FAQs with Amy

Grant Proposals

Who are these services for? Early career researchers? Established researchers?

Nearly everyone who’s writing a proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF) needs evaluation and assessment. Many scientists would like help developing, improving, and describing their broader impacts. And everyone, even seasoned NSF awardees, can benefit from having a fresh pair of eyes on their grant proposal. We’ve helped people at all career stages, at all sorts of institutions. Our support is highly individualized, so you can choose which parts you want us to help with!

Do you only work on NSF proposals?

NSF is our happy zone, because we have had so much experience and success there, and because we believe in the merit of the review process. But our skills in editing and strengthening all parts of your proposal are applicable to many different funding opportunities, from federal programs to foundations.

You call yourself a “grant writer.” Do you actually write the grant proposals?

Not the whole thing.  The geoscientists and ecologists we work with are the subject matter experts, and they draft most of the text. We often write sections of the proposal, like the Broader Impacts or external evaluation sections, or the Project Summary. But mostly we edit, strengthen, organize, restructure, call out vagueness, and look for weaknesses. 

As for the description “grant writer”: We haven’t found a better term (except maybe “border collie”).  “Grant editor” feels too narrow.  Proposal buddy?  Sidekick?  Proposal czar!  “Grant writer” is at least a job classification that people have heard before, so that’s what we’ve settled on.  For now.

Can Amiable help me with other parts of the grant proposal?

Absolutely! We can wrangle budgets, train you to use the NSF FastLane system, co-write your Data Management Plan or Postdoc Mentoring Plan, develop your entire Broader Impacts program, keep your team on track, help smooth communications between you and your grants specialists, and teach you how to read an NSF solicitation without your eyes rolling back in your head. And a whole lot more!

Isn’t it cheating to hire someone to help me with my grant proposal?

Nope. Academic culture does valorize the solitary super-person who can do it all, but in reality, nowadays, we work in teams, we each have our specialties, and we all have a limited number of hours in the day.

Can you guarantee that my proposal will be funded?

I wish we could, but there are many factors outside our control that contribute to whether a proposal is selected for funding. By analogy, when you go to the doctor, you’re enlisting an expert to improve your condition, but you don’t expect that the doc will guarantee that she will cure you. You acknowledge that there are a lot of other factors at play. We will improve your proposal, though, and endeavor to build capacity in your team so that you don’t need my help with your next proposal!

What is Amy’s scientific background?

Her Ph.D. is in Geology, with a minor in Quaternary Paleoecology and a focus on the biogeochemistry of lakes and lake sediments. She helped build and operate two NSF-funded multi-user facilities focused on lakes and other continental environments, especially on coring and drilling. Along the way she trained and advised hundreds, maybe thousands of scientists, and learned enough to be dangerous in geochronology, geoinformatics and data curation, project development and team management, undergraduate research project design, and lab and field operations and safety. She’s also versed in the evidence-based practices for broadening participation in the geosciences and related fields.

Sunset sky east of Santiago, Chile [© Amy Myrbo]

Llamas at the end of the rainbow, Bosque de Piedras de Huayllay / Hyuayllay National Sanctuary, Peru [© Amy Myrbo]

View from the Grand Canyon South Rim Trail, Arizona, USA [© Amy Myrbo]

Broader Impacts

What does NSF mean by “Broader Impacts”?

There is a great list of examples tucked away in the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG). NSF says Broader Impacts entail:

“[A]ctivities that contribute to the achievement of societally relevant outcomes… [including but] not limited to:

  • full participation of women, persons with disabilities, and underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM);

  • improved STEM education and educator development at any level;

  • increased public scientific literacy and public engagement with science and technology;

  • improved well-being of individuals in society;

  • development of a diverse, globally competitive STEM workforce;

  • increased partnerships between academia, industry, and others;

  • improved national security

  • increased economic competitiveness of the U.S.;

  • use of science and technology to inform public policy; <— [new!]

  • and the enhanced infrastructure for research and education.”

    Source: NSF PAPPG, 20-1, Page II-11

How important is the Broader Impacts component of my proposal?

Think of it as potentially half of how your proposal is judged. NSF gives reviewers wide latitude in how they weight intellectual Merit (the “science part” of the proposal) vs. its Broader Impacts in their reviews. Some people care more about Broader Impacts, and some care less. But we see reviewers and panelists moving more and more toward caring, a lot. However it is weighted, Broader Impacts can make or break a proposal. It can be a way to rank otherwise equally competitive proposals against one another.

I struggle with the Broader Impacts section of my NSF proposals, and reviewers say I’m unoriginal, or overambitious, or haven’t budgeted properly. Can Amiable help?

Yes! We take you through a unique process to develop a Broader Impacts program that fits your interests, aligns with your values, and matches your budget.

I want to include activities that increase Diversity in my next proposal. Can Amiable Consulting help me do it “right”?

Yes! We strongly believe that improving diversity – also called broadening participation, or BA-JEDI (belonging, accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, inclusion) – is the most important Broader Impact we can work on together. It’s also central to NSF’s goals. We can help you get into the literature, and provide abundant advice on activities, scale, budget, partnerships, and how to leverage existing programs (NSF loves that!).

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada, USA [© Amy Myrbo]

 Lower Grinnell Lake, Many Glacier region, Glacier National Park, Montana, USA [© Amy Myrbo]

Moai in various stages of completion in the quarry basin of Rano Raraku, Rapa Nui (Easter Island) [© Amy Myrbo]

Evaluation

What is evaluation, and what is the role of an evaluator?

Evaluation (often used interchangeably with “assessment”) is the process of monitoring aspects of your project in order to measure progress and recognize success, and to determine when to tweak the project. Broader Impacts activities are often evaluated, but you could also evaluate how well your science team is working together, whether a complex project is being implemented as planned, or the diversity of datasets in your data repository. Being systematic, measuring the baseline and milestones, and getting explicit about how your program works (with literature citations!) can enable you to publish on your Broader Impacts. And don’t we all need another publication?

An evaluator typically creates the framework for this monitoring and analyzes the results. Data collection duties (e.g. sending out surveys) may be shared between you and the evaluator. You may have evaluators (or education researchers, or others with closely aligned skills) at your institution, or you may wish to hire and external evaluator like Amy. (Some NSF programs require and external evaluator.) And you may even be able to do all your evaluation yourself. We enjoy developing evaluation plans for scientists to carry out themselves!

Which NSF proposals require evaluation or assessment?

Technically, all of them. One of the elements NSF reviewers are asked to consider is “Is the plan for carrying out the proposed activities well-reasoned, well-organized, and based on a sound rationale? Does the plan incorporate a mechanism to assess success?” (italics added; PAPPG, 20-1, III-2). Assessing success can be simple (e.g. reaching a certain confidence level with your samples) or more complex (measuring an increase in student self-efficacy), but you should always make sure you explain how you will be able to determine whether you have made progress, succeeded, and accomplished what you intended.

I want to include you in my proposal as the evaluator. Can you write the evaluation section of my proposal?

Yes! The evaluation plan is best written when you have a good sense of your project, including the Broader Impacts, but when you still have some flexibility to improve it through discussions about what success looks like and how it will be measured. Involving an evaluator at this early stage can really improve your project and your proposal! But even if you’re past that stage, it’s worth talking to an evaluator. Let’s discuss your needs.

Financial

How do I pay for these services before I get a grant? Do I have to pay out of my own pocket?

Some use some startup money, indirect cost recovery, or other unrestricted funds (if they have any of those!), but we suggest first investigating whether there are institutional funds available.  A surprising number of higher ed institutions, large and small, R1 and PUI, well-resourced to under-resourced, have funds to pay a grant writer, because it is in the best interest of the institution to help its faculty get high-quality proposals submitted (especially these days when faculty are overloaded with online teaching and remote research). A relatively small investment ($2-10K) can improve the chances of winning a six-figure (or larger) grant, with some 30% of that going to the institution as “indirect costs.” 

And remember that it is almost never allowable to use grant funding to pay anyone (including yourself) to write a grant proposal.

Why can’t you help me on spec, on contingency, or pro bono? That is, you only get paid if I get the grant?

Unfortunately, there are too many exciting opportunities where we are invited to commit time pro bono, and at this time we can’t take on any new volunteer roles.