How to Write for NSF: In Depth Tips
Anthony Keyes and Dr. Krešo Josić
4/24/2019
UH Statistics for NSF-GRFP: On the Rise!
Only Student to Win
When I Came to UH
4/5 winners were apart
of 1
st
Program
1/3 H.M.s were apart
of 1
st
Program
We expect even
more in 2020!
1
st
Program
National Science Foundation – Graduate Research Fellowship Program
DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in this presentation are solely our own, and they have not been approved by the NSF.
Program Overview
Purpose
Ensure the vitality and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce in the United States
Supports
Outstanding students pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees in fields within NSF's mission.
Can apply once as a graduate student (Year 1 or 2) and as an Undergraduate.
Provides
Award Winner - 3 yrs of support ($34k/yr) for individuals who have demonstrated their potential for significant
achievements in research (fund person). $12k/yr for research expenses. (In a new funding cycle – could increase if
approved again)
Honorable Mention – Recognition as a Competitive Applicant
Due Dates for 2019
Late October (References due 1 week later normally in November)
NSF-GRFP: The Application
1. Basic Information
2. Personal statement, Relevant Background, Future Goals (3 pg limit)
3. Proposed research statement (2 pg limit)
4. Letters of recommendation (3 min)
5. Academic transcripts (official)
NSF-GRFP: Basic Information
1. Basic Information
1. Panel that is most appropriate for reviewing application
2. Stage of your academic training (3 levels)
(a) senior undergraduate (expectation lowest)
(b) first year graduate student
(c) second year graduation student (expectation highest)
3. School(s) attended as an undergraduate
4. School attending as a graduate (or plan to attend)
5. Grade point averages at each institution (no GRE)
6. Demonstrated potential for research and excellence
7. Honors and awards
research participation
conference abstracts and/or publications
leadership activities (teaching, volunteering)
additional activities (balancing work)
All this Information can be found
in a well crafted Resume or CV
Why You Should Fill out Everything?
Reviewers do Read the Basic Information!
NSF-GRFP: The Writing
2. Personal statement (3 pg limit)
3. Proposed research statement (2 pg limit)
Read By Reviewer
What They Look For:
Intellectual Merit
Broader Impacts
NSF-GRFP: The Writing (Common Questions)
2. Personal statement (3 pg limit)
3. Proposed research statement (2 pg limit)
What They Look For:
Intellectual Merit
Broader Impacts
Read By Reviewer
How Long Will My
Application Get?
How Many Do They Receive?
Which is More Important?
How Many Reviewers Do I
Get?
How Long Do They Have?
Are They In My Field?
2. Personal statement (3 pg limit)
3. Proposed research statement (2 pg limit)
Read By Reviewer
How Long Will My
Application Get?
Depends (~20 min)
How Many Do They Receive?
~40
Which is More Important?
Both Equally Important
How Many Reviewers Do I
Get?
3
How Long Do They Have?
2-3 Weeks
Are They In My Field?
Yes (Not Specific Area)
NSF-GRFP: The Writing (Common Questions)
What They Look For:
Intellectual Merit
Broader Impacts
NSF-GRFP: The Rubric
Intellectual Merit Rating Comments Broader Impacts Rating Comments Summary
Poor - 1
Fair - 2
Good - 3
Very Good -4
Excellent – 5
Poor - 1
Fair - 2
Good - 3
Very Good -4
Excellent – 5
What Would You Put in the Rubric?
NSF-GRFP: Intellectual Merit Rubric
Past evidence of success (personal statement):
1. academic excellence (GPA)
2. research participation (academic and summer)
3. research contributions (posters, presentations, publications)
4. leadership & innovation (beyond coursework)
5. persistence (balancing many activities, overcoming challenges)
Future evidence for success (proposed research):
1. interesting/important question addressed
2. knowledge within proposed area
3. creativity and originality
4. institutional match for studies is relevant
5. leadership & innovation
6. strong communication skills
NSF-GRFP: Broader Impacts Rubric
Multiple Ways to Show Broader Impacts
1. Benefit of research: Need to explain how your studies will benefit society in terms of the research knowledge
(project data), tools (new software/methods), and research education (people). Research Statement
Note: NSF is funding individuals, not a 3 year plan so make sure to provide evidence for sincerity/depth in your
plans as they relate to broader impacts (do not just ✔ the box because required)
2. Identification of a social problem (education) within the US and a description of activities that integrate research
training with a solution to that challenge (outreach/service). Research Statement
3. Long-term benefits of supporting you as they relate to societal challenges. How will your outreach and service
activities overcome the challenge that you describe? Personal Statement
4. Potential for leadership and innovation in the future. Applicants are uniformly strong, so why are you likely to be
a leader among your peers? Past evidence for contributions as evidence. Basic info, Personal Statement,
Research Statement
NSF-GRFP: Before Writing
Questions To Consider Before Writing
Why are you fascinated by your research area?
What examples of leadership skills and unique characteristics do you bring to your chosen field?
What personal and individual strengths do you have that make you a qualified applicant?
How will receiving the fellowship contribute to your career goals?
What are all of your applicable experiences?
For each experience, what were the key questions, methodology, findings, and conclusions?
Did you work in a team and/or independently?
How did you assist in the analysis of results?
How much time are you willing to invest into this?
How did your activities address the Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts criteria?
Personal Statement Overview
Outline your educational and professional development plans and career goals. How
do you envision graduate school preparing you for a career that allows you to
contribute to expanding scientific understanding as well as broadly benefit society?
LIMIT: 3 PAGES
NSF Fellows are expected to become globally engaged knowledge experts and
leaders who can contribute significantly to research, education, and innovations in
science and engineering. The purpose of this statement is to demonstrate your
potential to satisfy this requirement.
Personal Statement Overview
Important questions to ask yourself before writing the statement:
1. Why are you fascinated by your research area?
2. What examples of leadership skills and unique characteristics do you bring to your chosen
field?
3. What personal and individual strengths do you have that make you a qualified applicant?
4. How will receiving the fellowship contribute to your career goals?
5. What are all of your applicable experiences?
6. For each experience, what did you find, conclude, and which skills did you learn?
7. Did you work in a team and/or independently?
8. How did you assist in the analysis of results?
9. How did your activities address the Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts criteria?
Personal Statement Overview
- Describe your personal, educational and/or professional experiences that motivate your
decision to pursue advanced study in a STEM field.
- Include specific examples of any research and/or professional activities in which you have
participated.
- Present a concise description of the activities, highlight the results and discuss how these
activities have prepared you to seek a graduate degree.
- Specify your role in the activity including the extent to which you worked independently
and/or as part of a team.
- Describe the contributions of your activity to advancing knowledge in STEM fields as well as
the potential for broader societal impacts (See Solicitation, Section VI, for more information
about Broader Impacts).
Research Statement Overview
Prompt: “Present an original research topic that you would like to pursue in
graduate school. Describe the research idea, your general approach, as well as any
unique resources that may be needed for accomplishing the research goal”
LIMIT: 2 PAGES
Research Statement Overview
Significance. Describe the significance of the research challenge that your idea will help overcome.
Convey impact on society.
Point of departure. Explain what the current state of science is at it relates to the research problem you
are describing.
Novelty. How will you go beyond what has been done?
Aims/Experimental design. Describe the specific objectives/goals of your research idea, and explain
your plan to achieve these.
BI. Convey concisely how you will integrate your research efforts with activities related to broader
impacts
Figures.Visuals are often included to help convey ideas. (Spend time on these! Poor figures can doom
even a good proposal.)
Letters of Recommendation
Choose your letter writers carefully. Give them plenty of time to prepare the letter, and lots of information to
build on. They should be able to address:
•Academic record (provide)
•Intellectual capacity
•Research record & ability to carry out independent research (point out anything that they are not familiar
with)
•If publications,applicant’s contribution to that work. (provide)
•Originality
•Creativity
•Leadership ability (give examples!)
•Motivation and chances of success for graduate research
•Unusual or extraordinary circumstances (discuss in detail if needed)
Tip 1: Writing Clearly
Good writing requires multiple drafts and plenty of time.
Understand Your Rhetorical Situation
• Who is my audience?
• This is your chance to clarify anything that is not in your application.
• What terms are familiar and which are uncommon.
• What is necessary to discuss with limited words?
“The scariest moment is always just before you start.”
“Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Tip 2: Organizing Your Writing
Personal Statement:
• Chronological
• List of importance
Research Statement:
• Specific Aims
• Broader Impacts
• Intellectual Merit
Tip 3: Graphics and Figures
Graphics and figures can convey more than words.
Allows you to break up a wall of text.
Use easy to read text and sharp color choices.
Use professional software
Tip 4: Who to Involve in Revisions
Work with your advisor.
Seek thoughts from people outside of your field.
Use the writing center.
Write with friends who are also applying.
Reach out to other professors.
Tip 5: Have All Documents Compliment One Another
Things should be echoed throughout all documents that help reinforce your statements and provide
credibility.
Examples:
- If you write in your application that you have a publication in the works (submitted), then make sure your
letter of recommendation addresses this.
- If you write about having interest in helping people, your resume should include programs or events that
you participated in that highlight this.
- If your research statement is addressing techniques that are necessary for your work, your personal
statement should bring up instances where you used these techniques.
Proposed Timeline
March - May September October
1. Read NSF
instructions
5. Take advantage of any resources
available at your institution. Your
advisor, UH writing center, review
faculty, and others.
revise, revise, revise
2. Work with the NSM Peer Writing Group on
drafts of your personal statement and research
plan.
6. Submit proposal
Late Oct
7. References due
Nov. 1
3. Request reference letters
4. Start assembling electronic
application. Easy to do, so get
started in spare time.
CHECKPOINT
AugustJune July
Revision 1
Revision 2
Revision 3
The Review Process
Size. A few dozen scientists from academia, national labs and/or industry. Number depends upon
applicant pool size. The panels created to represent a diverse population.
Topic areas. Sorted by disciplines (physics, chemistry, and biology) and specialties of each field
(biophysics, development).
Diversity. Come from all types of institutions (private and public, large and small, primarily research and
undergraduate) and are at different career stages (assistant, associate or full professors).
State of mind. Reviews are done remotely by skype, which leads to scoring primarily based on essay
quality (hence the need for polished, clear essays).
Values.Highly diverse values, which reflect the spectrum found within scientific community, so weighting
given to different NSF criteria (IM and BI) can vary tremendously.
The Review Process
Constraints when reviewing. Panelists are not allowed to obtain external data from the internet. They
may call upon their own knowledge of a research field and the schools and/or research programs
mentioned in an application.
Conflicts of interest. Panelist may NOT: (i) review application from own institution or from student who is
planning future studies there, and (ii) review an application of someone with whom they have an existing
relationship or other conflict of interest. Panelists sign a conflict of interest statement agreeing to abide by
these rules.
The Review Process
First ranking. After three reads, applications are ranked based on average Z score and some percentage
are triaged. Amount triaged is set by NSF based upon funding.
Discussion. Any applications with large variability in scores are discussed to make sure that the different
views are considered by all reviewers. Scores can be revised at this point.
Second ranking. Once the discussion ends, applications are reported based on z scores and placed into
four quality groups.
QG1 = highest priority to fund
QG2 = some awarded, some honorable mention
QG3 = honorable mention
QG4 = receive nothing
Group discussion. At this stage the panel has a group discussion where they re-rank candidate if they
feel it is appropriate for any reason.
Final ranked list. NSF determines which QG2 get an award and verify that the awardees are eligible.
Selections in QG2 are used to help NSF achieve different aspects of diversity.
The Review Process - Feedback
The comments represent critical assessment of your application relative to a very strong applicant pool,
and feedback that will be useful for your career and future submissions.
Funding. Typically 2,000 funded (15-20% success rate in recent years)
Note that many more individuals are deserving of NSF awards than will actually receive them. There simply
isn’t enough money to fund all worthy applications.
Should I Apply This Year
Undergraduates: Yes there is nothing to lose. You can also get valuable feedback.
2
nd
Year Graduate Students: If you haven’t applied, this is your last shot.
1
st
Year Graduate Students: Questions to think about before you decide.
• Will I be a much stronger applicant next year?
• Am I going to submit my work soon in time for next year?
• Is my application strong right now?
• Have I talked to my advisor about this?
• Can I write about broader impacts?
• What am I afraid will prevent me from winning? Can I change that with a years time?
Either way, you should act as if you are applying and then re-evaluate your application once its complete.
Questions?
