NSF CAREER

[arios0]

Thanks! Good luck to everyone still waiting.

[ghz8910]

Is anyone still waiting? Emailed PM, no reply.

[MoO2]

Just get my CAREER formally recommended for funding earlier this week. Submitted in July last year. It takes almost a year...

[ghz8910]

Congratulations!

I am still waiting. No change of date or status. Emailed PM three times, no reply. My first NSF grant took 4 months, second one took 6 months. This one is already pending for more than 10 months. 

[Vid]

Folks,

I posted this in another thread but posting it here, hopefully, to get some feedback.

My NSF CAREER proposal was declined...I am deeply saddened....looking over the comments I just see clowns and bullies! Last year the panel ranked my CAREER proposal "Competitive" and this year the panel ranked it "Not Competitive"...really weird. This was my third try:(

I asked the NSF PD about the ranking differences, he said "From year to year, both the composition of reviewers and the competing CAREER proposals change. I am sorry that there is not better news for you."!!!

What is your advice at this point? should I submit it as a regular proposal or EAGER? I am crying since Friday!! I worked on the idea really hard.

Thank you.

[doc700]

I know we have a thread for CAREER results but wanted to see if anyone else is preparing a proposal right now?  I am on my third try this year and am having a bit of a difficult time getting motivated to work on it.  Unfortunately my scores were worse my second year than first so hoping I don't continue that trend with the last try.  Hope others are doing well!

[arcturus]

I know we have a thread for CAREER results but wanted to see if anyone else is preparing a proposal right now?  I am on my third try this year and am having a bit of a difficult time getting motivated to work on it.  Unfortunately my scores were worse my second year than first so hoping I don't continue that trend with the last try.  Hope others are doing well!

Are you getting advice from your mentors? They may be able to help fine-tune your proposal. My field over-emphasizes the education/outreach part of the CAREER proposal, with a distinct preference for proposals that integrate the research component with the education component. Thus, projects that have great research and great education may still be turned down if they are not "sufficiently" intertwined.

Good luck!

[eigen]

My NSF CAREER proposal was declined...I am deeply saddened....looking over the comments I just see clowns and bullies! Last year the panel ranked my CAREER proposal "Competitive" and this year the panel ranked it "Not Competitive"...really weird. This was my third try:(

I'm in a similar situation. My comments were generally favorable absent one person, and my average rating went up, but I moved from competitive to not competitive as an overall ranking.

It's been a particular challenge as the PO has changed between submission and panels each year I've submitted, and I've gotten wildly different advice from different POs. I got chided in the panel summary this year by the PO for doing what the previous PO recommended, and a mention that I "should have talked to a PO before resubmitting".

I'm not re-submitting this year, and taking the time to re-work the proposal in a more significant way + get some extra preliminary data, then will resubmit next year.

[doc700]

This is my third attempt but also last year of eligibility so I need to give it a go or else give up.

My first year I got generally favorable reviews.  I spoke with the PO and he told me I was close to the cutoff for funding but others who were on their 3rd attempt ahead of me.  He was positive and encouraging.  The second year I was not competitive.  I had received some other funding in the interim and the main complaint was that my output (papers) was not commensurate with the funding I had received so more money to my group would be wasted.  This was a tough pill to swallow as I have complex equipment that takes a few years to build up with some delays at that time due to COVID supply chain, losing a postdoc who couldn't get a visa etc.  The funding I received was ~8 months earlier so it also felt unfair to have expected a large number of papers just from that grant. I did have papers from my group at the time of the second submission but apparently the progress wasn't deemed enough. So it was very demoralizing to sink down, especially as I was also discouraged myself at that time about the COVID shutdown and delays.

I did end up getting some funds (via a collaborative grant) for the project I had in my original proposal.  Thus I essentially need to write a new proposal this year as my original proposal would be somewhat overlapping with current funding.  I do have some preliminary data for the new effort but no existing proposal to work from.  Just trying to get up the motivation to work hard after the discouragement from the second try!

[doc700]

Some good news that my CAREER award was recommended!  After the up and down rollercoaster of the first 2 tries, I am very excited for this positive outcome on my 3rd attempt.  Best of luck to others still waiting!