“A common piece of advice I have heard about the NSF GRFP is that the NSF is not only funding your science, but is also funding you as a person. Therefore, it is helpful to include how you became interested in science or the unique perspective you can bring to the scientific community. When drafting your proposal, take it in chunks. First start with outlines. Keep good documentation of your sources. Once the ideas are there, flesh it out into a more eloquent narrative and format citations. Once you have a draft, seek as much feedback from as many different sources as possible. It’s good to seek advice from people in your lab, people outside of your lab, and people at all different stages of their scientific careers. And of course, be respectful of everyone’s time and sincerely thank them for their feedback!”
Diego Almanza
Cancer Biology
Awardee
Gabriel Amador
Developmental Biology
Awardee
“Think big and keep the logic simple and clear! Your reviewers will likely not be in your exact subfield.”
Bella Archibald
Bioengineering
Awardee
Yohan Auguste
Neurosciences
Awardee
Benjamin N Bell
Molecular and Cellular Physiology
Awardee
“Look at successful applications!! I got ideas for highlighting things I wanted to emphasize by looking at other applications.”
Alyssa Benjamin
Genetics
Awardee
“Don’t be shy about sending your proposal to others for feedback and don’t worry about making it perfect before you show it to someone! Getting feedback is a great way to help you focus on your best ideas and get inspiration for improvements.”
Jeremy Bjelajac
Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine
Awardee
“Personal statement should tell a coherent story while highlighting your achievements, it may sound like you’re gloating but thats okay. The research statement needs to follow a logical progression, and neither of your aims should be able to “fail”, make it so that any result is useful knowledge.”
Rachel Brown
Biochemistry
Awardee
“I made my personal statement read more like a story than a series of statements. I lead them through my life and aspirations with imagery and something of a narrative thread.”
Kristy Carpenter
Biomedical Informatics
Awardee
“The SBSA peer mentorship program was super valuable! It kept me accountable and gave me internal deadlines to make sure I finished all parts of the application on time. My peer mentor was really helpful and instrumental in me submitting a strong application!”
Joleen Cheah
Biology
Awardee
“My professors’ input on my application was extremely useful.”
Zoe Cook
Neurosciences
Awardee
“I was so nervous to even start the proposal because I felt like I just got to grad school and had no idea what I was doing. The thing is that no first year grad students know what they’re doing! And that’s fine. My rotation mentor was a huge huge help with the research proposal and I wish I had started talking with her earlier rather than stressing by myself. Also, you can reuse lots of your grad school application materials for the personal statement.”
Isabel O Delwel
Microbiology and Immunology
Tristram Dodge
Biology
Awardee
“Feedback from my PI was important to make sure the science was right, and feedback from other professors who weren’t familiar with the system was helpful to make sure I was communicating clearly and including the necessary details.”
Peter Du
Cancer Biology
Honorable Mention
“It’s alright to go through multiple iterations of your proposal, even if it changes the direction drastically. Try to make sure there is some synergy between your personal statement and research proposal.”
Gina El Nesr
Biophysics
Awardee
“Be creative! The best advice I got was to write a proposal for a project I would love to do, inspired by the research I’ve done and classes I’ve taken. With background in the material that would be involved to tackle the research, all that’s left was to dream big and have fun with the proposal.”
Lucas Encarnacion-Rivera
Neurosciences
Awardee
“Maximize your chances at getting it by thinking like a reviewer. “
Emma Esterman
Microbiology and Immunology
Awardee
Amy Fan
Immunology
Awardee
“Write to the rubric — read what is being evaluated in terms of intellectual merit and broader impacts, and explicitly tie your experiences to those metrics. The biggest difference in my first and second application was framing my research plan to address a basic science question and thinking about the broader impacts of the research in terms of the scientific community instead of its translational applications.”
Scott Fleming
Biomedical Informatics
“Focus on your own personal experiences and commitments when thinking about the “Broader Impacts” criterion. Also be sure to get feedback from current students, especially those who may have already received the NSF GRFP.”
Andrea Sofia Flores Perez
Bioengineering
Awardee
“I would advise thinking about a scientific problem that you are passionate about, but also have some experience in. You will commit many many hours to writing an NSF proposal and if you’re not passionate about what you’re writing about, it will be a very daunting experience. That being said, don’t choose a topic you have no previous experience or knowledge in – the reviewers will think you are not fit to conduct that research. So choose carefully!”
Alyssa Lyn Fortier
Biology
Awardee
“I would have to do. The NSF GRFP application needs to capture your story, so you really have to craft a narrative that explains your journey to grad school. I wasn’t really sure what my journey was, so I had to think long and hard about the actions and thought processes that led me here.”
Matthew Gill
Genetics
Awardee
“My advice to new grad students: 1. Avoid stressing about it! The GRFP won’t make or break your career. Don’t let it get in the way of enjoying your rotation(s). 2. Ask for help! Pick other folks’ brains about both research topics/questions if you’re unsure about them. Folks love to give helpful feedback around here.”
Emily Greenwald
Genetics
Awardee
“Outreach and a diversity of prior experience is a big plus. They care most about intellectual merit and broader impacts, so use those words a LOT. Make a broader impacts plan for your time at grad school and state it.”
Meagan Hamblin
Microbiology and Immunology
Awardee
“Halfway through writing my research proposal I completely changed the aims I was proposing. After getting feedback I realized my proposal would be stronger with the different experiments. Don’t be afraid to seek out feedback and be open to brainstorming lots of different project ideas and experiments in the beginning stages.”
Alvin Han
Microbiology and Immunology
Awardee
“Start early and solicit feedback often! The back and forth of ideas with peers and mentors is what produces the best writing!”
Ariel Hannum
Bioengineering
Awardee
“Definitely start early and talk to people about your proposal and personal statement. Whether it is fellow grad students, mentors, or friends that are not in your field, they can be a resource to bounce ideas off of. Having a friend take a fresh look before you submit your application is extremely helpful, as they can pick up on grammatical errors you may have missed after looking at your document over several months. “
Angela Hickey
Genetics
Awardee
“It helps to write something you know and have previous experience with since the reviewers are looking at your capability as a scientist. Also remember that most reviewers are reading hundreds of applications so highlight important information in the first or last sentence of a paragraph.”
Jolie Huang
Neurosciences
Honorable Mention
“My SBSA mentor helped a lot in revising my personal statement! It helped that he didn’t have expertise in my research areas so he could point out the areas where I was less clear.”
Lynnette Jackson
Structural Biology
Awardee
“The best advice I received is that the GRFP funds individuals rather than just their research proposals. Make sure that each aspect of your application is telling the reviewers who you are as a scientist and a person. Also the broader impacts and intellectual merit are often overlooked but they are critical for getting funded!”
Christina Jensen
Chemical and Systems Biology
Awardee
Youlim Kim
Microbiology and Immunology
Honorable Mention
“The personal statement and broader impacts deserve just as much, if not more attention than the research statement. The NSF is funding the researcher, not the research.”
Austin Kuo
Neurosciences
Honorable Mention
“A good approach to the application is to get started early, or at least to start thinking about what to write for the Research Plan and Personal Statement as soon as possible, so ideas have time to get fleshed out and go through multiple revisions. For me, getting useful feedback from several different sources was probably the most important factor in strengthening my proposal.”
Julie Lake
Genetics
Awardee
“Read lots of examples and be sure to show your research proposal to faculty in advance!”
Logan Leak
Cancer Biology
Honorable Mention
“Writing a proposal for the NSF taught me how to identify novel research areas and outline an experimental plan for filling a gap in knowledge.”
Yannick Clency Lee-yow
Genetics
Awardee
“Don’t stress about NSF GRFP too much. It doesn’t really change your graduate school experience in the slightest.”
Irene Li
Cancer Biology
Awardee
“Your draft will go through many iterations – this is totally ok, and asking for opinions is helpful! However, there will come a time when sometimes different opinions will contradict one another, which can be overwhelming – at that point, have confidence in yourself and know that it’s your decision in the end what to include. “
Steven Massa
Biology
Honorable Mention
Samson Mataraso
Biomedical Informatics
Awardee
“My advice for writing the NSF GRFP is to make sure that you are very clear about how your work will contribute to the advancement of science.”
Alma G. Mendoza
Microbiology and Immunology
Awardee
“Make sure that your personal statement gives the reviewers insight into who you are and what drives you. This is your only chance to let them get to know why they should invest in your future.”
Elisabeth Meyer
Biochemistry
“Start with topics you can get help on (e.g. from your current rotation lab) and from there, pick something you find interesting. For the personal statement, it can feel embarrassing but have as many people read over it as possible.”
Katherine Miller
Microbiology and Immunology
Awardee
“Start early, ensure you get as many eyes on your writing as possible before submission. NSF is not the NIH and wants you to remember that. I did not include any clinical interest or health applications of my research in my proposal.
Formatting matters. Clearly define each section of your writing. It’s especially important to define “Intellectual Merit” and “Broader Impact” sections separately. The more explicit roadmapping you do, the better.”
Michael Montgomery
Genetics
Awardee
“Identify a broad scientific question and think about how this question is related to the work you have already done and your goals for graduate school. This will save you a lot of time in creating a proposal that has well connected aims and makes sense within the context of your current scientific training and career trajectory.”
“The biggest change I made to improve the quality of my statements was revising key sentences to make sure that they very, very clearly conveyed the intellectual merit and broader impact of my proposal as a whole. I focused on making sure that someone who read only these bolded/italicized sentences would still be able to understand what I was proposing and how it fulfilled the funding criteria.”
Ben Moran
Biology
Awardee
“You almost certainly won’t end up doing exactly what you say in your Research Plan statement, but it’s still a valuable experience to write. The process makes you think hard about what you want to get out of your PhD, and is hopefully an opportunity for you to co-produce an exciting idea with your research mentors.”
Maike Morrison
Biology
Awardee
“Talk to your PI about your application materials and ask for advice, especially when developing your research proposal. You don’t have to come up with the ideas behind your materials alone.”
Rahul Nagvekar
Genetics
Awardee
“Having an application that is both clearly basic-science focused and has clear broader impacts can be difficult! It is also subjective, so make sure to have multiple people read drafts of your application and ask for their feedback as to whether both of these aspects are apparent.”
Priya Nair
Bioengineering
Awardee
Abena Peasah
Bioengineering
Awardee
“It’s a really good idea to start early.”
Rachel Porter
Molecular and Cellular Physiology
Awardee
“Reviewers need to see that you are a qualified candidate and can propose an original project idea, but they also want to get a sense of who you are as a person, and how that has influenced your work. Including personal details or experiences can really strengthen your application, and the lack of can count against you.”
Suyash Raj
Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine
Awardee
“Start early and it’s ok to switch ideas and make multiple drafts. You can end up combining ideas or getting a better understanding of what sort of projects you want to pursue.”
Ramya Rangan
Biophysics
Awardee
“I wish I had shown more people my application materials! I only showed my research advisor at the time. It would have given me a sense for whether I was on the right track.”
Aditya Rao
Immunology
Awardee
“For the personal statement, the biggest positive change I made between the first and second submission was explicitly splitting my essay into an “Intellectual Merits” section and a “Broader Impacts” section.”
Rebecca Rodell
Chemical and Systems Biology
Honorable Mention
“Start planning months in advance and go through many rounds of feedback! People are generally happy to read over a draft, so ask them to and give them a reasonable amount of time (about 1 week) to do so.”
Adonis Alexandre Rubio
Immunology
Awardee
Erin Sanders
Developmental Biology
Awardee
“My PI helped me really hone a “theme” for my personal statement, a unifying idea that you can come back to repetitively. My theme was “fearless”. The key is to tell a story about yourself that the reviewers actually want to read, that is not just a laundry list of your accomplishments. Tell them what you did, why it was interesting and how it shaped you. You can even try to tie in the theme to your proposal. This strategy sets your essay apart from all the others that start “when i was a kid….”. Not that this can’t be an effective strategy, but a LOT of people use it. Think about what makes you and your story special.”
Venkat Sankar
Genetics
Awardee
“When the NSF says they want basic science, they mean it – try to not even mention disease or human health impacts in your proposal, and focus applications on the advancement of basic biology.”
Lucas Sant’Anna
Bioengineering
Awardee
“Get as many opinions as possible. You work very hard on it and sometimes become completely blind to how other people will react when reading it for the first time.”
Danica Schmidtke
Microbiology and Immunology
Awardee
“Getting feedback from lots of people is good, but remember that you do NOT have to use every suggestion you get. Make sure you don’t lose your voice!”
Daniel A Shaykevich
Biology
Awardee
“The GRFP is mostly about you and your potential as a scientist, not the project you are proposing! It’s important to think about why you do science and what you want to accomplish, in addition to the mechanics of your project. “
Nicole Tanenbaum
Microbiology and Immunology
Awardee
“A common piece of advice I have heard about the NSF GRFP is that the NSF is not only funding your science, but is also funding you as a person. Therefore, it is helpful to include how you became interested in science or the unique perspective you can bring to the scientific community. When drafting your proposal, take it in chunks. First start with outlines. Keep good documentation of your sources. Once the ideas are there, flesh it out into a more eloquent narrative and format citations. Once you have a draft, seek as much feedback from as many different sources as possible. It’s good to seek advice from people in your lab, people outside of your lab, and people at all different stages of their scientific careers. And of course, be respectful of everyone’s time and sincerely thank them for their feedback!”
Sebastian Toro Arana
Biology
Honorable Mention
“My rotation PI and the SBSA peer mentoring program really strengthened my proposal.”
Rachel Varnau
Biology
Honorable Mention
“Ask professors and other mentors for feedback at every stage, and read others’ applications before writing your own. “
Maggie Wang
Biomedical Informatics
Awardee
“If you can, try to get feedback from both domain experts (e.g. your advisor) and people who may not be as familiar with your particular area of research (e.g. PhD students in other biosciences programs). The former are great for helping you sharpen the technical rigor of your application. The latter probably won’t understand all the nitty gritty details, which means they can challenge you to see the bigger picture of why your proposed research matters and how it aligns with the NSF research mission.
To emphasize the “Intellectual Merit” and “Broader Impacts” of my research plan, I explicitly incorporated phrasing and vocabulary from the NSF definitions of intellectual merit and broader impacts. I had initially thought this might be too blunt, but it helps to make it really clear how your plan meets the NSF criteria, especially for reviewers who might be reading your essay very quickly.”
Jonathan Weiss
Bioengineering
Awardee
“One huge piece of advice I was given was that NSF funds YOU, not your project. Make sure you emphasize the qualities that make you a unique, capable, and impactful researcher!”
Ali Wilkening
Developmental Biology
Awardee
“Think broadly when it comes to broader impacts and intellectual merit and make sure those qualities are easily found by the reviewer. Think about all the broader impacts your work could possibly make and how you are uniquely poised to enact them then make a list and choose the top few to emphasize in your proposal and tie those into your experiences in your personal statement. For my second application, I started working on it much earlier and got help from a lot more people and with broader backgrounds/relationships to me. I also made sure to frame my personal statement into a story to demonstrate what personal factors drove me to complete the broader impacts I claimed in my proposal.”
Alexa Wnorowski
Bioengineering
Honorable Mention
“My advice to you is ask for lots of feedback! Don’t be afraid to reach out to others who have applied or received the fellowship before, especially if they’re in a similar field.”
Lily Xu
Microbiology and Immunology
Awardee
“I signed up for the NSF GRFP mentoring program through SBSA! This was by far the most helpful resource – my mentor offered their time each week to give me personalized feedback and the overall program set manageable deadlines that kept me on track. The NSF GRFP is not something you can pull together in a weekend – start early, leave time to receive feedback from PIs, mentors, labmates, friends, etc., and keep writing!”
Maiya Yu
Structural Biology
Awardee
“Think carefully about your hypothesis but also have fun thinking about science you would be excited about doing!”
Ilana Zucker-Scharff
Neurosciences
Honorable Mention
“People are super willing to share their insight/proposals if you just reach out.”