NSF CISE CAREER Workshop 2020
Update, Tuesday, March 30: With apologies for the delays in finalizing workshop plans — I, like many of you, have had to convert courses to remote instruction in short order.
With the NSF building closed, and their staff handling all panels remotely, the NSF CISE CAREER Workshop committee has decided to offer the Workshop content by making videos available, and to focus on enabling 1-on-1 meetings with program directors via teleconference.
Open to all:
Please see the agenda page for links to presentations, the solicitation, and videos from workshop content of the last two years, and to an opportunity to ask or upvote questions that the committee can answer.
An introduction to the CAREER program: Each year, we assign participants preliminary work before the workshop: 1) read the NSF CAREER solicitation, 2) the NSF CAREER FAQ, and 3) view a narrated CISE-specific powerpoint (note: the slides have been updated, but the narration is from a prior year and will in some places not match the slides.) You can skim these far more efficiently than we can present them; you’ll want to take notes of questions that arise as you do so.
Advice on proposal preparation and Q&A: You may find several of your questions answered in the videos from Q&A sessions in 2018 & 2019, either with program directors or with a panel of PIs who have received CAREER awards from different divisions across CISE. I alway enjoy the presentations of these successful applicants, since they describe their writing processes and what they learned from what is often more than one attempt.
Open to those who have sent in applications and are eligible to apply for the NSF CISE CAREER program:
1-on-1 virtual meetings, logistics: Those who have applied will receive, by email on Thursday, Apr 2, an opportunity to upload an 2-page CV (your current NSF-format CV is fine) and a project summary, and given an opportunity to request a time slot by Saturday, Apr 4, from time slots that program directors have made available on MTW, Apr 6, 7, & 8. (Most time slots are 18 or 25 minutes.) Confirmations of meetings, with teleconference links, will be sent on Sunday night, Apr 5. Not all program directors are available on all days, and some program directors may have all their slots requested and therefore become unavailable. Applicants who tie up more than one slot with requests will have all requests cancelled, and may wind up with no scheduled meeting. Applicants whose projects aren’t a good fit for CISE, or who it is not clear that they meet the CAREER eligibility criteria will have lower priority, and will be assigned slots if possible.
1-on-1 virtual meetings, purpose: The key question you can ask a program director in such a meeting is, “Does my research idea fit with your research program?” You can also ask, if you’d be willing to serve on a panel, “When is the best time to contact you and offer to serve on an NSF review panel in area ___?” Important: It is a poor use of time to present your ideas in detail, or ask for an evaluation of your research ideas, since program directors recruit panels of experts to do the evaluation. Think quad chart; don’t expect to show powerpoint or keynote slides on your research. The PD will have your 2-page CV and project summary in front of them.
Jack Snoeyink, UNC Chapel Hill
cisecareerwksp@cs.unc.edu
—————–
NSF statement on COVID-19, Monday, March 9. The workshop will be held virtually, as a Zoom teleconference.
This will allow us to open the sessions to all who wish to view them. Please come back to see a revised agenda, and links to presentations, as we update this site.
Those who have applied are given the opportunity to ask questions for the Q&A sessions, and a selected subset will be able to schedule 1-on-1 virtual meetings with program directors in their research areas.
—————–
We welcome you to the 2020 NSF CISE CAREER Proposal Writing Workshop, to be held via Zoom from the NSF headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia on Monday, April 6, 2020. (Zoom link coming.) This event will introduce junior faculty to the NSF CAREER program, and help them prepare their CAREER proposal. The NSF CAREER program serves a critical role in the National Science Foundation’s efforts to identify, foster and support the nation’s most promising junior faculty in both research and education. Junior professors who are just starting their careers often have limited experience with grant writing and evaluation. They also have little or no interaction with the program directors at NSF. In this workshop, early-career faculty members will have the opportunity to improve their skills in proposal writing, to interact with NSF program directors from different divisions (OAC, IIS, CNS, and CCF) and to meet recent NSF CAREER awardees. The workshop is also open to multidisciplinary researchers with a CISE-specific focus, including cyberinfrastructure. The major components of the workshop include presentations on proposal writing, and opportunities for Q&A in specific divisions and clusters within CISE.
This workshop is being organized by Dr. Jack Snoeyink, supported by National Science Foundation and the Department of Computer Science at UNC-Chapel Hill. The workshop has been designed to accommodate up to 200 junior faculty members who are interested in applying for the CAREER solicitation in any CISE program. For full consideration, please apply by March 2, with notification on March 9 (though these dates may change). Applications after this date can be accommodated only if space is available. In the event of requests for participation exceeding capacity, a lottery will be used to pick 200 participants. Please apply early.
Travel Support
Travel support will be made available for a limited number of HBCU/MEI faculty to attend this workshop. The workshop will be a unique opportunity for HBCU/MEI faculty to network with recent HBCU/MEI NSF CAREER awardees. This will enhance the overall research capabilities of HBCU/MEI to perform cutting edge research. For more information, visit the Travel & Logistics page.
Day 2 Opportunities
The single-day event is to be held on April 6, 2020 via Zoom from in Alexandria, at the National Science Foundation headquarters. The day after the workshop, Tuesday, April 7, will offer an opportunity for the junior faculty members to have one-on-one conversations with NSF CISE Program Directors from their primary research programs. If you are interested in this opportunity, please indicate so in the application form.