NSF Career Proposal Development
Working on your NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant proposal for the upcoming year? Below is our suggested timeline to help ensure a competitive, well-written, and complete proposal.
August – October
- Familiarize yourself with the NSF CAREER opportunity. We suggest starting with the and the , reviewing eligibility requirements and required forms, and watching informational NSF webinars.
- Talk to colleagues who have already submitted, and if possible, get some samples of awarded proposals.
- Create a checklist of all that is required from both the NSF22-586 and the PAPPG 24-1.
- Copy and paste merit review criteria into a framework to work with and identify key words.
- Spend time idea generating and writing the first draft, being mindful of page limits. Aim for a convincing story that illustrates the gap, how your project aims to solve the problem, how it has the potential to advance knowledge and benefit society, and ultimately, how it will contribute to the achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes.
- Remember to include your educational component.
- Aim for feasibility and timeline completions.
November – January
- Submit a , select Proposal Development Services, and begin working with your assigned Proposal Development Specialist to continue refining your draft proposal, keeping in mind review criteria.
- Connect with your assigned Research Administrator (RA) in the Office of Sponsored Projects to obtain a checklist of needed documents (i.e., budget, budget justification, biosketches, materials and facilities requirements, departmental letter, letters of collaboration, human subject protections, etc.)
- Begin sketching out your budget and budget justification with your RA.
February – April
- Continue working with Proposal Development, working towards clarity and conciseness, and minimizing jargon.
- Be mindful of the University’s internal deadline for external review.
- Gather and complete all required documents.
- Create your biographical profile using .
May – July
- Early June, upload complete proposal for external review (a free peer review by subject matter experts in your field).
- After receiving external review, consider the feedback, conduct final rewrites, and have a proposal development specialist give it one more read/edit.
- Conduct a final check-in with your assigned RA, leading to final submission, July 23, 2025