Thoughts on Writing for Review: An NSF Program Officer's Perspective

This is an invited Account and Perspective, providing observations and advice derived from a 40 year academic career that has included over 14 years' service as a program officer at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and 27 years of service as an Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry. This work describes the program officer's perspective, with observations on what reviewers look for in proposals, and what are some of the more common, best avoided mistakes. Emphasis is on NSF guidelines, but many elements are general and intended for use by both proposal authors and reviewers.