Overview of the F32 Boot Camp

The F32 Boot Camp is a  ‘class’ designed to walk you through all sections of the F32 submission.

As described by NIH, the purpose of the F32 Postdoctoral Fellowship Award is to ‘…support promising applicants during their mentored postdoctoral training under the guidance of outstanding faculty sponsors. The integrated program of research and training should enhance the individual’s potential to develop into a productive, independent researcher.’ But what does it mean to be a ‘promising’ candidate? What are the characteristics of an ‘outstanding’ faculty sponsors? And how do you train to be an ‘independent’ researcher? The goals of this Boot Camp are to describe:

1. The key elements of an F32 application
2. What it means to be a ‘promising’ F32 applicant
3. How to determine if the F32 is the best funding mechanism for you
4. How to determine which NIH funding institute to apply to
5. How to identify an outstanding mentoring team, and how to use the mentoring team to shore up weaknesses in the training plan and to enhance independence
6. How to obtain letters of reference
7. The components of an excellent training plan
8. How to get started
9. Instructions, tips and examples of each section of the application

By the end of this Boot Camp, you should have an F32 proposal ready for submission.