Fellowship Workshop For First

and Second Year Students

Deepta Bhattacharya

Washington University in St. Louis

Thank you to:

Dr. John Russell, DBBS

Shirley McTigue, DBBS

Kate Ruzicka, DBBS

Karen Dodson, Faculty Affairs

Dr. Robin G. Walker (U Missouri)

Dr. Leonard Green (Psychology)

Dr. Joseph Jez (Biology)

Thank You To Mentors!

Jeff Gidday

Allan Doctor

Gina Story

Jim Skeath

John Cirrito

Paul Taghert

Joe Dougherty

Barak Cohen

Shelly Sakiyama-Elbert

Joe Jez

Kelly Monk

•Gary Port

•Molly Gibson

•Brian Daniels

•Dylan McCreedy

•Katherine Linstrand

•Ryan Gray

•Lauren Walker

•Stephanie Rodriguez

•Elizabeth Danka

•Adam Joyce

•Daniel Summers

•Rowena Campbell

Goals for This Workshop

Awareness of fellowship opportunities

and deadlines

Basics of writing a research proposal

Understanding of review process for

common fellowships

BIG GOAL: Increase fellowship awards to

Wash U DBBS students

Why get a fellowship? Don’t I already

get a stipend?

From Wash U’s and your PI’s point of view:

salary and tuition support (i.e. more money for your lab for your research)

Prestige for your institution

From your point of view:

Higher stipend ($5000 more for awards >$20K)

Extra money for computer or travel

Prestige for you

More likely to get into the lab you want

New NSF awards by DBBS students

2007: 1

2008: 2

-Fellowship workshop starts-

2009: 6

2010: 12

National success rate: ~10%

DBBS success rate for workshop participants: ~20%

Fellowship Workshop Schedule and Deadlines

Fri Oct 14: outline with abstract, 3 specific

aims and experimental sub-aims due (e-mail)

Wed Oct 19, 4:15-5:30: group critique with

faculty/postdocs

Fri Oct 28: 2 page draft of research proposal

due (e-mail)

Wed Nov 2:15-5:30: group critique

Nov 18th: NSF Fellowship Apps Due!

**SIGN IN WITH E-MAIL ADDRESS TO

PARTICIPATE!!!**

General Types of Fellowships Available

for Biology PhD Students

Governmental Support: National Science

Foundation, National Institutes of Health,

Department of Defense

Private Foundations: American Heart

Association, PhRMA Foundation, Epilepsy

Foundation

Minority Fellowships: Ford Foundation,

Soros Fellowships for New Americans,

Merck Fellowships

Eligibility For Fellowships

(all different!) Fellowship Citizenship

Requirement

Minority

Focused

Year

Eligible

Subject

National

Science

Foundation

Yes No 1st + 2nd Basic

Science

American

Heart

Association

No No 2nd-3rd Heart

Disease/

Dev’t

Ford

Foundation

HHMI

Yes

Yes (foreign only)

Yes

No

1st only

2nd-3rd

Any

Biomed

Active Fellowships held by Wash U

DBBS Students

American Heart Awards 5

Army (Prostate, Breast Cancer) 2

NDSEG Fellowships (DOD) 1

NIH Fellowships 33

NSF Awards 23

Am Soc. Plant Biologists 1

EPA Star Fellowship 1

Am Soc. Microbiology 1

USDA AFRI 1

American Heart Association Predoctoral

Fellowships: F1 student visa okay!

Midwest Affiliate: Success Rate# Applications Reviewed: 141# Applications

Awarded: 34Success Rate: 24.11 percent

“Proposal Evaluation:

Significance: Does this study address an important problem broadly

related to cardiovascular disease or stroke? What will be the

effect of these studies on the concepts, methods and technologies

that drive this field?

Approach: A new fellow may not have had adequate time to generate

preliminary data. Applicants can present preliminary data

generated by the sponsor. The assessment of preliminary data,

whether generated by the sponsor or the applicant, should be put

into perspective so that bold new ideas and risk taking by beginning

investigators are encouraged rather than stymied.”

New as of last year: HHMI

International Student Fellowships

Available ONLY to international students (non-

US citizens/green card holders)

DBBS students: brief (one-half page) description

of the nature and significance of the proposed

thesis research to Shirley McTigue by 11/1/2010

10 students will be nominated within all HHMI-

supported fields (all sciences, engineering, math,

CS, plant biology)

Cross-disciplinary research emphasized

National Science Foundation

Graduate Research Fellowships

To be eligible for the NSF GRFP, you must:

* be a US citizen, US national, or

permanent resident alien

* be in a research-focused Master's or

Ph.D. program in an NSF-supported field

* have completed no more than twelve

months of full-time graduate study (or the

equivalent) by the beginning of fall term

2010

What is Usually Required to Apply?

Research Proposal (2-10 pages)

Personal Statement/Career Goals

Statement

CV or Previous Research Experience

3 Recommendations

Undergraduate Transcript

NSF GRFP Application Guidelines

Topics for your Proposal

The point here is to show you can think!

First Years:

◦ Pick something you are comfortable with, or

have already done some reading on

◦ Can be rotation project, but CLEAR WITH

YOUR ADVISOR FIRST

◦ Can also be work stemming from your

undergraduate or other research experiences

Second years: your thesis research

National Science Foundation

Graduate Research Fellowships

Must be focused on a BASIC science question.

Your research proposal will be declared

INELIGIBLE if it has disease-related goals.

Example: you work on a mouse model of cancer

Good Topic: Mechanistic questions about cell

cycle control

Bad Topic: Evaluating which chemotherapy drug

regimen works best to eliminate tumors

General Format for Fellowship Research

Proposals

Title

Abstract/Summary

Specific Aims (List; usually 2-3 for NSF)

Background and Significance

Specific Aims 1

-expt1,2 (3), including methods

Specific Aims 2 and 3 (same as 1)

Conclusion and Restate Significance

Abstract and Specific Aims Section

Most important part! (If they don’t like

this, they won’t read the rest.)

Capture the enthusiasm of the reviewer,

and convince them to be on your side.

Things to watch out for:

◦ -dependent (domino) aims: if one fails, the

others will too

◦ -technically challenging, or not likely to work

(some screens)

◦ -lack of specifics: spell out what you want to

do!

Background and Significance

Clear description of what is known and

not known

Why are your hypotheses and methods

important?

Citations important.

Gives evidence of your competence in

this scientific field.

Should I add figures/data?

For NSF: very small amount of room!

Illustrative only: model, one image,

chemical reaction, etc. is okay.

For other, longer proposals: yes, if you

have it.

For NIH NRSAs: you NEED data (apply

late 2nd or early 3rd year). High quality,

unpublished data demonstrating that you

can do these expts, and supporting your

hypothesis.

Research Design and Methods

Follows order of specific aims

Detail methods, or provide citations

Clear rationale for interpreting results:

◦ -if I get result X, I would conclude Y, follow up

with Z.

◦ -if I get result –X, I would conclude –Y. This

could be because A, B, or C. I could rule out

possibilities by doing … instead.

◦ -include caveats: shows your ability to think!

Writing Style (from Karen Dodson) Common Errors in Grant

Writing:

1. “Squid Technique”: The

author is doubtful about

facts or reasoning and

retreats behind a cloud of

ink.

2. Mystery story: keep

reviewer guessing about

your central hypothesis

until the last paragraph.

How to Apply the Basics of Good

Writing to Your Proposal

Begin with clear statement of hypothesis

and its significance.

Write in a simple journalistic way: short

sentences in logical sequence.

Make sure message is crystal clear.

Your reviewer has a limited amount of

time: help them get the message early.

Bold/underline major points!

Evaluation Criteria for NSF Fellowships Intellectual Merit

importance to advancing knowledge

your qualifications to complete project

creativity/originality

well organized

access to resources necessary

Broader Impacts Criteria

advance discovery while promoting teaching and

learning

broaden the participation of underrepresented groups

enhance the infrastructure for research and education

Share results broadly with the public

Benefit to society

Suggestions from a REAL NSF reviewer! (Dr.

Leonard Green, Psychology, Wash U)

Broader impact criteria matter a LOT!

◦ outreach, diversity, presentations of your

science to others

2 main reviewers – give two scores based

on intellectual merit and broader impacts

◦ Can go to a 3rd person if 2 reviews differ

Ranked by score. Top 50% of available

slots are filled by score alone.

Bottom 50% are filled by consideration of

other criteria (gender/geography/etc.)

REAL evaluations

Personal Statements What excites you about science, or a

career in science

**What you are doing/plan to do to give

back to the community (after getting $$

from the government)**

Emphasize communication of science with

others (other scientists or general public)

◦ Poster sessions, tutoring, volunteer work

Handout: Robin Walker (U Missouri)

Personal Statements Same principles of good writing apply

here: topic sentences, concise, to the

point.

Use your own personal statements for

graduate school applications as a template

for this.

Examples:

◦ http://dbbs.wustl.edu

Research Experience Statement

Put most significant experience first, or

current lab work (if GR2)

Talk about your results and conclusions,

any publications you have been or will be

a part of, broader impact of your work

Can list rotations, but only briefly.

Comments about each should be roughly

proportional to their significance on your

CV

Letters of Reference Guidelines

“Applicants can improve their chances of obtaining

strong reference letters by doing the following:

choose people that can speak to your abilities and

potential, rather than someone with a prominent title

Provide referees sufficient time

Discuss the application and share your essays with

them

Inform them that reference letters should reflect

both your “intellectual merit” and “broader impacts”

if necessary, remind referees about deadline.”

Things to do NOW if you will apply for

NSF

Request Transcripts from your

Undergraduate institution be Sent to You

(GR2s – get one from Wash U)

◦ Really, get a bunch. You’ll need them.

Ask for letters of recommendation

Expectations of You for This Workshop

Outline and Abstract by Fri Oct 14:

◦ 1 succinct paragraph stating significance,

problem/question, approach, and potential

impact

◦ 3 specific aims (goals for your experiments)

◦ Subaims under each with brief method for

your experiment

◦ This should all fit easily on one page, possibly

½ a page.

Research Proposal

2-page draft by Friday Oct 28

Check sample proposals for formatting

ideas

Use abstract and specific aims to write a

two page proposal. No references needed

(but you will need to put them in later!)

Submit by e-mail to your group and

leader.

PLEASE make sure you are

signed in to participate in the

small group sessions!

Any questions?

Deepta Bhattacharya

deeptab@wustl.edu