Proposal Writing

Study Notes from http://www.cs.csustan.edu/~rsc/S08-proposal-course.pdf

The only good reason to develop a proposal is that you have something you want to accomplish.

Stop: do NOT put pen to paper

1.What story are you telling? ( a great idea is not enough)

2. What are the technical goals?

3. What has been done previously?

4. What is the technical approach?

5. Why is it better than previous/alternative approaches?

6. What is the scientific impact?

7. What is the broader impact?

Before Writing: Other thoughts

1. If you are new to this, see if colleagues will let you read successful proposals

2. Present ideas to colleagues

3. Team with successful proposal writers

4. Serve as a reviewer for conferences

5. Look for opportunities to help write proposals (even while in grad school)

Intellectual Merit

1. What is the fundamental science advancement?

2. What new approach do you have?

3. What other approaches have been/could be attempted?

4. Can you make a convincing case that your approach will be superior?

5. What is the scientific impact?

6. Is the research either too broad, too focused, or too incremental? Budget fit?

Broader Impacts

1. What are the benefits for society? (Scientific? Industry/Government/Society?)

2. Will the results be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific understanding?(Software available? Testbeds?)

3. What is the educational impact? (Underrepresented groups? New courses? Undergraduates? K-12 students?)

4. What new infrastructure for research and education is being created?( New instrumentation, partnership, etc.?)

 

In the very above file, the presenter presented a few slides about the paraphrased comments from the review process of proposals. List as follows: