<p>I am a grad student applying for fellowships (NSF now). I have had lots of comments about my lack of pubs on prior fellowship applications (e.g. "are you getting anything out of all this prior work").</p>
<p>I recently was acknowledged in a pub for making all of the constructs my prior undergraduate lab tested in the paper. I was not an author. Would you list this anywhere on an app? If so, where? It is not a publication, but it would show my work can be used in a publication.</p>
<p>It is not useful. People can get acknowledged just for handing the authors of a paper a stock vial of some special cell line.</p>
<p>The best way to integrate this acknowledgment in your application is to mention in your statement of purpose that “my work in developing these constructs has been of immense utility to other researchers also aiming to [yada yada yada].”</p>
<p>As an adcom member, I advise that you do NOT mention this. Let the author of the paper (who is hopefully writing a letter for you) talk about how helpful you were.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! That was pretty much what I thought. The pub in question was from a lab that I have not kept up with from undergrad, so I will not have a letter from them.</p>
<p>On the topic of recommendations, I have a single pub that will be listed on my NSF fellowship application, and it is a middle author pub from one of my rotation labs. Is it bad to not have this PI write a letter for my fellowship applications (they are not my mentor)? I have three letters I definately need to include (grad mentor, lab tech mentor, and undergrad mentor that can talk a lot about broader impacts). I can add one other letter from a faculty member at my grad school. Does this letter need to be from the PI I have the pub with or can I use someone else? I think that a bigger named PI from one of my other rotation labs can write me a stronger letter, so I was hoping to go with them instead. </p>
<p>So what is your opinion: If you have a pub with a PI do you also need a letter from that PI?</p>
<p>Statements of purpose are not invitations to be arrogant, but there is no reason you shouldn’t be ambitious. You should emphasize your accomplishments and the results of your research, including how what you did helped other people – if your letter writers corroborate your statement in their entries, then all the better. Even if THEY overlook it (or if the corresponding PI will not be writing a letter on your behalf), YOUR application is a legitimate place to be sharing unstretched truths about any positive consequences resulting from your work.</p>
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It might be expected, but it’s certainly not required. (A friend who was awarded NSF did not have a LOR from the PI of her one publication.)</p>