am mentoring a high school girl.)

[Eigen]

Just FYI guys, this post was from 2012. 

That said, I'm surprised your CO and advisor signed off on that cursory of a report- mine never would have.