Do proposals get recast following negative decision? Certainly. As a
grantee, as a former panel member, and as a reviewer, I have seen
proposals improved immeasurably and come up to earning funding,
following the proposer's improvement, not to meet the bureacracy's
demands, but to make a better project, one that had more potential for
producing meaningful results. That's a part of why the review system
exists.
A former senator, fellow named Proxmire, used to give what he called
his "golden fleece awards." He would scan the NSF grant award lists,
and pick something that would sound off the wall to Joe and Jane
Public. Then his office would prepare a press realease, and let all
the media in the country know that the government was "wasting"
$50,000 (back then a sizeable grant) to study the sex life of the
seven spotted mite, or something equally as arcane to most people.
People got a big laugh out of it, and Proxmire got a few votes from
morons for this bit of demagogory. He spent many thousands of dollars
of taxpayers money on this idiocy over the course of his term in
office.
David L. McNeely, Ph.D., Professor of Biology
Langston University; P.O. Box 1500
Langston, OK 73050; email: dlmcneely-in-lunet.edu
telephone: (405) 466-6025; fax: 405) 466-3307
home page http://www.lunet.edu/mcneely/index.htm
"Where are we going?" "I don't know, are we there yet?"
----- Original Message -----
From: Irate Mormon <archimedes-in-bayspringstel.net>
Date: Monday, August 21, 2006 12:07 pm
Subject: NANFA-L-- RE: Fish Suck?
> I understand all this - I'm curious to see some of the proposals that
> DIDN'T make the cut. Did they get funded after being rewritten,
> perhapsin a more creative manner?
>
> And of course I understand that most folks could not afford to
> fund a
> medical research project (f'rinstance) of any sort. But say it cost
> 1000 bucks or something, and you are about to ask for funds. Do you
> want to know the answer badly enough to put your own money into
> the pot?
> If not, then...PASS. It's very easy to be curious when somebody
> else is
> paying for it. Or, like John McEnroe said when his career was
clearly
> waning, "Tennis is easy if you don't have anything else to concern
> yourself with."
>
> -Irate
>
> "He says there's no doubt about it, it was the myth of fingerprints.
> I've seen them all and man, they're all the same." - Paul Simon
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: owner-nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org [owner-nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org] On
> Behalf Of
> >Thomas H. Martin
> >Sent: Monday, August 21, 2006 7:32 AM
> >To: nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org
> >Subject: Re: NANFA-L-- What Happens When Fish Suck?
> >
> >Let's talk about how government grants are allotted: There is
> not a
> >giant buffoon tossing money willy-nilly to researchers
> /------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----
> / This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes
> / Association (NANFA). Comments made on this list do not necessarily
> / reflect the beliefs or goals of NANFA. For more information
> about NANFA,
> / visit http://www.nanfa.org Please make sure all posts to nanfa-l
are
> / consistent with the guidelines as per
> / http://www.nanfa.org/guidelines.shtml To subscribe, unsubscribe,
> or get
> / help, visit the NANFA email list home page and archive at
> / http://www.nanfa.org/email.shtml
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association (NANFA). Comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of NANFA. For more information about NANFA,
/ visit http://www.nanfa.org Please make sure all posts to nanfa-l are
/ consistent with the guidelines as per
/ http://www.nanfa.org/guidelines.shtml To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get
/ help, visit the NANFA email list home page and archive at
/ http://www.nanfa.org/email.shtml