Never fear, Orange Ina. The answer is easy if you take it logically. There are several ways to go about this, maybe not 50, but that's a possibility.
Here's what you do:
1. thank your benefactor
2. find out whether our benefactor will let you change the way you spend your money. If you don't want to find out, answer this question, NO.
If yes, re-allocate the funds in a less-complicated manner, especially on big ticket items, not on hiring people to do things. In some settings, the answer can be to purchase things, rather than hiring someone to make them.
If no, return the money with deepest regrets and keep the vitae line. It will still earn you more grants.
3. Try very hard to complete that project, or something resembling it, so your vitae will have the proper flow and for a super-bonus, write to your benefactor at that time with an update and additional thanks. If you are *extremely* diplomatic with your wording, you can even explain your situation more fully to your contact person there, BUT NOT IN WRITING OR EMAIL, and ONLY after you've completed the project they wanted to fund. This should secure your place of esteem in thier minds.
Not knowing how big the grant is, or whether you have a co-PI, I have to warn you that this might be bad advice, but having had a bad experience or two, myself, I can also say that you don't want the headache to get you down. If you are an associate professor in a big science department, maybe you should keep the grant and learn the ropes. If you are a graduate student on your way out the door of your current institution, I would think think it doesn't make sense to start baking cookies for the grants administrator just so s/he won't lose your receipts and timecards. (or whatever).
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Posted by Anonymous to academicsecret at 8/17/2006 05:48:58 PM
