Presents the principles of writing a proposal based on the NIH R01 grant proposal template used by the department. Participants develop their own proposal in collaboration with their faculty advisor or the immediate project supervisor designated by their faculty advisor (the project principle investigator). Offers students an opportunity to meet with their own project principle investigators to develop content and map out the project aims and experimental design and to produce a revised draft of their thesis proposal. Each student must have initiated MS or PhD thesis research and have some preliminary data; PhD students must have passed their qualifying exam; MS students must petition the graduate committee in writing for permission to enroll.