Proposal Development Support
Christy Sandy, the CALS proposal developer, assists faculty with proposal planning and development. She has proposal development resources available for all faculty and will assist in any proposal, time permitting.
Christy focuses on two areas:
- Supporting large interdisciplinary proposals
- Working with early-career faculty who have little experience writing competitive grant proposals
Christy works closely with the NC State Proposal Development Unit (PDU) and the pre-award consultants in the CALS Contracts and Grants Office.
Services Provided
Pre-Proposal Activities
- Brainstorming: Is a project a good fit? Is it aligned with CALS/NC State strategic priorities? Is the necessary expertise available? Are appropriate facilities available?
- Facilitate team science by encouraging interdisciplinary and multi-institutional research.
- Assist with InfoEd profile setup and training.
- Assist with identifying and analyzing funding opportunities: Is the donor a good fit for NC State, CALS, and the PI? Is there a history of funding? Is there enough time to develop a competitive proposal? Is the match feasible?
- Facilitate conversations with funding program directors.
Proposal Development Activities
- Read & “interpret” RFP.
- Provide project management services including timelines, meeting planning, agendas, document tracking, editing, and budget review.
- Provide “eye-on-the-ball” big picture perspective: RFP alignment, logical proposal development, ensure all aspects of RFP are addressed.
- Non-technical writing and editorial feedback.
- Provide administrative support: collect and compile institutional data, cost sharing documents, letters of support and commitment, current/pending, and biographies, etc.
- Serve as a liaison with the CALS Office of Contracts and Grants, PDU, and SPARCS.
Online Training Tools and Templates
- Training Webinars: Series of webinars on topics such as the mechanics of proposal development and how to write a winning proposal to NSF, NSF Career, NIH, DOD, and DOE.
- Find funding opportunities accessing NCSU provided funding updates and external funding links, Grants.gov, and InfoEd Spin.
- NC State contracts with Academic Research Funding Strategies, which makes available excellent funding information and proposal development strategies for faculty at all career stages. In addition to a monthly newsletter, documents available include a New Faculty Guide to Research Funding.
Proposal Templates
Use these templates to develop and manage your proposals.FAQs
PI Initial Proposal Development Meeting
Document Management: Naming Protocol
CALS Budget Justification Template
Schedule an Appointment
To schedule an appointment to discuss a concept, funding, or active proposal, contact:
Christy Sandy, Proposal Developer
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
203A Patterson Hall
919-513-3150
christy_sandy@ncsu.edu