Fireworks

Diane Barrett

Written by Diane Barrett

The illicit shooting off of firecrackers has begun, bringing to mind long-ago July 4th celebrations in the small town in western Oklahoma where I grew up. When I was a kid, my brother and sister and I would spend days making invitations for the neighbors to come to the Barrett Blow-out for fireworks and homemade ice cream. Daddy would set up the Radio-Flyer wagon in a clear space in the backyard (it was all clear space) with a board across it as a base for the firecrackers. We would set up lawn chairs for the guests and turn the crank on the ice cream maker. It would, at long last, finally get dark enough. Everyone would be seated and then it began – Daddy placing the firework just so on the board, lighting the fuse, and running like a madman back to the patio. Some of the fireworks were little, some were bigger, some were just sparklers that we kids would do. Some of them were, of course, duds.

Proposals are like those fireworks – lots of work getting ready to submit, and also lots of anticipation. Turning the crank, so to speak. The delivery of the proposal has to come at the right time. It shows up at the agency and in a sense a fuse is then lit. And then you wait. And wait. And wait. Will it go off like fireworks in the reviewers’ heads? Or will it, despite the careful packaging of ammunition, be a dud?

In the research proposal world, it is unfortunate that despite our PIs’ best preparations, their best research, their most exciting ideas, less than 25% will be funded. It is not just discouraging, it is often future success at stake. If only 25% of our fireworks exploded into momentary beauty, would we give up buying them? Lighting them?

I admire so much those PIs that just keep at it, and you, who assist them. I knew a young PI at another institution where I worked that submitted 19 times before he was funded. 19 times!

Just as that momentary burst of light fades quickly, so does the momentary joy of that first call or email confirming that reviewers were impressed and money is coming. The hard work begins quickly. It is worth savoring those moments with our PIs, being glad with them and for them, and just breathing in the gratefulness of that transient knowledge that, for a while anyway, all will be well.

Happy 4th of July!  Have a safe and enjoyable celebration.

Blog written by Diane Barrett, Director of Sponsored Programs at Colorado State University.