2024: Taking stock; and looking forward to 2025!
Previous posts have reported on various failures to get grants. Several people on Twitter and elsewhere told me that they were all stepping stones to success. Of course, we've all heard that, but it is quite difficult to believe it when you face rejections. I'm glad to report that we have finally begun to taste success. The DBT-India Alliance Intermediate Fellowship that was the most heartbreaking rejection for me despite a positive final round experience has now come back to help me, just as people predicted back then. I was able to repurpose some of the ideas in it, and together with colleagues from the department, we submitted a departmental grant application last year on a cohesive theme (which was missing from our previous attempt that was unsuccessful). The panel seemed quite happy with our presentation that was spearheaded by the dept chair. We just got news that we were successful! With DBT-IA, one of my primary goals, in addition to supporting PhD students, was to get...