What a $500k grant proposal looks like
Having written NSF grants and other grants - DARPA etc. I have won some and lost many. I compiled a few non obvious takeaways:<p>- Story telling is everything. It seems this is a huge lesson never taught in grad school.<p>- Technical details sometimes work against you. The author is absolutely right that getting the general thought process across is crucial.<p>- Who you get on your review committee tends to significantly skew the outcome. Can make or break your chances.<p>- I have known a lot of groundbreaking work funded by other money for these exact reasons. Sometimes good science is too far afield for people to understand. An anecdote i like from recent times is how Eric Betzig built the super res microscope. Here&#x27;s the background.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;science&#x2F;2015&#x2F;04&#x2F;quitting-failures-a-microscope-in-the-living-room-nobel-prize&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;science&#x2F;2015&#x2F;04&#x2F;quitting-failures-a-...</a><p>TLDR: he won the Nobel...<p>The sad truth is $500k for a career grant seems like a lot when you&#x27;re in the university, but when you get out and see where else money is being spent you realize how poor academia really is.