The glass is half full
January 31, 2013
There is nothing like a round of study section to make you wish you were the Boss of ALL the Science.
There is just soooo much incredible science being proposed. From noob to grey beard the PIs are coming up with really interesting and highly significant proposals. We’d learn a lot from all of them.
Obviously, it is the stuff that interests me that should fund. That stuff those other reviewers liked we can do without!
Sometimes I just want to blast the good ones with the NGA gun and be done.
—
Notice of Grant Award
DrugMonkey 
January 31, 2013 at 8:27 am
Perhaps interestingly, at the preproposal panel last spring the POs asked whether there were proposals that the panel felt could be funded at that time, foregoing the full proposal. I don’t know whether NSF is really thinking about that seriously, but the chance that one or two proposals might just get funded from the 4 page document intrigues me.
LikeLike
February 3, 2013 at 8:08 am
It’s funny. We all scream and complain and argue about the system and how to beat the odds. And we argue about how to shut down the PhD pipeline to reduce the competition and who is going to have to get thrown to the wolves. And how it should be fair, but shouldn’t hurt me. We argue about all of that.
This post is the real story. There is fantastic science being proposed. If we would fund the top 50% of all proposals, a lot of great work would be done. It would transform our lives and save the economy. (can anyone say “Keynesian economics”? Can anyone say unexpected scientific breakthrough?). It’s a shame that all our effort is spent trying to fight over the few bones left, when what we really need is to just fund the $@&! projects.
LikeLike