[Plsgs] FW: June 2012 GradFunding

[Georgina Lambert]

From: Grad & Postdoc Funding Opportunities
[mailto:GRADFUNDING at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] On Behalf Of Shelley Hawthorne
Smith
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2012 1:36 PM
To: GRADFUNDING at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: June 2012 GradFunding

 

June 2012 GradFunding Newsletter

 

This GradFunding newsletter includes the following:

1.      Advice: Turning the Dissertation Proposal into a Fellowship
Application

2.      Current funding opportunities: this month with a special emphasis on
post-doctoral opportunities

 

Turning the Dissertation Proposal into a Fellowship Application

 

Almost all fellowship applications evolve out of documents written for an
academic audience. So you might be surprised if a superb dissertation
proposal is turned down in a fellowship competition. What happened? You
might wonder. The reviewers obviously weren't paying attention when they
read my application.

 

This may be true - the reviewers may not pay attention when they read your
application. But it is your job in the application to get their attention,
and to keep it. Writing an application for a fellowship is a different
project than writing a seminar paper or dissertation proposal. Here are some
tips on transforming academic work into a fellowship or grant application. 

 

1.	Make it easy to read: Reviewers do not spend nearly as much time as
(most) professors spend reading your work. To make your application stand
out in a stack of twenty similar applications, try the following strategies:

a.	Have an engaging and relevant introduction.  
b.	Get to the research questions and hypothesis immediately, preferably
in the first or second paragraph. 
c.	Strategically use visual aids such as subtitles, line breaks, and
bold or underlined text. When appropriate, use a graph. 
d.	Speak directly to the review criteria. 

 

2.	Organize from the reviewer's perspective: Do your best to understand
the reviewer's perspective. If the application asks questions in a certain
order, answer the questions in that order. If and when possible, organize
the essays according to the review criteria.

 

3.	Appeal to your audience's interests: In a dissertation proposal,
professors want to know how your work will contribute to their field. In a
fellowship application, reviewers want to know how your work will advance
their goals. Do your best to understand the reviewers' priorities (search
the website, talk to people, and research previously funded projects) and
then directly address those priorities in your application. 

 

4.	Make the application cohesive: As a whole package, your application
should make a single argument. The essays, the literature review, and the
letters of recommendation should all speak to one another so that the entire
application has a unified message. 

 

The process of turning a dissertation proposal into a fellowship application
can feel tedious at first; you are translating your work for a new audience.
It can also feel like a distraction from your "real" work. But the process
will help you think outside of the academic world to consider the impact of
your research on other situations and, inevitably, you will find that doing
this will improve your academic work. 

 

Current funding opportunities

 

Most of the fall fellowship competitions have not yet been announced. As
mentioned in the previous newsletter, if you plan to apply for the big fall
competitions (such as NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, Fulbright-Hays, Ford
Foundation, etc), use the announcement from last fall to begin your
application now. Many of the announcements below include both dissertation
and post-doctoral opportunities. 


 <http://www.discoversleep.org/researchaward.aspx> American Sleep Medicine
Foundation - Strategic Research Award 
Deadline: August 15, 2012 

Up to two grants of $75,000 will be awarded to doctors planning and
conducting research aimed at improving healthcare delivery in the field of
sleep medicine.  Physicians (MD, DO) and PhDs are eligible to apply.

Deadline: August 15

 

 <http://www.jsmf.org/apply/fellowship/index.php> Complex Systems
Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards

(James S. McDonnell Foundation) 

The Complex Systems program supports scholarship and research directed
toward the development of theoretical and mathematical tools that can be
applied to the study of complex, adaptive, nonlinear systems. It is
anticipated that research funded in this program will address important
questions in diverse fields.  While the program's emphasis is on the
development and application of the theory and tools used in the study of
complex research questions and not on particular fields of research per se,
JSMF is particularly interested in the continued development of complex
systems science, and in projects attempting to apply complex systems
approaches to coherently articulated questions. Proposals intending to apply
complex system tools and models to problems where such approaches are not
yet considered usual or mainstream are appropriate to the RFA but should be
well justified as to why such approaches would be an advance. Awards of
$200,000 over two years.

Deadline: June 15, 2012 

 

 <http://my.depauw.edu/admin/acadaffairs/cfd/fellowship.asp> Consortium for
Faculty Diversity in Liberal Arts Colleges 

(Dissertation and Postdoctoral Fellowships)

Applications are invited in all disciplines of the liberal arts and
engineering. Recipients must be either U.S. citizens or permanent residents
committed to and willing to contribute to enhancing the diversity of our
colleges and their faculties and should have no more than five years of
teaching or relevant experience before holding a fellowship. Two types of
residential fellowship awards are available under this program. The
dissertation fellowship is intended for scholars who have completed all
requirements for the Ph.D. or the M.F.A. except the dissertation. The
postdoctoral fellowship is intended for scholars who have been awarded the
Ph.D. or M.F.A. no later than the beginning of the fellowship year and no
earlier than five years before the beginning of the fellowship year. 

Deadline: before October 2012

 

 <http://www.dreyfus.org/awards/postdoctoral_program.shtml> Environmental
Chemistry Postdoctoral Program

(Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation)

The Dreyfus Foundation's postdoctoral fellowship program will provide a
principal investigator with an award of $120,000 over two years to appoint a
postdoctoral fellow in environmental chemistry.  Research areas of interest
will be in the chemical sciences or engineering related to the environment,
including but not limited to the chemistry associated with: the climate, the
atmosphere, aquatic or marine settings, toxicology, soil or groundwater.
Also of interest are chemistry-related energy research (renewable sources,
sequestration, etc.), and new or green approaches to chemical synthesis and
processing, with a clearly stated relation to the environment.

Deadline: August 20

 

 <http://www.cies.org/> Fulbright Scholar Program

The core Fulbright Scholar Program sends 800+ U.S. faculty and professionals
abroad each year. Grantees lecture and conduct research in a wide variety of
academic and professional fields.  New programs this year include:  1) an
expanded program in Brazil--the new Fulbright-Science Without Borders Core
Scholar and Distinguished Chair awards-in which U.S. scholars will be
affiliated with top Brazilian universities and research centers in their
areas of specialization, fostering increased cooperation and institutional
collaboration between applied researchers in the fields of science,
technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM); and 2) a reopened program in
Haiti, active after more than 10 years of hiatus.  

Deadline: Aug 1

Core Fulbright Scholar Program:  http://www.cies.org/

Brazil Fulbright-Science Without Borders:
http://catalog.cies.org/viewAward.aspx?n=3477

Haiti Program: http://catalog.cies.org/searchResults.aspx?wa=
<http://catalog.cies.org/searchResults.aspx?wa=&dc=HA&di> &dc=HA&di=

 

 
<http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/How-to-do-Research-at-the-Kennedy-Librar
y/Research-Grants-and-Fellowships.aspx> John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
Fellowships

The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation invites scholars and students to
apply for support of their research and use of the archival, manuscript, and
audiovisual holdings of the Library under the following programs. Each
application will be evaluated for support in all appropriate areas. Areas
include: foreign intelligence and the presidency, or a related topic; Latin
American or Western Hemisphere history or policy studies during the Kennedy
Administration or the period from the Roosevelt through the Kennedy
presidencies; immigration, naturalization, or refugee policy; domestic
policy, political journalism, polling, or press relations; any topic
relating to the Kennedy period or requiring use of the holdings; topics
requiring the use of the Hemingway Collection.

Deadline: August 15, 2012

 

 
<http://www.knightfoundation.org/press-room/press-release/knight-news-challe
nge-seeks-breakthrough-ideas-unl/> Knight News Challenge: Data
The second round of funding for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation's
Knight News Challenge media innovation contest will be awarded to
individuals as well as organizations (nonprofit or commercial) from anywhere
in the world for innovative digital media projects that help unlock the
power of data by making it available, understandable, and actionable.
Deadline: June 20, 2012

 <https://science.nrao.edu/facilities/evla/> National Radio Astronomy
Observatory (EVLA)

The Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA) consists of 27 25-meter (82 ft)
diameter antennas and is located on the Plains of San Agustin in
West-Central New Mexico. Based on the Very Large Array (VLA), it is
currently being upgraded with state of the art receivers and electronics,
resulting 

in a telescope of unprecedented sensitivity, frequency coverage, and imaging
capability. The antennas are spread across the United States from St. Croix
in the Virgin Islands to Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii, making it the
world's largest dedicated, full-time astronomical instrument. Different
configurations are available at different deadlines.

Deadlines: Aug 1 and Feb 1

 

 <https://science.nrao.edu/facilities/vlba> National Radio Astronomy
Observatory (VLBA)

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory makes its observing facilities
available, on a competitive basis, to qualified scientists and students,
without regard to their affiliations. While in residence, visitors have
access to the full resources of the observatory both with regard to hardware
instrumentation and to software and computing support. The Very Long
Baseline Array (VLBA) is a system of ten radio telescopes controlled
remotely from the Array Operations Center in Socorro, New Mexico, that work
together as the world's largest dedicated, full-time astronomical
instrument. The ten VLBA sites range from Hawaii to the Virgin Islands. Each
VLBA station consists of an 82-foot (25-meter) diameter dish antenna and an
adjacent control building that houses the station computer, tape recorders
and other equipment associated with collecting the radio signals gathered by
the antenna. The VLBA's sharp vision, or resolution, is an ideal tool for
learning new things about a wide variety of astronomical objects and
processes. 
Deadlines: Aug 1 and Feb 1

 

 <http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2011/nsf11547/nsf11547.htm> NSF Science,
Technology, and Society Program Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement
Grants

Science, Technology, and Society Program (STS)considers proposals for
scientific research into the interface between science (including
engineering) or technology, and society. STS researchers use diverse methods
including social science, historical, and philosophical methods. Through the
SBE Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (SBE DDRIG) program,
Division of Social and Economic Sciences (SES) awards grants to doctoral
students to improve the quality of dissertation research. These grants
provide funds for items not normally available through the student's
university. Additionally, these grants allow doctoral students to undertake
significant data-gathering projects and to conduct field and archival
research in settings away from their campus that would not otherwise be
possible. The usual limit on a dissertation award is $10,000 for research in
North America. The usual limit for international research is $15,000. 

Deadlines: varied

 

 <http://www.alexslemonade.org/grants/nursing> Nurse Research Grants

Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation

Nurse researchers are invited to apply for pediatric cancer patient care
grants. Two-year grants ranging in amount between $10,000 and $50,000
annually are available to nurse researchers at all levels of practice for
projects to help nurses find better ways to care for children undergoing
cancer treatment.

Deadline: Aug 1

 

 <http://my.depauw.edu/admin/acadaffairs/cfd/fellowship.asp> School for
Advanced Research 

Resident Scholar Fellowships 

The School for Advanced Research (SAR) awards approximately six Resident
Scholar Fellowships each year to scholars who have completed their research
and analysis and who need time to think and write about topics important to
the understanding of humankind. Resident scholars may approach their
research from anthropology or from related fields such as history,
sociology, art, and philosophy. Both humanistically and scientifically
oriented scholars are encouraged to apply.

SAR provides Resident Scholars with low-cost housing and office space on
campus, a stipend up to $40,000, library assistance, and other benefits
during a nine-month tenure, from September 1 through May 31. A six-month
fellowship is also available for a female postdoctoral scholar from a
developing nation, whose research promotes women's empowerment. SAR Press
may consider books written by resident scholars for publication. 

Deadline: Nov 1, 2012

 

 <http://www.srf.org/grants/world_politics.php> Smith Richardson Foundation
Grants to Support Dissertation Research

The Smith Richardson Foundation is announcing a new annual grant competition
to support Ph.D. dissertation research on American foreign policy,
international relations, international security, strategic studies, area
studies, and diplomatic and military history. The fellowship's objective is
to support the research and writing of policy-relevant dissertations through
funding of fieldwork, archival research, and language training.  In
evaluating applications, the Foundation will accord preference to those
projects that could directly inform U.S. policy debates and thinking, rather
than dissertations that are principally focused on abstract theory or
debates within a scholarly discipline.

The Foundation will award up to twenty grants of $7,500 each.

Deadline: October 2012 (website will be updated)

 

This newsletter is compiled by Shelley Hawthorne Smith under the direction
of Georgia Ehlers in the Graduate College Office of Fellowships and
Community Engagement. 

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