I am planning to reserve one of the Friday afternoon slots each semester for programming that will contribute to our graduate students’ professional development. The first of these events is next Friday, October 27, 3:00 – 4:00+ in 125.

Specifically, this will be a panel of faculty, students, and staff on grant writing for graduate fellowships. It will include the perspective of students who have successfully competed for these awards (Lisa Velkoff, Annie Kalomiris), faculty who have mentored student recipients (Heather Claypool, April Smith), faculty who have served on relevant award panels (Robin Thomas, Jay Smart, Heather Claypool, me) and staff with considerable expertise in identifying and securing grant funding (Cricket Meehan, Anne Schauer).

My hope is to present some of the challenges and success strategies for grants submission, as well as make the process seem a little less “mysterious.” Although this panel will be tailored towards popular funding mechanisms like the NSF GRFP and NIH F31, it should be more widely applicable as well.