NSF GRFP 2013-14

[Char123]

From what you have written so far, it sounds like you are pursuing something solely for the purpose of winning an award. It sounds like you have not done any outreach not are you interested in doing so. 

 

I honestly cannot believe that you want to use the fact that you worked with a minority woman to help with your lack of outreach. its people like you who write essay that is full of padding and over emphasizing that the NSF wants. 

I'll let you get your facts straight before I waste anymore time talkkng to you. 

[Miro]

I'll let you get your facts straight before I waste anymore time talkkng to you. 

 

I seriously hope that you do not get the award. 

[Char123]

I seriously hope that you do not get the award. 

You're quite pathetic, aren't you? 

[juilletmercredi]

I've never heard of anyone with less than a 3.0 GPA getting the award.  I would imagine that a person who would be most likely to get it with a sub-3.0 GPA would be a second-year doctoral student with a very high graduate GPA and enthusiastic support from mentors, who may even have a few years between undergrad and now, or who had a valid explanation for it at the time, or maybe strong major grades.

 

With that said, I do think that you should still apply.  I thought there was no chance in hell I would get the GRFP, and I got it.

 

Charlies, working with a younger student on a project (even if you were the lead) is not necessarily a mentoring experience.  Mentoring is not really just about getting someone up to speed with a new project, but really more teaching them the ways of the science world and sort of helping them build their career in the field or proceed through graduate school successfully.  I also haven't seen any NSF essays that I would say looked like padding or overemphasizing.  I know that I genuinely talked about my experiences mentoring and volunteering to increase visibility of science to minorities and help more of us enter the field, and I know a few NSF recipients and all of them really did the things they said they did.  You do have to be able to market yourself appropriately, but that's not overemphasizing.

[d00d]

Thanks all for the advice and encouragement. I'm a "non-traditional" student in that I went into industry a few years before returning to grad school. It's frustrating to be haunted by things that happened a decade ago but hopefully that growth will come through in my essay and grad work. Gotta play to win right? Best of luck to everyone!

[Faraday]

I happened to have a meeting today with a professor at my graduate institution who was a reviewer for the NSF GRFP as well as other NSF grants in general and she had a few useful things I will pass along for everyone here to know (mostly applicable to the sciences). Some of this has been said, some has not, but I will repeat everything for posterity.

 

• No jargon in your proposal. While people in your overall field will be reading the proposal, someone in your exact subfield might not be and getting too specific will cause them to not be able to gain much from the short quick read you applications will get.
• In the same light, minimize your abbreviations.
• The Broader Impacts section is without a doubt the most important aspect of your application. The expectation is not necessarily that you will be an incredibly brilliant scientist with a groundbreaking research proposal. If you do, and it is clear you have a very bright future in research this will greatly help your application, but the majority of reviewers look for the broader impacts criteria.
  • Broader Impacts can best be summarized as leadership. Leadership might come in the form of student-led group at your undergraduate or graduate institution, or maybe from outreach education as has been mentioned previously. In the case of the latter, there is a strong desire to see people helping underprivileged minorities. I the case of science, they want to see someone who is can contribute to the community and effectively communicate science. This is in line with the NSF view of how it wants to see science promoted. Summarized, there is an expectation that each and every candidate will walk on water and be able to go to Haiti and tutor young middle schoolers in the basics of science made possible by your diligent studies of French and volunteerism in the local inner-city neighborhoods...
  • There can also be some benefit to overcoming extraordinary circumstances. Some heartfelt story about abuse you suffered when you were younger can certainly grab their attention, but you need to connect it to something worthwhile, don't simply try to tug at the reviewer's heartstrings
• Lastly, be sure your research proposal can be summarized in 2-3 clear and distinct sentences. What happens is the applications go through a few rounds of reductions from all of them to the finalists. The finalists are then scored and ranked by score. There is an arbitrary cutoff applied and everyone above that cutoff gets a fellowship, and most people below will not. In some cases if one reviewer in particular likes you application, they can champion for you to get the fellowship even though you were below the cutoff, but in these intense negotiations it is important that the reviewer championing your candidacy can summarize your worthiness to other reviewers in a quick and succinct manner.

So I think the moral of the story is to sell your broader impacts as best as you possibly can. I don't have experience mentoring underprivileged minorities but I have been teaching, tutoring, and mentoring other students at my undergraduate university, and well as some high-school mentoring (non-minority) for three years so I will try to talk about how that ties into my passion for teaching and education and show my dedication to continue to reach out and inspire and enlighten future scientists, and hope for the best with that outlook.

Edited September 30, 2013 by Faraday

[Miro]

the NSF does not limit broader impact to just mentoring underprivileged minorities. it is all persons who who do not have access to the " high caliber education" that most of us have. This includes people from rural areas (regardless of class), intercity kids, women, first generation Americans etc. 

 

Broader impact can also include doing science demonstrations at the local fair or science museums. 

[juilletmercredi]

Broader impacts is simply promoting science outside of academia.  Broadening the participation of underrepresented groups (whether they be ethnic/racial minorities, poor people, rural people, immigrants, etc.) is only ONE of the broader impacts examples.

 

From: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2007/nsf07046/nsf07046.jsp

 

Caveat lector - the following list is neither prescriptive nor exhaustive and should not be read in ways that constrain the creativity of researchers in proposing activities with broader impact. However, in all instances a proposal must be specific in how it addresses the Broader Impacts criterion.

 

Advance discovery and understanding while promoting teaching, training, and learning, for example, by training graduate students, mentoring postdoctoral researchers and junior faculty,  involving undergraduates in research experiences, and participating in the recruitment, training, and professional development of K-12 mathematics and science teachers.

Broaden participation of under-represented groups, for example,by establishing collaborations with students and faculty from institutions and organizations serving women, minorities, and other groups under-represented in the mathematical sciences.

Enhance infrastructure for research and education, for example, by establishing collaborations with researchers in industry and government laboratories, developing partnerships with international academic institutions and organizations, and building networks of U.S. colleges and universities.

Broaden dissemination to enhance scientific and technological understanding, for example, by presenting results of research and education projects in formats useful to students, scientists and engineers, members of Congress, teachers, and the general public.

Benefits to society may occur, for example, when results of research and education projects are applied to other fields of science and technology to create startup companies, to improve commercial technology, to inform public policy, and to enhance national security.

 

You don't have to tutor or mentor minorities - or anyone - to fulfill broader impacts.  One of my BI statements was judging the NYC Science & Engineering Fair.  Another was how I hoped my scientific research would impact health policy, specifically AIDS outreach and prevention work.  I talked about talking about PhD work and science in classrooms with children when I volunteered in elementary schools.  Developing applied projects with non-academic labs could be broader impact.  Teaching an "understanding science" seminar to business people could be BI; writing science articles for newspapers or magazines could be BI; creating a startup or using your research to design a smartphone app could be BI.

 

People always think "broader impacts" is just a cute buzz word for "diversity" and it's not.  It's "Why should anyone care about your research?  Why should we take taxpayer money to fund you?  What are you ever going to do to give back to society and repay this debt you've incurred?"

 

In fact, I would say it's probably beneficial to your application to talk about several different kinds of ways to impact the community and world more broadly, not just the one about underrepresented minorities.

Edited October 1, 2013 by juilletmercredi

[fishasaurus]

Hi everybody,

 

I heard that the NSF will be impacted by the government shutdown (http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2013_09_30/caredit.a1300215), and that it wouldn't be making payments during the shutdown. Does anybody know how this will impact current NSF Fellows? Will we not get paid?

 

Sorry if my question doesn't belong here--I didn't know if I should start a new thread or not, and figured it was relevant here.

[Eigen]

We should, assuming it doesn't last too long. Schools receive 4 month allotments at a time, so they should have your pay for Sept through Dec.

[PhDplease!]

Does this mean that the application season for 2013-2014 is halted? Will we not be able to submit our applications?

[fishasaurus]

They're going to shut down Fastlane, so you won't be able to submit your application. I imagine they would push back the deadline to allow submissions if the shutdown lasts beyond the current deadline.

[fishasaurus]

Eigen, thank you!! I didn't realize the school got chunks like that. Definitely makes me feel less panicked now!

[Electric_displacement]

It doesn't look good for new applicants this year, such as myself. I was so excited that they were going to offer more awards, too!  It's sad that I spent so much time working on the proposal this summer!  Let's hope Congress resolves this mess in the next few weeks.

[Flood]

Hey.  I have a few questions that I'm hoping someone can help me answer.

 

I graduated in 2007 from an itty bitty liberal arts school.  I have a fair GPA, especially for my school, and as I initially wanted to go into medical practice, I have since taken a number of hard science-y classes – biochem, ochem, micro – and done well in all of them.  I also have two ‘research experiences’ – an REU in 2006 at the U of MN in cognitive science, and a stint as a volunteer research assistant in 2010 at the U of MN, also cognitive science (but with adolescents instead.)  So, while I did figure out that I do want to do research, and I do want to study medicine, I’ve done an about-face back to what I studied in undergrad - the History of Science (with a focus on History of Medicine, specifically the history of alternative and botanical medical practices in the US.)  Lucky for me, the NSF does fund History of Science, though I am having trouble meeting someone who has received an award for that area in the past 10 years.

 

1.  Does anyone have experience with successful NSF GRF applications from History of Science applicants?  In my dream world, someone might have a sample research proposal from one of these people that I could stare at for a little while.  I am fairly comfortable with the one I am working on, but any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

1. Regarding LORs -  I have two strong recommenders from undergrad and a fairly strong one from the woman with whom I did research most recently.  So there are three right there.  However, I’m not sure they’re the best three – partly because two are from undergrad professors.  Should I try to obtain the third from my research advisor for the first REU, even though it was way far back?  Or should I ask for a LOR from my mentor in western botanical herbalism, who does have many good things to say, does have a master’s in her field and teaches at two local colleges (which is as good as it gets, for an herbalist) and has the added advantage of knowing me more recently and being able to speak to something about the specific nature of what I want to study?  Any advice is helpful.

 

1. Though my proposal for the I want to do is founded on work that other people have done/are doing, I haven’t done research in this area before in any technical sense, though I’ve sure studied the h* out of it.  Too much of a stretch?

 

Thanks a bunch.  Good luck to you all.

 

[d00d]

It doesn't look good for new applicants this year, such as myself. I was so excited that they were going to offer more awards, too!  It's sad that I spent so much time working on the proposal this summer!  Let's hope Congress resolves this mess in the next few weeks.

 

Does the shutdown/budget deliberation impact the number of awards as well? Or only the timeline?

[clandry]

Can someone fill me in on NSF shutting down? Will there not be a GRFP application this year?.. That would make me mad as I have already spent a good deal of time with the essays.....

[Electric_displacement]

From my understanding, no one really knows.  Other than the message you get when you go to the NSF website, it's all speculation.  If they resolve this crisis in the next few weeks, I'm guessing there may simply be a short delay in the time we get decisions.  However, if it continues and overlaps the deadline, I'm not really sure what would happen.  Reading the notice they posted, I'm assuming that they would move the application deadline?  They said notifications on the status of awards would be issued once normal operations resume.  Only time will tell.

[Wander]

Question on how to structure the personal, relevant background and future goals statement: Is it a good idea to section this statement into something like Broader Impacts, Personal Statement and Past Experience to make the experience clear for reviewers? Or should I simply make the statement flow as a single entity and use bold to emphasize BI / IM etc? Just curious if anyone has received any advice about this from past applicants or from professors

[Eigen]

I sectioned out broader impacts in my proposed research, at the end. 

[Wander]

I did the same for proposed research but not in my personal, relevant background and future goals statement. Now I'm wondering whether I should

[Pitangus]

Question on how to structure the personal, relevant background and future goals statement: Is it a good idea to section this statement into something like Broader Impacts, Personal Statement and Past Experience to make the experience clear for reviewers? Or should I simply make the statement flow as a single entity and use bold to emphasize BI / IM etc? Just curious if anyone has received any advice about this from past applicants or from professors

 

When I applied, the application still had three essays, including a "Personal Statement" and a separate "Previous Research Experience" essay.

For my Previous Research essay, I had a separate section titled "Significance" for each past experience, which included both IM and BI. 

My Personal Statement didn't have any titled sections, though I did have a paragraph towards the end that was more BI oriented and discussed how my past outreach experiences helped me develop my future outreach goals. 

 

I'm not sure though how I would have structured things if I was writing just the one "Personal Statement, Relevant Background and Future Goals" essay.

I believe this is the first year that the two essays have been combined into one, so I don't think anyone will be able to provide exact examples from past applications.

[clandry]

I am having a lot of trouble getting under the 3 page limit. I had a 4.5 page essay and trimmed it down to 3 pages. My concern is I see successful applicants in the past including references in their previous research essays. There's no way I can fit that into mine. How important is this?

 

I only had about half a page to talk about some of the outreach events I did. That's another concern I have is that I couldn't elaborate on my outreach events. 

The majority of my essay are descriptions of my previous research. 

[vertices]

The only references I included in my previous research essays were to my own presentations, posters and articles. They're pretty important because they show the reviewers that you have experience presenting your work to a wider audience and that your work has been accepted by the scientific community. To save space, each research experience had a sentence explaining what the work had gone into (e.g. "This work was accepted in publication venue¹ and I spoke about it at conference².") with superscripts to the reference. I had a single sentence at the end noting that all references were to the part of the application where you list your presentations and honors. This part of the application is a text box in fastlane outside of the essays.

 

It's great that you have a month to revise this essay. I suggest going through your previous research experiences to see what you can tighten up to make more room to drive home your broader impacts credentials and plans. When I was revising, I looked at each sentence or point and asked myself what message I was trying send, what prompt questions I was trying to address, and if I had done so elsewhere. I also considered if that particular message was important as others. I used the rubric that's part of Robin G. Walker's GRFP Essay Insights to help with this.

 

In my early drafts, I went into too much detail with my previous research experiences. I needed to simplify to fit all of my points. Exactly how I did it was not as important as that I had done it. I left enough information to show I had the background for my research proposal but it was mostly an abstract level summary which also spoke about how I had grown as a research who works with others, leads, presents, etc. I didn't include references to other works. I think that would be too much detail. It might vary by field of study though.

[Neuro_Guy]

While we're discussing the previous research essay:

 

the prompt says something about going through each research experience. Are people briefly summarizing each lab/job experience in a list or just going over the broad details in a paragraph or two? I have a list of each experience and 1-2 sentences describing each one; I'm worried if I switch to a general discussion of my past experiences I won't be able to explicitly hit each one (there are several).Wondering what others are doing.

 

Good luck to everyone, remember you don't need to be #1, just number #1,999