Division of Sponsored Programs/ Graduate College
University of Iowa
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Creating a PIVOT Account
If you already have a Community of Science Account: You can use your username and password from your COS account to login to PIVOT.
If you do not have a Community of Science Account: Follow the instructions below. You will need to create a PIVOT account prior to saving funding search results.
1. Go to http://pivot.cos.com/ and click on ‘Sign up’ in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
2. Enter your name, university e-mail, and create a password in the blanks provided for you on the next screen. It is important that you use your university e-mail because this is how the PIVOT database recognizes you as an authorized user. Click on ‘Create my account’.
3. You will then see a confirmation screen. Access your university e-mail account and locate the e-mail sent to you from PIVOT. Click on the link in the e-mail to activate your account.
4. Now you can login to PIVOT! Your username will be your university e-mail address. Your password will be the password you created.
Conducting a Funding Search on PIVOT
1. On the Funding Page [second tab at top of screen], select ‘Advanced search’ in blue font. ‘Advanced search’ is directly underneath the ‘Search by text’ box.
2. ** For your first searches, we recommend that you skip over the ‘All Fields’ boxes. When you gain experience with choosing keywords and discover terms that speak to your funding needs but are not including within the database, you may want to type these into the ‘All Fields’ boxes.
3. Select ‘More search attributes’ in blue font and focus on the criteria listed below:
Activity Location: Click on this if you have to travel to another location for your work. You can type in a location or click on ‘more locations’ [in blue font] to access folders with location terms. Open the folders by clicking on the ‘+’ sign. When you find a suitable location, click on the word(s). The word(s) will now appear in the Activity Location area.
Make sure that all four boxes [Unrestricted, Unspecified, Sub-entities, and Super-entities] are checked to obtain a maximum number of search results.
Citizenship or Residency: Click on the applicable country. For multiple countries, hold down the control key when you make your selections.
Make sure that the Unrestricted and Unspecified boxes are checked to obtain search results that include opportunities with no residency/citizenship requirements.
Funding Type: Select all the activities/purpose for which you need funding. Hold down the control key for multiple selections.
Requirements: Select all descriptors that are correct for you at this point in your career (or will be within a year) by clicking on the appropriate term. For more than one choice, hold down the control key.
Keywords: Click on ‘browse’ to access the keyword folders. To open folders and see keyword options, click on the ‘+’ sign beside a folder. To add a word or phrase to your search terms, click on the word itself.
Only select ‘Explode’ if you want to use all of the terms in a folder as search terms.
4. When you have filled in the search details you desire, go to the bottom of the screen and select ‘Search.’
5. For more detail on a specific funding opportunity, click on the underlined title to pull up the full funding record.
Saving Funding Searches
Once you have obtained results from your funding search it is an easy process to save this search.
1. On the search results page, select ‘Save your query’ in blue font.
2. Choose a name for your search and type it into the space provided. You can also select to receive a weekly e-mail that will keep you updated on your search results.
3. Click on ‘Save’ in the orange button. Your search is now saved.
4. If there are opportunities within your search list that you would like to pay special attention to, you can place an opportunity or multiple opportunities on a ‘tracked list’ or an ‘active list’. A ‘track list’ is intended for opportunities that are not critical for the immediate future, but you would like to keep your eye on. An ‘active list’ is for opportunities that have high priority.
— To place opportunities on either a tracked list or active list, check the box beside the opportunity you would like to place on a list.
— Go to the ‘Tools’ box on the search results page, select ‘Put op on’ and choose either ‘on tracked list’ or ‘on active list’.
— A box will appear asking you to name the list you are creating. Type in a name for your list and select ‘Submit’.
— If you go to your Home page, you will see a listing of your tracked and active lists.
