[vtkusers] VTK Maintenance Grant to NIH: Request for Community Letters of Support

[Will Schroeder]

Dear VTK Community-

Last year we submitted a proposal to the NIH to support further development
and maintenance of VTK (see the excerpt below). We asked for letters of
support from the community, and many of you responded (thank you!). While
we were not funded, we received outstanding scores for a first submission
(just on the edge), especially considering that this is a R01-type
maintenance grant (
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-11-028.html) which are very
competitive.

We are now resubmitting, and again I'd like to ask you to send us a letter
of support. This can be as simple as an email, attached PDF, or even a
mailed document. The key is to express a combination of 1) importance of
VTK to the biomedical community, 2) enthusiasm for the proposed work,
and/or 3) reasons why the work will benefit patients and health care. If
you sent something last year there is no reason to resend (although you can
brush up the text if you are really excited :-)).

We are absolutely astonished at the impact that VTK has had on the
biomedical community (among many others). While you and I know that, it's
not always clear to the reviewers who make these funding decisions.
Communicating the importance of open source tools is best heard when it
comes from the community, so you can really help by just voicing your
support.

If you choose to send a support letter, please directly email me (
will.schroeder at kitware.com) and/or Katie Osterdahl (
katie.osterdahl at kitware.com) so we don't pollute this mailing list with too
much noise. BTW we'll need this letter by June 21.

Thanks again,
Will




---------------
Dear VTK Community-

Kitware is submitting a software maintenance grant to the NIH in early June
and we’d like you to send us a letter of support. This five year proposal
aims to make significant improvements to VTK including rendering
architecture enhancements (mobile and web platforms), large data additions
targeted at biomedical data, improved interaction capabilities, community
support (improving the software and contribution process, documentation),
and outreach to five leading medical research institutions (UNC, JHU, UH,
Stanford, Brigham).

We are very excited about the proposal since it will make a very positive
impact on VTK and its associated community, as well as the many affiliated
applications that use VTK. However, we can really use your help. Part of
the strategy of our proposal is to demonstrate to the reviewers that VTK
plays a critical part in medical innovation. Along this line we are
including many “formal” letters of support from leaders in biomedical
research, however, and probably more importantly, we want to hear from the
developers and users of VTK.

If you’d like to help, we have included a brief example letter which you
can use verbatim, or modify as necessary to fit your circumstances. Place
this text on your letterhead, sign it, and then send it (a scanned pdf is
fine) directly to me by June 1. The letter in no way obligates you or your
employer, it simply states “VTK is great and important to my work.” Also,
don’t worry if you are not doing biomedical research, we want to hear from
everybody. Note that this information (i.e., the names of endorsers) is
considered private, only the writers of the VTK proposal and the NIH review
team will see this information.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me
directly. Thanks and we hope to hear from you (by June 1).

Sincerely,
Will Schroeder

-- 
William J. Schroeder, PhD
Kitware, Inc.
28 Corporate Drive
Clifton Park, NY 12065
will.schroeder at kitware.com
http://www.kitware.com
(518) 881-4902
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