Grant Writing Workshop
Vice Provost Tom Trotter, and Professors Dieter Armbruster and Mattias Kawski conducted a meeting to discuss grant funding policies, sources, and procedures for research funding at universities.
Dr. Trotter presented an overview of the funding structure of colleges and universities, both public and private. He described the importance of grant funding in the finances of ASU and its individual departments. Grant funding supports salaries and equipment for professors while they perform research. In addition, as a part of many research grants, indirect costs are included in the budget, and funds are paid to the university to cover overhead and clerical support provided to the researcher.
Grants are available from a wide variety of sources. The NSF is one of the largest sources for grants in mathematics. The students received a list of web addresses for several other organizations that frequently offer grants supporting mathematics research, although they may have narrower guidelines for the specific research topics they choose to support.
Professors Armbruster and Kawski gave specific examples of procedures to follow when applying for grants, as well as insight into the decision making process of the committees that approve grants. The students recieved an example of a proposal solicitation from the NSF, outlining the information required in a grant proposal, the format of the proposal, and application procedures. In addition, Professor Armbruster provided an example of a completed proposal.