January 27, 2011

National Science Board Seeks Feedback on NSF’s Merit Review Criteria

The National Science Board has convened a task force to undertake a thorough review of the National Science Foundation’s two merit review criteria (Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts).

As stated in a January 21 “Dear Colleague” letter from NSB Chairman Ray Bowen, the NSF Task Force on Merit Review is now gathering input from a wide variety of stakeholder groups and is requesting comments by March 15, 2011. The Task Force will be developing its report and recommendations during 2011.

According to Bowen’s letter, the Task Force “has been charged to consider all options when developing their final recommendations, from keeping the criteria just as they are to completely rewriting them, or anything in between.”