A good C.V. is the very beginning for your career hunting. Readers may recall the tricks of writing an attractive C.V in a previous issue. Once you are offered a real job, I mean an independent research career, to survive the challenge from your position could be very risky. Although it may be hard for some of us to be independent for our own interest and career in the research and academia in the US, others have determined or succeeded to do so. Obviously, to be independent often mean to be independent financially or to have constant funds from research grants or awards funded by either federal and local governments or private organizations to keep your research activities going. The records of any grants and awards listed on your C.V. and often very appealing to potential employers in the future.

The followings are some personal experience that may be useful for those who are willing to give a try.

1. The granting agencies:

a) National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Everybody in medical field probably knows that NIH is the main source of funding for medical research. Depending on your research interest, the following list of the Institutes within NIH is for your information.

National Institute of Aging (NIA)
National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
National Institute of Allergy &;Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
National Institute of Arthritis &;Musculoskeletal &;Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
National Institute of child Health &;Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
National Institute of Dental Research (NIDR)
National Institute of Diabetes, &;Digestive &;Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
National Institute on drug Abuse (NIDA)
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
National Eye Institute (NEI)
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
National Library of Medicine (NLM)
National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke (NINDS)
National Center for Human Genome research (NCNGR)
National Center for Nursing research (NCNR)
National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)

The grant proposal submission cycles are three times a year: February 1, June 1, and October 1. The mailing address for any information about the policy and deadlines of these institutes is 5600 Fisher Lane, Rockville, MD 20857.

b) Other funding agencies: Your institution often has a list of private funding agencies and related policy and deadlines. You can request the information from your Office of Research. In addition to cancer research (interested individuals can contact me for details), there are dozens of private agencies I know of that fund medical research:

American Academy of Microbiology
American College of Rheumatology
American Diabetes Association
The American Digestive Health Foundation
American Federation of Aging research
American Liver Foundation
American Lung Association
American Health Assistance Foundation
American Occupational Therapy Foundation
Arthritis Foundation
A-T Children Project
The Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical research
Crohn &;Colitis Foundation of America, Inc.
The Charlotte Geyer Foundation
The Education &;Research Fdn. of Society of Nuclear Medicine
Epilepsy Foundation of America
Foundation for Anesthesia Education and research
Helen Hay Whitney Foundation
Hereditary Disease Foundation
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
human Frontier Science program
The Irvington Institute for Medical Research
Life Science Research Foundation
The Lalor Foundation
The McKnight Endorsement Fund for neuroscience
Muscular Dystrophy Association
National Association for Orthopaedic Nurse Foundation
The National Hemophilia Foundation
National Kidney Foundation
Plastic Surgery Educational foundation
Radiological Society of North America
Retina Research Foundation
Society of Nuclear Medicine
Spinal Core Research Foundation
Damon Runyon-Walter Winchel Foundation
The Whitaker Foundation
.
.
Among many others, these foundations support various levels of research including post-doctoral fellowship and junior faculty career development.

c) Specialized funds or institutional seeds money: Ask your faculty (Boss) for the field of your interest. They often have some access to information about funds that may not be aware of by other researchers.

2 The positions that make your writing grant a feasible goal.

Many granting agencies require the institutional commitments, which are often reflected in one's position. For example, a full-time tenure-track position such as Assistant Professor is desirable, because it offers a relative stability of two to three years. Many positions may not be applicable for writing extramural funding as defined by your institution. The right of submitting a research grant proposal for extramural funding is an agreement between you and your institution, because it will require space and personnel that may not be supported by the funding agencies but can be provided by the institution. Failure of providing such support from your institution may result in a negative review. As a matter of fact, an extramural grant proposal is required to be signed by the authority of your institution, namely, Chairman or higher, before submission.

Therefore, if you are determined to develop an independent research career, you should look for a position that allows you to submit grant proposal. You should negotiate with your employer first to make your position straight, namely, you need a junior faculty position such as Research Associate, Instructor, Research Assistant Professor, and Assistant Professor. The definition of a faculty position varies from institution to institution. For instance, a Research Associate may be considered as a faculty member in one institution but may be not in another institution. Make sure that you will be appointed as a faculty position that is eligible to submit a research grant proposal for extramural funds in your institution.

3. What type of grants you can apply for?

There are several types of grants for a junior faculty member to apply for in order to get started, once you succeed in negotiating for a faculty position. Take NIH as an example: two series of funding mechanisms, some of which are available for young investigators. The applicants can be H-1 visa holder but a green card holder is favorable.

R (research) - Series:
R03: This grant is call Small Grant. This is a short-term award, not to exceed two years, intended to provide support for pilot projects, testing of new techniques, or innovative or high-risk projects which could provide a basis for more extended research. R03 provides funds of maximum of $50,000 (direct cost). This is a very good starter for a junior faculty who needs to be familiar with grant writing and prepare for a larger grant afterwards. You need to provide evidence of the institutional support (a letter) and senior collaborators (letter of support) to ensure that the specific aims in your proposal are achievable. In our institution, some Research Associates (Principal Investigators; PI) succeeded in the application. It looks good on your C.V. later, too.

R29: This is FIRST (First Independent Research Support and Transition) Award. This is five years' award to provide a sufficient period of research support for newly independent biomedical investigators to initiate their own research and demonstrate the merit of their own research ideas. The principal investigators (PI) must be genuinely independent of a mentor, yet at the same time must be at the beginning stages of his or her research career, with no more than 5 years research experience since completing post-doctoral research training or its equivalent. In addition, the PI must otherwise be eligible to serve in the capacity (e.g., faculty position) on a traditional research grant (R01) awarded to the applicant institution. The applicant investigator must never have been designated previously as PI on any PHS-(Department of Public Health Services) supported research project other than R03, R15, R21, or certain research career awards (K series) directed principally to physicians, dentists or veterinarians with little research experience. The R29 provides funds of maximum of $350,000 (direct cost) for five years. There are other similar grants such as R15 (an Academic Research Enhancement Award) and R21 (an Exploratory/Developmental Grant).

K (Career development)-Series:
This is a Research Career development Award, designed for a promising, developing investigator with high research potential brought to independent research status. This award is a three- to five-years training grant, which allow one to develop an independent career. Your need to designate three mentors who can help you throughout the research project you proposed. This grant requires some transition from your current research field to a much needed field and it provides funds for course-taking to enhance your knowledge and prepare such a transition. This grant provides funds of a maximum of $350,000 (direct cost). There are several equivalent awards depending on your research fields: K04 (Research Career Development Award), K07 (Preventive Oncology Academic Award), K08 (Clinical Investigatiom Award), and K11 (Physician Scientist Award). Three junior faculty members (research associates and instructor) in our department had K07 awards and later mwere promoted to Assistant Professor.

Others: P-Series:
Other possible ways of getting started is to be involved in program projects such as P01(Research Program Project) and P50 (Center Grant), which usually have several research projects with several core facilities, often lead by a senior (prominent) faculty member (full professor). To be involved in these projects can provide you needed research experience and funds to support your current research activities.

Anyone interested in obtaining detailed information about the above-mentioned grants, you can contact Drs. Vincent Cairoli and Robert Adams at (301) 496-8580.

II. CAREER-BUILDING SKILLS FOR Job-Seekers

Part I. SHARPENING INTERVIEWING SKILLS

Peter Lasky, manager of HR
Genetics Institute

It's not politically correct to say this, but the minority candidate probably should take advantage of the fact that companies are trying to increase their minority populations. On your CV, put down school, fraternity, and group affiliations that signal your membership in under-represented groups. Your competition will be playing up their advantages, so it's entirely appropriate that you should, too. In fact, we regard that as a positive.
A successful interview is the product of preparation as well as good on-the-spot thinking. You can't have the latter without the former. Here are some tips.

* PRACTICE. So many candidates come into interviews without really practicing their presentation skills. Get your peers and your advisors together to fire hard questions at you. If your English skills need work, shrpen them. Remember that you'll probably have to give presentations or seminars on your work to your prospective employers.

* BE ON TIME. Your interviewer is likely to be a tight schedule. We want to give you the full benefit of the time allotted. If you fail to take advantage of that benefit, the impression is not good.

* LOOK GOOD. Sometimes people forget that showing up well groomed and well dressed is a plus. Even if the company's actual work environment is quite casual-as it is at Genetics Institute-the expectation at the interview is that you'll put your best self forward.

* STAY ON MESSAGE. Answer questions succinctly. Don't ramble. Interviewers tend to doze off. Your job is to make sure they don't.

* HAVE A SHORT LIST OF HIGH POINTS. Be ready with the specific accomplishments, credentials, and qualifications that make you a good candidate for the job. Don't have twenty-have the three to five best ones and really harp on them.

* GIVE YOUR INTERVIWER MATERIAL TO TAKE AWAY. Bring your publications. Mark them to show your contributions. Be prepared to guide the interviewer to key passages. It's always impressive if you can back up your claims with concrete evidence of your achievements.

* ASK INFORMATIVE QUESTIONS. Do research on the company. It turns the interviewer off if the candidate really doesn't know anything about us. Ask, not navie questions, but questions arising from your research about the company.

* BUT OBSERVE THE 80/20 RULE. In successful interviews, the candidate drives the session, talking about 80 percent of the time. Make the most of your four fifths. Don't let the interviwer ramble. If you do, the next thing you know, your time is up.

* COMMUNICATE EXCITEMENT. As acompany, we feel special, and it turns us off if someone isn't genuinely excited. We interviewed a woman last week who was third in line (in terms of credentials) for the job. But we just got so excited because she was excited. The hiring manger said, "I want her here. She'll be a great asset to our lab. She'll make it fun to come to work." You want people you want to work with.

CAUTION: The above article is recommented for your reference only. Do not reproduce or transmit in any forms or by any means without written permission. Recommender is not responsible for any legal issues if you don't use it properly.

Recommented by Benquan Shen
Dept. of PK &;Metabolism
Genentech, Inc., MS# 70
460 Point San Bruno Boulevard
S. San Francisco, CA 94080-4990
Tel:(415) 225-8814 Fax:(415) 225-6452

III. WRITING EFFECTIVE COVER LETTERS by Youcheng Liu

Introduction

Last time, I talked a bit about how to write a good resume or CV. A resume should never be sent without a cover letter. A cover letter represents another important opportunity for you; it's like a personal introduction to the employer. It explains your reason for submitting the resume and serves as an introduction. It can also be used to highlight certain qualifications of objectives you have for the specific job. A well written letter will win you important points toward getting your interview.

Objective

To pinpoint how your skills and experience are related to the particular needs of the employer to whom you are writing.

Helpful hint

Do some research on the organization or company beforehand. Read annual reports, production brochure, contact inside people.

Rules for letter

1. Good appearance: proper format, no erasure, clean, business-like stationary;

2. Address to particular person: "Dear Mr. Jones" is better than "Dear Sir". Sometimes it is good idea to call the organization to find out the name and correct spelling of the individual filling a certain position.

3. One-page note:

Open paragraph: Why you are writing, what you would like to do, and the kind of job you want.

2nd paragraph: how you could be of service, what there is in your background and experience that is related to job you have in mind.

3rd/final paragraph: anything special about the organization. Why you especially want to work for it - ending with the phrase: "I'll call your secretary on Thursday for appointment". You can mention that you included a resume in one of the three paragraphs.

General model for cover letter

Full Address with Zip Code

Date

Name
Title
Company or Agency Name
Full Address - Zip Code

Dear________________:

Try to arouse the employer's interest in reading your letter by mentioning briefly something you are preparing for or have accomplished which relates to the type of work for which you are applying. Tell where you heard of the opening or why you have selected this employer for an inquiry.

Describe your interest in the position, in the field of work, or in the organization. If you have work experience, be sure to mention pertinent data or accomplishments to show that you have specific qualifications in this field or for that particular type of work.

Refer the employer to your resume. Enlarge upon anything in it which relates to the job or employer. Indicate that you are willing to provide additional data.

The closing paragraph should suggest your eagerness to arrange an interview. Include your telephone number and the hours when you are most likely to be there. Ending your letter with a question may encourage a more prompt reply.

(Sincerely yours, Yours Truly)
Signature
Full name, typed

Encl. (your resume)

An actual example

26 Maple Street
Brighton, MA 02135

March 10, 1992

Martin Schwartz
WBRI
1246 Jefferson Davis Highway

Dear Mr. Schwartz:

Andrew main, my supervisor at the Institute for Defense Analyses
last summer, suggested that I contact you for information about WBRI. I will be graduating in June from the John F. Kennedy School of Government with a two year Master in public administration degree. My self-designed academic program has focused on international security and technology policy, specifically the appropriation of precision technologies to verification and compliance.

I am familiar with the range of consulting services WBRI offers to its defense related clients. While working on a project at IDA which evaluated compliance contractors, I was able to review several of your most recently released studies. I would like to speak with you about your sense of opportunities at WBRI and similar firms for someone with my background.

In conjunction with several Fellows at the Kennedy School's Center for Science and International Affairs, I am currently completing a major research paper on verification models. I would be happy to discuss the findings with you.

I will be in Washington later this month and will call your Office to set up an appointment, at your convenience. I look forward to meeting you.

Sincerely,
David Richardson
Your master piece

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