New Commission to Assess NSF Grant Review Criteria

The National Science Board voted unanimously last week to form a commission that will assess the intellectual merit and broader impacts criteria the National Science Foundation uses when reviewing grant applications and will report back by May 2024 with any recommended changes.

The commission is charged with evaluating the effectiveness of the current review process in “supporting NSF’s mission to create new knowledge, fully empower diverse talent to participate in STEM, and benefit society by translating knowledge into solutions.”

Board member Stephen Willard explained last year the commission is motivated by the facts that it has been about 12 years since the NSF last formally assessed the criteria, there are “continuing discrepancies” in how the criteria are applied by applicants and reviewers, there are “internal and external reports of racial disparities in merit review,” and NSF can now “call on professional expertise regarding broader impacts that did not exist before.”

NSB Chair Dan Reed also stressed that the CHIPS and Science Act has set higher expectations for NSF to shepherd research into practical application, namely through the new Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships.

The commission will consist of Willard and fellow board members Roger Beachy, Steven Leath, Julia Phillips, Scott Stanley, Keivan Stassun, Wanda Ward, and NSF staff members to be announced later.