NSF CAREER panel

Diana Chu, Eric Hsu and Mary Leech last week talked about their NSF early investigator CAREER awards (video available for viewing off our home page). Each of them in their remarks stressed the importance of talking to their program officer. At NSF in particular, since the program officers also handle review, it is essential to get their attention, alert them about your proposal plans, and discuss your ideas. One thing I would warn against, however as a former program officer, is that questions of the type “should I study x, or would it be better if I studied y” give an impression that you don’t have a strong sense of your research directions. The panelists offered to share their proposals, so go ahead and ask ! Finally, for faculty who could use a little help in pulling their CAREER proposals together, ORSP can pay for writers. And of course we have an editor on staff.