'Write Winning Grants' Workshop Offered Again by Popular Demand

October 12, 2009

The MAES Preawards Office is pleased to present the widely acclaimed Write Winning Grants workshop for MSU faculty members on Jan. 6, 2010.

The MAES Preawards Office is pleased to present the widely acclaimed Write Winning Grants workshop for MSU faculty members on Jan. 6, 2010. Check-in begins at 8 a.m., and the seminar runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The workshop will take place in 1410 Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building. The cost of the workshop is $90. Preregistration is required. Click here for the registration form. The form can be printed and then mailed or faxed to the MAES office.

Workshop registration is open now and will end Oct. 30 (or earlier if room capacity is reached).

Forms are due to Candace Ebbinghaus in the MAES office, 109 Agriculture Hall (fax: 517-353-5406), by Oct. 30, 2009. Participants will receive a confirmation e-mail within a week of submitting their registration. If a confirmation isn't received, call Candace Ebbinghaus at 355-0123, ext. 112, or send an e-mail to candy@anr.msu.edu.

The workshop will comprehensively address both practical and conceptual aspects important to the process of proposal writing. It's designed for faculty members who have had some exposure to writing grant applications, either through training/mentoring or personal experience.

The program is designed to meet the needs of the audience -- i.e., to emphasize the granting agencies that are of greatest interest to its members, including federal, private and institutional sources. Emphasis will be given to such things as idea development, identification of the most appropriate granting agency, how to write for reviewers, and tips and strategies of proven value in presenting an applicant's case to reviewers.

Participants will be taught to organize their presentations into a linear progression of logic that leads reviewers through their applications. The seminar stresses that applicants are writing for two audiences: the assigned reviewers, who have read the application in its entirety, and those who have read little if anything before the review meeting. Strategies designed to develop advocacy and a fundable priority score from both audiences will be presented.

Every participant will receive The Grant Writer's Handbook. Participants also may select only ONE of the workbooks below:

NIH Workbook: The PHS SF424 application format and electronic submission through Grants.gov are now required for most NIH grant applications. This workbook emphasizes the principles and fundamentals of good proposal writing and includes tips and strategies that kept the authors continuously funded by NIH throughout their research careers. The workbook provides examples, and the reader is asked to make a comparable response in his/her area of research interest.
NSF Workbook
Successful Proposals to Any Agency: Most agency grant applications contain the same sections -- only the names of the sections and the order in which they appear in the application are different. In addition, the principles and fundamentals of good proposal writing are the same for all agencies. This ?generic? workbook can be used to write a proposal to any granting agency. It walks the applicant through the preparation of each section. It's meant to be complemented by specific instructions from the targeted agency.
USDA Workbook: Applicants submitting proposals to the USDA will need the USDA Workbook, which includes a guide for completing sections that need to be uploaded into the new SF424 electronic format.

Direct questions to Candace Ebbinghaus at 517-355-0123, ext. 112, or candy@msu.edu.