Sunday, November 14, 2010

Grants and a Road Trip

My research has been put on hold as I attempt to get funding through two federal agencies, the NSF (the National Science Foundation) and the NIH (National Institute of Heath). Both these require a grant proposal detailing what I propose to research as a graduate student. The NSF proposal requires a personal statement, previous research essay, and the research proposal, each are confined to two pages. The NIH grant requires a one page detailing the specific aims of the project and a six page research plan. I am done with the NSF one, I’ve gotten pretty good at doing these as this is my third time doing it and my last year of eligibility. The NIH grant is new to me and require much more detail on what I propose. This one is due on in three weeks. So for the next three weeks I’ll be attempting to write a well conceived proposal.


Last Friday my friend, Tennyson, and I took a road trip to the Cherokee reservation in western North Carolina; up in the mountains. It took the whole day as it takes 4-5 hours to bet to the reservation. It turned out that we left way too late and had to reschedule his appointment for latter in the afternoon. This turned out to be a good thing as we were able to stop in Ashville, a town I’ve wanted to visit since I’ve arrived in NC. It is a hippie town with a lot of small shops and restaurants, this is where we ate lunch. We ate at an Indian buffet; it was very good. We then traveled to the reservation. We had to climb a high pass where there was a heavy dusting of snow. We took the trip mainly so Tennyson could go visit the dentist on the reservation. It was great to see the reservation and the mountains of NC. I hope to go back there again.


Yesterday I took a bike ride; it was spectacular as the temperatures were in the sixties and the leaves were at their peak, reds, yellows, and oranges. On my ride I stopped to visit Dave and Jane at their home, which was nicely tucked away in the woods. Their home is very unique, like noting I have seen before. They have a central foundation up from which a steel pole emenates. The main house cantilevers from that pole in a circle. They then have an addition roughly in the shape of a soccer ball, very cool! Unfortunately I have no pictures to show.


These pictures are from the aforementioned road trip. Enjoy.

This was at a cool shop we stopped at that had a bunch of crafts and home-made foods.

NC Snow!
Costume shop, Ashville, NC.
Ashville, NC.

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