UW-Madison Faculty Share Insights from Successful CAREER Grants

Katherine Friedrich

Applying for major National Science Foundation grants can seem intimidating to new faculty. To demystify the process and connect faculty with resources, CIRTL convened workshops at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on June 11 and at Vanderbilt University on May 8.

Insights from experienced faculty formed the central message of the UW-Madison workshop, “CAREER Proposals: Developing an Education Plan.” Presenters urged new faculty to partner with teaching and outreach organizations on campus.

“Do something you are genuinely excited about,” said materials science professor Wendy Crone. “That’s going to come through in the proposal. Sell the idea, sell yourself, and sell your enthusiasm about it.”

Professional credibility is essential when marketing ideas to the NSF. “Demonstrate that you’ve got creative ideas [and] can carry them out,” Crone said. Bob Mathieu, CIRTL Principal Investigator, recommended establishing “clear, credible ability” to do education research and evaluation.

The speakers mentioned several actions that can strengthen the education/outreach sections of CAREER proposals:

1. Partnering with educational researchers,
2. Working with graduate student interns from the Delta Program,
3. Taking Delta courses to learn relevant skills, and
4. Leveraging connections with programs such as Delta, the UW-Madison Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, and the Center for Biology Education, as well as other campus groups.    

Talking with NSF program officers is also crucial. Crone missed this step when she wrote her first proposal. “If I had talked to my program manager, I would have found out that this wasn’t going to fly,” Crone said. She developed a second proposal about a lab-based teaching experiment, which was very well received.

The graphic layout of a proposal can also promote its message. “Make it visually appealing,” Crone said. She recommended including graphs and images to add interest to text-heavy pages.

Some of the audience seemed to find the application process stressful. In response to a concerned comment from a new faculty member, Mathieu added some humor to the otherwise serious gathering. “There is life after assistant professorship,” he said. “Make sure you have fun.”   

The workshop is available on video at the UW College of Engineering Media Site.

July 17, 2007

CIRTL
1025 W. Johnson St.
Madison, WI 53706
ph.: 608.263.0630
fax: 608.265.0538