Writing Competitive Research Grant Proposals
Dean Dunn
Program Manager, American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund
Host: Matthew Weingarten
Thursday, August 29, 2019 – 1 pm
BioScience Center Gold Auditorium
Abstract
Obtaining financial support for research is a significant issue for researchers at all levels of experience. There are always more requests for support than there are funds available, so it is unlikely that every proposal will result in a funded grant. Accordingly, it is imperative that Principal Investigators submit research grant proposals in their most-competitive form, and follow all requirements of the agency to which the proposal is submitted. This presentation will cover general information on preparing a proposal, how to write a proposal to improve the chances of getting research funding (i.e., “competitive” versus “uncompetitive” proposals), and proposal evaluation, external review, and panel assessment and ranking for funding decisions. A brief overview of the ACS Petroleum Research Fund, and its role in providing “seed money” to enable an investigator to initiate a “new research direction” in fundamental petroleum science, will also be provided. There will be an opportunity to ask questions and get answers to anything relating to the proposal writing process.
Bio
Dean Dunn is the Program Manager for research grant proposals to the ACS Petroleum Research Fund, in the areas of Geochemistry, Geology and Geophysics, and supervises funded research grants in these areas. He joined ACS in 2004, after 21 years as Professor of Geology at the University of Southern Mississippi, including one year on assignment to NOAA as a Program Officer at the National Coastal Data Development Center. He has two B.S. degrees from the University of Southern California (Biological Sciences and Geology), and a Ph.D. in Geological Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island. Dr. Dunn has been a shipboard scientist on numerous oceanographic cruises, including two cruises as shipboard sedimentologist aboard D/V Glomar Challenger on Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 85 (Central Equatorial Pacific, 1982) and on DSDP Leg 93 (Western North Atlantic, 1983).