14. Indigenizing the National Science Foundation: Focusing Grants on Questions Shaped by Native Americans
The National Science Foundation (NSF) plays a significant role as a major federal funder for research in the social and behavioral sciences, including linguistics. American Indians, Native Hawaiians and Alaska Natives are all underrepresented as PIs at NSF. The NSF-funded "Strengthening Capacity in Dynamic Language Infrastructure for Tribal Nations" project creates training opportunities and establish partnerships between members of Native American groups and partners with grant experience in order to help increase submissions and successful awards in the language sciences for projects led by Native American principal investigators, especially those based at Native American institutions. This workshop will demystify the NSF proposal preparation and review process with a major focus on a more inclusive and diverse group of Principal Investigators (PIs) from these groups and Partners who are Linguists or Community-Linguists. CoLang attendees may be most familiar with the NSF Dynamic Language Infrastructure-NEH Documenting Endangered Languages Program, which funds workshops and conferences (like CoLang), senior research proposals, and dissertation grants. NSF has other programs and divisions of potential relevance such as Arctic Social Sciences, Tribal Colleges and Universities, SBE Postdoctoral Research Fellowships as well as other programs not specific to the language sciences. Prospective participants interested in these or other NSF programs are welcome.
NSF proposals include numerous components including a fifteen-page project description, references, a project summary, "biosketches" (two-page resumés designed to highlight expertise for the specific project), budgets, facilities and equipment, and data management plans among others. While NSF provides a highly detailed Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) to help prospective submitters, the 185-page guide can be daunting even for experienced PIs. Facilitated by a former NSF program officer, the workshop brings an insider's perspective on how to prepare the most competitive proposal and to avoid common mistakes and is supplemented by a set of freely available videos on the elements of NSF proposals.
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