Back from consulting
So about a month ago my school sponsored a trip to go to DC to visit the National Science Foundation. We were out there scoping for grants for us to write. I got some great feedback on some of my ideas that I plan to write. In addition, I was invited to be on a panel to review grants for funding. I felt pretty important to do something like this. Very few people in my department has ever been invited to be a reviewer.
So when you write a grant for NSF, you submit it by the deadline. Then the program officer checks each grant to make sure you didn't do something stupid like not sign the grant or forgetting a section, which would automatically disqualify the application. Then the grant is reviewed by a panel, which is what I did. We read the grants, I had 7, and then rate them before the panel meeting. Then we meet for ~2 days and discuss all the grants and decide which grants should be funded. Our panel had 17 grants and there were a total of 4 panels. Then the grant officer looks at all the grants that we want funding and decides which ones actually gets the money after considering issues like geography, underrepresented minorities, women in science/engineering, etc. So it's an interesting process. My portion was to read the 7 grants and give it ratings. I was by far the harshest reviewer on my panel. When a grant sucked, I said so. When there's a glaring scientific error, I told them to do their homework. So I was a bit mean, lol. I had fun with this. The reviews are completely anonymous so there are no repercussions for being a bit mean, lol. If I did that in a class, I'd get reamed. I was just glad I could keep up with everyone else even though I'm quite new at this process.
Any way, I got paid some money here. I met up with a bunch of LJ people,
sqrlcub,
kurtbear,
dmlaenker, their friend Fritter (don't know his lj off the top of my head), and my old friend Mark. Had a great time down in Baltimore and DC. Mark and I went to the new Air and Space museum by Dulles. had some great planes in there! Then we met at Ellis' and Kurt's place along with JD to head to Baltimore. Fritter was at an Anime convention in Baltimore. Think Star Trek meets japanese Dork. I laughed at the number of BIG swords. We had dinner at the City Grill (or cafe or whatever) with a fantastic Mojito. I probably needed at least one more, lol. I had a great time down there! Was very glad to see everyone again and meet two great guys! Hugs guys!
So when you write a grant for NSF, you submit it by the deadline. Then the program officer checks each grant to make sure you didn't do something stupid like not sign the grant or forgetting a section, which would automatically disqualify the application. Then the grant is reviewed by a panel, which is what I did. We read the grants, I had 7, and then rate them before the panel meeting. Then we meet for ~2 days and discuss all the grants and decide which grants should be funded. Our panel had 17 grants and there were a total of 4 panels. Then the grant officer looks at all the grants that we want funding and decides which ones actually gets the money after considering issues like geography, underrepresented minorities, women in science/engineering, etc. So it's an interesting process. My portion was to read the 7 grants and give it ratings. I was by far the harshest reviewer on my panel. When a grant sucked, I said so. When there's a glaring scientific error, I told them to do their homework. So I was a bit mean, lol. I had fun with this. The reviews are completely anonymous so there are no repercussions for being a bit mean, lol. If I did that in a class, I'd get reamed. I was just glad I could keep up with everyone else even though I'm quite new at this process.
Any way, I got paid some money here. I met up with a bunch of LJ people,
sqrlcub,
kurtbear,
dmlaenker, their friend Fritter (don't know his lj off the top of my head), and my old friend Mark. Had a great time down in Baltimore and DC. Mark and I went to the new Air and Space museum by Dulles. had some great planes in there! Then we met at Ellis' and Kurt's place along with JD to head to Baltimore. Fritter was at an Anime convention in Baltimore. Think Star Trek meets japanese Dork. I laughed at the number of BIG swords. We had dinner at the City Grill (or cafe or whatever) with a fantastic Mojito. I probably needed at least one more, lol. I had a great time down there! Was very glad to see everyone again and meet two great guys! Hugs guys!