A print-ready 15-page proposal workbook for R1 university PIs and faculty preparing federal grant applications.
Stop staring at the blank page. This workbook walks you through every section a competitive federal proposal needs, with prompts that pull the right content out of you, fillable tables, and structured forms — all delivered as a print-ready, branded PDF.
✦ FORMAT
This is a designed workbook, not a Word doc you have to format yourself. Open the PDF, fill it in on your screen with any PDF editor (Adobe Reader, Preview, GoodNotes, Notability), or print it for handwritten drafting. Every page has a Carver Aspen brand bar at the top and section number indicator. US Letter portrait, 11pt type.
✦ WHAT'S INSIDE — 15 PAGES
✓ Cover page + project info header (PI, sponsor, deadline, total requested + direct + F&A)
✓ 1. Executive / Technical Summary — with 6 drafting prompts + ruled draft space
✓ 2. Background & Significance — with prompts + draft space
✓ 3. Innovation — NIH-style framing
✓ 4. Specific Aims — three structured aim cards (hypothesis, approach, outcome, success metric)
✓ 5. Research Plan — task tables for each aim (lead, months, milestone, deliverable)
✓ 6. Approach & Methodology — with rigor/reproducibility prompts
✓ 7. Team / Collaborators — PI bio block + co-PI table + consultants + subawards
✓ 8. PI Background — scaffold + 3 most-relevant prior work citations
✓ 9. Budget Overview Table + Justification — multi-year table + 8 narrative subsections
✓ 10. Broader Impacts / Translation
✓ 11. Timeline / Gantt — pre-built 12-month grid you mark up
✓ 12. References Cited — 8 numbered slots, duplicate as needed
✓ 13. Required Supporting Documents checklist — 18 items
✓ 14. Pre-Submission Review checklist — 15 items + sign-off block
✦ PAIRS WITH
• R1 Faculty Research Budget Tracker (separate listing) — feeds dollar figures into Section 9
• R1 Project Tracker (separate listing) — your Section 5 task list becomes the post-award project tracker
• R1 Sponsor Reporting Template (separate listing) — for after the award lands
✦ WHO IT'S FOR
• Tenure-track faculty preparing your first NIH R01, NSF CAREER, or DOE Early Career proposal
• Research project managers supporting multi-PI teams
• Postdocs writing K99/R00, NIH F32, or NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship proposals
• Department chairs reviewing PI drafts before SPO submission
✦ FILES YOU'LL DOWNLOAD
• Print-ready PDF — open it, fill it in, or print it
• Editable HTML source — for buyers who want to customize the layout or rebrand for their lab
• Quick-start guide PDF — workflow tips, when to draft each section, sponsor-specific notes
• 30-day email support: questions about how to use it, free
✦ NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR
• Reading your sponsor's specific solicitation (always do this first)
• Your university's Sponsored Projects Office review
• Specific NIH/NSF/DOE forms (those come from the sponsor portals)
INSTANT DOWNLOAD — files arrive immediately after purchase.
Built by a Carver Aspen Consulting project manager who has supported R1 faculty through proposal cycles across sponsors.
A print-ready 15-page proposal workbook for R1 university PIs and faculty preparing federal grant applications.
Stop staring at the blank page. This workbook walks you through every section a competitive federal proposal needs, with prompts that pull the right content out of you, fillable tables, and structured forms — all delivered as a print-ready, branded PDF.
✦ FORMAT
This is a designed workbook, not a Word doc you have to format yourself. Open the PDF, fill it in on your screen with any PDF editor (Adobe Reader, Preview, GoodNotes, Notability), or print it for handwritten drafting. Every page has a Carver Aspen brand bar at the top and section number indicator. US Letter portrait, 11pt type.
✦ WHAT'S INSIDE — 15 PAGES
✓ Cover page + project info header (PI, sponsor, deadline, total requested + direct + F&A)
✓ 1. Executive / Technical Summary — with 6 drafting prompts + ruled draft space
✓ 2. Background & Significance — with prompts + draft space
✓ 3. Innovation — NIH-style framing
✓ 4. Specific Aims — three structured aim cards (hypothesis, approach, outcome, success metric)
✓ 5. Research Plan — task tables for each aim (lead, months, milestone, deliverable)
✓ 6. Approach & Methodology — with rigor/reproducibility prompts
✓ 7. Team / Collaborators — PI bio block + co-PI table + consultants + subawards
✓ 8. PI Background — scaffold + 3 most-relevant prior work citations
✓ 9. Budget Overview Table + Justification — multi-year table + 8 narrative subsections
✓ 10. Broader Impacts / Translation
✓ 11. Timeline / Gantt — pre-built 12-month grid you mark up
✓ 12. References Cited — 8 numbered slots, duplicate as needed
✓ 13. Required Supporting Documents checklist — 18 items
✓ 14. Pre-Submission Review checklist — 15 items + sign-off block
✦ PAIRS WITH
• R1 Faculty Research Budget Tracker (separate listing) — feeds dollar figures into Section 9
• R1 Project Tracker (separate listing) — your Section 5 task list becomes the post-award project tracker
• R1 Sponsor Reporting Template (separate listing) — for after the award lands
✦ WHO IT'S FOR
• Tenure-track faculty preparing your first NIH R01, NSF CAREER, or DOE Early Career proposal
• Research project managers supporting multi-PI teams
• Postdocs writing K99/R00, NIH F32, or NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship proposals
• Department chairs reviewing PI drafts before SPO submission
✦ FILES YOU'LL DOWNLOAD
• Print-ready PDF — open it, fill it in, or print it
• Editable HTML source — for buyers who want to customize the layout or rebrand for their lab
• Quick-start guide PDF — workflow tips, when to draft each section, sponsor-specific notes
• 30-day email support: questions about how to use it, free
✦ NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR
• Reading your sponsor's specific solicitation (always do this first)
• Your university's Sponsored Projects Office review
• Specific NIH/NSF/DOE forms (those come from the sponsor portals)
INSTANT DOWNLOAD — files arrive immediately after purchase.
Built by a Carver Aspen Consulting project manager who has supported R1 faculty through proposal cycles across sponsors.
