Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Awards Doctoral Dissertation Program Announcement Proposals may be submitted at any time The Archaeology Program provides awards of up to $12,000 to meet expenses associated with doctoral dissertation research. Items normally requested include per diem for time spent away from the home institution, travel funds, supplies and equipment, costs associated with field research and analysis fees. Salary for research at one’s home institution is not permitted. In government fiscal year 2000, 39 of 76 applications (51%) received support. Students doing international research having a formal affiliation with a foreign research institution may be eligible for additional funding Please contact the appropriate program in NSF's Office of International Science (http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/int) and the Archaeology Program Director (jyellen@nsf.gov). Proposals may be submitted at any time and should, less the exceptions noted below, follow the standard grant application procedures described in the Grant Proposal Guide. The Guide and this Archaeology Program announcement are complimentary and together provide the necessary guidance. Although not all sections are applicable, applicants should also read the two "Answers to ..." sections included in this web site. Follow all Grant Proposal Guide instructions except: 1. List the dissertation advisor as Principal Investigator and the student as Co-Principal Investigator. It should be clear however that the proposal is written by, and the research conducted by, the student; 2. Preface the proposal title with the phrase "Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: "; 3. The project description is limited to 10 pages of text and 5 pages of figures. While text pages may be traded for figures, the reverse is not allowed; 4. The amount requested may not exceed $12,000; 5. Dissertation proposals are exempt from university indirect costs. Proposals must be submitted electronically on the NSF Fastlane system. Applications are sent to six reviewers and decisions are based on evaluations received. NSF rules require three reviews before a Program recommendation can be made and the process normally takes about three months although formal notification can take considerably longer. Applicants are invited to contact the Program Director for updates on progress. Note that Fastlane permits applicants to suggest both reviewer and non-reviewer names. The NSF Archeology Program constitutes part of a larger Anthropological and Geographical and Regional Sciences cluster and its focus is limited to research of clear anthropological significance. In a proposal the students should describe why their research is important from an anthropological perspective. Proposal bibliographies provide one source of reviewer names and it may be useful for students to write the proposal with the expectation that such types of individuals are likely to review it. Although the NSF success rate is relatively high, many applicants request the same funds from several granting sources and this is both a permitted and useful strategy. If more than $12,000 is necessary to conduct the research, one normally must proceed in this way. Both graduate students and advisors should feel free to contact the Program Director if they have questions or wish to discuss proposed research (703-292-8759; jyellen@nsf.gov).