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BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
4
JULY
2015
Careers
Grant Opportunities for Early
Career Faculty
The Early Careers Committee hosted a panel at
the 59
th
Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland,
to discuss funding opportunities for early career
faculty. The panel consisted of
Kamal Shukla
, NSF
Program Director;
Bishow Adhikari
, NIH Pro-
gram Director, and
Beth Schachter
, Beth Schachter
Consulting/Still Point Coaching & Consulting.
Their presentations and grant-writing advice are
summarized below.
NIH and NSF grants
NIH has funding opportunities for every career
level: F30/F32 = graduate and postdoctoral fel-
lowships, T32=apply through institution, K99/
R00=for postdocs (each grant type for 2 years),
R01=support discrete, specified research for pe-
riods of 3-5 years. 80% of NIH’s budget goes to
funding extramural projects.
When applying for a grant, it is important to
have: a great and feasible idea; an understanding
of the grant process; an excellent execution plan;
and a strong team, resources, and environment.
Make sure your application is easy to read and in
clear language, and that all required sections are
completed. The timeline to receive funding is nine
months to two years after the submission process
begins (not including your prep time), so begin
planning early.
NIH has 27 institutes and each has an early career
website with career planning and grant informa-
tion. Use NIH RePORTER to find funded appli-
cations, including some samples of successful grant
applications.
You can subscribe to the NIH Guide Listserv for
weekly emails featuring links to new Funding
Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) published
during the week. Read the Center for Scientific
Review website so that you will better understand
the review process. The site includes “Applicant
Resources” page with information on how to plan,
write, and submit a successful grant application,
and information on review, results, and appeals.
Contact the program officer with questions during
your application preparation. Program staff can
give you information about:
• An institute/center’s potential enthusiasm
about your research area;
• The appropriate FOA through which to apply;
• Investigator-initiated research: topics of inter-
est and new scientific directions;
• Additional information about an initiative
such as a request for applications or program
announcement;
• Requirements for special areas such as human
subjects and vertebrate animal research; and
• The appropriate study section to request in
your cover letter.
If you are putting together an NSF Career Propos-
al, make sure you include information about the
educational aspects of your project. The educa-
tional focus is what differentiates Career Proposals
from regular ones.
Additional Funding Opportunities
In addition to NIH and NSF, biophysicists can
pursue funding from the DOD - DARPA, DOE,
and DOA – NIFA. Private foundations (like PEW,
Searle Scholars) also provide funding to researchers
through a direct application process or institution-
al nominations. Keep in mind that other funding
agencies and funding bodies may not have pro-
gram directors who will talk with you like NIH’s
and NSF’s, and may not provide institutional
overhead as part of the funding.
Some institutions have listings on their websites
about grant opportunities, as does the Biophysical
Society newsletter. Before you go on interviews for
faculty positions, start learning about funding op-
portunities available to you.