Leslie Tolbert, a professor of neurobiology, gave the following description of the grant process:

Step One: An idea. But will anyone fund it? If the researcher finds a financial source, he or she writes a grant proposal.

Step Two: Writing the grant. It sounds simple, but it is not.

"You only get funded to do things that are novel and important, and that you have a track record of doing well," Tolbert said.

The proposal must be researched. Because research must advance the field, a researcher spends many hours in the library making sure this idea is fresh, Tolbert said. She said occasionally this phase will reveal other research already done or in progress o n this same question.

The proposal describes the research, the equipment needed, the employees and their qualifications, and how much money is needed, Tolbert said.

But it can get confusing.

Direct costs - such as salaries, microscopes, computers, and chemicals - are not the bottom line, said Michael Cusanovich, vice president of research and graduate studies.

The University of Arizona administration takes 51 percent of direct costs and holds them - to cover indirect costs.

Suppose it costs $1 million to research weather on Jupiter. The UA will keep just over $500,000 to cover the indirect costs of the work.

However, the UA did not create the system or choose that percentage. "The federal government sets the 51 percent," Cusanovich said.

Indirect costs can include utilities, buildings, security and hazardous waste disposal.

However, these indirect costs are a well-known part of research, and grants are written for the total amount needed € direct plus indirect costs - so the administration is only taking a third, not half, of the total grant, Cusanovich said.

"We work very hard to see that the dollars get returned to the people doing the research," Cusanovich said. "We (the administration) about break even."

Step Three: Send the proposal to the UA's Sponsored Projects Services. There, the grant proposal is checked against university and federal standards.

Step Four: "Wait and wait."

A federal grant spends up to nine months in review, Tolbert said. She said that if the grant is funded, another three months passes before the money is available.

"If you're not funded, you've been set back a year, and almost nobody's first grant gets funded," Tolbert said.

For the lucky few who are awarded grants, there is constant pressure, Tolbert said. She said grants expire every three to five years so the whole application process must begin again a year before the existing grant expires - there's no short form for renewals.

"If a grant ends without being renewed, everything grinds to a halt," Tolbert said. "Nobody steps in with bridge money."