You don't say whether this person has been funded from other agencies or
whether he is really a first time grant seeker.  The answer might not affect my
suggestions but would certainly affect the way I presented them to him.

Get other readers for the "draft":
1- from his specialty
2- from his general discipline but outside his specialty
3- from off the street...literate and objective but scientifically naive people
can provide GREAT advice.

Make sure he has not ASSUMED too much.  The reviewers may not appreciate the
significance of his work, understand that he knows how to do it, etc.  If
something is important, repeat it.

Don't let him forget to address, in a substantive way, in that summary piece,
the stuff about benefit to society and educational impact that NSF requires.
Many scientists view this as fluff...or worse.  They must not.

If you meet resistance, or run out of time (a month in August is not a month),
make the project summary and statement of objectives perfect.  They should sing!

good luck

CH

Quoting "Smiley, Rick" <xxxxxx@MAIL.ECU.EDU>:

> At a crucial moment during the film "Top Gun," Anthony Edwards tells Tom
> Cruise, "OK, Mav, it's time for some of that pilot 'stuff'!" He means by
> this, of course, that the time has come for Mav to demonstrate the heroic
> qualities and talents that his carriage and demeanor so clearly imply.
>
>
>
> It is in this spirit that I ask you guys for some advice. I have a PI coming
> to my office this morning (so please send your responses directly to me as
> well as the list - the list seems to delay posts substantially at times) who
> has completed a National Science Foundation grant proposal about a month
> prior to its due date. He is a first time applicant to NSF, though he is a
> tenured faculty member. What would be the best thing to do with the "extra"
> time we have to improve the proposal's chances? Please make some effort to
> prioritize your ideas (recommend he do this, beg that he do that, that sort
> of thing).
>
>
>
> This is your chance (my chance, actually) to do some of that research
> administrator "stuff"!
>
>
>
> Riddick S. Smiley
>
> Grant & Contract Officer
>
> Office of Sponsored Programs
>
> East Carolina University
>
> Greenville, NC 27834
>
> (252) 328-9539 office
>
> (252) 328-4363 fax
>
> (252) 327-2308 cell
>
> xxxxxx@mail.ecu.edu
>
>
>
>
>
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