Call your Program Officer

The federal funding landscape is evolving rapidly. That's a kind way to put it. While the congressional allocations haven't necessarily shrunk, the purse strings are ultimately controlled by the OMB (who are doing their darndest to stifle the flow of research dollars and forfeit America's leading position in scientific discovery and higher education).

But no matter what anybody is telling you, the staff of National Science Foundation are hard at work to receive proposals, run panels, and recommend awards for funding. The rate of awards going out the door is well behind compared to previous years, and it's easy to jump to conclusions about why this is happening, but it's worth nothing that awards are still going out, panels are still being held, and program officers are ready to speak to you about proposals that you're thinking of submitting.

To be clear: Program Officers are ready to talk to you about the proposals that you'd like to submit. And they're also ready to talk to talk to you about the proposals that have gone through panel.

While this has always been true, now it is more true than ever: have an actual conversation with program officers to learn more. Send an email and asked to have a phone call.

People at research institutions who bring in lots of grant dollars know that this is the trick of the trade. If your proposal isn't funded, give a call! You can find out what's going on. While the rest of us might think that we're being too imposing or expecting too much or want to respect boundaries, the people who are thriving are taking advantage of this resource available to them.

If you'd like to know more what happened in panel beyond the reviews and the panel summary (if you get a panel summary nowadays?), or if you're in the proposal preparation stage and you're wondering what words might be verboten and how to address certain ideas, have an actual conversation with a human being who is involved in the process. Call your PO.

That's it. That's all I have to say. In these times of uncertainty, it would be folly to submit a proposal without having a conversation in advance. And it would be squandered opportunity to not have a conversation if you're not funded. You spend weeks on a proposal and a 5-minute conversation about the preparation and the outcome is a wholly reasonable thing to expect.