I was awarded a NSF CAREER proposal recently, on my second attempt [1]. In the process of putting my materials together, I was fortunate to be able to learn from successful proposals written by friends and colleagues [2]. I was also fortunate to get feedback from mentors [3]. Trends emerged, and I thought I’d distill and share here on the off-chance that someone might find it helpful.
Disclaimer: I submitted to the Security and Trustworthy Cyberspace program, and requested examples from others who I knew submitted to that program. I expect much of what I learned applies to other programs within the CISE directorate’s purview, but your mileage may vary. Also, my first attempt was unsuccessful (I ended up with a Low Competitive rating, but the reviews were fair). I’ve written up a few reflections from my first submission attempt at the bottom of this post. My second attempt seemed to resonate, though — I got a high competitive rating with three excellent ratings.
Anyway, from my reading and submission experience, this is what a successful SaTC CAREER proposal seems to look like:
Intro (~2 pages)
Describe objectives and demonstrate significance / impact. Frame and scope problem, discuss key insight, detail proposed activities to address problem.
- Employ statistics / figures to…
