Tips for Strengthening your STEM- and STEM Education Research Grant Submissions, 4.1.2019

• What do you hope to get out of you next grant?
• Why are you writing it?
• What are you trying to accomplish?
• What's the purpose of your next grant?
• Get to know your funding agency, read the solicitation
• Tacit knowledge
  • Contact the program officer
    • email an abstract, ask for a phone call
    • during call: focus on alignment, not revisions
    • Do your homework, first
  • Visit the funding agency
  • Serve as a reviewer
• What else is important?
  • Pay attention to the details, no red M&Ms inspires confidence
  • Show the reviewers you've invested, you're my one and only
  • Consider reviewer backgrounds, cyber stalk the program officers
  • Resubmitting? Remember to impress the next reviewers ... not the last ones
• Takeaway: Science funding is a social process, not a meritocratic, objective one