1. No category

Writing A Winning CAREER Proposal
Seminar presented April 13, 2015
Handout Package
By Lucy Deckard
Academic Research Funding Strategies, LLC
http://academicresearchgrants.com
[email protected]
 Helpful resources on the Web
 Resources for Developing your CAREER Education Plan (2013 article from
Research Development & Grant Writing News)
 Example Project Summaries - annotated
 Example Introduction & Overview sections - annotated
 Example Preliminary Data overview paragraph - annotated
 Example Research Plan overview paragraph - annotated
 Example Research Plan section (example of how to handle highly
mathematical topics without including pages of equations, on one hand, or
being too vague, on the other)
 Example CAREER figures and tables
 Example Education Plan Outline
 Example Education Plan - annotated
 Example Department Head letter – annotated
(Note: For annotated excerpts, hover over the balloons or click on them to read
the comments. If this doesn’t work for you, try updating your Adobe Reader.)
Helpful Resources for CAREER on the Web
NSF Solicitation and other Info
CAREER page:
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503214&org=NSF&sel_org=NSF&from=fund
CAREER solicitation: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/nsf15555/nsf15555.htm
CAREER FAQ: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/nsf15057/nsf15057.jsp?WT.mc_id=USNSF_179
Presentations by NSF program officer at the most recent NSF Regional Grants Conference (including
CAREER Presentation): http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/outreach.jsp
Successful CAREER proposals on the web
http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/earlycareer/research/NSFgrants.html - 6 funded CAREER
proposals related to Geosciences
http://valis.cs.uiuc.edu/~sariel/papers/01/career/career.pdf
http://www.math.uic.edu/~bshipley/career.education.pdf
Other CAREER Resources
https://www.clarku.edu/offices/research/pdfs/NSFProposalWritingTips.pdf – Short book by Z. J. Pei,
“NSF CAREER Proposal Writing Tips.” Some of the info from previous year awardees is out of date, but
still very useful information
Resources for Education
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ - Education Resources Information Center
http://www.nae.edu/Projects.aspx - National Academy of Engineering
portal
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11463 – National Academies Press, Rising Above the
Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future (2007) (note that
pdf download is free)
http://www.cur.org/publications.html - Council on Undergraduate Research, Publications page
http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED424840 - The Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research
University, REINVENTING UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION: A Blueprint for America's Research Universities
(1998) – old, but classic (pdf download is free)
MSPnet - K-12 resources
STEPnet - STEM Undergrad Ed resources
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) – statistics supporting need/motivation
CAREER Workshops and Webinars by NSF
http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/nsf.htm – video of mock CAREER review panel (ENG)
NSF CISE CAREER Proposal Writing Workshop – Keep and eye on CISE News for next year’s date.
QEM CAREER workshop – For minority junior faculty and faculty at minority serving institutions.
Research Development & Grant Writing News
Resources for Developing Your CAREER Education Plan
Copyright 2013 Academic Research Funding Strategies. All rights reserved.
By Lucy Deckard, co-publisher
(Back to Page 1)
Many PIs find that the most challenging aspect of developing an NSF CAREER proposal is
developing the required Education Plan. While PIs are intimately familiar with the literature and
state of the art in their research fields, they are often not well-acquainted with literature and
prior work in education. Below, we’ll discuss some resources that you can use to identify STEM
education needs, challenges, and opportunities as well as places where you can find
information on scholarship, state of the art, and best practices related to these educational
issues. The literature and data you find there can also be cited in your proposal, creating a more
persuasive case for the need, significance, and rigor of your plan.
Resources Listed in the CAREER Solicitation
Look first at the CAREER solicitation for important publications and resources related to
challenges and best practices in STEM education that particularly reflect NSF’s outlook and
priorities. In Section V under Education Activities, you will find eleven different resources.
Seven of these are National Research Council reports; three are websites affiliated with various
education and outreach initiatives; and one refers to NSF’s User-Friendly Handbook on Project
Evaluation. A quick description of each and how they might be used is provided below.
 National Research Council. (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and
School. Committee on Developments in the Science of Learning. Bransford, J.D., Brown,
A.L., Cocking, R.R., Editors, with additional material from the Committee on Learning
Research and Educational Practice. Donovan, M.S., Bransford, J.D., and Pellegrino, J.W.,
Editors.
This classic report is often cited in NSF solicitations and in education-related proposals to NSF. You
can find this report online here (click “download free pdf”). It provides an accessible overview of the
research conducted up to the publication date on the science of learning and how that research can
be translated to classroom practice. Of particular interest for faculty, this report discusses the
evidence supporting the effectiveness of inquiry-based and active learning. They also discuss
superficial versus deeper learning, the influences of culture and community on learning, and
assessment. While this report focuses more on K-12 students, many of the principles discussed also
apply to undergraduates.

National Research Council. (2001). Adding it up: Helping children learn mathematics.
Mathematics Learning Study Committee. Kilpatrick, J., Swafford, J., and Findell, B.,
Editors.
You can find this report here. This report focuses on math learning by pre-K through 8th grade
students.
18
Research Development & Grant Writing News

National Research Council. (2001). Knowing what students know: The science and
design of educational assessment. Committee on the Foundations of Assessment.
Pellegrino, J., Chudowsky, N., and Glaser, R., Editors
You can find this report here. It discusses various kinds of educational assessment and the value of
informing assessment with new understandings of cognition, memory, and learning. Some of this
material could be helpful in planning how you will evaluate your education activities.

National Research Council. (2002). Scientific research in education. Committee on
Scientific Principles for Education Research. Shavelson, R.J., and Towne, L., Editors.
You can find this report here. This is a relatively high-level report on the science and practice of
education research; it does not address specific results of education research.

National Research Council. (2007). Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching
Science In Grades K-8. Duschl, R. A, Schweingruber, H. A, and Shouse, A. W., Editors.
You can find this report here. As the title suggests, this report discusses science teaching and learning
from K through 8th grade levels. This may be helpful in planning an outreach component for this
group of students.

National Research Council. (2009). Learning in Informal Environments: People, Places,
and Pursuits. Bell, P., Lewenstein, B., Shouse, A. W., and Feder, M. A., Editors.
You can find this report here. It may prove useful for planning science outreach activities.

National Research Council. (2010). Surrounded by Science: Learning Science in Informal
Environments. Fenichel, M. and Schweingruber, H.A., Editors.
You can find this report here. This is a comprehensive and accessible guide to designing and
assessing informal science environments such as those you might develop for an outreach activity.

Council of Graduate Schools, Broadening Participation in Graduate Education (2009).
You can find this report by the Council of Graduate Schools here if you are a member (or order it if
you aren’t). This report discusses the need to increase diversity and inclusiveness in graduate
education.



National Lab Network – website for NLN, a national initiative that connects K-12
teachers with STEM professionals.
Broadening Participation in the Computer Sciences Portal – This website should be here
but was not working at the time of writing this article.
The 2002 User-Friendly Handbook for Evaluation
This handbook can be found here. It gives a comprehensive guide to project evaluation and is
generally meant for much larger projects than those in a CAREER education component. However, a
19
Research Development & Grant Writing News
quick read (particularly Section II, Chapter 3) could be useful to familiarize yourself with the general
principles, methods, and terms used in project evaluation.
Other Helpful Resources

The Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University,
REINVENTING UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION: A Blueprint for America's Research
Universities (1998)
This older but highly influential report describes the challenges and needs for improving
undergraduate education, particularly STEM education. It is frequently cited by NSF and by
proposals to NSF. You can find this report here.

National Academies Press, Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing
America for a Brighter Economic Future (2007).
Another highly influential report on needed reforms in education particularly related to the
importance of STEM education. You can find that one here.
 Education Resources Information Center – searchable database of education research
articles. Very accessible to those who lack expertise in education research. Great place to
start your literature search.
 The MSPnet Hub – This is the website for NSF-funded Math and Science Partnerships. It
contains a wealth of information on projects, lessons learned, resources, and
publications coming out of these NSF-funded projects aimed at improving K-12 STEM
education. This information can be especially useful because NSF likes to see researchers
using and building on successful approaches developed by other NSF-funded projects.
 STEPCentral – Similar to the MSPnet, this website provides a portal to resources and
lessons learned by NSF-funded STEP (STEM Talent Expansion Program) projects, which
focus on increasing numbers, success, and diversity of STEM undergraduate students.
 National Academy of Engineering Center for Advancement of Scholarship on
Engineering Education – You can find information on CASEE projects and read their
reports online. Their “resources” page also features workshop materials and videos.
 Council on Undergraduate Research – Information on new models and best practices for
undergraduate education. Pay special attention to their “publications” page.
 National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics – This is a good place to look for
data to support the need for more STEM students and graduates at various levels as well
as the need for increased diversity.
 On the above site, you’ll find the Science and Engineering Indicators 2012 Report, which
brings together a lot of data on STEM education, labor force and R&D trends.
20
Handout
CAREER PROJECT SUMMARY EXAMPLE AWARDED 2006
Jairo Sinova, Department of Physics, Texas A&M University
SECTION A- SUMMARY: This five year career-development plan (CDP) is an integrated
research, education, and outreach program that focuses on the study of spin-dependent
phenomena in semiconductors at multiple length scales. This CDP has four main goals:
1. To develop a theory of spin transport and accumulation in spin-orbit coupled systems where
spin manipulation is possible solely by electrical means. This study, which encompasses the
spin-Hall effect, will address key issues such as disorder scattering, generalized driftdiffusion equations, and interaction effects. Several approaches combining analytical and
computational techniques at different length scales will be utilized;
2. To obtain a systematic theory of the anomalous Hall effect and anomalous transport that
treats on an equal footing both extrinsic and intrinsic mechanisms responsible for the effect.
This study will also merge different approaches to resolve the contradictory results obtained
through microscopic and phenomenological approaches which ultimately should be linked,
forming a consistent theory;
3. To further extend the theory of magneto-transport and magneto-optics in diluted magnetic
semiconductors (DMS) to include nano-structures and hybrid systems and explore new
phenomena such as tunneling anisotropic magneto-resistance;
4. To implement an educational plan which incorporates and develops a new teaching initiative
in the upper-division undergraduate curriculum, involves undergraduates in research,
promotes student international collaborative research, exposes the field of spintronics to the
general public, and provides a resource web-site for DMS studies.
Intellectual merit of the proposed activity: The proposed research plan addresses
fundamental questions essential to advancements in the semiconductor spintronics field (SeS).
We propose to develop a spin-transport theory for systems with intrinsic and extrinsic spin-orbit
coupling using a variety of models and approaches at multiple length scales in order to connect
the physical insights obtained through each approach into a unified cohesive picture of spintransport in semiconductors. At the nanoscale it is possible to explicitly address the effects of
disorder on decoherence and spin-accumulation. This microscopic approach must ultimately be
linked to the macroscopic length scale as it was done successfully in charge transport theory.
Some of these approaches will involve non-equilibrium Green’s function calculations,
phenomenological model calculations, and first principles calculations. The PI has ongoing
collaborations with leading experimental groups at Hitachi-Cambridge, SUNY Buffalo, U. of
Würzburg, and U. of Nottingham. This CDP extends naturally a highly fertile line of leading
research by the PI which has generated many publications by his group in top ranked journals
and has been featured in wider audience journals (Physics Today, February 2005).
Broader impact of the proposed activity: The greater tunability of materials properties in
semiconductors gives SeS devices richer scientific and technological possibilities than their
metallic counterparts and may resolve current obstacles such as dissipation of heat at the
nanoscale. This CDP evaluates SeS systems as a technological alternative.
The educational and outreach component of this CDP focuses on four segments: (1)
Incorporation, further development, and assessment of several Paradigms of Physics (PP)
module courses at Texas A&M University (TAMU) in coordination with their developers at
Oregon State University. The PP program consists of several short module-like-courses, taught
during the junior year, that focus on key paradigms that cut across several branches of physics.
This allows students to better connect many interwoven ideas in different subfields. (2) Direct
undergraduate involvement in the group’s research projects. (3) Enhancement of graduate
education, through student participation in international collaborative research including visits to
international experimental groups. (4) Outreach activities to increase public awareness of
spintronics and its broad impact in society, including public lectures and the development of a
website describing spintronics research at TAMU at a general level. In addition a website
dedicated to the specialized DMS research community will be further developed. The PI
believes strongly in mentoring underrepresented students and diversity will be encouraged in
the research group. The PI is currently advising two Hispanic graduate students and two
undergraduate students.
Comment [LMD1]: Concise description of the
area of research
Comment [LMD2]: Educational goal included
with research goals
Comment [LMD3]: Goals described early in the
summary in enough detail to be meaningful
Comment [LMD4]: New knowledge generated
Comment [LMD5]: Why it’s significant
Comment [LMD6]: Brief overview of
methodology
Comment [LMD7]: Collaborations and resources
are part of intellectual merit
Comment [LMD8]: Describes the PI’s
credentials – also part of intellectual merit
Comment [LMD9]: Technical broader impacts.
Comment [LMD10]: Strong educational broader
impacts described with some specifics.
Comment [LMD11]: Addresses diversity
Example Project Summary #2. Excerpt of successful CAREER proposal. PI: Andreea
Trache, Texas A&M University. Submitted July 2008 to the NSF Physics of Living Systems
program.You are welcome to share this with others within your institution, but please do not
post on an open website.
Project Summary
This five-year career-development plan is a comprehensive research, education and outreach
program that focuses on developing a uniquely integrated microscopy technology that is broadly
applicable across a wide range of molecular dynamic studies in live cells. The techniques’
capabilities will be demonstrated by studying the dynamic structure-function relationship of the living
cell as it adapts to its local mechanical environment. The objectives of the proposed research and
educational plan are to:
(1) Develop and demonstrate a state-of-the-art integrated microscope system that combines
Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Fast Spinning-Disk (FSD) Confocal Microscopy and Total Internal
Reflection Fluorescence (TIRF) into one instrument;
(2) Apply the integrated AFM-optical imaging technology to study protein dynamics in the
fundamental process of cellular reorganization in response to mechanical force;
(3) Implement an educational plan that will: (a) expose high school students, especially girls and
underrepresented minorities, to advancements in the biophysical sciences with the aim of
enhancing their interest in pursuing careers in science; (b) develop an innovative graduate course
module that uses interactive and visual techniques to help life science and engineering students
better understand the physics of advanced imaging; and (c) develop a website on AFM theory and
its biological applications to serve as an open-source interactive teaching tool.
Intellectual Merit
The development of a unique state-of-the-art technology by integrating into one instrument the
structural and functional resolving power of the AFM with the rapid optical imaging at high spatial
and temporal resolution offered by TIRF and FSD Confocal Microscopy will enable important
progress in real-time measurements of live cells dynamics. This new integrated instrument will allow
researchers to measure and record physiological changes at the level of pico- to nano-Newton force,
nanometer distances and milliseconds time scales. This instrument will provide a significant
advancement in quantitative assessment of cellular reorganization due to mechanotransduction
dynamics at the sub-cellular level in real-time. Thus, this novel instrumentation will significantly
enhance researchers’ ability to quantify rapid cellular processes at the molecular level, which is not
possible using current technology.
The PI is a biophysicist with expertise in physics and vascular cell biology and has the skills to
develop the AFM - optical imaging state-of-the-art technology, and then to apply it to molecular
dynamics studies in live cells. The PI has ongoing collaborations with leading investigators from the
Biomedical and Electrical Engineering Departments at Texas A&M University. This new
experimental approach naturally extends a highly fertile line of leading research by the PI that has
generated many publications in top-ranked journals and has featured commentaries in journals such
as Science (December 2004) and Biophotonics International (April 2006).
Broader Impacts
The integrated technology presented here will provide an important new tool, broadly applicable
in cellular biology, to study protein dynamics, as well as how cells interact with their neighbors or the
extracellular matrix, offering a deeper understanding of fundamental processes of cellular response
to changes in the local mechanical environment. The multi-disciplinary character of the research,
involving knowledge in physics, biology and computer science, makes it particularly well-suited for
educational purposes for a wide range of students. The education plan will introduce basic science
concepts along with the excitement of this interdisciplinary field of research and hands-on
experience to high school students, focusing on girls and minority students, through a ‘Saturday
Morning Biophysics: Image Life!’ Program. Also, the PI will develop a new interdisciplinary graduate
course module in advanced nano-optical imaging techniques for graduate students from the College
of Engineering at Texas A&M University and Texas A&M Health Science Center, and will develop a
new interactive website on AFM that can be widely used as a teaching tool. The PI will also mentor
one graduate and two undergraduate students in this interdisciplinary, cutting-edge research project.
Example Project Summary #3. Excerpt of successful CAREER proposal. PI: Jaime
Grunlan, Texas A&M University. Submitted July 2006. NSF Nanomanufacturing program.
You are welcome to share this with others within your institution, but please do not post on
an open website.
Project Summary
High aspect ratio nanoparticles (e.g., carbon nanotubes) can significantly improve mechanical
and transport properties of polymer composites with very small concentrations, but the ability to
control their microstructure (i.e., dispersion) remains a significant challenge. The proposed CAREER
plan entitled “Tailoring Nanoparticle Microstructure Using Stimuli-Responsive Polymers” presents a
novel approach to controlling the organization of nanoparticles in liquid and solid matrices. The
ultimate goal of this research is to use stimuli-responsive polymers (SRPs) to tailor macroscopic
properties of liquid suspensions and solid composites by controlling the microstructure of high aspect
ratio nanoparticles. Controlled microstructures will be achieved through non-covalent interactions
between the SRP and the particles, thus preserving the desirable intrinsic properties of the
nanoparticles. Polymer-particle interactions will be weakened or strengthened by changing SRP
conformation (i.e., shape) using a given stimulus (e.g., pH, temperature or light). While good
progress has been made in stabilizing nanoparticles, the proposed research is significant and novel
because it precisely tailors the level of nanoparticle dispersion during processing, ranging from
highly dispersed to highly aggregated. These microstructural variations will dramatically alter
suspension viscosity and final composite properties such as electrical conductivity, strength and
degradation temperature.
The overall research objective of this effort is to understand how stimuli-induced changes in
polymer conformation affect microstructural and macroscopic property changes in suspensions and
composites. The PI’s initial work has already demonstrated the ability to tailor aqueous suspension
viscosity and composite electrical conductivity by altering the pH of a poly(acrylic acid)-carbon
nanotube system. The proposed research will study the level of tailoring and broad applicability of
this phenomenon using a set of model nanoparticles (single-walled carbon nanotubes, silver
nanowires, and CdS nanowires) and SRPs that respond to pH, temperature or light. Variables such as
copolymerization, ionic strength, and monomer architecture will be investigated.
The educational objectives of this project are to convince high school and undergraduate
students to pursue higher education in physical science and engineering disciplines, increase
participation of minorities in engineering research, and teach the importance of microstructure in
materials processing and performance. Research and education are integrated through a focus on
the influence of microstructure on material performance. Laboratory projects will be designed to
highlight the effect of microstructure on composite behavior at the high school and undergraduate
levels. Minority high school students will be exposed to engineering through science fair projects
involving nanocomposites. Undergraduate students will perform microstructure-focused experiments
throughout their engineering coursework and in research projects.
The intellectual merit of this work lies in the development of new strategies for tailoring
suspension and composite properties by controlling the microstructure of nanoparticles during
manufacture. These studies will advance the fundamental knowledge conformationally controlled
polymer-nanoparticle interactions, which is needed to design hybrid materials with superior
performance. This research will provide valuable design rules for tailoring nanoparticle dispersion in
aqueous mixtures and for directing the microstructure of polymer-matrix nanocomposites. The
proposed collaborations significantly strengthen the project and broaden its educational impact.
The broader impact of this work will be the ability to control the state of nanoparticle dispersion
in a liquid environment and in solid polymer composites, where particle microstructure can
dramatically alter processing, mechanical, electrical, and thermal behavior. In the long term this
research will enable new classes of lightweight engineering composites for applications including
microwave antenna substrates; sensing and actuation transducers for biomedical applications; and
highly conductivity, flexible microelectronic materials. In terms of education, this project will
expose future generations of engineers to the importance of microstructure in materials performance.
1
Example Intro/Overview #1. Excerpt of successful CAREER proposal. PI: Andreea Trache,
Texas A&M University. Submitted July 2008 to the NSF Physics of Living Systems program.
You are welcome to share this with others within your institution, but please do not post on
an open website.
Project Description
1. Objectives, innovation and significance of career plan
The overall goals of the proposed research plan are: (1) to develop a new microscope system
that can measure and record physiological changes in live cells in real time at the level of pico- to
nano-Newton force, nanometer distances and milliseconds time scales, and (2) to demonstrate the
utility of this technique for the study of protein dynamics in the fundamental process of cellular
reorganization in response to mechanical force. The main feature of this integrated instrument will
be the ability to manipulate single molecules or cells and to probe the impact of pico- to nano-scale
mechanical events using the Atomic Force Microscope, while recording molecular dynamics effects
in real time using the optical imaging. Vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells will be used to
demonstrate the capabilities of this unique technology. These cells are constantly adapting to local
physical forces, inducing redistribution of cell adhesion sites and realignment of the cytoskeleton.
The objectives of the proposed integrated research and educational activities are to:
(1) Develop and demonstrate a state-of-the-art integrated microscope system that combines
Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Fast Spinning-Disk (FSD) Confocal Microscopy and Total Internal
Reflection Fluorescence (TIRF) into one instrument;
(2) Apply the integrated AFM-optical imaging technology to study protein dynamics in the
fundamental process of cellular reorganization in response to mechanical force;
(3) Implement an educational plan that will: (a) expose high school students, especially girls and
underrepresented minorities, to advancements in biophysical sciences with the aim of enhancing
their interest in pursuing careers in science; (b) develop an innovative graduate course module that
uses interactive and visual techniques to help life science and engineering students better
understand the physics of advanced imaging; and (c) develop a website on AFM theory and its
biological applications to serve as an open-source interactive teaching tool.
The development of a unique state-of-the-art technology based on the integration in one
instrument of the AFM with TIRF and FSD Confocal Microscopy will enable researchers to obtain
3D spatial optical imaging of molecular dynamics in different sub-cellular structures in real time at a
time-scale of milliseconds while simultaneously applying mechanical stimulation in the range of picoto nano-Newtons. The proposed studies will determine how the fundamental process of mechanical
stimulation initiates cell signaling in endothelial cells (EC) and vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC)
via integrins, and induces changes in the cytoskeleton, cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion structure
and dynamics, altering cell behavior. Data obtained by using the AFM-optical imaging integrated
technique will offer novel quantitative information that will fill the gaps in our understanding of
fundamental processes of cellular reorganization in response to mechanical forces in live cells,
which is not possible using current technology.
The PI is a biophysicist whose interdisciplinary background (expertise in physics and vascular
cell biology), makes her highly qualified to develop the proposed instrument and then to apply it to
molecular dynamics studies in live cells.
This interdisciplinary field of research integrates physics, biology and computer science, and
has a strong visual component. It is therefore particularly well-suited to identify and solve problems
at various levels of difficulty, which will facilitate the integration of educational activities involving
postdoctoral research associates, graduate and undergraduate students, and high school students.
The latter group will be targeted within the proposed ‘Saturday Morning Biophysics: Image Life!’
Program, with the goal of increasing the participation of women and minority students in the
sciences.
Studies that are the subject of this proposal will constitute the basis for the development of a
long-term career strategy, with the long term goal of expanding the present studies for a deeper
understanding of the physical and molecular mechanisms involved in cellular dynamic
communication, and to develop and integrate other microscopies and physical concepts useful in
live cell studies.
Page 1
Example intro/overview #2. Excerpt of successful CAREER proposal. PI: Jaime Grunlan,
Texas A&M University. Submitted July 2006. NSF Nanomanufacturing program.
You are welcome to share this with others within your institution, but please do not post on
an open website.
CAREER: Tailoring Nanoparticle Microstructure Using Stimuli-Responsive Polymers
Project Description
1. Overview and Significance of Proposed Project
Carbon nanotube suspensions are currently being studied for use in drug and gene delivery
applications,1 while nanotube-filled polymer composites are being studied for a variety of uses
including thermal management,2 high strength foam,3 and EMI shielding.4 These high aspect ratio
nanoparticles offer the promise of tremendous mechanical and transport property enhancement with
very low concentration, but lack of microstructural control during processing remains a significant
limitation for their widespread use.5-7 Extensive research activity has focused on the preparation of
stable nanoparticle dispersions,8-18 but few have used stimuli-responsive polymers (SRPs) as means
of tailoring microstructure to control behavior.8,18 In the proposed work, the variable conformation
(i.e., shape of the polymer chain) of SRPs will be investigated as a simple and controllable means to
tune nanoparticle microstructure in liquid suspensions and solid polymer composites. SRPs exhibit a
broad range of conformation, ranging from a collapsed globule to a highly extended coil, when
exposed to an external stimulus (e.g., pH, temperature or light). When nanoparticles are mixed with
SRPs, these conformational changes will alter the degree of non-covalent interaction between the
nanoparticles and the polymer (see Figure 1). In a more collapsed state, the SRP prefers to interact
with itself, which minimizes its nanoparticle interactions and creates an aggregated microstructure. A
highly exfoliated (i.e., highly dispersed) microstructure is produced when the SRP is converted to its
expanded coil conformation. Intermediate microstructures are also possible with the appropriate
choice of conditions. This use of stimuli-responsive polymers to control nanoparticle microstructure
is a novel approach, as evidenced by the recent news story in Nature Materials that highlights the
PI’s preliminary results.5 Ultimately, the concepts studied here will provide a powerful way to
precisely tailor the processing, thermal, electrical and mechanical behaviors of nanoparticlefilled systems (suspensions and composites).
Figure 1. Control of nanoparticle microstructure, resulting from a change in stimuli-responsive polymer
(SRP) conformation, by altering external stimulus (e.g., pH, temperature, or light). Weak SRP-particle
interaction results in an aggregated microstructure (left), while stronger interactions produce a more
exfoliated microstructure (right). These microstructures are associated with suspension and composite
properties. This effect has been demonstrated by the PI fro single-walled carbon nanotubes and pHresponsive poly(acrylic acid), where variation of pH resulted in aggregated (low pH) or exfoliated (high
pH) microstructures. These microstructures produced variations in aqueous suspension viscosity and dry
composite electrical conductivity (schematic from Ref. 8).
3
This microstructural tailoring will be studied with the overall objective of understanding the
range and sensitivity of microstructural control that can be achieved using stimuli-responsive
polymers. The significance of this approach is that composite materials can be engineered with
precisely tailored properties by tuning the microstructure during manufacture. This is a new way to
process nanoparticles that will allow suspension and solid composite properties to be tailored for a
given application. For example, forcing nanoparticles into a heavily aggregated state in a liquid
mixture will produce lower viscosity and result in energy savings during processing. On the other
hand, the ability to fully exfoliate (disperse) nanoparticles in a polymer composite with strong
polymer-particle interactions is vital for achieving the significant enhancements in mechanical
behavior. Figure 1 shows a list of behaviors and characteristics associated with the two extreme
states of dispersion, but the ability to achieve intermediate states will also be achieved by varying
processing parameters (e.g., ionic strength of suspension).
In the proposed study, three types of stimuli-responsive polymers (temperature, pH, and lightresponsive) will be studied in conjunction with three types of high aspect ratio nanoparticles (carbon
nanotubes, metal nanowires, and semiconductor nanowires). Each polymer-particle combination is
expected to exhibit some type of tailorable behavior when stimulated, but a variety of factors are
expected to influence the range and sensitivity of this tailorability. The underlying hypothesis is that
the shape of the polymer coil is much more important than chemistry for controlling polymer-particle
interaction. The overarching research objectives are to:
„ understand how polymer conformation influences nanoparticle dispersion and microstructure;
„ relate nanoparticle microstructure to electrical, mechanical, and thermal behavior of
nanocomposites;
„ determine extent of conformational change needed to influence the range and sensitivity of
nanoparticle tailoring; and
„ understand effect of nanoparticle chemistry on the ability of SRPs to control microstructure.
In the interest of environmentally friendly processing, the PI will focus on aqueous nanoparticle
suspensions and composites that result from drying these suspensions, but these concepts should also
be applicable to non-aqueous suspensions and water-insoluble composites (see Section 4.3).
2. Background and Objectives
2.1 High Aspect Ratio Nanoparticles Overview
High aspect ratio nanoparticles play a significant role as additives in polymer composites,
especially when the inclusions are nanosized. These nanoparticles are able to dramatically alter the
behavior of liquid mixtures and solid composites at very low concentration, which is the major
driving force behind research seeking to control their microstructure. The proposed research will
focus on three types of model nanoparticles:, (1) single-walled carbon nanotubes, (2) silver
nanowires, and (3) cadmium sulfide nanowires, thus providing a good representation of the many
types available to researchers.
Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are extremely promising nanoparticles due to their
large aspect ratio (d ~ 1nm and l ~ 1μm),19 high modulus (E ~ 1 TPa),20 high intrinsic electrical
conductivity (σ > 104 S/cm),21 and high thermal conductivity (k > 200 W/mxK).22 These high aspect
ratio tubes hold significant promise for imparting electrical conductivity, mechanical strength, and
thermal conductivity to polymeric materials.23-24 Despite this potential, the ability to uniformly
disperse nanotubes remains a significant hurdle to their widespread use.25 Although a number of
studies have focused on their dispersion, complete dispersion of SWNT in a polymer matrix has
rarely been achieved. The resulting bundling (Fig. 2(a)) yields a larger effective diameter of the
4
Example intro/overview #3. Excerpt from successful NSF CAREER proposal. PI: Dr.
Oleg Komogortsev, Texas State University. Program: CNS Secure & Trustworthy
Cyberspace. Submitted July 2012.You are welcome to share this with other faculty at
your institution but please do not post on an open website.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
1
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
The need for accurate and unforgeable identity recognition techniques has become an issue of increasing
urgency, affecting security across the government, public, and private sectors. Javelin Strategy & Research reports that approximately $18 billion was lost due to identity fraud in the US in 2011 with the rate
of incidences increasing by 12.6% compared to 2010 and affecting approximately 5% of the adult population [1]. Many of these losses, and the resulting grief could have potentially been avoided by incorporating
biometric safeguards. Indeed, this issue is of such concern that the government of India has initiated a
project to capture the biometric identity features of its 1.2 billion citizens to fight fraud [2]. However, while
the security potential of biometric techniques is high, unsolved security challenges continue to escalate
with recent advances in technologies that allow the production of high quality artifacts and sophisticated
spoofing mechanisms employed by intruders. Moreover, biometric techniques that depend on a single
biometric trait tend to have a particularly low resistance to spoofing and inadequate identification accuracy [3]. Therefore, this CAREER plan seeks to advance our knowledge of security and accuracy of multibiometric systems by inventing, evaluating, and applying innovative methods and tools to combine
highly accurate static traits such as iris patterns with novel traits based on the dynamics of eye
movements, expanding the frontiers of liveness detection, resistance to sophisticated counterfeiting
techniques, and coercion attacks, and improving identification accuracy.
Our understanding of biometrics based on dynamic traits is very limited; however, the potential for improved security by using such techniques is very high because it is extremely difficult to forge them. I propose to investigate the counterfeit resistance and biometric potential of two traits extracted from dynamics
of eye movements – oculomotor plant (eye globe and its muscles) characteristics (OPC), and complex eye movement patterns (CEM) and combine them with iris biometrics. The OPC approach allows
us to infer the internal non-visible anatomical structure of an individual human eye, whereas the CEM approach infers visual attention strategies employed by
Iris
Oculomotor Plant
Brain
the brain and different eye movement patterns that
characterize the live eye. OPC and CEM information
does not correlate with iris structure, and therefore all
three traits can be combined for superior accuracy and
security. The idea of the method is presented in Figure
1. In preliminary work funded by the National Institute of
Standards and Technology, we have already demonOcular Biometrics
strated that OPC and CEM are valid biometric traits [4(single image sensor)
7] and that combining these traits with iris can increase
the performance of iris authentication [8].
Figure 1. Multimodal ocular biometrics.
A multimodal ocular biometrics approach is particularly
attractive because iris, OPC, and CEM traits can be captured by the same hardware that is already employed for iris recognition. Therefore, security and performance improvements can be obtained immediately using thousands of already existing and future iris recognition systems.
Proposed work concentrates on two major directions: 1) security: liveness detection and resistance to
coercion attacks, and 2) biometrics performance: accuracy improvement of existing and future iris recognition systems via addition of the OPC and the CEM traits.
The security thrust targets prevention of the following types of spoof and coercion attacks: 1) intruder Eve
puts on a patterned contact lens to impersonate an authentic user. Iris identification systems with all currently known forms of liveness detection such as image spectrum analysis, purkinje images (reflections
from the eye cornea), pupil dilation and eye movement analysis fail to identify the imprinted artificial iris
[9, 10], and the system admits Eve as an authentic user. 2) Eve presents a highly sophisticated mechanical eye that makes eye movements resembling those of normal humans. The fake eye has the iris pattern
of an authentic user. The artificial eye passes previously existing liveness detection methods. Eve enters
the system as an authentic user. This form of attack also might include high quality printed iris images,
simple static artificial eyes employed for eye tracker calibration, and eyes from a cadaver. 3) Eve forces
the authentic user to login under duress. The proposed ocular biometric system will provide the following
solutions: for 1) and 2) rejection of the intruder Eve based on dynamic traits OPC and CEM; for 3) rejection of Eve based on eye movement patterns that signal a coercion attack.
1
The performance thrust of the proposed project concentrates on improved identity recognition afforded by
the combination of iris, OPC, and CEM traits. Biometric capabilities of OPC and CEM will be explored with
answers to questions about their variability, longevity, and scalability. The biometric performance afforded
by the dynamic traits (OPC and CEM) will serve as the backbone to the liveness detection objective, allowing detection of mechanical artifacts and cases when a semi-transparent contact lens with an authentic iris pattern is put on top of the live eye.
Relevance to SaTC: The NSF SaTC program aims to “provide the basis for designing, building, and operating a cyberinfrastructure with improved resistance and improved resilience to attack”. The authentication procedure is the key process that grants users access to the cyberspace. A successful spoof or
coercion attack is a substantial security threat to cyberspace. The secure biometric authentication afforded by the multimodal ocular biometric approach proposed here guards against most sophisticated sensor
attacks while providing high authentication accuracy, therefore directly addressing SaTC aims.
The study of multimodal biometrics is a highly multidisciplinary research area, which advances emerging
frontiers in science and engineering. The education plan will focus on better preparing students at Texas
State University (TSU) to become innovators in fields such as biometrics by providing them with a truly
interdisciplinary educational experience. Students will conduct research in the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) lab that I have established, working on collaborative projects with faculty in the departments of
Computer Science, Engineering, Physical Therapy, Psychology, and Geography. In addition, I will develop new courses and modify existing curricula to provide students with a more interdisciplinary educational
experience, and an outreach activity to K-12 schools in San Marcos (which have a high minority population) will be implemented using immersive gaming experiences and eye tracking technology to interest
students in computer science.
Expected Outcomes: 1) Robust methods for liveness detection and for resistance to coercion attacks in
biometrics systems. 2) Methods and tools that improve the accuracy and security of existing and future
iris recognition systems with just a software upgrade. 3) Longitudinal results of individuality, stability, and
scalability of ocular traits. 4) Publicly available recorded longitudinal dataset and ocular biometric software. 5) Involvement of undergraduate and graduate students in interdisciplinary research partnering
multiple academic departments. 6) Special emphasis on minority involvement with substantial outreach to
local K-12 students and future career paths to highly ranked Ph.D. programs.
Institutional Environment and Work Feasibility
TSU is a Predominantly Undergraduate Institution with 27% minority enrollment, and received Hispanic
Serving Institution (HSI) designation in Spring 2011. The university has embarked on an ambitious program to increase its research enterprise, and a proposal to establish a PhD program in Computer Science
is currently under preparation. The proposed research will support the university’s efforts to increase its
strength in research and provide its students with high-quality research experiences.
Although TSU does not currently have a PhD program in Computer Science, I have already demonstrated
the feasibility of conducting high quality research by involving undergraduate and master’s degree students. The amount of learning demanded of students involved in research is initially substantial, but the
training that I have developed through class work and individual studies provides the necessary tools for
success in the areas of the proposed research. During five years of work at TSU, I have published 35
journal/conference papers and 7 abstracts, 27 of which were co-authored with 10 graduate and 6 undergraduate students. Among those co-authors five students were from minority and disadvantaged groups
with whom I published 12 papers. The students have presented their work at multiple local, national and
international conferences. Another seven students have been involved in research activities outside of the
classroom without publishing research results. Several students who conducted research with me have
received various scholarships and awards from TSU, and one of those students has received an NSF
Graduate Research Fellowship to continue his graduate studies in my lab. Two students, one undergraduate and one graduate, have received three external grants from the Sigma Xi scientific research
society that is sponsored in part by the National Academy of Science (the funding rate though this program is 20%).
Although this career development proposal is broad and ambitious in scope, it builds on substantial preliminary results, and my past performance (six conference publications describing these preliminary results during last year [4-8, 11]) indicates that this is doable in a five-year timeframe. Very importantly, the
work outlined herein will form the foundation for a lifetime of research and teaching activities.
2
Example overview of preliminary results (intro to preliminary results section). Excerpt
Handout
#6 Texas A&M University. Submitted
of successful CAREER proposal. PI: Andreea
Trache,
July 2008 to the NSF Physics of Living Systems program.
You are welcome to share this with others within your institution, but please do not post on
an open website.
Example Preliminary Results overview paragraph…
A number of preliminary studies performed by the PI and her lab demonstrate the feasibility of
the proposed project. In summary, these results are: (a) integration of the proposed microscope
system has already been started and is feasible (Figure 3); (b) the PI has demonstrated the ability to
image live cells using contact mode AFM (Figure 4), and to conduct quantitative topography
measurements using AFM cell images (Figure 5); (c) the PI has been able to conduct quantitative
measurements of receptor-ligand adhesion forces (Figure 6); (d) the PI has successfully imaged
fluorescent live cells (Figure 7); (e) accurate alignment of cell images using AFM and optical
methods was demonstrated (Figure 8); This work is briefly described below:
Example intro/overview #2. Excerpt of successful CAREER proposal. PI: Jaime Grunlan,
Texas A&M University. Submitted JulyHandout
2006. NSF #4
Nanomanufacturing program.
You are welcomeExample
to share
this with
others
yourparagraph,
institution,
but please
CAREER
Research
Planwithin
overview
Awarded
2007 do not post on
an open website.
Jaime Grunlan, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University
4. Research Plan
This research plan has three phases, with each focused on a specific stimulus (pH, temperature,or light)
that will be used to control nanoparticle microstructure. Three experimental tasks will be performed
within each phase: (1) polymer synthesis and characterization, (2) suspension preparation and
characterization, and (3) polymer composite preparation and characterization. Many of the model stimuliresponsive polymers we will use are not available commercially and will need to be synthesized by my
students or with the help of a collaborating group. Professor David Bergbreiter’s group in Chemistry at
Texas A&M University [74,80] and Professor Xin Wei’s group in Chemistry at Texas Southern
University [115-116] will provide assistance with polymer synthesis in the form of consultation and
hands-on laboratory assistance. Each polymer’s molecular weight and stimuli-responsive behavior will be
characterized prior to mixing with the model nanoparticles. Singlewalled carbon nanotubes, provided by
Carbon Nanotechnologies (Houston, TX), will be the most used particles, but we will also study
differences in microstructural control when silver nanowires (provided by Prof. Xia at Univ. of
Washington) and CdS nanowires (provided by Prof. Regev at Ben Gurion University in Israel) are used
instead of SWNTs. Nanoparticle chemistry and polymer responsiveness are expected to play a significant
role in the range of microstructures that can be achieved. The characterization techniques summarized in
the table below will be used in each phase of this project. Professor Dale Schaefer’s group at the
University of Cincinnati will help with light scattering experiments [117] and the Characterization
Facility (CharFac) at the University of Minnesota will provide cryo-electron microscopy assistance [118]
Phase One is an in-depth study of pH-responsive control of nanoparticle microstructure and will take
three years to complete. Phases Two and Three are proof of concept studies that will take approximately
one year each to complete.
See Research Plan starting at the bottom of the page (Komogortsev CAREER)
Excerpt from successful NSF CAREER proposal. PI: Dr. Oleg Komogortsev, Texas State
University. Program: CNS Secure & Trustworthy Cyberspace. Submitted July 2012
You
are welcome to share this with other faculty at your institution but please do not post on
eye rotations between points of fixation with velocities reaching
an
open
website.
700°/s) [58].
A sequence of fixations and saccades is called a
scanpath (e.g., Figure 2). Fixations, saccades, and scanpaths
are necessary to estimate OPC and CEM traits.
The Oculomotor Plant Characteristics (OPC): The dynamic
and static OPC are determined by the eye globe's inertia, dependence of an individual muscle's force on its length and velocity of contraction, resistive properties of the eye globe, muscles
and ligaments, frequency characteristics of the neuronal control
signal sent by the brain to the extraocular muscles, and the
speed of propagation of this signal [57]. Individual properties of
the extraocular muscles vary depending on the role each muscle
performs. There are two roles: the agonist muscle contracts and
pulls the eye globe in the required direction and the antagonist
muscle expands and resists the pull [55]. Both agonist and antagonist muscles exhibit the unique OPC described above.
Figure 2. A scanpath formed during reading.
Complex Eye Movement Patterns (CEM): Complex Eye
Movement patterns (CEM) represent the cognitive strategies employed by the brain throughout the guidance of visual attention. The human eye is connected to and controlled by a complex network of brain
regions, sub-regions, and neural pathways [55, 58]. Information is transmitted from region to region along
neural pathways in the form of neural signals, which may convey visual field information from the eye or
control information from the brain. The firing rate of individual neural signals is dependent on the physical
properties of the involved neurons and surrounding brain tissue. In addition, this neural activity is influenced by the task being performed, which may cause variation in baseline firing rates, firing rate profiles,
and modulations of neuronal activity related to particular stimuli and behavioral responses [59]. Different
brain areas encode the exhibition of scanpaths and individual fixation/saccade characteristics [55, 58, 60,
61] making it possible to employ this information for biometric purposes [6, 7].
Iris: Iris structure is very complex and becomes stable during the first few postnatal years [36]. The iris
has very high biometric potential and there is a significant amount of work in the iris domain [62, 63].
While the iris is an integral part of ocular biometric approach presented here, the main innovation of this
work lies in the use of OPC and CEM traits, and in the capture of these traits along with the iris pattern
using the same inexpensive sensor. I am planning to employ standard iris recognition techniques described earlier [8, 36] and, therefore will not concentrate on their description in this proposal.
Preliminary results indicate that OPC and CEM are individual and consistent [4-7] enough to improve
performance of iris authentication compared to the performance of iris recognition alone [8]. Additionally,
the results of the first eye movement biometric competition [66], which I co-organized this year, showed a
substantial identification accuracy potential for eye movement-based biometric methods [11]. All competition participants employed raw eye positional signal or its first/second derivatives for person identification.
Very importantly, the OPC and CEM approaches, proposed here, take eye movement-driven biometrics
several steps further. The OPC and CEM describe the origin of the eye movement signal and allow the
extraction and analysis of meaningful features that have a one-to-one correspondence to oculomotor and
brain functions, providing a much more robust approach than simply using a noisy eye position signal.
The importance of our preliminary results was acknowledged by the best paper award at IEEE/IARP International Conference on Biometrics [67]. The proposed work aims to improve OPC and CEM biometric
accuracy, which, when combined with iris will enable even more substantial contribution to the accuracy
of a stand-alone iris system then what we have achieved so far [8].
OPC and CEM traits make detection of mechanical spoofs extremely easy, with additional details provided by preliminary results outlined in the security section.
Exploration of full security and accuracy potential of OPC and CEM traits requires in depth longitudinal
research on variability, stability, consistency, scalability, and hardware independence.
3
RESEARCH PLAN OVERVIEW
Thrust 1 – Biometric Performance Capabilities of Ocular Traits
Phase I – Collect longitudinal data to analyze in depth biometric performance of ocular traits.
4
Phase II – Devise fast and reliable feature extraction algorithms for ocular traits. Develop robust algorithms for matching ocular biometric templates. Robust matching work is critical to both performance
and security thrusts because it improves the accuracy of matching of authentic samples while reducing the probability of accepting spoofs.
Phase III – Fuse iris, OPC, and CEM to provide the highest possible biometric accuracy on a single
image sensor and establish the scalability of such framework.
Thrust 2 – Security Capabilities of Ocular Traits
Phase I – Investigate liveness detection by employing the information about OPC and CEM learned
during Thrust I to detect spoofing attacks. Miniature eye and corrective movements will be considered
as additional candidates for artifact detection. Identify statistical techniques that are most effective for
liveness detection. It is expected that those techniques will be applicable not only to ocular traits, but
to any biometrics that is able to capture human movements.
Phase II – Devise methods for the resistance to coercion attacks via analysis of CEM features.
Task
Thrust 1: Biometric Performance of Ocular Traits
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Phase I: Data Collection
Recruit subjects
Recording sessions and follow-up sessions
Phase II: OPC & CEM biometrics
Feature extraction
Robust Matching
Phase III: Multimodal Ocular Biometrics
Fusion of ocular traits
Identification stability & scalability evaluation
Thrust 2: Security Capabilities of Ocular Traits
Phase I: Liveness Detection
Phase II: Resistance to Coersion Attack
Educational Activities
Annual Reports
Figure 3. Timeline for research and educational activities.
4
THRUST 1: BIOMETRIC PERFORMANCE CAPABILITIES OF OCULAR TRAITS
4.1
Phase I: Data Collection
Overarching Goal: Collect comprehensive, longitudinal ocular data to support subsequent research goals.
Challenges: Obtain enough data samples to ensure high statistical power for subsequent analyses. Ensure follow-up recordings for the same subjects during the period of four years to evaluate longitudinal
performance of biometric traits. Longitudinal biometric studies are extremely rare (with very few exceptions [68, 69]), due to the relatively short durations of most funding programs.
Preliminary Work: To collect our preliminary results we have successfully employed commercial eye
tracking equipment [4-7] and very inexpensive image sensor (a PlayStation Eye web camera costing
about $20)[8]. We modified open source eye-tracking software to store eye images for iris recognition
purposes in addition to the recorded eye movement signal. We have collected data from 87 subjects with
75Hz sampling frequency and ~1° positional accuracy using this setup [8]. This resulting data quality is on
par with commercial eye tracking solutions, making it possible to use the same setup for all data collection described in this proposal. This setup is also very close to the existing commercial low cost iris identification solutions (e.g., [70]), therefore results obtained will be immediately beneficial to such systems.
Measurements using both commercial and low cost sensor solutions showed biometric stability of OPC
and CEM over two weeks (largest available recorded time span). Limited experiments indicate some
CEM dependence on presented stimulus [7] with OPC being more stimuli independent [5]. These important findings confirm definitions and performance expectations of OPC and CEM, however the NSF
CAREER program provides a unique opportunity to thoroughly establish longitudinal baseline performance for varieties of tasks making it possible to explore ocular performance very thoroughly.
Proposed work: Male and female college students in the first and second year of undergraduate study
will be recruited for the proposed project (IRB approval pending) via e-mail, word of mouth, and flyers
5
Komogortsev CAREER - discussing mathematical methodologies
without pages of equations
Excerpt from successful NSF CAREER proposal. PI: Dr. Oleg Komogortsev, Texas State
University. Program: CNS Secure & Trustworthy Cyberspace. Submitted July 2012
the are
eye welcome
tracking equipment
movement
classification.
pattern
recognition
algorithms
You
to shareand
thiseye
with
other faculty
at yourCommon
institution
but please
do not
post on
such
as
k-nearest
neighbors
and
decision
trees
yield
extremely
low
correct
matching
results
for
ocular
an open website.
traits [97]. Regarding CEM-based string editing procedures proposed by Privitera and Stark [98], which
are commonly employed for scanpath comparisons, they are not able to adequately capture individual
scanpath components and do not work well for dynamic stimulus. Therefore, new methods are needed to
perform accurate matching of ocular biometric templates. Such methods should be robust enough to easily detect signals from spoofs.
Preliminary Results: The Hoteling's T-square test [99], Student’s t-test [93], and Gaussian cumulative
distribution function [100], aided by data and logical fusion, were applied to conduct matching of OPC and
CEM templates. It was possible to achieve robust matching results [5-8]; however, approaches discussed
next should be able to substantially improve matching accuracy.
Proposed Work: To allow CEM comparison for scanpath-related parameters that cannot be represented
as statistical distributions, we will employ an approach similar to Earth Mover’s Distance proposed by
Dempere-Marco et al. [101] and further enhanced by Grindiger and Duchowski [102].
For all components of ocular traits that can be represented as statistical distributions (all OPC and all individual CEM) we anticipate that matching accuracy can be substantially increased by modeling the distributions using a Bayesian statistical approach. A Bayesian statistical approach is critical to the liveness
detection objective by enabling highly precise yet unique detection of artifacts present in the spoof signal.
It provides higher sensitivity for hypothesis testing and interval estimation than classical frequentist statistical approaches when working with challenging data structures such as OPC and CEM biometric templates (e.g., presence of small sample sizes with multivariate structure and long time series, [103-105]).
To carefully model OPC distributions, a “dual approach” by Mood & Graybill [106] and Box & Tiao [107]
will be used. In the dual approach, Bayesian posterior information is used to suggest functions of the data
for use as population-based estimators. Prior distributions play an important role in Bayesian statistical
modeling [108]. An “informative priors” approach will be used due to the complexity of the model being
investigated in combination with small-to-moderate sample sizes. Specifically, in the case where sample
size is small and models are complex, the informative priors approach provides a mechanism for achieving greater accuracy [108-110] in posterior summary estimates of parameters as opposed to using a diffuse, strictly non-informative approach (i.e., objective priors distributed uniformly over the distribution of a
parameter). Assigning priors during model formulation will provide an analytical updating engine for the
Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) estimation process (e.g., the Gibbs sampler also known as an “alternating conditional sampler”, Gelman, et al., [111], p. 287). As an example, 9 semi-conjugate priors for
OPC parameters (e.g. means) in the existing formulation and covariance ~ inverse-Wishart or, for example, negative binomial are able to be modeled as approximately multivariate normal (~N 0, 4) or negative binomial. The values of 0 and 4 may be selected based on the distributional properties of the multivariate normal time series model [107, 112]. As a result, a confidence value will be returned when matching two biometric templates and will be indicative of confidence in liveness (on the scale specified by
NIST standard [44]) and statistical likelihood of the templates being from the same person.
4.3
Phase III: Multimodal Ocular Biometrics Approach
Overarching Goal for Phase IV: To address the key research questions required to effectively combine
the information from all ocular traits (Iris, OPC, and CEM).
Key Research Questions: 1) What information fusion methods are able to provide highest identification
accuracy when information from all ocular traits is provided? 2) What is the performance accuracy of ocular traits with no iris information, i.e., iris modality is spoofed or inaccurate? 3) What is the identification
scalability and longevity of ocular traits?
Expected Outcomes: 1) Understanding what categories of fusion methods would be most effective for a
multimodal system that involves static and dynamic traits. 2) Software prototype of the multimodal ocular
biometrics system that would be potentially deployable on the existing and future iris recognition systems.
3) Identification stability and scalability report.
4.3.1 Fusion of Multiple Ocular Traits
Challenges: It is very difficult to predict what fusion approaches will be beneficial in a specific multimodal
system [113]. In general, there is presently inadequate understanding of why some information fusion
techniques work better than others and in what circumstances [114]. Therefore, it is important to investigate which information fusion techniques can provide the highest accuracy and robustness when static
9
and dynamic biometric traits are combined. Important issues that must be considered include, but are not
limited to, the impact of the performance of each classifier, the resulting correctness of the combined
rankings obtained from each trait, and the cost of errors.
Preliminary results: By fusing all three ocular traits (OPC, CEM, Iris) using a simple weighted fusion, it
was possible to reduce authentication error of iris recognition by 19% [8]. In this experiment we employed
same hardware as discussed in the data collection with the subject pool of 87 people [8]. Iris recognition
alone yielded Half Total Error Rate (HTER) of 5.9% while fusion of all ocular traits provided HTER of
4.8%. From the accuracy perspective, this result shows that multimodal ocular biometrics is an approach
with great potential, especially in cases when iris recognition alone is not extremely accurate. The work
outlined in this proposal should be able to further improve accuracy compared to iris-only approaches.
From the security perspective, fusion of two eye movement-derived traits provided a 30% reduction in the
authentication error when accuracy was compared to the performance of a single eye movement-driven
trait [5]. Judging from the results of the first eye movement-based biometric competition where 97.6%
identification accuracy was achieved [11], I hypothesize that combination of OPC and CEM will be able to
provide this level of accuracy or even higher because these two groups of ocular traits essentially describe the origin of eye movements. The high level of accuracy afforded by the eye movement-driven ocular traits is very important because it indicates the performance of the system when iris modality is
spoofed by the most difficult artifact – semitransparent patterned lens on top of the intruder’s eye. Please
note that in the case of static or dynamic mechanical artifacts I expect OPC and CEM to provide spoofdetection accuracy very close to 100%. I expect that advanced fusion algorithms described next will improve iris-only biometrics performance. In cases when iris is spoofed or is of low quality, fusion algorithms
will allow OPC and CEM to make an accurate identity decision.
Proposed work: Fusion after matching as classified by Ross and colleagues [115] is expected to be the
most promising fusion approach for the ocular biometrics because biometric information is integrated after
the initial match of each individual biometric trait, therefore avoiding the issue of incompatibility. Within
this category following methods will be investigated: a) Match score level fusion, where individual classifiers’ scores are consolidated into a single one to accept or reject a user. Such methods as density-based
score fusion techniques [116, 117], transformation score fusion [114, 118], classifier-based score fusion
[13, 119] and methods that employ user-specific and evolving classification thresholds [120-122] would
be considered in this sub-category., b) Decision level fusion, where a separate verification decision is
made according to each trait and subsequently the outcomes of such verification result in a consolidated
solution [123]. Methods such as AND/OR approach [124], majority voting [125, 126], weighted voting
[127, 128], behavior knowledge space [129, 130] etc. will be considered.
4.3.2 Identification Stability & Scalability of Ocular Biometrics
Challenges: Long-term identification stability of OPC and CEM traits is unknown. It is also unknown how
many people can be reliably identified by the multimodal ocular biometrics approach.
Proposed work: We will measure the identification stability of each individual and fused ocular traits via
Receiver Operator Characteristics (ROC) curves [131, 132] for the collected longitudinal data.
To find the number of people that can be reliably identified via the ocular biometrics approach, I propose
a simulation experiment using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques [111, 133]. Within the
MCMC framework, I will use a Bayesian probabilistic approach to statistical inference. In the Bayesian
framework, observed data and random components are both treated as random quantities. Posterior distributions for random quantities are initially derived using Bayes Theorem. Once posterior parameter estimates are available, the MCMC method with the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm [133] will be used to create posterior parameter estimates of covariance components (based on current approximate size of hu9
man population, e.g., N=7.210 ) for each individual ocular trait and its components. Posterior summary
statistics to be reported will include (a) mean, (b) posterior standard deviation – PSD, (c) 95% credible
interval (i.e., the Bayesian alternative to the frequentist confidence interval), (d) median, (e) deviance information criterion – DIC, (f) posterior predictive p-value, and, (g) for each selected sample size. This information will allow us to infer the relationship between the number of people enrolled in the ocular biometric system and the accuracy of identification that can be reliably obtained.
10
Example CAREER Figures and Tables
This figure (Grunlan, 2006) does a nice job of showing the underlying concept of his project. Putting it on
the first page helps distinguish his proposal from others and helps grab the reviewer’s interest from the
start. The caption (while longer than I would recommend for Engineering) does a good job of describing
what the reader should take away from the figure. (I would recommend using a different font for the
figure captions to help them stand out from the proposal text, particularly if you have long captions like
this.)
This figure (Trache, 2008) shows that the integrated microscope, which is central to the project, actually
exists. While reviewers would take her word for it, the photo still strengthens credibility. This also
applies to education and outreach activities. If you’ve done something with, for example, high school
kids that you plan to build
on in your CAREER project, a
good photo of the activity
will strengthen your
credibility.
This figure (Grunlan, 2006) provides an integrative overview of phenomena that underlie the proposed
research.
This table (Trache, 2008) provides an overview of the analyses, tests and variables planned. If you have
lots of tests and analyses planned, it’s a good idea to include some kind of table or figure that brings it
all together so reviewers can see everything at a glance.
This figure (Trache, 2008) clearly shows how a complicated research plan is structured. Connecting the
steps in the flow chart to section numbers in the proposal is a nice touch. The accompanying text
provides more information and steps the reader through the research plan. The structure laid out here
is followed consistently throughout the research plan discussion (including in the timeline).
This timeline (Komogortsev, 2012) aligns with the sections of the research plan and provides a nice
overview of the key phases of the project. It also shows that the PI has a plan to complete the work
within the 5-year funding period.
Typical Education Component Structure

Overview
o Goals and objectives
o Educational need(s) and/or opportunities
o Overview of activities
 Background/State of Knowledge
(note: if all activities address a common need/opportunity, the background section would
typically go here; if activities address different needs/opportunities, you may have separate
background sections with each activity)
o Review of the educational literature related to the educational
problem/need/opportunity and how it informs your planned
activities/strategy
 See
 CAREER solicitation
 Education Resources Information Center (ERIC)
 Math Science Partnership Hub Library (K-12)
 Council on Undergraduate Research
o Previous work, preliminary results, existing infrastructure you will build on
 Activity 1 (e.g., curriculum enhancement)
o Objectives
o Details of your plans (include details such as numbers of students involved
and logistics)
o Expected outcomes
o Assessment (this might also be in a separate paragraph at the end that
addresses assessment for all activities)
 Repeat following structure of Activity 1 as appropriate for number of activities you
have planned. (Be careful not to include too many activities – fewer, more
meaningful activities are better than more, less interesting activities.)
 Assessment (if not included with each activity)
 Schedule (often, the education activities are included in the schedule along with the
research activities in order to emphasize how they are integrated)
Excerpt from successful NSF CAREER proposal. PI: Dr. Oleg Komogortsev, Texas State
University. Program: CNS Secure & Trustworthy Cyberspace. Submitted July 2012
You are welcome to share this with other faculty at your institution but please do not post on
an open website.
5.2
Phase II: Resistance to Coercion Attacks
Attack: Eve forces authentic user to login under duress.
Key Research Questions: Is it possible to covertly signal to a biometric system about a coercion attack
via CEM patterns when all body actions are observable by an intruder?
Challenges: It is possible to imagine a coercion attack where a genuine user is forced to log into a secure terminal (e.g., using a remote connection) under duress. Current solutions to coercive attacks are
easily observable (e.g., typed passwords [142] or voice commands), or intrusive (e.g., skin conductance
sensors [142]). A CEM solution promises to be hard to detect by an intruder and to be non-intrusive. An
important advantage of the eye tracking technology is its ability to reliably detect the direction of gaze with
a precision of approximately 0.5º of the visual angle. It is commonly understood that a human, while able
to tell the general location of the eye gaze, cannot distinguish precisely where someone is looking. Therefore, a big question is whether it is possible to invent a method that would allow a user to covertly or
overtly indicate a coercion attack to a system via CEM patterns without the intruder’s knowledge.
Proposed Work: We will investigate stimuli types that allow a user to make an easy choice between
CEM that would indicate “normal” or “coercion” entry login while making it hard for an intruder to detect
the difference. Eye movement recordings for this research task will be conducted separately from Phase
I, but will use the same recording equipment. Three types of stimuli will be employed: a) images containing a significant amount of rich textural information across the entire image, e.g., a forest or hills, b) images containing several separate zones of attention, e.g., structures, buildings, c) images with artificial content highlighting well defined focal points, e.g., blue and red balloons. The goal of each image type is to
facilitate goals of the login process, e.g., if the image of mountains is presented during “normal” login, a
user will look at the base of the hills, whereas during “coercion” entry the user will look at the pine trees.
Mock-up forced entry attempt sessions will involve 10 student volunteers acting as an “intruder” and 10
acting as “authentic” users. The “authentic” users will sit in front of an eye tracker during 6 “normal” and
“coercion” login sessions assigned at random. The stimuli discussed above will be presented during the
login process. The “intruder” will sit next to the display facing the “authentic” user. Such positioning gives
the best chance for the correct interpretation of the CEM patterns. Both “authentic” users and “intruders”
will complete a survey after each session where the former would indicate the difficulty in consciously perThis
is would
the start
of which
the Education
forming the “normal” and “coercion” CEM patterns and the
latter
indicate
login sessionSection
was
the representation of the “coercion” entry. Each session will be post-reviewed by a research assistant to
verify correctness of the exhibited CEM patterns for the marked “normal” and “coercion” sessions.
6
EDUCATION
The goals of the proposed Education Plan are to 1) motivate K-12 students to pursue education in STEM
fields, 2) involve undergraduate and graduate students in interdisciplinary research, and 3) motivate undergraduate and graduate students to pursue careers in science and research. To achieve these goals, I
will pursue three initiatives: 1) create a strong outreach activity to K-12 students in San Marcos and adjacent districts, 2) expand the interdisciplinary research-oriented educational program that I have previously initiated for undergraduate and graduate students at TSU via modification of existing and the development of new courses and providing hands-on interdisciplinary research experiences in the HCI lab that
I have founded, and 3) provide mentoring and guidance to interest undergraduate students in scientific
careers and encourage more students from diverse backgrounds to pursue graduate study.
6.1
Outreach to K-12 students
The creation of a strong, sustained research environment requires motivating K-12 students to obtain a
university education and to participate in research during their college careers. One of the greatest challenges facing a computer science educator lies in the problem of generating excitement among incoming
students regarding computer science. Although students almost universally enjoy using computers, many
see computer science as a boring career involving hours of tedious programming, so it is important to
show them that computer science is an exciting field with the potential to profoundly change our lives.
According to a Huffington Post survey report, approximately 99% boys and 94% girls ages 12-17 play
computer games [143]. Therefore, games provide an excellent illustrative medium to convey information
to K-12 students [144]. In order to stimulate students’ interest in computer science, exciting innovations
made possible through computer science will be demonstrated using the concept of changing the interaction mode between a human and a computer. As part of the outreach plan, we will pilot immersive gaming
12
sessions, described in detail below, as an extra-curricular activity at schools associated with San Marcos
CISD with a goal of conducting the sessions in each school in the district (9 schools) once per semester.
Additional sessions will be conducted during “Career Investigations” tours organized by TSU.
Preliminary Results: We have successfully presented immersive gaming at “Career Investigations” tours
held by TSU during the last four semesters with schools from San Marcos CISD, Rio Grande Valley ISD,
Prairie Lea ISD, and La Joya ISD. Approximately 115 K-12 students have participated so far. The positive
feedback expressed by the kids was overwhelming, summarized by a quote from Keelin, a 10-year-old
girl: “I hope when I grow up that I can make video games which you can control with your eyes”.
Proposed Work: In this activity, K-12 students will experience several modes of interaction with an immersive game-like environment called Balura, created by graduate and undergraduate students of the
HCI lab. Balura presents the user with the task of harvesting resources in a complex dynamic environment. Resources are represented by a group of colored balloons that move across the screen at various
speeds, stop at random time intervals and get obscured by similar balloons of a different color. The goal
of a participant is to select all balloons of one color as soon as possible by 1) selecting targets via a
mouse, 2) selecting targets by eye dwelling on each (experiencing an eye fixation), 3) selecting a target
“instantaneously” using a novel ultra-fast method that allows prediction of intended target location by analyzing the onset of the eye movement trajectory leading to the target [145]. During the third mode of interaction, participants usually get the feeling that the computer guesses their actions before they are consciously performed, evoking a “wow” factor. In addition, participants get very involved, start asking questions about how such “stuff” works and express their ideas on how to make it work even better (this is
what happened during demo sessions). After each session, I will briefly explain the ideas behind the
technology, provide information in terms of what it is like to study toward a major in STEM and what benefits such a major will bring to their future careers. I will also develop a Facebook page with more information and invite students to participate in continued discussions related to this topic. Graduate and undergraduate students will help run this activity and answer K-12 students’ questions.
Assessment: The effectiveness of these extracurricular activities will be evaluated by tracking the number of students attending and by giving students short questionnaires that measure their interest in STEM
degrees and computer science in particular before and after the session. The amount of interest will also
be tracked via statistics provided by the Facebook page. In addition, feedback from the teachers will be
obtained stating if performance in science-related subjects increased after the event and if long-term interest of the students changed accordingly.
6.2
Enhancing quality of undergraduate and graduate education in the existing curriculum
Preliminary Results: Interdisciplinary thinking develops the abilities “to see new and different questions
and issues,” and “draw on multiple methods and the knowledge to address them” [146]. One of the educational goals of this project is to introduce interdisciplinary thinking and learning in an appropriate form in
each course taught. During my five years at TSU, I have been responsible for several courses: undergraduate Foundations of Computer Science II, graduate Introduction to Algorithm Design & Analysis, and
a course I personally developed - Human Computer Interaction (HCI), which enrolls graduate and senior
undergraduate students. The HCI class has been a tremendous success for the four years it has existed
and has brought together students from multiple departments under one roof.
The HCI course pursues the educational philosophy of balancing and interrelating theoretical and practical aspects of the interdisciplinary research. Since the introduction of the course two years ago, I have
piloted a mode of teaching where students are able to actively participate in the major interdisciplinary
projects in progress in the HCI lab. During the first three weeks of classes, I present the motivation for
each project, a brief introduction to the theory and methodology of the experiment, and a discussion of
the differences in understanding of a problem from multiple disciplines, e.g., results of the eye movement
classification interpreted from the points of view of a computer scientist and of a physical therapist. Students in class are encouraged to discuss with me individually their preferences in terms of the project selection and are given a short assignment related to the project. Each project contains a programming
component conducted using MATLAB. The programming component allows the students to apply the
knowledge obtained in class and to experiment with their solution to the problem. The goals of this interdisciplinary research teaching strategy are to 1) engage students in perspective-taking 2) introduce
knowledge and modes of thinking that come from other disciplines 3) provide an interdisciplinary understanding of a sophisticated phenomenon and 4) introduce various approaches to studying these phenom-
13
ena [146]. To assess interdisciplinary learning outcomes at the end of the class, students deliver an oral
presentation, submit the code for the project, and write a technical report detailing the project in which
they participated, what they learned and the results they were able to achieve. Overall, this teaching approach has proven to be extremely productive and resulted in a significant number of students (20-30% of
total class population) deciding to continue participation in the research by way of an undergraduate or
graduate “Individual Study” course under my supervision. As a part of the work in the HCI class and/or in
the subsequent “Individual Study” courses, seven students (two of them first authors) were able to publish
papers in journals [76, 147] and international conferences [77, 145, 148-151].
Proposed Work: Building on this success, I will introduce the same interdisciplinary concepts into the
Fundamentals of Computer Science II (FCS II) and the Algorithm Design & Analysis (ADA) courses. The
FCS II provides an overview of the introductory algorithmic concepts and teaches programming with the
C++ language. Conventionally, “Computer Science” is defined as a “study of algorithms” [152] with an
algorithm defined as a “step by step process that solves a problem with finite amount of resources” making the concept applicable to solving problems from any science. Students will be introduced to interdisciplinary thinking by working with brief code examples that are targeted to solve problems from other disciplines. The ADA course provides an opportunity to introduce interdisciplinary concepts on a deeper fundamental level. Specific algorithmic examples from other disciplines will be developed as a part of the
course curriculum, providing the means to solve complex scientific problems more efficiently. I will make
examples of the algorithms available for other educators’ benefit via my website.
Assessment: The impact of this interdisciplinary educational approach will be assessed as a part of the
final exam in each class. A problem from another discipline that requires some form of automation via an
algorithmic solution will be presented. Two aspects of the solution will be tested: a) the grasp of the potential complications to the user that might arise from the proposed solution, and b) logical soundness of
the solution. The developed methods of teaching and the assessment results will be submitted to the
ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education to benefit other educators.
6.3
Long-term Interdisciplinary Research Experiences for Students in the HCI Lab
Preliminary Results: I have established the Human Computer Interaction (HCI lab), which brings together researchers from the Departments of Computer Science, Engineering, Physical Therapy, Psychology, and Geography at TSU along with external collaborators. The HCI lab is unique on the TSU campus
with its goal of bringing together faculty and students from multiple departments to conduct and promote
interdisciplinary research and to build a strong, sustainable research program. A key element of the lab’s
activities is involvement of undergraduate and graduate students in interdisciplinary research including
minority/disadvantaged students. Resulting research is documented in 35 peer-reviewed journal and conference publications varying from IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering to ACM SIGHCI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) and 7 abstracts. Out of those 42 publications, 15
were co-authored with graduate, 11 with undergraduates, and 12 with minority/disadvantaged students.
Proposed Work: The funding for this project will support further educational activities associated with the
HCI lab. The goal of this initiative will be to involve students in interdisciplinary research over a number of
years giving them long-term exposure to the various projects conducted at the HCI Lab. This effort will
specifically emphasize working with undergraduate students. Initially, four to six students will be recruited
from the FCS II class, with a special emphasis on recruiting underrepresented students. The students in
this class are mostly sophomores, which provides an opportunity to work with them for at least three
years in a situation where, once they complete FCS II, they possess the basic skills necessary to conduct
research. Hence, there is an opportunity to work with students for a period of five semesters (or more if
they become interested in a Master’s degree). The students will be assigned to two teams with each team
experiencing a long-term research involvement approach. The members of the first team will be given
small, manageable problems that can be explored in the period of one semester. These students will participate in a different interdisciplinary project each semester; i.e., Semester I - usability of GUIs via eyegaze analysis (with Computer Science), Semester II – automated assessment of mild Traumatic Brain
Injuries (with Physical Therapy), Semester III – interaction tools for disabled persons (with Engineering),
Semester IV – automated assessment of attentional biases (with Psychology), Semester V – algorithms
for assessment of spatial thinking (with Geography). The second team will be involved in the ocular biometrics project for the period of all five semesters. The problems they will be exposed to will increase in
complexity as the research progresses. It is understood that some of the students will not remain on a
team for five consecutive semesters; therefore, new students will be recruited to fill vacant positions. The
14
five-year duration of the CAREER award will give an opportunity to go through and document results of
two full research involvement cycles for each proposed approach.
Assessment: To understand and compare the impact of these two approaches to interdisciplinary research, I will conduct a survey at the end of each semester to assess how likely students from groups 1
and 2 are to pursue a Ph.D. degree, and I will verify their answers by contacting them later in their careers. I also hypothesize that exposure to interdisciplinary research will help students develop better creativity skills; therefore, creativity-related testing will be performed as a part of the survey using Torrance
tests of creative thinking [153]. Findings will be submitted to the Journal of Engineering Education.
6.4
Advanced research opportunities for undergraduates from underrepresented groups
TSU, an HSI with 27% minority student enrollment, provides a unique environment for recruiting and
working with minority students. Approximately 55% of the student body are women.
Previous work: I derive great pleasure from work with minorities and take pride in their success. So far, I
have published 12 papers with 5 minority/disadvantaged students. One of the disadvantaged undergraduate students in my lab has just have received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to obtain his
masters degree under my supervision and to explore the possibility of performing eye movement-driven
biometrics on mobile devices. I also have 4 other minority students currently doing research with me. One
of my goals is to educate students on the importance of graduate education. So far those who graduated
from my lab entered Ph.D. programs at Texas A&M University in College Station, Northwestern University, Iowa State, etc. I would like to provide the best possible opportunities for minority students to continue
their graduate work. In Spring 2009, I was invited to MIT to establish ties with faculty to help provide opportunities for talented minorities to enter Ph.D. programs at MIT. As a result, MIT has pledged to seriously consider candidates recommended by me, as specified in the attached letter.
Proposed work: Underrepresented students will be recruited as a part of the proposed outreach program
and encouraged to pursue STEM education. Additionally, the recruitment will be conducted via several
associations found at TSU campus such as the Latino Student Association, African Student Association,
Mexican-American Engineers, Houston-Louis Stocks Alliance for Minority Participation (H-LSAMP),
Women in Science and Engineering, and the Sigma Chi Sigma society, a student organization in the CS
department. Recruited minority students will be exposed to the research work via classes that I teach with
extended research opportunities provided by the involvement in the HCI Lab research. Minority students
with high aptitude will be recommended to Ph.D. programs at leading US institutions including MIT.
Assessment: The success of the work with minority students will be assessed by the improvement of
their GPA, graduation rates, and subsequent enrollment in graduate schools.
7
BROADER IMPACTS AND DISSEMINATION
The findings of this project will contribute to our nation’s current and future plans for installing iris-based
biometric devices on its border and will be immediately applicable to the identification project in India that
affects the lives of 1.2 billion people. The multimodal ocular biometrics approach will aid active authentication systems where the identity of a person has to be monitored at all times to ensure continuous presence of the authorized individual. Statistical formal approaches developed for liveness detection will be
applicable to a wide variety of biometric systems where motion capture is possible, with formal findings
contributing to the development of the related NIST standard. Eye movement-based work will contribute
to future biometric systems that track not only the identity but also physical and emotional state of the user, possibly preventing access to the high security areas when a user is emotionally unstable, or under
the influence of drugs or alcohol, or duress.
The education component of this proposal will engage K-12 students in STEM activities through outreach
programs. Undergraduate and graduate students at TSU will have hands-on experiences in an array of
interdisciplinary research and learning activities, helping to develop the future STEM workforce. Talented
students, especially minorities, will be given an opportunity to advance their careers through participating
in research activities organized by leading research institutions.
Our dissemination plan targets conferences and journals such as International Conference on Biometrics,
Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Journal of Engineering Education and broader dissemination via a Facebook page. A large multimodal database that contains longitudinal data recordings for all ocular traits and the ocular biometrics code in MATLAB will be made publically available
via the PI’s web-site which already contains multiple open source applications and datasets [58].
15
Example Department Head Letter – up to 2 pages
17 June 20xx
National Science Foundation CAREER Program
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230
Dear Program Director:
On behalf of the Department of Civil Engineering at Big State University, I am very pleased to
support Dr. John Doe’s application for the National Science Foundation CAREER Award. Dr.
Doe has proposed a comprehensive and innovative research and education plan that will
contribute to the Department’s initiatives in integrating research and education into our
engineering programs.
Dr. Doe is working in an exciting research area at the boundary between various fields of science
and engineering. His research proposal on the “CAREER proposal title” draws from laboratory
methods, turbulence theory, and numerical analysis to produce results that can be used in the
context of the sciences, ocean engineering and other branches of civil engineering. It addresses
the basic understanding of [technical details and applications]. He is also a dedicated teacher
working on enlarging the curriculum in coastal and ocean engineering and enhancing
internationals cooperation with other institutions of higher learning.
The Department of Civil Engineering is fully committed to providing Dr. Doe with the support
he needs to further develop his academic career. In support of his development and success, as
part of his start-up package, the Department has provided xxxxx ft2 in laboratory space and
$xxxxx for the purchase of the laboratory equipment required for his proposed research. In
addition, the Department has reduced Dr. Doe’s teaching load for the first three years on tenure
track. This will allow Dr. Doe to focus his efforts during this important time. The Department
has also committed $xxxx per year ($xxxx maximum) in travel funding for Dr. Doe and his
students and up to $xxx per year for publication costs.
Most importantly, the Department will provide mentoring support for Dr. Doe. In addition to
ongoing relationships with senior faculty, Dr. Doe is participating in the department’s mentoring
plan. [Description of mentoring plan…]
I have read and I endorse this career-development plan. I attest that Dr. Doe’s careerdevelopment plan is supported by and integrated into the educational and research goals of the
Department and Texas A&M University. I personally commit the Department to the support and
professional development of Dr. Doe. I verify that Dr. Doe is eligible for the CAREER award: as
of the date of this letter, Dr. Doe holds a doctoral degree in Civil and Environmental
Engineering, is untenured, has not previously submitted a CAREER proposal, and is employed in
a tenure-track position at Texas A&M University.
Sincerely,
Dept. Head, etc.
Comment [LD1]: States how the proposed
project supports departmental priorities
Comment [LD2]: Clearly states the research and
education benefits of Dr. Doe’s research. Includes
details of the project that makes it clear the DH has
read the proposal.
Comment [L3]: Discusses tangible support for
the PI and project. The PI’s startup package can be
mentioned here as institutional support.(However, no
cost share is allowed.)
Comment [L4]: Mentoring is very important.
Comment [LD5]: This section is required (see
solicitation for exact wording).