Scientific research: The fountain of progress
A brief history and origins of scientific exploration
What is scientific research?
What makes a research activity more significant than others?
The scientific integrity and intellectual merit of a research activity
The scientific method: Common denominator of all scientific research
Empirical, experimental, and theoretical research
Interplay between basic and applied research
Role of technology in scientific research
Factors impacting outcomes of proposals
Intellectual merit: An essential ingredient for all research proposals
What is the broader impact and why is it important?
Should every proposal have a "real-world application?"
When should a research proposal be submitted?
Calibration of preliminary research ideas
Is every investigator equally qualified to win funding?
Using online bibliometric tools for self-assessment of research qualifications
Collaborating with other researchers
Building blocks of a winning proposal
How should a research proposal be organized?
Proposal summary templates and samples
Commonly used verbs in proposal summaries
How to organize and prose an effective introduction
Research problems and proposed work
Approach and preliminary results
Plan of proposed work
Expected contributions and broader impact
Qualifications of researchers
Ten most common mistakes that make proposals fail
What to do if your proposal is declined
Getting on with conducting a funded research project
Assembling a research team
Carrying out the proposed work
Reaching research milestones and publicizing results
Reporting functions
Working on several research projects at once
Getting ready for next research proposal
Promoting research in universities
Synergy between education and research
Graduate study and research programs
Measuring faculty contributions and performance
Top five mistakes universities should avoid
Scientific research: A funding agency perspective
A funding agency model for scientific research
Proposal solicitation and submission process
Classification of proposals
Reviewer selection and panel assignment process
Proposal review and evaluation process
Ranking proposals
Grant management and measuring effectiveness of funding
Role of program directors in proposal evaluation and funding decisions
Five mistakes funding agencies should avoid to improve their impact
Index
Each chapter includes a Summary, Biographical notes, and Questions
Biography
A. Yavuz Oruç¸ received the B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the Middle East Technical University in 1976, the M.Sc. degree in electronics from the University of Wales in 1978, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Syracuse University in 1983. He has done research in computer systems, parallel processing, and interconnection network theory. His more recent research has focused on quantum packet switching, an emerging field of research in quantum information processing. He was the director of the Computer Systems Architecture Program at the US National Science Foundation from 2000 to 2002, and served as a senior advisor to the President of the Scientific Research and Technological Council of Turkey between 2005 and 2008.
Dr. Oruç has been a full professor at the University of Maryland, College Park since 1995. He previously held faculty positions at RPI and Bilkent University. His research resulted in more than 110 publications in archival journals and conference proceedings, and the supervision of 16 doctoral dissertations and 24 Masters theses. He was an associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems between 2003 and 2007.
He is the co-inventor of the CodeMill language and programming software for which he received the 2000 Teaching With Technology Award from University of Maryland. Dr. Oruç is also the co-inventor of Whowon, a computer application that provides election results on iPhones.
