Question about NSF proposal

[research_prof]

I received an email from NSF about a proposal of mine. The PD said they are thinking about funding my proposal, but I need to respond to the comments/concerns of the reviewers first. Do you guys know what is going on? Would the PD send my responses back to reviewers who will then decide whether my responses are good or not?

How much time do I have to send back my responses? Would 4-5 days be ok? There are many comments and I want to make sure I provide proper responses. No specific timeframe was mentioned in the email I received.

[Vid]

 I donot think the reviewers will look at your response, the PD wants to make sure that your proposed approaches are clear/reasonable/doable. Is this your CAREER proposal?

Good news.

[pgher]

When I have served on a panel, there were times when a question came up in the discussion. We couldn't all agree on whether it was adequately addressed in the proposal, but we could agree that it was important. The PD offered to ask the PI as a part of the decision-making process. I think at this point, the panelists are no longer involved, and it's a matter of satisfying the PD that you have taken the criticism seriously and are addressing it.

[fizzycist]

This is not uncommon.  Every time I got this request the proposal was eventually funded. As others said, the responses will not be returned to reviewers, they will stay within NSF Program staff. Taking a week or so to submit them should be fine.

[research_prof]

Thank you all for your responses. It is not a CAREER proposal (it is another proposal, but hey I am still happy about it).

I believe the PD's email contained all the comments that had negative tone from the panel summary and the individual reviews, is that expected?

Some of them are trivial to address, some others are a bit more challenging, but they can be addressed I believe.

[Ruralguy]

Would it be appropriate to call the PD?

[research_prof]

Would it be appropriate to call the PD?

I do not think so. I think I should address the comments as the PD asked me to do.

[aspiring.academic]

This happens from time to time. It means that your proposal was rated as 'competitive' but not in the highest batch to be funded without question.

First, acknowledge receipt of the email and provide a reasonable timeframe. Depending on how in-depth the questions are, it's appropriate to give an anticipated response timeframe of two weeks. PDs know this time of the semester is hectic.

Second, try to respond to the questions in the same manner you would for a journal or conference paper reviewer. You don't need to draft a complete change document with line item track changes, but you should address each concern directly, even if you think it's trivial. It's probably not trivial, or it's unclear if it made it through an entire panel, and it was a concern worthy of consideration, so don't dismiss it.

Have someone else removed from your proposal, review your responses. That person is looking for clarity and completeness of the answers, not correctness. And for the love of all things holy, do not do a 180 in your response. They like what you proposed; this is not the time to go in a completely different direction.

Thank the PD for the opportunity to respond to the inquires and attach your response, also date your document.

Be prepared for the second round of follow-up questions, which is not outside of the norm.

[research_prof]

This happens from time to time. It means that your proposal was rated as 'competitive' but not in the highest batch to be funded without question.

First, acknowledge receipt of the email and provide a reasonable timeframe. Depending on how in-depth the questions are, it's appropriate to give an anticipated response timeframe of two weeks. PDs know this time of the semester is hectic.

Second, try to respond to the questions in the same manner you would for a journal or conference paper reviewer. You don't need to draft a complete change document with line item track changes, but you should address each concern directly, even if you think it's trivial. It's probably not trivial, or it's unclear if it made it through an entire panel, and it was a concern worthy of consideration, so don't dismiss it.

Have someone else removed from your proposal, review your responses. That person is looking for clarity and completeness of the answers, not correctness. And for the love of all things holy, do not do a 180 in your response. They like what you proposed; this is not the time to go in a completely different direction.

Thank the PD for the opportunity to respond to the inquires and attach your response, also date your document.

Be prepared for the second round of follow-up questions, which is not outside of the norm.

Thank you. I did acknowledge the receipt of the email and I said I will send my responses to the program director in a timely manner (did not specify a timeframe). My goal is to do so in the next 3-4-5 days.

So who will be asking the second round of follow-up questions? would these come from the reviewers or the PD? The experienced colleagues I have asked, they said that my responses will be used by the PD to justify funding my proposal to people higher up at NSF.

[aspiring.academic]

Any additional questions would come from the PD.

[born_a_prof]

Are the reviews available at this stage or not ?

[aspiring.academic]

Are the reviews available at this stage or not ?

No. Reviews are not available online until a proposal is recommended or declined.

[research_prof]

Are the reviews available at this stage or not ?

No. Reviews are not available online until a proposal is recommended or declined.

They are not fully available, but the PD seems to have copied/pasted all the comments with negative tone from the panel summary and individual reviews to the email I received and asked me to address them.

[Vid]

I would address the comments and send it over to the PD ASAP. don't pay attention to the negative tune. if it happened (which could be the most case scenario) GREAT, if not love and respect yourself and move on! no pressure!

[research_prof]

I would address the comments and send it over to the PD ASAP. don't pay attention to the negative tune. if it happened (which could be the most case scenario) GREAT, if not love and respect yourself and move on! no pressure!

Absolutely. That's what I have been working on since I got this email. I plan to send my responses back to the PD as soon as I am done.