Transcript Fostering Grant Success

National Science Foundation
Fostering Grant Success
2007 Joint Statistical Meetings
Salt Lake City
Grace Yang,
Program Director
Div. Of Mathematical Sciences
Introduction of the Division of
Mathematical Sciences
The Statistics & Probability Program
Funding opportunities
Some research highlights in statistics
Proposal writing tips
DMS in a Nutshell
Directorate
NSF
BIO
CISE
ENG
GEO
MPS
SBE
EHR
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Division
AST
CHE
DMS
DMR
PHY
Core Program
Algebra & Number Theory
Analysis
Applied Math
Computational Math
Geometric Analysis/Topology/
Foundations
Infrastructure
Math Biology
Statistics & Probability
Division of Mathematical Sciences
• Supports a lion share of the mathematics
research in the US
• Supports 50% of the research in statistics
in the US
• Typical support: 1-2 months of summer
salary, some graduate student support.
The Statistics Program
Upcoming deadline for submitting proposals
• Window of opportunities Oct. 23—Nov.7
Supports the development of innovative, cutting edge
research in statistical theory and methods
Supports conferences, workshops, catalytic activities
Single Principal Investigator
Focused Research Group
Interdisciplinary Research
Integration of Research and Education
International Collaboration
Statistics Program
Proposals are reviewed by the panel. If necessary, mail
reviews are used.
• Statistics Program Contacts:
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Rong Chen
Gabor Szekley
Yazhen Wang
Grace Yang
[email protected] (leaving)
[email protected]
Incoming
[email protected]
The Probability Program
• Supports research on the theory and applications of
probability, subfields include:
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Discrete probability
Stochastic processes
Interacting particle systems
Stochastic differential and partial differential equations
Markov processes
Limit theory
• Program Contacts:
– Dean Evasius
[email protected]
Funding Opportunities
• Beyond the core programs
• Golden time for statistics
Career Program
• Goal: Encourage young investigators to develop a
research and teaching-oriented career in academia.
• 5-year 400k (min) awards. Division-wide competition,
funding from the division and individual programs.
CAREER (cont)
• PI must be a PhD, untenured, in a tenure-track position; no
previous CAREER award
• Highly competitive, prestigious award
• Proposals must include plan both for innovative research, and
innovative education programs. Integrate research and education.
• International dimensions encouraged
• Research partners cannot be co-PI’s
• Deadline in July (check the NSF website for update)
• Cross-cutting topics on stochastic systems (known as
AMC-SS)
• The Mathematical Science Priority Area (MSPA)
• Computational Science Training for Undergraduates in
the Mathematical Sciences (CSUMS)
• National Institutes in the Mathematical Sciences
Broad Themes of MSPA
Interdisciplinary Research Focus Primarily
on Three Scientific Themes:
• mathematical and statistical challenges
posed by massive data sets
• managing and stochastic modeling of
uncertainty
• modeling complex nonlinear systems
MSPA Overview - continued
• MSPA Specific Competitions:
– Collaborations in the Mathematical Geosciences (CMG)
– Joint NSF/NIGMS Initiative on Mathematical Biology
Upcoming Proposal Due Date: Oct 1, 2007
– Interactions between Mathematical Sciences and Computer
Science (MCS)
– Interdisciplinary Training for Undergraduates in Biological and
Mathematical Sciences (UBM)
• MSPA Interactions
– DMS and Engineering
– DMS and Physical Sciences
National Institutes in Mathematical Sciences
• DMS currently supports seven math science
institutes:
– IMA, IPAM, MSRI
– ARCC (AIM Research Conference Center), IAS, MBI,
SAMSI (resulting from 2001-2002 competition)
• Check out what’s happening at those institutes
– http://www.mathinstitutes.org/
CSUMS
Computational Science Training for Undergraduates in Mathematical Sciences
• New DMS-DUE program that came to existence in June
2006 (NSF 06-559)
• Future Proposal due dates:
October 17, 2006; October 17, 2007
October 17, 2008; October 17, 2009
• Enhance computational aspects of the education and
training of undergraduate students in mathematics and
statistics
• Better prepare undergrad students for fields that require
background in math/stat and computation
• Expand and broaden undergraduate research experiences
• Strengthen research/education culture of institutions, create
models with broad influence
Research Training Groups
• Next Proposal Deadline
– June 5, 2007
– Solicitation: NSF 05-595 (EMSW21)
• Supports research vertically integrated research groups
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Focused on a major research theme
At least three faculty members
Involve undergrads, grads, and postdocs
Students and postdocs must be US citizens or nationals
• Awards
– Duration: 3-5 years
– Amount: Up to $500,000 per year
– Number: 3-5 awards per year
International Collaborations
• Division of Mathematical Sciences encourages
international collaborations
• Supports international conferences, travel grants for
foreign investigators who are conducting collaborative
researches with the US researchers
• Examples:
Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM)
has started a program supporting US students to study
in Beijing
NSF-NSFC program supporting US
mathematicians/statisticians to conduct research in
China
Award Examples
Phenomenon of subdiffusion
Conformation fluctuation of biomolecules does not agree with
Brownian diffusion (Samuel Kou, Yale)
Chunming Zhang: New statistical tools for studying brain
function. Event-related (efMRI). Goal is to locate specific regions
in human brains when specific tasks are performed. Better
estimate of HRF is obtained by using nonparametric statistical
method with spatial information over the entire brain.
Monthly global temp (dg C, relative to the 1961-60 mean),
Jan.56-Dec.90
Green curve is the estimated trend under monotone
constraint. Purple line is outside the conf.band suggesting
nonlinear increasing pattern
How do we get these pictures?
• Statistics Program Directors send you e-mail request
for submission of highlights of your NSF sponsored
research. Instructions for submission are provided
• Some of these get selected and posted on the NSF
website as highlights
• Need your help to increase the response rate!
Proposal Submission and writing tips
Important Changes
• Submission window: Oct 23 – Nov 7
• Proposal will be returned without review if received
after Nov 7
• Full panel review
• Only a small number of proposals will be mail reviewed
Warning: grants.gov is coming
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May be enforced for all FY07 proposals
May be difficult to use
Your SRO may not know how to handle it
Treat Oct 23 as your deadline so you will have two
weeks to fight with grants.gov
• Do not wait until the last minute to submit
• Don’t ask us about questions relating to FastLane. Call
FastLane.
• Read the solicitation carefully and follow it to the letter.
-- We do check compliances
NSF (07-140)
• New Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide: A Proposal
must conform to:
• Black font color and fort size of 10 points or larger
• Only use the type faces:
• Window: Arial, Helvetica, Palatino Linotype or Georgia
• Macintosh: Arial, Helvetica, Palatino or Georgia
• TeX: Computer Modern
Don’t
• Don’t use small fonts or narrow margins (don’t annoy
reviewers)
• Don’t use less than 15 pages
• Don’t jam in too many ideas or problems
• Don’t have typos (show respect)
• Don’t be discouraged if you fail for a couple of times.
Keep trying …
Broader Impact
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At least half page
Societal impact
Education: course development
Training: Graduate and undergraduate, under
represented groups
• Dissemination: publications, talks, making software
available to public, e.g. R code
• Be innovative
Don’t blame us if you don’t get an award
(Not enough money to fund all the meritous proposals)
• Check the NSF website regularly
• Need your help to increase to the response rate for
submission of highlights and serving on the panel
Thank You
Grace Yang
[email protected]