Faculty Facilitator

Faculty Facilitator

Latest — Jun 29, 2026

When to Kill a Project

Science is unpredictable. Well-researched projects with solid preliminary data can go nowhere, while a chance observation can open a novel and fruitful line of inquiry. However resources are fixed, and faculty have limited time, funding, personnel, and brain power to devote to ongoing projects. Not everything is worth pursuing.

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Financially Managing your Research Program

Running a lab is much like running a small business. A PI must track income and expenditures, and ensure that sufficient funding is available to support personnel as they work towards scientific goals. Unfortunately, very few PIs are trained in how to manage lab funds, especially in today’s world.

Writing Letters of Recommendation

Letters of Recommendation (LOR) are ubiquitous in academia. They are an important component of applications for schooling, career advancement, enrichment activities, and for awards. A good LOR can make an otherwise borderline application successful, and a bad LOR can destroy the chances of an otherwise good applicant. Faculty members, particularly

R01 Research Strategy - Innovation

Is the work innovative? This question is included in the evaluation of NIH R01 grants as part of the Importance of the Research under the new review framework, and is the second component of the Research Strategy. In order for your grant to be funded, you must be able to

Establishing Feasibility in NIH Grants

Rigor and Feasibility are one of the 3 key factors NIH grants are scored on under the new evaluation framework. Feasibility is most commonly established within the Approach section of the Research Strategy, however other components of the grant can also be used to establish feasibility. Research Strategy: Approach The

Lab Hours

“When do I need to be here?” said the graduate student. “Whenever you need to be to make sufficient progress.” replied the PI. This response gives many well-meaning graduate students just enough rope to hang themselves. What if you can't make progress no matter how many hours

Leaving with an Unpublished Paper

Grad students and postdocs often leave a lab with unpublished data. Often, when the work is eventually published the author list is not what was anticipated. This can cause hurt feelings and if someone was really counting on those first author publications coming through, career progression. At the same time

Sick Days

If you are sick, you should take a sick day. When you are sick, you don’t have the attention, patience, or clarity of thought you have when you are well. Consequently, your interactions with people suffer, the work you produce will be subpar, and you expose everyone around you

Formatting Grants

Properly formatting your grant is essential for ensuring its comprehensibility to reviewers, which facilitates their ability to understand and promote your work. It can also help ensure that your documents are fully compliant with sponsor guidelines. updated April 2026 Label sections and subsections All grants have required sections and subsections.

Preliminary Data

Preliminary Data serve two purposes in a grant application. The first is to establish feasibility at the conceptual level. The second is to establish feasibility at the technical level. Each goes in a different location in an R01 application. In Approach, before Aims For most grant applications there is some