I used to get numerous requests for funded proposals (particularly my CAREER award). I was always happy to share this information, as are most people I know, except of course the budget data, which impacts more people than just me. In 2014, I realized the privilege inherent to accessing my proposals. I normally only got emails asking about proposals from my colleagues at peer institutions or the former student of a friend. So I made a decision to post my funded proposals (with my Co-PIs’ agreement and sponsor policy okay) for anyone to download. One might ask, but what about other people “scooping” you? To them, I say this: Ideas are easy to come by, even really good ones. What is hard is typically the execution, the analysis, and so on. Additionally, by the time a proposal gets funded, I’ve usually been working on it for years, and at least several months have passed since it was submitted to the funding agency. Finally, I generally don’t believe people who are looking at my funded proposals have any interest in scooping me at all. They are looking for models to match their own good ideas to in terms of argumentation, format, and structure. More recently, I added other materials including my tenure packet and my cover letter to be grad dean at UC Irvine.
Proposals:
- NSF Early Career Award: Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing Technologies for Young Children with Chronic Health Conditions
- EAGER: Death and the Social Network, the Persistence of Digital Identity
- CSCW Doctoral Consortium Workshop Funding
- RET Supplement to CAREER
- Microsoft SEIF Award on Accessible NUI
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Project HealthDesign – Tracking Preterm Infants
- Google Research Proposal – Glass
- OISE WORKSHOP: US-Mexico Workshop on Interactive and Ubiquitous Computing uniting the Californias (WIUC2)
- Jacobs Foundation Advanced Research Fellowship
- NSF RAPID (With Candice Odgers): RAPID DRL AI: Understanding Perceptions and Use of AI in K-12 Education Using a Nationally Representative Sample
Tenure Materials:
Here are my tenure files. A couple of things to note: (1) The UC has a file called an AP-10. This is a mandated file that is basically a CV in a different format that specifically documents the review period. That is in there, but it is probably only useful to other UC people and will become less and less useful over time as the format of the actual form changes. (2) I included a summary of the three papers that I submitted alongside my packet. I did not include the actual papers. If you want them and can’t find them online via some other source, let me know. It just seemed to make the packet unwieldy for download/printing/etc. (3) I made a lot of graphs as part of this process. That was partly inspired by Don Patterson doing something similar, but if I am honest, it was mostly a form of procrastination and self-soothing. I am pretty sure it made no difference.
Grad Dean cover letter:
Same caveats apply as with tenure materials. The UC, and UCI are unique places with unique interests. I have had a somewhat odd path to leadership. These are all reasons not to use my letter as a template so much as an example that might prompt your own creativity. For what its worth, now looking back after having the job, I also think my text was too long and my ideas perhaps too grand. I will also note that the letter (and my own preparation) did not foretell in any way what I would actually do for much of my first term as grad dean, which was manage a series of crises and do my best to keep our students, staff, and faculty afloat through them. If after all those caveats, you will want to read the letter, here you go.