Proposal Development Institute
The Proposal Development Institute (PDI) provides a variety of experiences that collectively enhance the ability of Virginia Tech tenure-track faculty and research assistant professors to successfully pursue externally funded grants and contracts to support their research and scholarly activities.
The program is designed to help early-career faculty members to translate research ideas into formal written proposals to external sponsors and includes a portfolio of activities tailored to the participants, regardless of their affiliation.
The program is jointly funded through the Office of Research and Innovation, colleges, departments, and research institutes who select faculty members to participate in the program.
Department heads and institute directors should email the names and email addresses of early career faculty members that they would like to nominate for PDI to Eleanor Nelsen (enelsen@vt.edu) by Dec. 13. The sponsoring program (department or institute) commits to a $300 registration fee per participant that provides partial support of the PDI program.
For Spring 2025, the core of the program will be a two-day workshop January 16 - 17, 8:30 am - 4 pm.. It will provide a comprehensive overview of proposal preparation, from idea generation to effective writing to interpreting reviews.
Agenda
January 16
Morning
- Defining your research and education agendas
- Identifying and understanding potential funders
- Analyzing your funding opportunity and identifying your program officer
- Types of projects
Afternoon
- Planning: Articulating goals, research questions, objectives, outcomes, and impact
- Positioning: Publications, preliminary results, and collaborators
- Talking to your program officer
- Grants for early career researchers
January 17
Morning
- Grantsmanship: Keys to remember
- Writing your project narrative
Afternoon
- Other proposal components
- Interpreting and responding to reviews
- Research development resources
- Working with OSP
To supplement the primary two-day intensive workshop, additional sessions on special topics will be held every few weeks throughout the semester. These will occur on Wednesdays, 4 - 5 pm. Topics will be announced as available.
Members of each group will review each other's work during the semester and provide feedback. In addition, each group is paired with a more senior Virginia Tech faculty member who will serve as the mentor for the group.
Regular meetings of the mentoring group will take place during the program. These mentoring groups primarily focus on aspects of writing effective research proposals and pursuing funding with external agencies and foundations; however, they likewise are designed to address topics of interest and importance that arise among the participants in the group.
Throughout the PDI program participants are given an opportunity to participate in synchronous and asynchronous seminars that address a wide variety of topics related to the pursuit of external research funding and the conduct of funded research grants and contracts. Seminar titles from the PDI program in previous years include:
- An Overview of the Office of Sponsored Programs
- Understanding University-Level Investment Research Institutes
- Forming and Participating in Interdisciplinary Research Teams
- Preparing Effective Broader Impact Statements and Educational Plans for Proposals to the National Science Foundation
- Preparing and Implementing Data Management Plans to Support Research Activities.
Additional topics could be included if requested by participants.
Last Updated: Jan. 16, 2025