Dear Colleagues,
I am writing to inquire about your availability to review proposals submitted to the National Science Foundation's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Dear Colleagues,
I am writing to inquire about your availability to review proposals submitted to the National Science Foundation's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program in response to solicitation NSF 17-527. I must note that this is merely an informal inquiry into your availability to attend a face-to-face S-STEM review panel at the NSF headquarters in Alexandria, VA. There are four available panel meeting dates:
* Session 1: Thu May 3-Fri May 4
* Session 2: Mon May 7-Tue May 8
* Session 3: Thu May 10-Fri May 11
* Session 4: Mon June 4-Tue June 5
This is an "informal inquiry" only because we comprise panels by combining and balancing various factors, (such as geographical, institutional, and demographic diversity, STEM disciplinary expertise, business/industry contacts and administrative expertise) so being added to the potential reviewer pool is not a guarantee of later receiving an official invitation to review proposals. However, if you don't provide us with the requested information then we cannot formally invite you to review. The formal, automated invitation will have much more detailed information (such as travel and reimbursement logistics) and include information providing access to the actual proposals you will be tasked with reviewing. That information will be forthcoming once the FY18 S-STEM proposals have been received on March 28, 2018.
All proposals submitted to the NSF are reviewed using the criteria of intellectual merit and broader impacts. Confidential, substantive reviews by qualified individuals are an integral part of the merit review process for proposals submitted to the National Science Foundation. Participation in this process is an important form of service to the STEM education community.
You will be expected to carefully read, write reviews and provide ratings for no more than 10-12 proposals before arriving at NSF Headquarters in Alexandria, VA for one of the in-person panel sessions. The days in each panel session will be used to discuss the proposals with your fellow panel members and to write and approve panel summaries that describe what was discussed in the panel. Digital access to the proposals will be granted to you approximately 3-4 weeks prior to your arrival in the DC area. You will need to arrive at 8:00am on the first day of each session with your ratings and reviews submitted at least 2 days before the panel session begins.
Please let us know if you think that you may have a conflict of interest (COI) with any proposals submitted to the March 2018 S-STEM competition. There is more information about COIs in the following survey which we are using to compile contact information for potential S-STEM reviewers.
Please fill out the information at the SurveyMonkey link found below as soon as possible. Survey replies received by April 2 are more likely to be fully considered for all of the available sessions, although responses will continue to be tallied until April 11.
The link is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/sstem2018
Thanks in advance for your prompt response to this inquiry of your availability to review S-STEM proposals this year! We appreciate your willingness to serve the STEM education community in this capacity.
Best regards,
Thomas D. Kim
Program Director
Division of Undergraduate Education
Directorate for Education and Human Resources
National Science Foundation
tkim@nsf.gov
703.292.7855 [office]