What I Learned While at CU: Grant Writing

I decided to start this series a while ago because there are so many things I’ve learned about life while in college that I want to share with anyone who is interested. Whether you’re in college, choosing which college you want to attend in the fall, about to graduate, or are at any other stage in your life, today, I want to talk about grant writing. Grant writing is the one skill I never anticipated I would need, and after my time in a research lab at CU I have learned how valuable it is, so why not share it through HCCU?

Grant Writing

I want to start off by saying that grant writing is an incredibly important skill, but the route that it takes will be different for everyone depending on what field you are in, but the bottom line remains the same, the grant is a two way street to benefit both parties. Even for grants like undergraduate grants through CU the experience is designed to be beneficial to both parties, and that is what I will focus on in this post.

In my time at CU, I have been a student researcher for Dr. Michael Saddoris’s research lab, and he has provided me with amazing opportunities to improve my understanding of neuroscience while also learning the collaborative nature of my field. In my time conducting research for and learning from Dr. Saddoris one of my most valuable experiences has been learning about grants and how to improve my writing skills. During my two years there I have received grants from the Boettcher Foundation, Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, and the Biological Sciences Initiative, but many more grant programs exist for different programs. However, to speak to the programs I have been a part of the bottom line of the grant-recipient relationship is that both parties are benefiting each other and how you write your grant needs to be in line with that organisation’s mission.

So my main tips are these:

1. Show the importance of your work in the grant.

2. Show your qualifications for why you should be the one doing the work.

3. Show yourself, why are you invested in this work.

4. Show what the benefit is to the organization of having you complete this work with their grant funding.

By showing the grant program who you are and why you are cut out to complete this work you will set yourself up for success because your proposal is going beyond the scope of just your day to day activities. Be confident, don’t be afraid of rejection, and embrace the growth you will undergo as you learn how to find your flow within grant writing.

• boulder
• cu
• grants
• lab
• research
• senior