Tone, To obtain a grant similar to the NSF 5-year, 2.4 million dollar grant mentioned in this article you would have to do the following:
1) Be accepted into graduate school in an appropriate scientific field; 2) Endure the low pay, long hours and little free time involved in the coursework and research to obtain your Ph.D.--this is where you first obtain training in writing and defending research grant proposals; 3) Spend 2-5+ years in one or more low paying, long hour, little-free-time-involved postdoctoral research positions prior to obtaining your first "permanent" position; 4) Get hired as an assistant professor at an academic research institution (odds are very low that you'll make it to this point, especially if you're female or a minority); 5) Write and submit a grant to the National Science Foundation and hope that the review committee deems your grant worthy of funding (fewer than 20% of these are now being funded, sometimes less than 15% in some fields); 6) Work like the devil to produce the research results that will get published in a world-class scientific research publication, otherwise they won't fund your next grant 5 years from now; 7) Frantically hope that your government doesn't decide that they should be spending their research dollars on wartime efforts and science that supports such activities, which would mean fewer dollars spent on your cherished topic of conservation (or basic and clinical medical research, etc.). In point of fact, the current administration is actually doing what is outlined in point 7; for 2008, the budget proposal from the White House has left the budget for the National Institutes of Health at 2007 levels, and the biologically-related portions of the National Science Foundation did not increase. Big increases instead went to NSF, NIST (National Institute of Standards) and DOE (Department of Energy) programs related to physical sciences. See the article in Chemical and Engineering News for a summary of the Bush proposal: http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/85/i07/8507notw1.html For a more detailed description of the administration's 2008 science budget request, go to the American Society of Microbiology Public and Scientific Policy web site: http://www.asm.org/policy/ and download the "Guide to the Fiscal Year 2008 Research and Development and Public Health Agency Budgets" published on April 4, 2007. Remember, these are just budget requests, and the Congress has the power to change things. You as a citizen have the power to contact your elected representatives and express your opinion on the matter. Educate yourself about how your government chooses to allocate your taxpayer money, and if you don't agree with their plan, voice your opinion! It's the only way things will change. Diana P.S. I'm sorry I didn't answer your question about how to write grants without an academic research position; I'm not an expert on that topic. Diana R. Tomchick Associate Professor University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Department of Biochemistry 5323 Harry Hines Blvd. Dallas, TX 75061 (214) 645-6383 > >From: "Tone G" <[email protected]> > >To: <[email protected]> > >Date: July 09, 2007 05:09:28 AM PDT > >Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Great article on the importance of bats in the DMN > > > >I see this was through an NSF 5-year grant. > > > >I am interested in learning more about grant writing, especially where > >concerning conservation. Can anyone suggest a starting point? > > > >\Tone > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
