The University of San Francisco: Office of Sponsored Projects
Karentz, Austin Gajewski
Austin Gajewski collecting samples in Antarctica under the guidance of NSF-funded Professor/Researcher Deneb Karentz.
Castro-Karney_MitchellSantander
Undergraduate researchers with Claire Castro/William Karney present posters on their work at regional and national conferences. Project funded by the National Science Foundation.
Castro-Karney_PhuongNguyen
Undergraduate researchers with Claire Castro/William Karney present posters on their work at regional and national conferences. Project funded by the National Science Foundation.
Williamson_CarrieSanderson2
Teacher Resident, Carrie Sanderson, at work in the classroom under the guidance of Prof. Peter Williamson. Projects funded by the U.S. Dept. of Education and AmeriCorps.
Spencer with students
USF students Carolyn Tu and Cendy Valle Osegura harvesting cells in centrifuge in the NIH-funded lab of Prof. Juliet Spencer.

Guide to Writing Successful Proposals

The following resources can help you develop a competitive proposal:

National Institutes of Health

  • All About Grants is a general overview to help investigators plan and write grant applications and manage their awards. The overview comes from the knowledge and views of NIAID staff, including former NIH grantees.
  • Grants Process At-A-Glance is an NIH chart with a general timeline for completing a grant application and how it progresses from receipt to referral and through the Peer Review process to negotiation and award.

National Science Foundation

  • NSF’s mission is "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense…" With an annual budget of about $6.9 billion (FY 2010), it is the funding source for approximately 20% of all federally supported basic research conducted by America's colleges and universities. In many fields such as mathematics, computer science, and the social sciences, NSF is the major source of federal backing. NSF welcomes proposals from all qualified scientists and engineers and strongly encourages women, minorities, and persons with disabilities to compete for research- and education-related grants.

 National Endowment for the Humanities

  • NEH program officers make recommendations on how to plan and prepare a competitive application for funding.
  • Are you interested in becoming a peer reviewer for the NEH? If so, please register in the PRISM database. The Panelist/Reviewer Information System (PRISM) is a database of prospective reviewers used by the staff of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The NEH peer review system relies on the advice of humanities scholars and experts in other relevant fields. The information you provide will be used only by the NEH for the purpose of identifying and selecting panelists and reviewers.

More Resources