NSF GRFP 2016-2017

[Bschaefer]

@shim12 I don't think so. Whats there is there now. A colleague of mine applied but already received an email saying her app will not be reviewed, so if you haven't gotten that then maybe it's okay? 

[psychpride9]

Anyone know the timeline that takes place in between us submitting our apps and us hearing back? Even though it doesn't really make a difference, I wonder if they're already reading our apps, or if that won't take place until next year.

[busybee]

On 12/10/2016 at 7:52 AM, Bschaefer said:

@shim12 I don't think so. Whats there is there now. A colleague of mine applied but already received an email saying her app will not be reviewed, so if you haven't gotten that then maybe it's okay? 

That's rough! Does she know why?

[Bschaefer]

11 hours ago, busybee said:

That's rough! Does she know why?

I think it was because she submitted it a few minutes or so late? she didn't go into detail 

[littlemoondragon]

On 12/11/2016 at 0:01 AM, psychpride9 said:

Anyone know the timeline that takes place in between us submitting our apps and us hearing back? Even though it doesn't really make a difference, I wonder if they're already reading our apps, or if that won't take place until next year.

You will not hear back until late March or early April unless you are disqualified (such as incorrect formatting or not enough reference letters), where you typically receive a notification a few weeks after the deadline.

[psychpride9]

Does anyone know if there's any circumstance that might prevent someone from being able to accept the award if they receive it? Excluding that they're not going to grad school after all, once someone earns the award, is it pretty much guaranteed that they'll be able to accept it? I'm slightly concerned that my intended graduate program might be perceived as too "counseling" focused, but if they grant me the award, then that's that?

(I'm aware there's an extremely low chance of me getting the award, but just in case).

[jmillar]

2 hours ago, psychpride9 said:

Does anyone know if there's any circumstance that might prevent someone from being able to accept the award if they receive it? Excluding that they're not going to grad school after all, once someone earns the award, is it pretty much guaranteed that they'll be able to accept it? I'm slightly concerned that my intended graduate program might be perceived as too "counseling" focused, but if they grant me the award, then that's that?

(I'm aware there's an extremely low chance of me getting the award, but just in case).

You need to stay in the field that you applied under as you are not allowed to make a major focus change (field change) within your first year. I have been super careful transferring from MS to PhD to make sure my new program is still within the field I applied under.

Be careful about joining programs that are more health/social science related, as many are not allowed. I've seen a few people make it work, but this happened when people got the GRFP during their masters and quietly changed to a different field for their PhD at the same university without officially declaring it.

[sierra918]

On 9/1/2016 at 4:33 PM, Butterfly_effect said:

What does everyone think about Broader Impacts/Intellectual merit headings in the research statement? I previously had a broader impacts section, but I'm stumped about trying to shoehorn the intellectual merits in as well or just let the introduction/background also stand for intellectual merits. Thoughts?

It is now a requirement to have those headings.

[dragonfrog]

I just received an email saying my application is being returned without review. The reason they gave for my ineligibility is "ineligible degree program or field of study (clinical, disease-focused, professional, etc.)." I have thoroughly read and reread the program solicitation and disagree with this. My field of study is microbiology and I am approaching it from a purely academic lab perspective (not clinical, not trying to develop new treatments, etc.). My research statement focused on quantifying gene expression of efflux pumps (used for drug resistance) in Helicobacter pylori. You could argue that the reason I chose this bacteria is "disease-focused" in that I am interested in it because it causes disease, but the research is just understanding how it works. It's not about etiology or epidemiology or any of that. I also had read sample applications from other individuals in microbiology who received the award, so I know this is not unheard of.

I am appealing their decision (they gave me an email address and a deadline for doing so), but was wondering if anyone has any thoughts on why I might be ineligible or what I should say in my appeal letter. Does anyone know what the chances of actually getting such a decision overturned are? Are they even going to fully read my letter? Any thoughts/advice appreciated. Thanks!

[Eigen]

You can PM me if you don't want to post details here, but I'd guess this is more about your program than your specific research. 

NSF and NIH are very territorial in what they fund, and the differentiators are getting less and less clear. NSF tries to not fund anything that could receive NIH money, so if you're in a field where NIH grants predominate, you have to be quite careful. 

[jmillar]

31 minutes ago, dragonfrog said:

I just received an email saying my application is being returned without review. The reason they gave for my ineligibility is "ineligible degree program or field of study (clinical, disease-focused, professional, etc.)." I have thoroughly read and reread the program solicitation and disagree with this. My field of study is microbiology and I am approaching it from a purely academic lab perspective (not clinical, not trying to develop new treatments, etc.). My research statement focused on quantifying gene expression of efflux pumps (used for drug resistance) in Helicobacter pylori. You could argue that the reason I chose this bacteria is "disease-focused" in that I am interested in it because it causes disease, but the research is just understanding how it works. It's not about etiology or epidemiology or any of that. I also had read sample applications from other individuals in microbiology who received the award, so I know this is not unheard of.

What is the degree you are going for? Is it a PhD? Is the specific name of the degree specialized, rather than just Biology?

When you wrote your proposal, did you mention these efflux pumps in relation to disease or antibiotic resistance? If so, this might have got you. NSF is becoming more strict and they are encouraging people to apply more to NIH for this type of work.

I received a GRFP to work with a bacterial pathogen, but we were extremely careful to leave out any mention of disease or things that could impact human health (ex. antibiotic resistance). We reframed our work to look solely at theoretical genome evolution and why our bacteria was suited to this task (characteristics of this bacteria's particular genome). 

[dragonfrog]

12 minutes ago, Eigen said:

You can PM me if you don't want to post details here, but I'd guess this is more about your program than your specific research. 

NSF and NIH are very territorial in what they fund, and the differentiators are getting less and less clear. NSF tries to not fund anything that could receive NIH money, so if you're in a field where NIH grants predominate, you have to be quite careful. 

 

4 minutes ago, jmillar said:

What is the degree you are going for? Is it a PhD? Is the specific name of the degree specialized, rather than just Biology?

When you wrote your proposal, did you mention these efflux pumps in relation to disease or antibiotic resistance? If so, this might have got you. NSF is becoming more strict and they are encouraging people to apply more to NIH for this type of work.

I received a GRFP to work with a bacterial pathogen, but we were extremely careful to leave out any mention of disease or things that could impact human health (ex. antibiotic resistance). We reframed our work to look solely at theoretical genome evolution and why our bacteria was suited to this task (characteristics of this bacteria's particular genome). 

Yes, PhD. Yes, specialized (microbiology). I know people that got the GRFP in micro programs, so I didn't think that would be an issue. Yes, I mentioned antibiotic resistance. But it was purely understanding how they work, not like developing efflux pump inhibitors or anything. You really think just mentioning resistance is an issue?

[Eigen]

Hard to tell how much mentioning it is an issue. It also may be a combination of your degree program (specialized microbiology) and the mention of pathogen specific research. 

IE, a microbiology PhD as part of a non-specialized program vs. one in a medical school or with a specialized training and curriculum. 

Some of this also depends on year- how long ago were these GRFP awards that you were seeing?

I got one back in 2010 with a fairly significant cancer sensor/therapeutic delivery system proposal, but over the years the NIH/NSF divide has gotten a lot more significant, and there's not as much overlap as there was. 

[jmillar]

2 minutes ago, dragonfrog said:

 

Yes, PhD. Yes, specialized (microbiology). I know people that got the GRFP in micro programs, so I didn't think that would be an issue. Yes, I mentioned antibiotic resistance. But it was purely understanding how they work, not like developing efflux pump inhibitors or anything. You really think just mentioning resistance is an issue?

I could see it going either way. Antibiotic resistance might have been enough to trip it as being health related and something NIH would fund. NSF will often allow for funding of functions of things that have health implications like this of done under bioengineering. I would still go through the appeal to see what they say.

[dragonfrog]

I'm actually just now in the process of interviewing at grad schools, so I'm not even in a specific program yet, but most of the ones I am looking at now are part of an umbrella program. I know someone who got an award in 2014, found another 2014 microbiology research proposal from a winner online, and checked out the recent awards and there were 38 micro awards in 2016. So I doubt it is some recent change.

[Eigen]

But it's not just about "microbiology" vs not. Micro awards could include, say, microbiome research or microbial ecology, both of which are definitely NSF fundable, and different from disease-focused (or treatment focused) microbiology. 

[dragonfrog]

Alright, thanks for the feedback. Definitely going to appeal and at least see if I can get a better explanation.

[kjc]

Does anyone know what will happen if Federal budgets get slashed in the future what happens to the 3 years of funding for NSF fellows? Like what if you were to get awarded a GRFP this year, it would probably be fine because budgets are set, but what about year 2 and 3 where the Trump administration may have gutted NSF? Thoughts? Ideas? 

[charmquarkz]

On 1/30/2017 at 11:41 AM, kjc said:

Does anyone know what will happen if Federal budgets get slashed in the future what happens to the 3 years of funding for NSF fellows? Like what if you were to get awarded a GRFP this year, it would probably be fine because budgets are set, but what about year 2 and 3 where the Trump administration may have gutted NSF? Thoughts? Ideas? 

I tuned into a webinar from the AAAS shortly after the election where they put together a panel which included Celeste Rohlfing (was a deputy assistant director at the NSF) to discuss the future of R&D funding under the new administration (you can watch it here: http://view6.workcast.net/AuditoriumAuthenticator.aspx?pak=2704109997656236). Some of the most asked questions had to do graduate/post-doctoral funding initiatives by government agencies like the NIH, NSF, etc... Honestly, their answer was neither comforting nor discouraging because it was so vague! Probably because there is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding R&D budget cuts (and still no science advisor on the horizon). They said something along the lines of "funding allocated to those programs will depend on how much money there is left over"....... I interpret that to mean that it depends entirely on whether the federal budgets are indeed slashed and to what extent. I think what is certain though is that if you are awarded the fellowship this year, your 3 years of support are locked in.  But there's no guarantee that those opportunities will exist in the coming years. At this point though, it doesn't even seem like the federal agencies know the answer to that themselves.

Edited February 1, 2017 by charmquarkz
typo

[psychpride9]

How is everyone holding up with the wait?

[imacick6]

On 2/15/2017 at 9:22 AM, psychpride9 said:

How is everyone holding up with the wait?

Honestly, there's too much to do to spend time thinking about it.  So I just set my expectations low and let whatever happens happen.

And yet, here I am, checking the forum....  :-)

[Plantguypete]

On 2/15/2017 at 6:22 AM, psychpride9 said:

How is everyone holding up with the wait?

I actually kinda forgot about the NSF GRFP submission! I have been so occupied with graduate school recruitment events lately! It has finally slowed down and I am actually able to be a normal student for a little bit!

I have been pretty pumped lately and am very happy with the results of my graduate school applications. I have been officially accepted to Oklahoma State University, UC Riverside, UC Berkeley; Yale University delayed their responses to secure more funding to admit more students than they originally set a quota for, they will notify applicants by this Friday (2/24)! I think I will be attending Yale University if accepted, if not, it will be UC Berkeley.

[rlb1au]

This next month and a half is the hardest part of the wait...

[Levon3]

I thought I would be able to just send the app off and forget about it, but that hasn't been true lately. More than another month seems so long!

[psychpride9]

One more month!