Subject: [Dev] seeking NSF grant application advice/info

From: Brent Verner <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 22:35:21 -0500

Hi,

  Do any of you out there have any (preferably positive) experience 
applying for NSF grants?

  Yes, I'm trying to see if I can get the NSF to fund some good 'ol
open source code-slinging ;-)

Thanks.
  brent

-- 
"Develop your talent, man, and leave the world something. Records are 
really gifts from people. To think that an artist would love you enough
to share his music with anyone is a beautiful thing."  -- Duane Allman

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From: "M. Mueller/bhu5nji" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 19:39:22 -0500

The university boys and girls should be able to give you advice.  I worked on 
project in college that was in part supported by NSF funding.  One question I 
have right off the bat is about the reception one would get if they were not 
affiliated with a university.  But that concern comes from knowing that NSF 
is run by the governement which is actually a division of Microsoft.

I think it's a worthy use of my tax dollars.  Good luck.  I'm interested in 
hearing more about this venture.

Mike

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From: Brent Verner <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 08:22:21 -0500

[2002-01-16 19:39] M. Mueller/bhu5nji said:
| The university boys and girls should be able to give you advice.  I worked on 
| project in college that was in part supported by NSF funding.  One question I 
| have right off the bat is about the reception one would get if they were not 
| affiliated with a university.  But that concern comes from knowing that NSF 
| is run by the governement which is actually a division of Microsoft.

There are NSF grants that are available to only univ., but there are
some available only to non-educational entities (including
individuals)... <smacks self for not staying in school...>  Yeah,
I know univ. are major consumers of the NSF funds, so I'm hoping
some kind individual might help me find my way into that circle ;-)

| I think it's a worthy use of my tax dollars.  Good luck.  I'm interested in 
| hearing more about this venture.

Same here.  What I was actually thinking, was how neat it would be
to start a research group to funnel some of this gov't funding into 
the Open Source arena.  There are no limitations that I can see on 
releasing grant-supported work, aside from the requirement that you 
must acknowledge that the product.

For one, I'd like to get funding to support participation in
and an open source implementation of the Liberty Alliance project.
http://www.projectliberty.org/.
  1) to help the Liberty Alliance gain wider acceptance by
     including open source apps.
  2) to make sure open source apps are not out-in-the-cold ;-)

I have no idea how to accomplish this goal, however :-(  If I get
any info that doesn't get to the list, I'll fill you in.

rambling now....
  b

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From: "Paul D. Boyle" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 09:37:04 -0500 (EST)

> some kind individual might help me find my way into that circle ;-)

I have written both successful and unsuccessful NSF proposals.  These were
for equipment/instrumentation proposals, rather than software development 
projects.  At least in Chemistry money for software development gets 
severely short changed.

The place to start is to go to http://www.nsf.gov and look at the programs
for Computer and Information Science.  For example, there is the 
NSF Middleware Initiative (NMI) outlined in in NSF document 02-028.  Here
is the link to the HTML version of the document:

http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/nsf02028/nsf02028.htm

The deadline for this program is 1 March 2002.  This is a very open
program in that there are no limitations on eligibility.

Other programs you may want to check out are:
Trusted Computing (NSF 01-160) (next deadline is 12/2002)
Embedded and Hybrid Systems (NSF 01-161) (next deadline is 12/2002)

If you want to write a proposal you must adhere to the specifications
spelled out in Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) NSF 02-2.  You will also have
to conform to any proposal specs spelled out by the individual guides
for the particular program to which you are applying for money.  NSF can
be very anal about this, and will throw away perfectly good proposals if
they don't have margins set right or you run a page or two over the limit.
StarOffice 5.3 worked for me in preparing my last proposal.

You should also have a very hot sounding C.V. which demonstrates you have
the competence and experience to do what you set up to do.

Another thing NSF likes is to show how the project can benefit other
segments of society (i.e. have a "broad impact"), especially with
underrepresented segments like women and racial minorities, and
ably-challenged individuals (to use the politically correct term).

Good Luck,

Paul

-- 
Paul D. Boyle			    |	[email-masked]
Director, X-ray Structural Facility |	phone: (919) 515-7362
Department of Chemistry - Box 8204  |	FAX:   (919) 515-5079
North Carolina State University     | 
Raleigh, NC, 27695-8204
http://laue.chem.ncsu.edu/web/xray.welcome.html

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From: Ed Hill <[email-masked]>
Date: 17 Jan 2002 13:11:58 -0700

> ably-challenged individuals (to use the politically correct term).

I've written or helped write a number of grants (NSF, included) and
Paul's advice is excellent.  The only thing I'd add is collaboration. 
You can obtain many of the benefits mentioned above through
collaboration with someone at a Univ.  Perhaps you can find someone?

good luck!
Ed

-- 
Edward H. Hill III, PhD
Post-Doctoral Researcher   |  Email:       [email-masked], [email-masked]
Division of ESE            |  URL:         http://www.eh3.com
Colorado School of Mines   |  Phone:       303-273-3483
Golden, CO  80401          |  Fax:         303-273-3311
GnuPG Key ID:  1E76F123    |  Public key:  http://www.eh3.com/eh3.gpg

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From: Ed Hill <[email-masked]>
Date: 17 Jan 2002 13:16:18 -0700

> ably-challenged individuals (to use the politically correct term).

I've written (and helped write) a number of grants (one for NSF) and
Paul's advice is excellent.  The only thing I'd add is collaboration. 
You can potentially obtain most of the benefits mentioned above through
collaboration with someone at a Univ. 

good luck!

Ed

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From: Brent Verner <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2002 20:50:38 -0500

[2002-01-17 13:11] Ed Hill said:
| On Thu, 2002-01-17 at 07:37, Paul D. Boyle wrote:
| > 
| > Another thing NSF likes is to show how the project can benefit other
| > segments of society (i.e. have a "broad impact"), especially with
| > underrepresented segments like women and racial minorities, and
| > ably-challenged individuals (to use the politically correct term).
| 
| I've written or helped write a number of grants (NSF, included) and
| Paul's advice is excellent.  The only thing I'd add is collaboration. 
| You can obtain many of the benefits mentioned above through
| collaboration with someone at a Univ.  Perhaps you can find someone?

Thanks to all for your replies.  I've signed up at fastlane.nsf.gov
and am reading over the (insane amount of) docs between hack 
sessions ;-) 

If there is anyone out there who'd be willing to help with the 
inevitable questions I'll have, or if you're interested in 
collaborating on any projects, please contact me.

Thanks.
  brent

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From: "Paul D. Boyle" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2002 11:51:24 -0500 (EST)

Brent Verner wrote:
> | > Another thing NSF likes ...
> | 
> | I've written or helped write a number of grants (NSF, included) ...
> 

I can try to help you with questions.  If I can't answer them, I can
probably find someone at NCSU who can answer them.  To which program
are you applying and what are you proposing to do?

Paul