Grantsmanship for New Investigators (eBook)

Over the span of more than four decades, both Tom Hilton and Carl Leukefeld have worked as bench and field researchers as well as federal grant and contract administrators at various federal agencies including the world’s largest grantor, the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  Tom’s career has focused on applied research and grants administration in mostly nonacademic roles, whereas over half of Carl’s career as a public health researcher has been spent in academic settings. Thomas F. Hilton, PhD, is a retired Navy captain and a retired Industrial/Organizational psychologist.  While a pre- and postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Behavioral Research, Tom’s work involved drafting applications and conducting both grant and contract research projects for the Departments of Defense, Transportation, and Health and Human Services.  Projects also involved county, state, and private sector organizations.  In 1979, Tom joined the psychiatry faculty at Southwestern Medical School where he started a small lab evaluating public health services after winning his first grant from a private foundation.  In 1982, Tom was recalled to active Navy duty to lead research projects in shipboard and hospital health services delivery systems and later oversaw Navy’s applied personnel and training research programs at the Pentagon. Spanning much of his Navy career, Tom served on Office of Naval Research grant and contract review panels. In 1992, Tom became the founding manager of a Federal Aviation Administration laboratory studying employee development, process improvement, and personnel selection.  Coincident with that role, he also completed a three-year detail to the White House Office of Reinventing Government until 2000, when he retired from the Navy and joined the National Institute on Drug Abuse at NIH.  Tom served on the NIH extramural faculty training new grant administrators, sat on the NIH advisory group for grants administration systems, and was appointed science officer for a 9-year research project supporting all 28 NIH institutes and centers.  Over the years, Tom has attended hundreds of grant proposal reviews either as observer or panel member, and has served as administrator for many of the grants and contracts that were funded.  He has 56 refereed publications and has presented over 80 papers, symposia, and professional development workshops.Carl G. Leukefeld, DSW, is Professor of Behavioral Science and Psychiatry as well as Chair of the Department of Behavioral Science and founding Director of the Center on Drug and Alcohol Research at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. He is also the Bell Alcohol and Addictions Endowed Chair.  He came to the University of Kentucky in 1990 to establish the Center on Drug and Alcohol Research from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), where he held administrative and research positions including grant and contract planning and developing requests for applications and proposals, grant reviews, developing grant review summary statements, and research project administration. He was also the Chief Health Services Officer of the United States Public Health Service. Carl’s external grant support experience includes funded grants from NIH, NSF, as well as contracts from States, community organizations, and industry. Carl has also served as a reviewer and consulting journal editor, ad hoc grant reviewer for federal agencies like the CDC and NIH, and has been a standing member of National Institutes of Health initial review groups – sometimes referred to as study sections. In addition to workshops and courses on grant preparation, he has taught undergraduate, graduate, and medical students.  His publications include over 350 articles, chapters, books, and monographs. 

1.Exploring Funding OptionsExplains the value of applying for grants such as academic recognition and career success – even a springboard to entrepreneurial ventures.  The chapter addresses competition, sources of funding, the value of contracts vs. grants.2.Pursuing Federal SupportStarts by discussing 7 myths commonly associated with grantsmanship such as the folly of ingratiating or chasing hot topics, and offers advice on building a successful career using grants.3.Grant MechanismsStarting with research project grants, the chapter proceeds to explain the purpose of major grant mechanisms while showing how training, career development, planning and conference grants, and even small business grants contribute to preparing for almost any size and scope of research project.4.The Application ProcessThe chapter takes readers from initial idea, through project planning, developing a budget (including how to gauge if your costs are likely to be viewed to be too high or low, and how that affects review), and finishes with a discussion of the best strategies for communicating your project and submitting it for review.5.Application ContentThe chapter walks through the basic application elements using the NIH R01 format as a guide.  The authors offer insights into what to include and what to exclude – often confusing to new applicants.  The authors also underscore the value of letters of support, resource sharing to reflect outside support.6.Application ReviewFollows the flow of a typical NIH application from arrival at the funding institution, assignment to review and an administrative official, peer review, scoring (and questions about score meaning,) and touches on other federal agency review processes.7.Funding Institution VettingTries to unlock the mystery of how final funding decisions are arrived at and the role various offices play in deciding funding.  The authors end with a discussion of re-applying, progress reporting, and renewal applications that take readers back to the idea stage and submitting a new follow-on project.