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Workshop Feedback

If you don’t mind me taking a moment, I’d like to say thank you for helping me with this – you’ve pushed me to think about every word on the page, and I’m super grateful for this. Also, the way that you’ve commented and explained why you’ve asked for certain edits or why you made particular changes has been helpful to me as I have been mentoring my students and providing them with written feedback on their work – so thank you!!”

– Assistant Professor, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia

“Having hosted and evaluated 3 cycles of GWSW at my institution, I know that this training enhances the quality and success of my scientists’ proposal submissions to nationally competitive programs.  But as an administrator, the real value of the GWSW is that my faculty take the principles from the Phase II Workshop and apply them to every other future proposal.  There is certainly value in the specific outcomes of the Phase II proposals and that is pretty easy to measure, but if I can change the way a scientist thinks about framing and communicating their science, then I can impact the rest of their career and consequently the long-term outcomes of my units.”

– Research Administrator, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mississippi State University

“Thank you so much for the comments and the fast turn-around. The whole proposal reads much stronger than it did initially, I really appreciate the help with honing my thoughts into something that hopefully reviewers will find compelling.”

– Assistant Professor, Dept. of Clinical Pharmacy, University of Tennessee Health Science Center

“I want to thank you for everything you have taught me regarding grantsmanship.  I feel as if not only my writing style, but also my understanding of exactly what needs to be conveyed in the grant application, has really improved. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge, but perhaps even more importantly for inspiring and empowering me to muddle through this process.”

– Assistant Professor, Dept. of Physical Therapy, SUNY Upstate Medical University

“It was an incredibly useful program with documentation that I refer to frequently, and I advise all faculty who are interested in pursuing grant funding to attend this course.”

– Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Iowa School of Medicine

“My NSF program manager contacted me today with the news that the proposal I developed through the grant writing workshop is set to be funded! I just wanted to thank you for your help – I learned a tremendous amount during the workshop and your comments really pushed me to articulate the science more clearly.”

– Associate Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of Arkansas 

“The Grant Proposal Writing Workshop was critical to the success of this proposal. I cannot emphasize enough how helpful the program was for me.”

– Research Assistant Professor, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University 

“The Grant Proposal Writing Workshop was really helpful. I’ve been spending time working on building the preliminary data that was heavily emphasized. I plan on submitting to the NIH in June 2020. I have invited an additional PI to join who is an NIH reviewer. She stated that it is a strong application and will be well received. “

– Assistant Professor, Rehabilitation and Counselor Education, University of Iowa

“The advice that I received during the workshop was extremely valuable, and I think it was key in helping me to secure funding on future grant applications.”

– Associate Professor, Molecular & Cellular Medicine, Texas A&M University College of Medicine

“I wanted to email you with some exciting news that my university has selected my NEH proposal to be one of the two from here that they put forward to the national competition. I really appreciate all your help on this! It has made the proposal much stronger and helped me reach this goal!”

– Professor, Anthropology & American Indian Studies, Iowa State University

“I have noticed your format when I serve on NIH panels and always appreciate the simplicity and ease of reading. I am looking forward to this process.”

– Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering, University of Arkansas

“I am learning a lot of important things through this workshop opportunity. It affects not only my proposal writing itself but also my way of thinking, designing a project, and performing preliminary work. I can certainly feel that I am growing in the RIGHT direction.”

– Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University

“The workshop experience greatly improved my skills. In fact, I submitted another preproposal to NSF-DEB and was invited to submit a full proposal.”

– Workshop participant, Mississippi State University

“The NIH R01 we worked on together ranked in the 5th percentile and was funded, thanks to you!”

– Professor, Neuroscience, Weill Cornell Medicine

“The workshop taught me to pay attention to so much detail in the writing process, to learn how this statement connects to or leads to another one logically, and how we sometimes contradict ourselves in two different parts of the proposal was so helpful. The process of putting all your energy initially into the Specific Aims page really pays off.”

– Workshop participant, Mississippi State University

“I previously attended GWSW’s seminar and phase II workshop. My grant was funded in 2014 from the NCI. I would like to join the next workshop to work on my renewal grant submission.”

– Research Associate Professor, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa

“I am excited to throw my hat in for this year’s Phase II Workshop in order to work with you (honestly, I would come up with a grant idea to work with you again!).”

– Assistant Professor, Community & Leadership Development/Sociology, University of Kentucky

“I just heard back from the NIH on the R01 we submitted last October. It has an impact score of 16 and ranks at the 2nd percentile. Thank you very much for all your input and help – we could not have done this without you!”

– Associate Professor, College of Pharmacy, University of Kentucky

“I can’t thank you enough for the feedback and the “journey” through proposal writing as part of the workshop. It was invaluable. I wanted to let you know, I spoke with the USDA this morning and they are fully funding our proposal for 3 years at $498,387. It would not have been possible without your guidance and allowing me the opportunity to work with you and your team. You have changed the way I approach grant writing and how I think about framing my research.”

– Assistant Professor, Mississippi State University

“I wanted to let you know that in December I found out that my NSF standard grant submission (first submission!) was recommended for funding. The grant award should be coming through in May.  Thanks again for your help, another success!!”

– Associate Professor, College of Arts and Letters, Idaho State University

“I received some outstanding news from the USDA yesterday! The proposal that we worked on during the 2nd phase of the grant proposal writing workshop has been recommended for funding! I want you to know how much I appreciated working with you on this proposal and all of your comments that helped structure these ideas into a successful proposal. Many thanks to your awesome attention to detail and hard work during the grant writing course!”

– Assistant Professor, Animal & Dairy Sciences, Mississippi State University

“The experience was PHENOMENAL!! Even though the Workbook has specific directions/guidance, nothing beats having an expert sit down with you and go over recommendations and feedback!”

– Assistant Professor, University of Cincinnati

“I just received word last week that my NIH R01 proposal received a score of 5th percentile (Impact score 15)! I won’t have definitive word on whether the grant will be funded for a few months, but from the email exchanges with the Program Office, the likelihood of funding seems quite high. I want to thank you for taking the time to read the proposal and to provide feedback on how it could be improved.  I don’t think it would have been nearly as strong without your help.”

– Assistant Professor, Wayne State University

“I just want to thank you once again for helping with my proposal last year. I also want to share some good news with you. Last week, I received the NSF CAREER award for that proposal.”

– Assistant Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Purdue University

“I just wanted to let you know that my NSF CAREER proposal is being recommended for funding. I am certain that participating in [your] workshop was essential to my success, so I do hope you continue to offer them. Thanks for all your help!”

– Assistant Professor, Wayne State University

“Needless to say, the editorial comments I received through the whole experience with [GWSW] were invaluable and I feel grateful that I was able to participate in their NIH Grant Proposal Writing Workshop. Incidentally, we got funded, so this is an example of a very positive return on the investments!!”

– Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University

“I wanted to let you know that we were awarded the William T. Grant Foundation grant. Thanks for your help on it!”

– Associate Professor, Colorado State University

“I just found out that my project was awarded a year-long National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) research grant! I can hardly believe it. I want to express my deep appreciation because I know that your Proposal Workshop played a significant role in reshaping my narrative so that it would better communicate my goals and contribution.”

– Associate Professor, Purdue University

“I would like to say how very thankful I am for your assistance, understanding, and patience throughout the grant proposal writing workshop. I learned a multitude of essential tips that I plan to use in my grant application and I am confident that the workshop has provided me with a competitive advantage. Keep up the outstanding work!!!”

– Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Chicago

“I hope you remember me. I was a participant in one of your intensive workshops here at UF. We were just awarded another USDA-NIFA grant totaling around 250K. FYI-the RFA was posted 19 May and the proposal submission deadline was 19 June. We really only had three weeks to pull it all together!! Just wanted to say thanks again for the training.”

– Professor, University of Florida

“Finally, I received a pilot award from the Department of Defense (DOD)! They received 137 pre-applications, invited 42, and funded 6 of them – I feel so lucky that I made it! I cannot believe that mine was even highlighted! THANKS a lot for all your hard work [in the workshop] and for teaching us how to write a successful grant proposal – I did my best to follow your advice.”

– Associate Professor, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine

“I just wanted to follow up with you on the status of the USDA proposal we worked on during the workshop. It has been accepted for funding! This is the first competitive grant I have been awarded outside of private industry funding. I really appreciate your help pulling it together. I fully recognize your candid comments are a large reason the proposal was ultimately successful.”

– Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

“I am happy to report that I got my first NIH grant!!! I took the Grant Writers’ Seminars & Workshops [program] a few years back in Virginia Beach. I am now a postdoc at the University of Colorado and yesterday was awarded an NIDDK F32 grant to examine how maternal obesity impacts the development of the infant microbiome and infant adiposity during the first year of life. The workshop and [The Grant Application] Writer’s Workbook were invaluable in writing the grant proposal and going through the grant process! Thanks to [the presenter] and to the GWSW team!”

– Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Colorado

“I attended a grant workshop [of yours] at WSU last year. I wanted to say thank you for all the work and advice in the workshop. I have received many comments about how my grant writing has improved since attending the workshop. Also, following the guidelines of the Workbook has allowed me to better understand (and “sell”) the significance of my own work. I’ll be submitting my first NIH grant this summer, and thanks to your workshop, I feel knowledgeable and informed about the whole process. Thanks for all the materials, and thanks for all you do!

– Assistant Professor, Washington State University

“I would like to share some good news with you as you are an equal partner of this success. I met you… at the University of Nebraska Medical Center workshop that you led. Although my application [had previously been] unscored, you said … it was worth pursuing. I followed your guidance and advice as ‘ten commandments’, word by word. My revised R01 application had a great critique and scored in [the] 16.5 percentile (NIDCR) as a new investigator; I just found out a week ago that it will be awarded very soon. Now I can claim to be one of your success stories out of thousands around the nation. Please accept my ‘hats-off’ thanks for your help.”

– Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska Medical Center

“I have the pleasure of sending you an email and letting you know that all your hard work paid off… I have made it!!! I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart. If it wasn’t for you and your excellent workshop, I would still be struggling not knowing how to submit a successful grant application. I am sure while you are reading this, you are already making positive changes in many Assistant Professors’ lives. my only suggestion to those who are beginning your program is to follow the guidelines in the Workbook, listen to you very carefully and learn from the feedback you provide. I will never forget you for what you have done for me. Thank you for touching the lives of many.”

– Assistant Professor, Mississippi State University

“I received the R03 grant we worked on together last year. That’s two for two. I owe you another beer!”

– Associate Professor, Oregon State University