Fall 2015 and Spring 2016Semesters

Faculty Scholar Academies (FSA) Announcement

NIH BUILD PODER

Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity

Promoting Opportunities for Diversity

in Education and Research

Deadline: July 31, 2015 for Fall, 2015

November 9, 2015 for Spring, 2016

BUILD PODER Faculty Scholar Academies were designed to provide customized support for biomedical researchers at CSUN who wish to write NIH grants. Withfour models – beginning, intermediate, advanced, and team, the centerpiece of the program connects less experienced faculty members with those who have earned NIH awards through 1:1 coaching on a specific proposal that is written by the protégé.

New to this initiative is a fourth model, a team model of scientists who agree to meet and support, even collaborate on one another’s proposals with the goal of increasing productivity and quality through collaboration and mutual feedback. We provide $5000 in special pay, monthly coach-protégé group meetings with exercises directed toward proposal completion, a writing coach, direct instruction for beginners, optional writing circles, culminating in a mock study section review of your proposal. Upon your dean’s approval, faculty can request to be reassigned from 3 units of teaching at the internal rate (without benefits) for their faculty to participate in the FSA. The BUILD PODER FSA was designed to address common barriers to grant-writing and to maximize the positive review of proposals.We welcome ideas for enhancing productivity and proposal quality.

For each of the Fall and Spring semester academies, we expect to host approximately 4-6 faculty protégés and two experienced faculty PI Coaches as well as one group of 4 or two pairs of collaborators for a team model. Participants in the BUILD PODER FSA commit to completing a competitive proposal during the semester and submitting that proposal within a year of the end of their academy PER PARTICIPANT. Protégés and collaborators also agree to participate in reviewing others’ proposals for a mock study section.

Eligibility:

  • Full-time faculty, both tenure-line and lecturers
  • Biomedical research interest
  • Intending to write an NIH grant proposal
  • Individuals in beginning, intermediate, and advanced academies can have up to 2 PIs
  • Teams can applyin groups of 2-5 PIs

Schedule for Academies:

In addition to the time for the protégé to develop the proposal, participants (coach-protégé pairs) commit to 8 hours of1:1 meetings (time can be redistributed, but 8 meetings minimum per proposal) and 8 additional hours of feedback on written material from the coach. In addition, all coaches and protégés participate in an initial and ending3-hour meeting and two other two-hour meetings as an entire academy to gain a common understanding of NIH structure and guidelines, budgets, post-award management, and to participate in a mock study section refereed by protégés and coaches. Team collaborators will set a biweekly schedule.

Tentative schedule for coaches and protégés:

Fall Spring______

August 28 11 am – 2 pm IntroductionJanuary 22 or 29 11 am – 2 pm Introduction

October 9 11 am – 1 pm BudgetsMarch 11 11 am – 1 pm Budgets

November 13 11 am – 1 pm Post-awardApril 8 11 am – 1 pm Post-award

December 11 11 am – 2 pm Mock Study SectionMay 6 or 13 11 am – 2 pm Mock Study Section

To Apply:

Applicants must submit a complete application that includes all of the following:

  • Cover Sheet (attached)-Please obtain all requisite signatures
  • Project Narrative

Beginning Proposal Development Academy: Designed for those with little to no grant-writing experience. Broad curriculum and basic grant-writing skills emphasized.

Intermediate Proposal Development Academy: Designed for those who have written unsuccessful proposals or would like specific instruction about improving grant-writing skills. Customized curriculum.

Advanced Proposal Development Academy: Designed for those who have written successful proposals and would like to advance to the R01 mechanism. Individualized matching and readings by R01 funded mentors derived through our Research Partner institutions (UCLA, Claremont Graduate University, UCI, UCSD, UCSB).

Team Collaboration:Designed for those who would like to work with (a) colleague(s) on generating one proposalper participant in a group. The group must meet at least biweekly and will be asked to generate a timeline backing out of the proposal due date. The group can propose its own model, but the following components must be included: (a) reading one another’s work; commenting, (b) participating in the mock study section at the end of the semester by reviewing and submitting work toward a proposal.

For beginning, intermediate, and advanced academies, please submit a 3-page narrative describing the project for which you will be submitting an extramural proposal. Your narrative should include: (a) significance, (b) research questions or hypotheses, (c) method, (d) analysis and interpretation, and (e) dissemination. Identify the agency and program to which you will be applying, your timeline, and deadline. Please also describe how this award will help you establish or reinvigorate your research program. If you would like to work with a particular coach or would like to start a small protégé group, please do so! We are especially interested in supporting interdisciplinary collaborations.

For team collaboration proposals, in 5 pages total: (a) please describe who is on your team;each member should sketch out proposal ideas and expertise, RFA/PA/RFP if possible, (b) describe the group plan (meeting dates, specifics about activities) and (c) describe how a group collaboration and BUILD PODER support will improve your productivity and the quality of your proposals.

Faculty Scholar Academy Coaches:

MariaElenaDeBellard, Biology

David Bermudes, Biology

Ray Hong, Biology

RheemMedh, Biology

JheemMedh, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Tom Minehan, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Erica Wohldmann, Psychology

  • For each participant, including team participants, a curriculum vitae (CV), not to exceed two pages, which focuses on the faculty member’s expertise to accomplish the proposed work.
  • The completed application, including the application page with signatures, narrative, and CV(s) should be submitted to ith “2015-2016BUILD PODER Faculty Scholar Academies” in the subject line.

For additional information, please contact Dr. Carrie Saetermoe,

2015-2016Faculty Scholar Academies

Application Cover Sheet

Deadline: 5:00pm, July 31 for Fall 2015, November 9, 2015 for Spring 2016

Proposal Title:

Preferred Coach(es):

Applicant(s):Department(s)/College(s):

Academy:Beginning Proposal Academy

Intermediate Proposal Academy

Advanced Proposal Academy

Team Collaboration

Academy Preference:Fall 2015

Spring 2016

Note: if you are applying for both semesters, please submit separate, non-duplicative applications.

If awarded, I commit to preparing a proposal for NIH support by the end of the semester for which I receive support:

Applicant(s) Signature:Date:

Department Chair(s) Signature:Date:

College Dean(s) Signature:Date:

Include the following with your application:

  • Project Narrative (3 page maximum, 5 pages for Team Collaboration; if applying to bothsemesters, please provide a separate narrative for each.)
  • CV (2 page maximum per collaborator)

Please submit your completed application by e-mail as one PDF attachment to with “2015 BUILD PODER Faculty Scholar Academies” in the subject line.