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-   -   2016 NASA Grant Announcement Day (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=138976)

alextound 09-11-2015 21:12
Re: 2016 NASA Grant Announcement Day
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by EricH (Post 1504043)

And BTW, if, as your earlier post seems to indicate, you think that the NASA folks should be working over the weekend on this... Let's just say that getting me started on that will result in a very long post or PM, at the end of reading which you'll probably be feeling rather beaten up, and I'll be almost certainly feeling pretty lousy myself for writing and sending it. Suffice it to say that working weekends--on top of your normal work week--is something to be avoided if possible.
I'm not saying they should work on the weekend...just rephrase that they are "working diligently" over the weekend. Also I learned a long, long time ago to not write such strict deadlines if I know there's a possibility I can't hold up to them. I'd be happier if they wrote, "Sorry, we'll have the results early next week."

Mr.Frishman 09-11-2015 21:20
Re: 2016 NASA Grant Announcement Day
 
"NASA will review submitted applications and inform teams of their selection via the NASA Robotics Alliance Project (RAP) web site (http://robotics.nasa.gov). It is our plan to announce selections no later than Friday, November 6, 2015, 23:59:59 (PST). Please note that this is our current best estimate for the announcement date. The date may have to change due to circumstances beyond our control. If this should happen, a revised estimate of the announcement date will be posted on the RAP web site as quickly as possible. "

Current Best Estimate. That should be all you need to know.

alextound 09-11-2015 21:30
Re: 2016 NASA Grant Announcement Day
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.Frishman (Post 1504201)
" If this should happen, a revised estimate of the announcement date will be posted on the RAP web site as quickly as possible. "

Current Best Estimate. That should be all you need to know.
I couldn't find the ...time change new estimate...can you please show me where it is posted...?

EricH 09-11-2015 21:35
Re: 2016 NASA Grant Announcement Day
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by alextound (Post 1504197)
I'm not saying they should work on the weekend...just rephrase that they are "working diligently" over the weekend. Also I learned a long, long time ago to not write such strict deadlines if I know there's a possibility I can't hold up to them. I'd be happier if they wrote, "Sorry, we'll have the results early next week."
Fact of life: It happens ALL. THE. TIME. Even with diligent work. I could probably locate a bunch of articles about something getting delayed without even thinking about it. They write the deadlines, and they try to meet them. But maybe something* doesn't quite come through, so they have to figure out where to push or cut to either get it through or do without it. It happens. It doesn't mean they're not working diligently, it may just mean that you can't see them working diligently.



*Could be anything: Congressional budget crunch (and the ensuing government shutdown) stopped the grant process cold a couple years back. Could be that somebody didn't supply something quite right and they're waiting for it to be fixed (unlikely, as in this case that's virtually an automatic denial). Could be a key signatory to release funds has the email saying he needs to release them sitting in his inbox along with 1000 other emails that he hasn't gotten around to, and he's on vacation or dealing with a crisis elsewhere. It could be ANYTHING delaying, and most likely it's out of the control of the team that's working on the grants. Internal politicking comes to mind as a likely source of delay, but it certainly isn't the only one.

Mr.Frishman 09-11-2015 21:39
Re: 2016 NASA Grant Announcement Day
 
That is probably a question for the people at NASA.

alextound 09-11-2015 21:49
Re: 2016 NASA Grant Announcement Day
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by EricH (Post 1504208)
Fact of life: It happens ALL. THE. TIME. Even with diligent work. I could probably locate a bunch of articles about something getting delayed without even thinking about it. They write the deadlines, and they try to meet them. But maybe something* doesn't quite come through, so they have to figure out where to push or cut to either get it through or do without it. It happens. It doesn't mean they're not working diligently, it may just mean that you can't see them working diligently.



*Could be anything: Congressional budget crunch (and the ensuing government shutdown) stopped the grant process cold a couple years back. Could be that somebody didn't supply something quite right and they're waiting for it to be fixed (unlikely, as in this case that's virtually an automatic denial). Could be a key signatory to release funds has the email saying he needs to release them sitting in his inbox along with 1000 other emails that he hasn't gotten around to, and he's on vacation or dealing with a crisis elsewhere. It could be ANYTHING delaying, and most likely it's out of the control of the team that's working on the grants. Internal politicking comes to mind as a likely source of delay, but it certainly isn't the only one.
With all of the examples you gave...nothing speaks of working "diligently." While yes, I wholeheartedly agree, there can be tons and tons of great acceptable or even unacceptable reasons, but to say they are "working diligently" when they could've just said we'll have it next week would've been prefered.

Ryan Dognaux 09-11-2015 21:55
Re: 2016 NASA Grant Announcement Day
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by alextound (Post 1504212)
With all of the examples you gave...nothing speaks of working "diligently." While yes, I wholeheartedly agree, there can be tons and tons of great acceptable or even unacceptable reasons, but to say they are "working diligently" when they could've just said we'll have it next week would've been prefered.
Do you have any clue what it takes to go through all of the submitted grant applications? Clearly not. I have been through a similar process in the past and let me tell you it is no easy task.

How about stop being an insufferable jerk and let the great people at NASA do the best they can? There are hundreds of teams that will exist solely because of them.

EricH 09-11-2015 21:59
Re: 2016 NASA Grant Announcement Day
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by alextound (Post 1504212)
but to say they are "working diligently" when they could've just said we'll have it next week would've been prefered.
That means contacting the folks in charge of maintaining the website, who are probably (mostly) off for the weekend, and who almost certainly have a bunch of other requests for stuff to happen that's likely considered more urgent (like uploading the latest pictures from DSCOVR's camera to the EPIC site--a bit of a stretch, but I think you get the point). So that's another thing for them to do instead of working diligently on the problem.

alextound 09-11-2015 22:01
Re: 2016 NASA Grant Announcement Day
 
FINALLY!!!!
http://robotics.nasa.gov/events/2016_sponsorship.php

Congrats to all the teams!!

Cory 09-11-2015 22:01
Re: 2016 NASA Grant Announcement Day
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by alextound (Post 1504212)
With all of the examples you gave...nothing speaks of working "diligently." While yes, I wholeheartedly agree, there can be tons and tons of great acceptable or even unacceptable reasons, but to say they are "working diligently" when they could've just said we'll have it next week would've been prefered.
As someone who was previously a reviewer for the NASA grants I can tell you that there is not a group of people sitting there reading grants 8 hours a day. The system relies on employees (and some volunteers) reading grants on top of doing their normal jobs. It is a very time consuming process. Each grant also has to be reviewed 3x. You do the math on the total number of "reads" that requires.

Some people were faster than others, but I found that it took me close to an hour to read each grant application and take notes (and then go back and rate each one after I'd read enough that I felt like I had a good basis to compare them against each other). I had to spend a ton of time at home or staying at work late to work on them as well, which I know others did too, so it's no surprise to me that the announcement date has been pushed back on occasion.

After all the reviews are done they have to be further sorted to determine who actually gets awarded a grant.

There's not necessarily a way to come out and say "we will have it done next week", when there's all sorts of intermediate steps that have to take place.

alextound 09-11-2015 22:07
Re: 2016 NASA Grant Announcement Day
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cory (Post 1504219)
As someone who was previously a reviewer for the NASA grants I can tell you that there is not a group of people sitting there reading grants 8 hours a day. The system relies on employees (and some volunteers) reading grants on top of doing their normal jobs. It is a very time consuming process. Each grant also has to be reviewed 3x. You do the math on the total number of "reads" that requires.

Some people were faster than others, but I found that it took me close to an hour to read each grant application and take notes (and then go back and rate each one after I'd read enough that I felt like I had a good basis to compare them against each other). I had to spend a ton of time at home or staying at work late to work on them as well, which I know others did too, so it's no surprise to me that the announcement date has been pushed back on occasion.

After all the reviews are done they have to be further sorted to determine who actually gets awarded a grant.

There's not necessarily a way to come out and say "we will have it done next week", when there's all sorts of intermediate steps that have to take place.
Thanks for the clarity, I never thought it was easy or even possible given how much that needs to go into it. My only thought and sorry for being "insufferable" is that they put a date with a time and said if not then they'll have an updated time. Why would they put thousands of people at their computers probably clicking refresh every 5 minutes, when according to you probably knew it wasn't going to be "finalize[d]" within a quick turnaround of time.
BTW: Thanks for your work with NASA.
P.S.S. While you're here can you give a few tips, or points of interest they really look for with the grant. i.e. Team with all ducks in a row, or new team with great imagination and ambition, previous robotics vs trying to start new program, etc.

1493kd 09-11-2015 22:20
Re: 2016 NASA Grant Announcement Day
 
Anyone know why the regional grants for Tech Valley Regional are not listed? Or were none given. Congrats to everyone who earned one

z_beeblebrox 09-11-2015 22:22
Re: 2016 NASA Grant Announcement Day
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1493kd (Post 1504222)
Anyone know why the regional grants for Tech Valley Regional are not listed? Or were none given. Congrats to everyone who earned one
As far as I can tell, the grants have not yet been released and alextound's link leads to a 404 error.

alextound 09-11-2015 22:24
Re: 2016 NASA Grant Announcement Day
 
Try switching 2016 to 2015, forgot what year it is

I_AM_Clayton 09-11-2015 22:25
Re: 2016 NASA Grant Announcement Day
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by z_beeblebrox (Post 1504223)
As far as I can tell, the grants have not yet been released and alextound's link leads to a 404 error.
It won't work for me either.


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