The National Science Foundation, otherwise known as the NSF is an independent organization within the federal government that was founded in 1950.
At that time the foundation was developed for a number of good reasons.
The main idea of the NSF was to advance health, science, welfare and prosperity within the United States of America. Annually the NSF has access to almost $7 billion that can be awarded for various projects and specializes in projects that are considered high risk, high pay-off projects.
The NSF is on the forefront of research, keeping an eye on the trends in research around the world and choosing to fund projects are the most promising. National Science grants are a coveted prize, awarded to only the best and brightest for projects that have potential.
In order to obtain a National Science Foundation grant, you must submit a proposal that will be reviewed. The review committee is made up of a number of people from various academic backgrounds that will review the specifics of the proposal and decide whether it’s a worthy project to receive one of the NSF Grants.
Below are a few tips to help you better-prepare for submitting your proposal for a NSF Grant:
Write a Professional Proposal – While this may seem like an obvious point, this should not be taken lightly. When submitting your grant proposal, make sure that your proposal is clearly written, outlining exactly what it is that you want to do.
Identify what your project is about and outline the science early in on the proposal. In other words, get to the point. If writing is not your forte, make sure to bring someone into the proposal writing process that can help you.
Type of Project – The NSF is not interested in funding projects that seem to have no real objective, other than to gather more information. You should want to test a hypothesis, rather than just find out more information on a hunch. Funding your project should yield real results.
Think of the Reviewer – Their time is important and they want to get to the point. Although you will want to write a thorough proposal for NSF funding, you should also write it in a way that answers the questions that reviewers may have, without flipping through all the pages in your proposal.
Deal With Controversy – The last thing you want a reviewer to do is stop reading your proposal when they encounter a controversial position or topic. If you are aware that your project could be dealing with someone like this, deal with it early on in your proposal.
Build Rapport/Relationship – You will need to build a relationship with your program officer. Don’t be afraid of them as they are no scary people. They want to see good projects succeed and can be fairly helpful in the process.
The NSF takes their job very seriously. They are not interested in funding projects that are not professional and serious. They sift through thousands of applications per year, looking for the best projects.
Their goal is not simply to hand out money to get rid of their budget each year, but rather to fund exceptional projects that will possibly one day benefit the entire country.
Keep in mind that although it is a serious thing, to submit a proposal for an NSF grant, they realize that no proposal is perfect. They are looking for potential.
Some of the best research proposals have been submitted by people that would not have been on their radar. There is a risk involved in submitting proposal, but it is worth your time to pursue it if you believe that your project is worthwhile.
NSF grants are a great source of funding for budding scientists, whether early on in your career or education or a seasoned professional with many years of service.
One of the best things about working with the NSF for research funding is that they are a professional organization, dedicated to finding exceptional projects to fund. Although the process of putting together a proposal for an NSF grant can be daunting, consider it time well spent. Your project could get the needed boost in funding to get your research moving forward.
If your project is one of massive scale in terms of solving a large problem, curing a disease or somehow helping mankind, think of that as you are spending your time putting together a proposal that will get you the funding that is needed.
Is your research project the next project that might be funded by the National Science Foundation?
By: Bradley Barks
About Brad
Brad is our lead researcher and editor - he enjoys business, meditation, being active and always learning - his goal is to successfully help you research, find, secure, and enjoy grants and scholarships.
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