Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory logo and masthead Berkeley Lab masthead Lab Index Berkeley Lab masthead Phone Book Jobs

 

Early Career Research Program Overview Divisional Points of Contact Office of Science Early Career Website Important Dates Links and Contacts PAMS Instructions Town Hall Meeting

Office of Science Early Career Research Program
Town Hall and Tips for a Successful Proposal

Town Hall Meeting -- August 8, 2012
50 Auditorium 12-1:30 PM

An informational brown bag was hosted by Laboratory Director Paul Alivisatos to discuss the Early Career Research Program. Previous awardees joined him to share their experience and insights.

Town Hall video can be viewed on e-Presence.

A presentation was prepared for the Director, but not used at the town hall. A PDF of the presentation is available for your information.

Early Career Research Program Town Hall
Key Points - Some tips for a successful proposal
(excerpted from August 8, 2012,Town Hall by Lisa Kelly, ESD)

Flesh out your ideas:

  • Schedule some time with your Division Director, Supervisor and Program Lead(s).

  • Discuss your ideas with your peers

  • Seek out advice from one of the successful awardees (LBNL has 13 thus far!)

  • With the assistance of your division, identify a senior scientist to act as your mentor during the proposal development.

Develop your proposal:

  • Keep in mind that the reviewers are not only judging your proposal on its technical merit, but on your track record.  Don’t be shy – this is your time to shine and boast about your accomplishments which substantiate the proposed research idea.

  • Focus on the exciting work you propose and the key directions.  Remember you only have 15 pages, make the most out of those pages – don’t get too caught up in the detail which likely uses valuable real estate (i.e. pages).

  • Proof of concept is extremely important.  Make sure you emphasize your successes thus far.

  • First impressions count!  Your first paragraph should have high-impact and capture the reviewer’s attention which encourages further reading!  Remember most reviewers will have a stack of proposals to look over and will not likely have the time to devote to a full read of your proposal.

  • A picture is worth a thousand words.  Develop a graphic which encompasses your research idea in an easy to understand image.  This helps create a lasting impression.

  • Ensure your proposal is well organized and easy to read for an intelligent, highly educated reviewer (however note that in many cases the reviewer will not have experience in your particular area of research).  Make sure to define technology specific words that are not broadly known.  Avoid referring the reviewer back to another page – this is time consuming and annoying.

  • Run your draft proposal by your mentor and perhaps another senior scientist who is unfamiliar with your research.  Their feedback is invaluable and a good metric for determining how it might be reviewed.

  • Last, but certainly not least, this call is highly competitive.  With this in mind, your proposed research should be nothing less than brilliant, innovative, incredibly interesting, with a high impact factor.  Maintain an enthusiastic confident perspective throughout your proposal.