Brent Verner wrote: > There are NSF grants that are available to only univ., but there are > some available only to non-educational entities (including > individuals)... <smacks self for not staying in school...> Yeah, > I know univ. are major consumers of the NSF funds, so I'm hoping > some kind individual might help me find my way into that circle ;-) >
I have written both successful and unsuccessful NSF proposals. These were for equipment/instrumentation proposals, rather than software development projects. At least in Chemistry money for software development gets severely short changed. The place to start is to go to http://www.nsf.gov and look at the programs for Computer and Information Science. For example, there is the NSF Middleware Initiative (NMI) outlined in in NSF document 02-028. Here is the link to the HTML version of the document: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/nsf02028/nsf02028.htm The deadline for this program is 1 March 2002. This is a very open program in that there are no limitations on eligibility. Other programs you may want to check out are: Trusted Computing (NSF 01-160) (next deadline is 12/2002) Embedded and Hybrid Systems (NSF 01-161) (next deadline is 12/2002) If you want to write a proposal you must adhere to the specifications spelled out in Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) NSF 02-2. You will also have to conform to any proposal specs spelled out by the individual guides for the particular program to which you are applying for money. NSF can be very anal about this, and will throw away perfectly good proposals if they don't have margins set right or you run a page or two over the limit. StarOffice 5.3 worked for me in preparing my last proposal. You should also have a very hot sounding C.V. which demonstrates you have the competence and experience to do what you set up to do. Another thing NSF likes is to show how the project can benefit other segments of society (i.e. have a "broad impact"), especially with underrepresented segments like women and racial minorities, and ably-challenged individuals (to use the politically correct term). Good Luck, Paul -- Paul D. Boyle | [EMAIL PROTECTED] Director, X-ray Structural Facility | phone: (919) 515-7362 Department of Chemistry - Box 8204 | FAX: (919) 515-5079 North Carolina State University | Raleigh, NC, 27695-8204 http://laue.chem.ncsu.edu/web/xray.welcome.html
