Grant Writing Experience
Learning to write grants has been a great skill to learn and I've really enjoyed the process. I was very lucky to have my mentor, Dr. Sara O'Brien push me to apply for grants in the first place, and provide an immense amount of guidance along the way. For my research project on trenbolone, I applied for, and received three grants. Here's a description of each one, and what I learned:
The Biology Research Award - $1,000
The Biology Research Award was my first grant proposal ever. It was provided by the Radford University Biology Department, voted on by Biology faculty. It was my confidence booster grant. It was a short and sweet proposal, and writing it really drove the message home for me that my work was worth funding, that I was worth funding. I received it just before applying for the next two grants and it gave me the confidence and motivation to do so. It was my first taste into what science could be like, and it was my first step towards doing research.
The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship - $2,500
The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) I received was 1 of 15 provided by the Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship (OURS), chosen by an interdisciplinary panel. I really enjoyed writing this grant. I learned how to best present information in an understandable and organized format. I practiced at how to write an introduction and explain my methodology in a clear and concise manner. Most importantly, I learned how to address the solicitation and answer what they were asking for. It is easy to stray or linger too long on an irrelevant detail, and the SURF grant really helped me stay on point. The director of the OURS office, Dr. Joseph Wirgau shared with me some tips for grant writing:
- Get to the point quick: what are you looking at and why?
- Fit the solicitation, follow the "rules", and be professional
- Get to the point quick: what are you looking at and why?
- Know your audience and make sure it is understandable to someone not an expert in your field
- Don't waste space with irrelevant information or tangents, stay on topic!
- Be sure to distinguish all research roles clearly. Be aware of "we" vs. "I"
- Use active voice and strong language. Use "I will" instead of "I plan to" or "I hope to"
Guise SURF Proposal |
Highlander in Action Grant - $2,000
The Highlander in Action Grant (HIA) was provided by the Scholar-Citizen Initiative (SCI) here at RU. Applying for the HIA grant was a HUGE learning experience. The HIA grant is targeted towards students participating in civil/community projects with the goal of bettering society, and is highly competitive with only five awardees ever year. Compared to the SURF grant, this proposal was much less scientific and was aimed at a very different audience. It took a lot of practice to learn how to calibrate and I'm glad I had the opportunity to apply for such a different grant.
Writing the HIA grant was also really good practice with reaching a lay audience, and helped me begin developing a skill imperative for all scientists: Sharing your knowledge with everyone. It is so important to be able to share the importance of research, why it merits funding, and what are the impacts of this research. I am continuing to use these skills today with scientific outreach, and will continue to use them for the rest of my life.
Writing the HIA grant was also really good practice with reaching a lay audience, and helped me begin developing a skill imperative for all scientists: Sharing your knowledge with everyone. It is so important to be able to share the importance of research, why it merits funding, and what are the impacts of this research. I am continuing to use these skills today with scientific outreach, and will continue to use them for the rest of my life.
Guise HIA Proposal |
Writing Grant Proposals is a skill I will continue to develop for the rest of my life. I look forward to the new experiences and challenges. Most recently, I took on the National Science Foundation - Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). It was a huge project, my biggest yet. Read about my GRFP proposal experience here.