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Melissa A. Harrington Professor of Biology

Delaware State University

Sex, drugs and rock & roll ….

and grants…

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1997 - 2001 Assistant Professor Morehouse College

2001 - Assistant Professor - Professor

Delaware State University

Research Grants Successful - NSF RUI grant Unsuccessful - NIH AREA grant

Biophysical properties of the cystic fibrosis chloride channel

Program Grants Successful - NSF HBCU-UP grant - David & Lucille Packard Foundation - Center for Behavioral Neuroscience Unsuccessful - NSF CIRE

Research Grants Successful NSF RUI grant, NSF MRI grant NIH SC1 grant (2nd try)

Neurobiology and behavior of slime trail tracking in a predatory snail

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Research Grants Successful NIH AREA grant (2nd try) NSF MRI grant (co-PI, 2nd try) Unsuccessful NIH SC1 grant (4x) NIH R01 grant (2x) NSF RUI grant (2x) NIH G20 (2x) Pew Post-doc grant

Electrophysiology of motor neurons & the pathophysiology of SMA

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Successful NSF HBCU-UP grant (Phase 1 & II) NSF HBCU-RISE (2x) NIH Bridge to Doctorate grant (2nd try) NIH RISE grant (5th try) NIH COBRE grant (2nd try) NSF Noyce grant (1st try) NSF Targeted Infusion grant

(3 awards in 4 tries) NSF S-STEMS (2nd try) Unsuccessful NIH BUILD grant NSF IUSE grant NSF DRK12 Dept of Ed MSEIP (2x) NSF CREST CCLI (2x) NSF-PSM

Program grants

Top 10 secrets to grant/research success

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Attend grant writing workshops Consult a grantwriting manual

4 Steps to Funding by Morgan Giddings, PhD

Request pdfs of colleagues’ successful proposals Volunteer to read your colleagues’ proposals Serve as a grant reviewer – NSF, INBREs/COBREs

Learn grantsmanship

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Treat a declined proposal as a short course in grantsmanship

Don’t take negative reviews personally. Ask yourself:

What was missing that they wanted to see?

What did they not understand? How can I make this clearer?

Make it clear WHY your project is important

Strong proposals: - fill a gap in knowledge - solve a problem - meet needs of funder Weak proposals - satisfy proposer’s

curiosity - “increase our understanding”

Collaborate! - Established investigators - Investigators who fill your holes Identify the hottest area in which you can be competitive & pursue that area Don’t be afraid to change!

Build a competitive/fundable research program

Make your research part of an advanced lab course Use leftovers from funded colleagues Use leftovers from lab courses Apply for core fee waivers Host students in programs Create a work-study job

Find ways to get preliminary data without funding

Easier to get than research grants Being a PI gives credibility - invitations to serve as a reviewer Can subsidize your research - travel to professional meetings - buy supplies to support student research - support student lab workers - support administrative assistance

Apply for infrastructure & student support grants

Set aside time on a regular basis 2 hours/day, 1 day/week, 2 summer months

Keep up with literature to develop/maintain your expertise Do not teach in the summer Do not teach overloads

Get up earlier, stay up later

Invest in your research

What goes around comes around…

Give to your colleagues

You are all are on the same team….

Don’t feel guilty about putting your work first

No one can take advantage of you without your permission

Decide what things you are going to let slide

Be sure that you screw up the right things. Do the things you commit to do, don’t commit to things you can’t do.

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Only serve where you can have an impact

curriculum graduate program

search committees

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Students compete for positions Students will work for credit Instills a culture of research

Make research a graduation requirement for BS degree

At DSU – Senior capstone - Up to 2 courses for research - 1 class for presentation/write up

If you keep on going, eventually you will get somewhere

It is worth it!!

I couldn’t have done it without my colleagues Mazen Shahin

Leonard Davis Andy Lloyd Clytrice Watson Cindy van Golen Jeff Rosen Tomasz Smolinski Dawn Lott Patrick Gleason Kylie Parotta Nicola Edwards-Omolewa Robert MacBride Vincent Fondong Deni Galileo Stan Ivey

Marge Weber-Levine Josh Wong Al Kahn Marwan Rasamny Delayne Johnson Sabrina McGary Carla Murgia

Jeff Twiss Judi Coffield Rebecca Fox-Lykens Rayton Sianjina Peter Dimaria Eric Kmiec Cherese Winstead Harb Dhillon