Applying for Grants and Other Funding
for Professional Development

The 18th Annual Workshop on Automorphic Forms and Related Topics was held March 21-24, 2004, at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The workshop included a panel discussion on applying for grants and other funding opportunities. Applying for grants is a necessary part of being a faculty member at many universities in the United States. Many junior faculty and faculty at small, isolated institutions are unaware of or uncertain about methods of obtaining external funding for their research programs. Several regular Workshop participants are successful grant applicants or have experience with awarding grants. We tapped into this rich resource to discuss opportunities and procedures for research grants from various agencies, as well as travel grants from the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM), and funding for travel to work with a collaborator. Below are some of the issues raised during this discussion, both by the expert panelists and by conference participants in the audience.

The workshop was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. The opinions expressed below are those of the workshop participants and panelists. Any opinions, findings, and conclusiong or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

In this document, ``young,'' ``junior,'' and ``senior,'' refer to the number of years past the Ph.D.

Some Sources of Funding

NSF/AWM Travel Grants: The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) awards the following types of travel grants to women each year:
- Travel Grants for Women Researchers - Deadlines February 1, May 1 and October 1.
- Mentoring Travel Grants for Women - Deadline is February 1.
- Collaborative Research Grants for Women - Deadline is February 1.
Full details about eligibility requirements and application procedures for these grants is available here.
For example, the Mentoring Travel Grant provides funding for an untenured woman mathematician to visit a research mentor for one month. The funds may be spread out over one year. The application requires a proposal from the candidate and a letter of support from the research mentor. These grants are competitive, so it may be that you do not get funded on the first attempt. If that is the case, find a way to work with your mentor anyway (even if it requires out-of-pocket expenses). Establishing a research record together will strengthen your application, and increase your chances of being funded on the second attempt.
NSA Grants: The National Security Agency (NSA) funds ``high quality mathematical research in the areas of Algebra, Number Theory, Discrete Mathematics, Probability, and Statistics.'' The types of grants awarded are: the Young Investigators Grant, the Standard Grant, the Senior Investigators Grant, and the Conferences, Workshops, and Special Situations Grant. The deadline is October 15 of each year, and awards are made in the fall of the following year. Full details about eligibility requirements and application procedures for these grants is available here.
The proposal requirements for an NSA grant are not that different from those for NSF. If you are applying to NSF, and your research is in one of the fields mentioned above, you should definitely apply to NSA as well. Moreover, the Young Investigator grants (for applicants within ten years of receiving the Ph.D) ``will be graded more generously than Standard Grant proposals,'' so junior researchers are encouraged to apply.
NSF Grants: The Division of Mathematical Sciences of the National Science Foundation (NSF) ``supports a wide range of projects aimed at developing and exploring the properties and applications of mathematical structures.'' This includes among many other things, mathematical research by individuals, inter-disciplinary work involving several researchers in different areas, and conferences or workshops. Details about the wide array of NSF programs is available here.
Some of the main categories include:
- Standard grants, for individuals doing research in a specific area. Applicants may request support for up to three years for such things as summer salary, funding for travel to conferences, funding for graduate student assistants, and computer equipment.
- RUI grants (Research at Undergraduate Institutions). These require the standard grant application, along with a separate statement describing how the RUI grant will positively impact the undergraduate educational and research environment at your school.
- FRG grants (Focused Research Groups). These involve a team of several researchers focused on a particular problem or family of problems. Being part of such a ``team'' may give junior researchers an opportunity to develop a track record for funding.
- CAREER grants. These are NSF's ``most prestigious awards for new faculty members.'' They are highly competitive, supporting the early career development of exceptional researchers/educators, and usually involve more funding than traditional grants.

Your Institution: The availability of funding for faculty career development varies widely from one institution to the next. For example, there may be a set amount of conference travel funding for each faculty member, but additional funding may be available through internal grants. Your institution may have grants for computer equipment necessary to sustain your research, if it is not available through the usual ITS requests. You may be able to apply for a student research assistant (undergraduate or graduate) to work with you on a summer project. Talk with faculty in your department, and with administrators in the Dean's office, to find out about opportunities and application procedures. Although these grants may be competitive, it is often the case that some funding is earmarked specifically for junior faculty, in order to promote early career development.

The Application Process

Applications for funding from outside agencies are submitted by your institution's Office of Sponsored Research. You will work with a grants officer on putting together your application, and he or she will submit the final version. Several meetings may be needed to discuss things such as your budget, the internal paperwork involved in requesting a course release as part of your grant, etc. Your grants officer may have a large number of grants to handle for faculty in various departments, and there may be a lot of institutional paperwork, in addition to the application itself. Contact your Office of Sponsored Research {\em well in advance of the deadline} for any applications you are considering. Request a preliminary meeting with a grants officer, to find out exactly what is involved. Cultivate a relationship with your grants officer, and ask for advice about parts of the application such as your budget, general information about your institution to incorporate into your RUI impact statement, etc. The grants officer should have ample experience in these areas, and this will free you up to concentrate on the research portion of your proposal. Submit early drafts of your application materials, to move the process along well in advance of any deadlines.

Some Benefits of Applying for Grants

Clarify your professional goals: Writing a grant proposal is a valuable exercise and time well spent. It forces you to reflect on your mathematical career, and to define what you want to be and to do professionally. It gives you experience with writing about your research program, and describing how it fits into the larger picture in your research area and mathematics in general. Reviewers' comments from unsuccessful proposals may give you insight into the process, and allow you to build on your grant-writing experience in a positive way. This process will likely lead to success in future proposals, if you are persistent!

Demonstrate research activity to your administration: The administration at your institution highly encourages faculty to apply for grants. Promotions and pay increases may depend on your ability to obtain funding, depending on the level of your institution's research expectations. Faculty grants have benefits for your department as well. For instance, your grant may include support for graduate student stipends, funding for a summer REU program (Research Experience for Undergraduates), etc. Even unsuccessful proposals may ``count'' towards research expectations for tenure, for instance, if your reviews were favorable yet only a small percentage of applicants were funded. (Your senior department members will be able to let you know whether this is the case at your institution.)

Content of Your Proposal

Mathematical: In your project description, propose a range of research problems that you intend to work on. You can be speculative on some, especially in the latter sections. Be clear about why a problem is interesting, and how you propose to solve it. Give sufficient detail to convince the reader that your project is feasible and will lead to success. Propose some problems that fall within the scope of research you have already done, to show that you have the necessary expertise/experience. Also include more ambitious problems, explaining their significance and why they move your research area forward. Explaining how you may possibly ``hit a home run'' with a potentially huge conjecture will draw attention to your proposal, allowing it to stand out from the rest.

Budget: You should think carefully about your budget, and you will need to coordinate this with the grants officer in your Sponsored Research Office. You may need to argue to reduce budget amounts in certain categories, if you feel they are not appropriate for your individual proposal. Apply for what you can use and can justify. In general, proposals are reviewed and ranked based on their intellectual merits, not on proposed budgets. Funding is awarded based on rankings, and if your budget is too high, the funding agency may simply scale back your request. Don't apply for too little, out of embarrassment. The support your institution receives from external funding is often a key to important things such as keeping your school's teaching load low, or providing conference travel funding for post-docs.

Broader Impact: An important component to our profession is work which enriches the mathematics community, at a variety of levels. You may be involved with an REU, or with individual research with undergraduates or graduate students. You may be involved with outreach to talented high school or middle school students. In discussing the ``broader impact'' of your proposal, describe both the things you have already done, and your future plans for getting others involved with mathematics. For NSF grants in particular, discussion of broader impact is a nontrivial part of your proposal and must be addressed. However, your outreach need not correspond closely with your own research problems. For example, you may be working with students on other problems or on expository research as part of your department's honors thesis program. Providing a positive, research-like experience for students is valuable, even when it doesn't lead to original research. Describe your involvement, and request appropriate funding, such as support for undergraduates or graduate students to attend a conference. There are many other reasonable activities you could suggest, which get students involved with and excited about mathematics! For example, if you are bringing in speakers to give talks to the Math Club, you many want to ask for funding to support this activity.

Biographical: Your biographical sketch is a good place to describe the broader impact of your proposal. For NSF proposals, this falls under the heading of ``Synergistic Activities.'' You've done these things even if you don't realize it! For instance, you may have organized undergraduate colloquiua in your department, or served on a student's thesis committee. Ask a senior colleague to help with this section, to know what experiences to highlight.

Maximizing Your Chances for a Successful Proposal

Know your audience: Grant applications may be reviewed by panels or individual reviewers, by experts in your field or a general mathematical audience. Find out as much as possible about the way in which proposals will be reviewed, and tailor your proposal as appropriate.

Get feedback from trusted senior people: Definitely ask others for advice, and don't be shy about it! Consult senior people whose opinions you trust, and have them read your proposal. You need substantial feedback, not just ``Oh yeah, it looks great.'' You should seek feedback from several people, including (if possible) a colleague who has been a successful grant applicant or who has reviewed grants in the past.

Use past reviews to improve your proposal: Sometimes a rejection letter comes with almost no feedback, but it is more often the case that an unsuccessful proposal will have specific feedback from reviewers. These can be useful, although be aware that individual reviewers' comments may sometimes be contradictory. Read your reviews and incorporate useful comments as you write your next proposal. Comments regarding level of detail, style, broader impact, etc. are often valuable and will allow you to craft a more competitive proposal the next time.

Establish credibility by describing your prior research: If this is your first grant, it is important to establish your research credibility with reviewers. Use the first few pages of your proposal to describe research and outreach that you've already done. (For instance, use 5 pages out of the 15 page limit for your Project Description, in an NSF application.)

Demonstrate breadth, knowledge of the literature, and an expanding research program: It is important to show the reviewers that your research program is growing, and expanding into new areas. Convince the reviewers of the breadth of your knowledge in your research area. In particular, show that you're aware of contributions of other researchers in your field. Nothing puts off a reviewer more than when his or her work is relevant to a proposal but it hasn't been mentioned!

Go to conferences and be visible: Enhance your visibility to potential panelists and reviewers. Get out there and be known! If a reviewer has seen you give a research talk at a conference, for instance, this puts a face on your proposal and may help it stand out. Also, have a website with your preprints available. Mention in your proposal that your papers are available, and give a link to your website.