Proposals and Grant Applications

Whether it be a proposal to undertake a project as part of senior design by an undergraduate student, to pursue a specific topic for a thesis or dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a graduate degree, to define a new direction for research and development (R&D) by a division within a company, or to support basic or translational research by a university professor, the technical proposal is fundamental to securing the approvals and resources needed to advance science and engineering. Notwithstanding the many different types of proposals that are possible, most are similar in basic structure and preparation. Hence, for illustrative purposes, we focus on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) individual investigator grant application known as the R01, the primary mechanism for funding health-related research in the United States.