Grantsmanship hints

Successful gantsmanship, although a critical skill for researchers, Is rare ly taught in graduate schools. This handicaps inexperienced researchers, wh o often must simultaneously develop courses, extension programs, and a rese arch program. As a result, they frequently suffer a lower success rate in o btaining research funding than more experienced researchers. Our objective is to provide the research community with a summary of observations we made while serving in the grant proposal review process. A preliminary list of our observations has apparently enjoyed widespread distribution, suggesting that there is in fact a need for this information, We disclaim any status as experts, offering these observations to those who wish to understand the review process as we observed it while participating in the USDA National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program.