October 18, 2019 • 12 mins
Meet your hosts and learn about what's to come on this season of Building Up the Nerve.
Building Up the Nerve is a podcast for neuroscience trainees that takes you through the life cycle of a grant from idea to award at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. We know that applying for NIH funding can be daunting, but we’re here to help—it’s our job! Be sure to tune in to the entire season to learn about the NINDS grant cycle from the people who make it happen!
https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Funding/Training-Career-Development
This episode has been edited since its original publication.
Transcript: http://ninds.buzzsprout.com/558574/1839991-building-up-the-nerve-introduction
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Episode Transcript
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Lauren (00:02):
Welcome to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders
and Stroke's"Building Up the Nerve,"a podcast for neuroscience trainees
that takes you through the life cycleof a grant from idea to award at NINDS
with the people who make it happen.
We know that applying for NIH fundingcan be daunting, but we're here to help.
It's our job.
Welcome to"Building Up The Nerve,"NINDS's first ever podcast.
Marguerite Matthews (00:27):
Woo hoo! This is going to be awesome.
Lauren Ullrich (00:29):
Yeah, I'm actually really excited about it.
So I'm Lauren Ullrich.
I'm a scientific program manager at NINDS.
Marguerite Matthews (00:35):
And I'm Marguerite Matthews, a health
program specialist at NINDS.
Lauren Ullr (00:40):
And on this podcast we are going to talk to a bunch
of different people throughout theInstitute from program directors,
help program specialists, grantmanagement specialists, the director
of the institute, deputy director.
Basically everybody that isinvolved in the grants process at
NINDS, we're gonna hear from them.
Marguerite Matth (01:02):
And we want to help bring NINDS closer to researchers
and especially trainees and let youknow that we're here to help you and
we want you to succeed and we don'twant there to be any surprises or
secrets about this whole process.
This should be something that,maybe not fun, but it's certainly
a little less daunting when you'reputting in your application.
(01:25):
And that's why we've titled it"BuildingUp the Nerve." We want to empower you
to submit the great work that you'redoing in your lab and to be funded.
Lauren Ullrich (01:33):
Right.
And so first, I want to say that ifyou have questions about this process,
please email us at NINDSNervePod@nih.govso that we can make sure to cover your
burning questions during this podcast.
You know, we do feel a lot of questionsfrom trainees, so of course, the
greatest hits will be on there, butif there's something in particular
(01:56):
that you have always wonderedabout, please let us know and email
us.
Marguerite Matthews (02:12):
So Lauren, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Lauren Ullri (02:15):
Like I said, I'm a program manager at NINDS, which means
that I am a program official on grants.
Currently, I have in myportfolio the summer R25 program.
The R25 is a research education program.
It's similar to a T32 but it specificallyfunds summer research experiences.
(02:37):
And I also help out on all sorts ofthings including the blueprint program
F99/K00 D-SPAN Award, our K awards.
And I do this podcast, I do webinars,I man our Twitter, so a little bit
of everything here, which is oneof the things I like about the job.
(02:58):
What about you Marguerite?
Marguerit (02:59):
I am a health program specialist at NINDS and that means that
I assist our program directors managetheir portfolios, and I'm particularly
sort of overseeing our grants thathelp trainees such as the supplements
to NINDS research grants, the ENDUREprogram, which is an R25 educational
(03:22):
research program as well as the F31,the NRSA predoctoral fellowships.
I'm the new kid on the block.
I have been with the office sinceFebruary of 2019 so I'm still learning
the lay of the land, but I have beenat NIH for almost three years now.
I started in the Office of ExtramuralResearch in the Office of the
(03:45):
Director for NIH as a AAAS scienceand technology policy fellow.
So I was there for two years on thepolicy side, but still very committed to
working with trainees, graduate studentsup through early career investigators.
What about you Lauren?
How long have you been at NIH?
Lauren Ullrich (04:03):
I've been at NIH for four years.
And I also started as a AAAS fellow.
I did that for a year and then Iwas hired on, I started off as a
health program specialist and nowum, like I said, I'm program manager.
And before I started at an NINDS, Iworked at the Society for Neuroscience
for three years in a bunch of differentroles, uh, starting in the advocacy
(04:29):
department, helping SfN members andparticularly early career members advocate
for increased funding for NIH and NSF andthen shifted roles into more education
sphere, working a lot on rigor andreproducibility and also branching out
(04:49):
and figuring out how SfN could supportmembers that worked in spheres outside
of academia and how to incorporatethose voices into the governance
of the Society for Neuroscience.
Marguerite Matthe (05:02):
And Lauren, I actually met you when you were working
at the Society for Neuroscience.
I think I was maybe still agraduate student or a postdoc.
Um, and so I had a chance to seeLauren and then I saw that she got the
AAAS fellowship and picked her braina little bit about her experiences.
So... I did a postdoc for four yearsat the Oregon Health and Science
(05:26):
university in Portland, Oregon, doingneuroimaging in behavioral neuroscience
and um, then decided to apply for theAAAS fellowship to sort of transition
more into work that would have abroader impact, for trainees especially.
So we both sort of have aninteresting intermingled, u m,
(05:47):
past together now and now we getto be colleagues, which is awesome.
Lauren Ullrich (05:52):
Yeah.
I mean, one thing that I realizedvery quickly about the neuroscience
field is how small it is, especiallywhen you work at a place like SfN or
NINDS where you're really interfacingwith a lot of different scientists.
You start running into the samepeople over and over again, and it
seems like everyone knows each other.
But even, you know, as a graduatestudent, I was always surprised
(06:12):
to see how large the networks ofmy mentors and supervisors were.
Marguerite Matthews (06:17):
Yeah.
Lauren Ullr (06:18):
So one of the goals of this podcast is to show that we're
real people, too, and you shouldn'tbe afraid to reach out to us.
So we thought we could talk about one ofyour hobbies or passions outside of work.
Marguerite Matthew (06:30):
Well, I like to do a lot of nothing nowadays.
I have been notoriously a busy body.
Anytime I edit my CV, I look atmy list of service and activities
and the list is very long, bothfrom graduate school and postdoc.
So I'm usually very involved inorganizations, constantly volunteering.
(06:53):
I've used to prefer to be athome as little as possible.
People thought I didn'teven have an address because
they said I was never home.
And now I really enjoy time at home.
So I like to read.
My new favorite thing todo is crossword puzzles.
So I do them on my phone.
I have crossword puzzle books reallytrying to expand my vocabulary,
but I also like to travel.
(07:13):
I'm trying to get out moreand hit all seven continents.
So that is also something thatI have been enjoying doing.
So I'm going to Ghana at the end of 2019.
Lauren Ullrich (07:24):
That's exciting.
Marguerite Matth (07:24):
So yeah, it'll be my first time in, uh, Africa.
So I'm looking forwardto, to going out there.
And even though you do a lot, Lauren,you have many, many hats at work.
I hope there are things that youdo to relax and to kind of unwind.
Lauren Ullrich (07:40):
Yeah, I think I have too many hobbies, actually.
I don't have time for them all.
Um, I would say like my biggesthobbies are in the art space.
So I started taking potteryalmost three years ago now.
My parents live nearby and my motherwanted to do it and asked me and
I was like, yeah, sure, why not?
(08:01):
You know, and now Ijust totally can't stop.
I have to get my fix of pottery.
I go every week and my houseis filled with ceramics, so...
Marguerite Matthews (08:11):
and I have one of your pieces in my home now,
so...Lauren is very, very talented.
Lauren Ullrich (08:16):
Thank you, Marguerite, you're too kind.
But I do a lot of other kinds of art.
I do water colors and I make jewelryand that takes up a lot of my time.
But I also, I really value spendingtime with my friends and family.
And also really like to travel.
So always make time for that.
Marguerite Matth (08:43):
Now that we've introduced ourselves, we look forward
to introducing you to our colleagues inthis season of"Building Up the Nerve".
Lauren, what can our listenersexpect to hear from the NINDS staff?
Lauren Ullri (08:54):
So in this season, we are going to take you through
the entirety of the grant cycle.
We'll start with an introductionto NINDS and our mission from our
director, Dr. Walter Koroshetz andour deputy director, Dr. Nina Schor.
And then we'll get into the meatof preparing your application and
(09:14):
then what happens after you submit?
So review, program recommendation,council review, and then if you have to
resubmit, how does that process work?
And then once you actually get theaward, what happens after that?
Marguerite Mat (09:29):
So not only will we provide insight on the life cycle
of an NIH grant, but you'll alsoget to know a little bit more about
us, that we're people just like you.
Most of us have beenin the research world.
So we really want to help you asyou go along throughout your career.
We hope that by getting to know moreabout us, you will feel comfortable
(09:49):
with coming to us with your questionsand going through the grants process.
Lauren Ullric (09:54):
So here's a short preview of some of the great
advice that you'll get this season.
Ned Talley (10:04):
You want to start by looking at the instructions for
the specific program announcementthat you're applying to.
So for different training mechanisms,typically the evaluation is about a lot
more than just the research project.
It's about your capabilities as anindividual, the mentoring environment,
(10:28):
and your relationship with your mentor.
And so all of those need to becovered and emphasized and you don't
want to give anything short change.
Francesca B. (10:37):
The aims should make a story, so they should
be tied to each other, but theyshould not depend on each other.
And specifically don't want one aimto be dependent on the success of the
previous aim because that is a bigissue that always comes up in review.
Glenn Nuckols (10:54):
I think it's also important, you know, when you're
developing your scientific niche that itreally is something that you're excited
about and too often people think thatthey have to put together an application
that's completely based on the trainingthat they had, something like that.
And if it's not really what they'reexcited about doing, I think that
comes through in an application.
Dave (11:14):
I think our analyses we've done over many types of programs,
if you stay with it, there's a verygood likelihood you will succeed.
Lauren Ullrich (11:22):
So, thank you to Dr. Bob Riddle,
who's a program director at NINDSfor our theme song and music.
We'll see you next time when wetalk about the mission of NINDS.
You can find all episodes of thispodcast and many more grant application
(11:44):
resources on the web ninds.nih.gov.
Marguerite Matthews (11:49):
If you have any questions, email them to us
NINDSNervePod@nih.gov and make sureyou subscribe to the podcast on Apple
Podcasts or your favorite podcastapp so you won't miss an episode.
We'll see you next time.
Welcome to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders
and Stroke's"Building Up the Nerve,"a podcast for neuroscience trainees
that takes you through the life cycleof a grant from idea to award at NINDS
with the people who make it happen.
We know that applying for NIH fundingcan be daunting, but we're here to help.
It's our job.
Welcome to"Building Up The Nerve,"NINDS's first ever podcast.
Marguerite Matthews (00:27):
Woo hoo! This is going to be awesome.
Lauren Ullrich (00:29):
Yeah, I'm actually really excited about it.
So I'm Lauren Ullrich.
I'm a scientific program manager at NINDS.
Marguerite Matthews (00:35):
And I'm Marguerite Matthews, a health
program specialist at NINDS.
Lauren Ullr (00:40):
And on this podcast we are going to talk to a bunch
of different people throughout theInstitute from program directors,
help program specialists, grantmanagement specialists, the director
of the institute, deputy director.
Basically everybody that isinvolved in the grants process at
NINDS, we're gonna hear from them.
Marguerite Matth (01:02):
And we want to help bring NINDS closer to researchers
and especially trainees and let youknow that we're here to help you and
we want you to succeed and we don'twant there to be any surprises or
secrets about this whole process.
This should be something that,maybe not fun, but it's certainly
a little less daunting when you'reputting in your application.
(01:25):
And that's why we've titled it"BuildingUp the Nerve." We want to empower you
to submit the great work that you'redoing in your lab and to be funded.
Lauren Ullrich (01:33):
Right.
And so first, I want to say that ifyou have questions about this process,
please email us at NINDSNervePod@nih.govso that we can make sure to cover your
burning questions during this podcast.
You know, we do feel a lot of questionsfrom trainees, so of course, the
greatest hits will be on there, butif there's something in particular
(01:56):
that you have always wonderedabout, please let us know and email
us.
Marguerite Matthews (02:12):
So Lauren, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Lauren Ullri (02:15):
Like I said, I'm a program manager at NINDS, which means
that I am a program official on grants.
Currently, I have in myportfolio the summer R25 program.
The R25 is a research education program.
It's similar to a T32 but it specificallyfunds summer research experiences.
(02:37):
And I also help out on all sorts ofthings including the blueprint program
F99/K00 D-SPAN Award, our K awards.
And I do this podcast, I do webinars,I man our Twitter, so a little bit
of everything here, which is oneof the things I like about the job.
(02:58):
What about you Marguerite?
Marguerit (02:59):
I am a health program specialist at NINDS and that means that
I assist our program directors managetheir portfolios, and I'm particularly
sort of overseeing our grants thathelp trainees such as the supplements
to NINDS research grants, the ENDUREprogram, which is an R25 educational
(03:22):
research program as well as the F31,the NRSA predoctoral fellowships.
I'm the new kid on the block.
I have been with the office sinceFebruary of 2019 so I'm still learning
the lay of the land, but I have beenat NIH for almost three years now.
I started in the Office of ExtramuralResearch in the Office of the
(03:45):
Director for NIH as a AAAS scienceand technology policy fellow.
So I was there for two years on thepolicy side, but still very committed to
working with trainees, graduate studentsup through early career investigators.
What about you Lauren?
How long have you been at NIH?
Lauren Ullrich (04:03):
I've been at NIH for four years.
And I also started as a AAAS fellow.
I did that for a year and then Iwas hired on, I started off as a
health program specialist and nowum, like I said, I'm program manager.
And before I started at an NINDS, Iworked at the Society for Neuroscience
for three years in a bunch of differentroles, uh, starting in the advocacy
(04:29):
department, helping SfN members andparticularly early career members advocate
for increased funding for NIH and NSF andthen shifted roles into more education
sphere, working a lot on rigor andreproducibility and also branching out
(04:49):
and figuring out how SfN could supportmembers that worked in spheres outside
of academia and how to incorporatethose voices into the governance
of the Society for Neuroscience.
Marguerite Matthe (05:02):
And Lauren, I actually met you when you were working
at the Society for Neuroscience.
I think I was maybe still agraduate student or a postdoc.
Um, and so I had a chance to seeLauren and then I saw that she got the
AAAS fellowship and picked her braina little bit about her experiences.
So... I did a postdoc for four yearsat the Oregon Health and Science
(05:26):
university in Portland, Oregon, doingneuroimaging in behavioral neuroscience
and um, then decided to apply for theAAAS fellowship to sort of transition
more into work that would have abroader impact, for trainees especially.
So we both sort of have aninteresting intermingled, u m,
(05:47):
past together now and now we getto be colleagues, which is awesome.
Lauren Ullrich (05:52):
Yeah.
I mean, one thing that I realizedvery quickly about the neuroscience
field is how small it is, especiallywhen you work at a place like SfN or
NINDS where you're really interfacingwith a lot of different scientists.
You start running into the samepeople over and over again, and it
seems like everyone knows each other.
But even, you know, as a graduatestudent, I was always surprised
(06:12):
to see how large the networks ofmy mentors and supervisors were.
Marguerite Matthews (06:17):
Yeah.
Lauren Ullr (06:18):
So one of the goals of this podcast is to show that we're
real people, too, and you shouldn'tbe afraid to reach out to us.
So we thought we could talk about one ofyour hobbies or passions outside of work.
Marguerite Matthew (06:30):
Well, I like to do a lot of nothing nowadays.
I have been notoriously a busy body.
Anytime I edit my CV, I look atmy list of service and activities
and the list is very long, bothfrom graduate school and postdoc.
So I'm usually very involved inorganizations, constantly volunteering.
(06:53):
I've used to prefer to be athome as little as possible.
People thought I didn'teven have an address because
they said I was never home.
And now I really enjoy time at home.
So I like to read.
My new favorite thing todo is crossword puzzles.
So I do them on my phone.
I have crossword puzzle books reallytrying to expand my vocabulary,
but I also like to travel.
(07:13):
I'm trying to get out moreand hit all seven continents.
So that is also something thatI have been enjoying doing.
So I'm going to Ghana at the end of 2019.
Lauren Ullrich (07:24):
That's exciting.
Marguerite Matth (07:24):
So yeah, it'll be my first time in, uh, Africa.
So I'm looking forwardto, to going out there.
And even though you do a lot, Lauren,you have many, many hats at work.
I hope there are things that youdo to relax and to kind of unwind.
Lauren Ullrich (07:40):
Yeah, I think I have too many hobbies, actually.
I don't have time for them all.
Um, I would say like my biggesthobbies are in the art space.
So I started taking potteryalmost three years ago now.
My parents live nearby and my motherwanted to do it and asked me and
I was like, yeah, sure, why not?
(08:01):
You know, and now Ijust totally can't stop.
I have to get my fix of pottery.
I go every week and my houseis filled with ceramics, so...
Marguerite Matthews (08:11):
and I have one of your pieces in my home now,
so...Lauren is very, very talented.
Lauren Ullrich (08:16):
Thank you, Marguerite, you're too kind.
But I do a lot of other kinds of art.
I do water colors and I make jewelryand that takes up a lot of my time.
But I also, I really value spendingtime with my friends and family.
And also really like to travel.
So always make time for that.
Marguerite Matth (08:43):
Now that we've introduced ourselves, we look forward
to introducing you to our colleagues inthis season of"Building Up the Nerve".
Lauren, what can our listenersexpect to hear from the NINDS staff?
Lauren Ullri (08:54):
So in this season, we are going to take you through
the entirety of the grant cycle.
We'll start with an introductionto NINDS and our mission from our
director, Dr. Walter Koroshetz andour deputy director, Dr. Nina Schor.
And then we'll get into the meatof preparing your application and
(09:14):
then what happens after you submit?
So review, program recommendation,council review, and then if you have to
resubmit, how does that process work?
And then once you actually get theaward, what happens after that?
Marguerite Mat (09:29):
So not only will we provide insight on the life cycle
of an NIH grant, but you'll alsoget to know a little bit more about
us, that we're people just like you.
Most of us have beenin the research world.
So we really want to help you asyou go along throughout your career.
We hope that by getting to know moreabout us, you will feel comfortable
(09:49):
with coming to us with your questionsand going through the grants process.
Lauren Ullric (09:54):
So here's a short preview of some of the great
advice that you'll get this season.
Ned Talley (10:04):
You want to start by looking at the instructions for
the specific program announcementthat you're applying to.
So for different training mechanisms,typically the evaluation is about a lot
more than just the research project.
It's about your capabilities as anindividual, the mentoring environment,
(10:28):
and your relationship with your mentor.
And so all of those need to becovered and emphasized and you don't
want to give anything short change.
Francesca B. (10:37):
The aims should make a story, so they should
be tied to each other, but theyshould not depend on each other.
And specifically don't want one aimto be dependent on the success of the
previous aim because that is a bigissue that always comes up in review.
Glenn Nuckols (10:54):
I think it's also important, you know, when you're
developing your scientific niche that itreally is something that you're excited
about and too often people think thatthey have to put together an application
that's completely based on the trainingthat they had, something like that.
And if it's not really what they'reexcited about doing, I think that
comes through in an application.
Dave (11:14):
I think our analyses we've done over many types of programs,
if you stay with it, there's a verygood likelihood you will succeed.
Lauren Ullrich (11:22):
So, thank you to Dr. Bob Riddle,
who's a program director at NINDSfor our theme song and music.
We'll see you next time when wetalk about the mission of NINDS.
You can find all episodes of thispodcast and many more grant application
(11:44):
resources on the web ninds.nih.gov.
Marguerite Matthews (11:49):
If you have any questions, email them to us
NINDSNervePod@nih.gov and make sureyou subscribe to the podcast on Apple
Podcasts or your favorite podcastapp so you won't miss an episode.
We'll see you next time.
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