Dean Jones says:

"Well, what do you need?  And why do you need it?"

Your response:

Dr. Jones, I'd like to set before you an exciting vision:  As you know from the letter my advisor wrote, which he showed me before sending it to you, I am doing groundbreaking research using "Internet Scraping" techniques.  Internet scraping is where a scientist gathers and analyzes what others write on social media (for example, customer product reviews or applicant resumes on job boards).   Previously, businesses had to pay specialized firms to access such "Big Data" and it was limited to commercial purposes.  It was also quite costly. 

However, with these new techniques, I can create and analyze such huge data sets too, not necessarily for commercial purposes, but for scientific and humanitarian purposes.  Of course, some commercial products are likely to emerge, including several large databases, which we can sell to companies.  If any commercial products emerged as a byproduct of such ventures, it could potentially earn lucrative royalties.  Doesn't that sound exciting?

In order to pursue this research, we'll need a specialized computer with software to create and analyze the data.  We will also need to set up a laboratory where I can verify findings from "Internet Scraping" with controlled behavioral lab experiments.  Therefore,

 

1.  I'd like to be able to travel to more conferences.  Keeping up with other people's research is highly important for my own...

2.  I'd like to increase the budget for software (for analyzing data).  I plan to use some sophisticated data analysis software that is rather expensive.

3.  I'd like more money for lab equipment.  I plan to conduct a lot of research experiments in the lab and I'll need several pieces of expensive equipment.