The Art of Getting Research Funding

John Laird

John L. Tishman Professor of Engineering

University of Michigan

November 3, 2011

laird@umich.edu

http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/laird

Secrets Revealed! $$

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Why listen to me?

• Continual funding for over 25 years

NASA, DARPA, ONR, ARO, AFOSR, NSF, DEC, Dell, Microsoft, University of Michigan, TARDEC, … • Mostly ONR, DARPA, NSF

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Obtaining Funding = the worst part of my job

• Anxiety of supporting students• Uncertainty and short range of funding• National events impacting my life

• “John: we've had massive cuts to our programs. I've had to cut your funding from $125K to $100K. Sorry.”

• “… has finalized the research plan and funding allocations. It is attached. The funding differs from what we had requested, but not significantly.”

• I lost $100K

• Congress cuts funding to TARDEC, which wipes out our funding for robotics center

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Why Funding is Important• Increases your productivity

• Let’s you support students, staff

• Allows you to have a larger impact• Can work on bigger problems

• Gives you access to real world information & problems• Military and commercial

• Forces you to organize your thoughts early on• Develop a plan instead of just bumble along

• Forces you to think about why you are doing research• Impact on science and society

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Key Steps in Funding1. Before pursuing for funding2. Finding funding sources3. Deciding to pursue funding4. Writing the proposal5. Waiting to hear6. During funding7. After funding

• Pursuing funding isn’t something you do just when you need funding…

• You will be in all phases on different projects at the same time.

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1. Before Pursuing Funding• Do great research!• Leverage start up funds to get some results

• It is much easier if you propose to do something you are already working on!

• Think big: • What would have a big impact on your field

• Think a bit applied• What does the world (DoD, NASA, DHS, DTRA, NIH) need?

• Use smart undergraduates to explore• They can be great at system building• You don’t have any commitments to them• Find the top performers in your CS2+ courses• They are cheap or even free

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Be Active in Service• Organize workshops & symposia• Give tutorials• Volunteer to be on program committees• Get on review panels

• Funders notice who is having an impact

But there is a limit…

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Be Active in Research

• Be active at conferences, workshops, symposia• But don’t be a jerk…

• Talk about your research with others• Volunteer to visit other places – even at your expense• Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas• Don’t just promote your approach to research• Become known as a big picture person • Be a person that people want on their team

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2. Finding Funding Sources• Do an NSF CAREER!

• (Check out Young Investigator in ONR, DARPA, …)

• Talk to other faculty members • Talk to Large System Integrators (LSI’s)

• SRI, Lockheed Martin, BBN, SAIC, BAE, … • Interview/visit them

• Talk to program managers • Program mangers need great researchers• Visit program managers in Washington (NSF, DARPA, …)• Be prepared… • If a program manager contacts you, respond immediately

• Get invited to DARPA/ONR/… workshops, …

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Program Managers

• Program managers are good people• They want to find the best research to fund• They consider themselves stewards of you tax dollars• They also have many programmatic constraints:

• budgets, budgets, budgets, applications, politics, …

• Program managers are smart• They might not know the details of your research but

they learn very fast and they know the right questions to ask.

• Don’t try to pull a fast one on them

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Different Types of (DoD) Funding• 6.1 Basic Research

Basic research is systematic study directed toward greater knowledge or understanding of the fundamental aspects of phenomena and of observable facts without specific applications towards processes or products in mind.

• 6.2 Applied ResearchApplied research is systematic study to understand the means to meet a recognized and specific need.

• 6.3 Advance Technology DevelopmentThis budget activity includes development of subsystems and components and efforts to integrate subsystems and components into system prototypes for field experiments and/or tests in a simulated environment.

• 6.4 Demonstrations and Acquisitions• 6.5 Engineering and Manufacturing Development• 6.6 RTD&E Management Support• 6.7 Operational Systems Development

-DoD FMR, Vol 2B, Chapter 5, para 0502

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Different Types of Funding1. Basic research (6.1): best!

• You do what you want • Write a report at the end

2. Directed research (6.2): usually very good• Must do the research you said you would do• Write a report at the end

3. Directed research and development (6.2 & 6.3): good, bad, ugly

• Must develop software/hardware and interface with others• Can be rewarding but can also be a pain

4. Directed development (pure applications)• If you are doing this, get a real job

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Funding Options• Within University

• Start up funds – can be substantial but might have limit• Interdisciplinary – exploratory – usually small • Good money (type 1)

• Government funding• Small to very large• Range of types: 1-4

• Industrial funding (they usually want to make money)• Usually small, but sometimes significant• Range of types: 1-4 • Need to be careful about issues with intellectual property• (I’d stay away from directed development with industry)

• Subcontract from industry as part of government• Often same as government but with more/less bureaucracy• Can be small to large

• Foundations• Don’t know much about it. Can be large in health fields.

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Government Funding Organizations• NSF:

• CAREER, standard peer review, MURIs, ERCs, … • Small, Medium, Large grants

• Military Offices: • Office of Naval Research (ONR)

• Naval Research Labs (NRL)• Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)

• Air Force Research Labs (AFRL)• Army Research Office (ARO)

• Army Research Labs (ARL) • Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) • Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)

• National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)• Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) • Department of Energy (DOE)• Department of Homeland Security (DHS)• National Institutes of Health (NIH)• National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST)• Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP)

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Partnering with Industry

• Get to know who your “boss” will be.

• Are they committed to the research?

• Can be great, can be terrible.

• Protect your IP.

• Make sure you can publish.

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3. Deciding to Pursue Funding• Read the call for proposal!

• Does your great idea fit what they are looking for?• Don’t fool yourself – they rarely stretch the boundaries.• Can you do something that will distinguish yourself?

• Don’t write a proposal just because you can• It takes lots of work to do a good proposal• If you get funded, you’ll have to do the work

• Do you really want to do it? • Do you have the time to do an excellent job?• Are you going to get enough money to do it?

• Small number of really good proposals vs. lots of pretty good proposals?

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Funding Requests• RFI: Request for Information

• Whitepaper (not proposal) followed by possible invitation to workshop

• RFP: Request for Proposal• Often directed to a specific research area• Don’t respond without talking to program manager

• BAA: Broad Agency Announcement• Open call for research on “broadly defined areas of interest”• Evaluated through a peer or scientific review process• Don’t respond without talking to program manager• Sometimes a means for a specific research program

• BOA: Best Of All• Program manager asks you to respond to a RFP/BAA.

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Whitepapers

• A short description of proposed research used for initial screening of research proposals• Provides feedback with less effort on both sides

• Usually include only an estimate of funding:• ROM: rough order of magnitude

• Definitely do one, even if optional• Avoids lots of wasted effort• Do a good job

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Whitepapers“Blue Papers” in the 19th century (so-called because of their blue covers) were humongous policy or legislative statements delivered by the British government for consideration by Parliament. But if a report or statement was too brief to be rightly considered a “Blue Paper,” it was issued with white covers, and, with uncommon logic, called a “White Paper.” Probably because these pithy “White Papers” were more directly useful than the bloated “Blue Papers,” Americans adopted the term and have been using “white paper” since World War II to mean “background report,” whether in the governmental or business realm.

-The Word Detective

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4. Writing a Proposal• Great Offense:

• Give them great reasons to fund your proposal.

• Great Defense:

• Don’t give them any excuse to reject your proposal.

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4. Writing the Proposal• Follow the instructions

• What are the review criteria?

• If it says fill out sections A-M in less than 25 pages in 12pt font and A must be 1 page, B must be 2, C must be 1, D 3… then do it!

• but this is not what is most important

• Talk to the program manager• Listen to what they say!!!!

• What is he/she really looking for?

• Tell them what you are thinking about before you write the proposal

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4. Writing the Proposal• Most people make up their mind on the first page

• They read the rest to confirm that opinion

• Think long and hard about the motivation• What problem will your research solve?

• What new thing will we be able to do that was impossible before?• How is it relevant to the funder?

• What question will your research answer?• What will we learn from your research?

• Why is it important beyond your subfield?• What impact will it have on society?

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4. Writing the Proposal• What is new/innovative about your approach?

• Tell them what you are going to do• Even an outline is better than, “Trust Me.”

• Think about evaluation• How will others know that you’ve succeeded?• What metrics will you use?• Should be directly tied to the claims

• Make it clear and understandable• Have someone else read it

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How Many $$?

• Often out of your control – usually low ceiling• You ask for the max but no more.

• Sometimes you get to ask for what you need• Must justify what you ask for

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Know you expenses!Costs at UM

• RAs• Where the majority of the money goes: tuition and salary and benefits

• Personal summer support • Can supplement salary with 1-2.5 summer months (1/9-2.5/9 salary).

• Academic year offset• 5-20% academic year salary

• Equipment:• Computers + connect/network fee [$300/computer@Michigan]

• Overhead: • @UM: 56% on top of all other costs [X] except tuition [T]• Total $’s = X + T + 56% * X• @UM: A small % of overhead comes back in research incentive account

• Research staff: post-docs, programmers & support staff• In your dreams…

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Waiting to Hear

Program Manager

Peer Review Panel or Individual Reviewers

Program Manager

Individual Reviewers

Division Director

• Check in with program manager after deadline

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5. During Funding

• Do great research• Don’t relax – push those graduate students hard!

• Spend you $$’s at a consistent rate• Don’t try to save it up (they may take it away)• But sometimes there are gaps…

• Having some buffer is a good idea.

• Can sometimes get no-cost extensions, but limited duration

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Listen to your Program Manager• You are part of a team• The PM will usually tell you what they need

• But usually at an abstract level• Your job is to figure out what they really need

• Possibly before they know it: • Use mind reading or “program manager modeling”• Provide a bit of direction from below• Helps insure continued funding for both of you

• If they ask for something, be responsive (and thoughtful)• Be the go-to person – one they can depend on • Be low-maintenance and high value• Be the person they enjoy funding

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6. After Funding

• Time to retire (or at least teach a lot more) …

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Most Important Advice1. Be proactive

• Border on aggressive• Be responsive, reliable, thoughtful

2. Don’t be a jerk• But don’t burn bridges with other researchers• You never know who will be a program manager one day

3. Read the directions4. Be a team player

• Have great ideas, do great research, work hard

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The End