This PI is my kind of PI!  A month early is a wonderful thing!

I agree with John Baumann - 100%.

Then....  Make sure he says what he's going to do, then explains what he's
going to do, then says it again.

Make sure he follows all the rules to the letter, and re-re-re-reads the
instructions, program announcement, etc.

And do all the "pretty stuff" in terms of formatting and readability and
consistency checks - someone who doesn't know the science that well, but
knows that an acronym should almost never be used unless it's truly
universal, and that if it HAS to be used, it gets spelled out the first
time with it's acronym in parentheses after it, then never spelled out
again - someone who knows that et al should be italicized with a period and
a comma after the l - that tense changes mid paragraph (or mid sentence)
are not OK....

Competition times are tough and money is in short supply, so making it
supremely easy for the reader is really more important than ever.
Everything has room for improvement.

Good going!

Bonnie Jo Brautigam
Research Grant Development Specialist
Wadsworth Center, NYS DOH
Empire State Plaza, Corning Tower
Room C-345
PO Box 509
Loading Dock J (courier only)
Albany, NY 12201-0509
xxxxxx@wadsworth.org
518-402-5033 (phone)
518-402-5540 (fax)

                      "Smiley, Rick"
                      <xxxxxx@MAIL.ECU        To:       xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG
                      .EDU>                    cc:
                      Sent by: Research        Subject:  [RESADM-L] A Chance to Do That Research Administrator "Stuff"
                      Administration
                      List
                      <xxxxxx@HRINET.
                      ORG>

                      07/23/2004 07:47
                      AM
                      Please respond to
                      Research
                      Administration
                      Discussion List

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

(See attached file: Riddick Smiley.vcf)