98th ESA Annual Meeting (August 4 -- 9, 2013)

August 03 - 09, 2013

WK 53

Show Me The Money: How To Write Successful Student Grant Proposals

Grant writing skills are essential to a successful research career in ecology. Today, the increasing competition for grant funding has turned grantsmanship into both an art and a science. The purpose of this workshop is to provide information for graduate students on the strategies of applying for student research awards in ecological sciences. Participants will be able to communicate directly with a panel of representatives from scientific funding agencies, faculty on proposal review panels, and graduate students who have successfully obtained grants about writing competitive grant proposals for these awards. The panel will present the basics of how to choose a funding source, how to use proposal guidelines, writing and submitting the proposal, and following up with a submission. This year, the workshop will include an active writing session in which students swap and edit their own writing samples following a presentation on science writing. In addition, the panelists will discuss how to develop working relationships with granting agencies and what to do if the proposal is rejected. Each participant will receive a packet of “Top 10 lists” from the panelists detailing the top 10 keys to preparing a competitive student grant proposal. The packet will also include recent editorial articles summarizing the ins-and-outs of grant proposal writing. Students who participate in the workshop will learn the fundamentals of the grant funding procedure; what constitutes a good proposal, what to avoid including in proposals (bad proposals), as well as the opportunities available for funding their own research.