Question on approving NSF grants. When there are more applicants than money, who gets it? Known people with a track record? Based on the outline of the request, regardless of who it is....presuming they have reasonable credentials?
I wonder if your Dad is ever approached for favors...like, there's this young guy that I think has a future but he needs to get a grant to get his career started, kind of thing? Nothing dishonest or even unethical, just back scratching, old boy network, boosterism.
aside..That got me thinking about grants. I know some High School teachers that got grants (not NSF) every summer for the damnedest things. One girl spent the summer, living well in Boston, researching 11th century erotic poetry. Wrote a 3 page report, that nobody read, in exchange for a summer in Boston. English teachers can do that.
