In this course students learn about writing a proposal, the importance of setting clearly defined research goals, expected outcomes, milestones, statements of work, establishing a proper budget, and how to sell their research to a variety of funding sources. In addition, students learn how to manage a grant or contract once it has been awarded to a home institution, how to work effectively with a sponsored research office, the importance of progress reports in the form of abstracts and refereed papers, and closing out a grant. Students also learn how to critical review proposals. This is a required course that all first year PhD students in geology must take and is equivalent to a laboratory course.