ABOUT THE COMPANY
Eddie Grant Consulting is an Austin-based company, founded in 2023, which specializes in providing professional, expert consultancy and guidance to biological, biotechnological and biomedical researchers, relating to the writing, preparation and submission of grant applications. Our rigorous process works together with the researchers to create the most competitive applications possible and maximize your chances for award.
Our expertise comes from Founder and President Ron Littman’s 20 years of experience in grant consultancy, in which he has submitted over 200 grant applications to US granting agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Defense (DoD), National Science Foundation (NSF), US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and others.
Services include primarily consultation and very hands-on guidance on how to best write a winning grant application. This includes identification of the most appropriate funding opportunities and agencies to which to apply, joint work on the application itself, including detailed templates and rigorous review and revision, with meticulous attention to detail, management of the process and logistics.
It should be stressed that Eddie Grant Consulting is not a grant writing service. We believe that no one understands the research better than the investigator, and that only the researcher can design the studies and articulate them at the level of scientific depth and accuracy expected by competitive funding agencies. Our role is to help you articulate that knowledge, address the issues that need to be addressed and translate your knowledge into a clear, well-structured, and compelling proposal. Once an initial draft of the main science sections has been developed using our templates, we work intensively to refine and strengthen it. Moreover, for many supporting sections of the application, we provide partial or complete drafting support, with the aim of reducing the overall burden on the investigator.
About the founder
Over approximately 20 years, Ron has specialized in providing expert guidance and assisting researchers in writing, assembling and submitting applications for primarily Federal grants in biological, biomedical and biotechnological research and development.
During his career, he submitted over 200 grant proposals, primarily to NIH, secondarily to DoD, and also to other funding institutes, including NSF, NIST, and others. He is very thorough in the guidance that he provides and the revisions that he makes, reviewing critically and editing relentlessly, until the application looks as good as it possibly can.
Employment History
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Ron founded Eddie Grant Consulting, Inc., in July of 2023. As sole proprietor, he performs all of the professional consultancy and business functions of the company. Services start with a Strategic Assessment, which includes a review the client’s research program(s) and the grants landscape to identify the most promising funding opportunities for which to apply. He then works with the client to put together the most competitive grant application. This is done through detailed guidance for the client on how to write the various sections, helping write those sections for which he has the information to do so (primarily the peripheral documents), and rigorous revision, review and rewriting, with very critical reading and meticulous attention to detail. Finally, he compiles all the documents together and submits the application when it is done.
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As Organizational Knowledge Officer, Ron was responsible for organizing and disseminating the collective knowledge and experience at FreeMind, to make it accessible to all the consultants. This included responsibility over a three-week training curriculum provided to all consultants upon initiation of their employment and additional educational programs throughout their first two years. He was further responsible for keeping up to date on NIH policies, learning any changes that NIH made to its policies and requirements, and disseminating them to all the consultants, as needed. Ron was the first person to occupy this position at FreeMind.
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As a Group Leader, Ron oversaw a group of up to 10 consultants at any given time, monitoring and following up on the work that they performed and giving them guidance to improve their skills as consultants. In this position, He was also involved in the interviewing and hiring of new consultants. Ron was the first person to occupy this position at FreeMind.
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For 17 years, including while he occupied the positions above, Ron advised researchers on writing and submitting grant applications for biomedical research to US Federal granting agencies, in order to enhance the quality of the application for maximal chances for funding. Consultation involved guiding the clients in writing the various components of the application, thorough editing and revision, identifying gaps and shortcomings in the planning and presentation of the research plan, compilation of the various forms into an application package, submission and follow up on the review process. Ron has thus submitted to date over 200 grant applications to institutions such as NIH, DoD (MRDC and CDMRP), NSF, NIST, DTRA and others.
education
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While at the Weizmann Institute, Ron did his Master's thesis, entitled "Mutual effect between import and export reactions in nucleocytoplasmic transport," (score: 91%) in the laboratory of Prof. Ziv Reich in the Department of Biological Chemistry. Specifically, he studied transport dynamics of fluorescently-labeled cargo into and out of the nucleus of cells through the nuclear pore complex (NPC). Following completion of his academic degree, in early 2004, Ron continued working in Prof. Reich's laboratory for another year as a research assistant, in order to solidify and confirm his findings.
It was during his time in Prof. Reich's laboratory that Ron further honed his science writing skills. Although he wrote quite well himself, Prof. Reich would make sure to pass drafts of every article or grant proposal that he submitted through Ron for review and revisions. Ron was further contracted by two students to review their doctoral theses before they submitted them.
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Graduated with high distinction. GPA: 3.8
During his time at UM, Ron participated in the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP), working as an undergraduate research assistant in the laboratory of Dr. Rory Marks. Likewise, he served as an undergraduate research assistant in the laboratory of Dr. Valery Castle, researching neuroblastoma in the second half of 1998.
It was at UM that Ron discovered his aptitude for science writing. It was in the science writing course that he took in his junior year that he received his highest grade: an A+.
