IDSP 235 A and B - Grant Writing

This course will provide a broad overview of the principles of grantsmanship, and the multiple steps involved in grant writing and submission and review of a grant application.  Elements of the class will include how to write a competitive grant, grant submission, the role of the Office of Sponsored Programs in grant submissions, the review process, and the submission of revised applications.  The overall goal of the course is to provide the student with a basic understanding of the entire grant process, along with an education about the specifics of grant writing and how to try to secure funding as an academic scientist.

The ability to successfully compete in academic science (and other scientific arenas) is largely dependent on one’s communication and grant writing skills.  Thus, it is important that recent graduates have  the  critical  skills  to  present  significant,  innovative,  and  testable  research  problems  in  a competitive grant format.  This course will attempt to improve a student’s grant writing skills by educating the student about the grant process and then providing them with a chance to complete each grant element in the submission of a scientific research grant.  Twelve lectures over successive Fridays are designed to cover the various points of a successful grant application.  The students will receive both an understanding of the grant process in a lecture format and a hands-on format that will allow the student to understand the importance of each element within a grant.  Students will also watch a grant review take place and participate themselves in a mock grant review with the goal of gaining an appreciation for how a grant is reviewed and the significance of each element of a grant to the final outcome of that submission.

This course can either be taken for a letter grade (IDSP235A) or for a pass/fail (IDSP235B) option.  For students participating in the graded format, attendance at all of the lectures is required and they will be expected to turn in for a grade, mock aspects of a grant, as well as a written review critique of a grant that is presented during the mock study section, which together will be graded in a letter grade format (A, B, C, D, and F).  For those students taking the pass/fail (S/U) option, attendance at all of the lectures is required and they will be expected to turn in for a grade, mock aspects of a grant, as well as a written review critique of a grant that is presented during the mock study section, which together will be graded in P/F or S/U format (A, B, and C = S (P); and D and F = U (F)).