Through the Innovation Fund (IF), APS is strategically investing in emerging opportunities and innovative ideas. The Fund was identified in the APS Strategic Plan as part of our commitment to serve and strengthen the physics community. It is important to have guidance from our members/leaders when selecting these awards to ensure broad scope and diverse perspectives are represented. To accomplish this, APS Committees and Units are asked to review and provide feedback on which projects to advance to the full proposal stage.
The lead-reviewer for each APS Unit or Committee will be notified on March 13 when access is available to their assigned pre-proposals. Each pre-proposal will receive a single rating and written feedback (see evaluation criteria below). Unit or Committee leadership are free to determine their own process for review; however, we recommend the following practices:
If a member of the review subcommittee has participated in drafting a proposal or has a perceived conflict of interest with any proposal, they should recuse themselves from participating in the review and recommendations for that submission.
To view applications:
To enter reviews:
Assign each pre-proposal a rating based on the NSF-style rubric below, recognizing that the Steering Committee will primarily consider proposals rated Good or higher to be advanced to the full proposal stage. We anticipate requesting 10-20% of the pre-proposals to submit full proposals.
In addition, please write a short (<200 words) description of how the pre-proposal addresses the following criteria:
Note: Ratings and reviews will be sent verbatim to successful applicants following decisions of the IF Steering Committee to provide feedback to make stronger full proposals.
Questions?
If a member of a Unit or Committee has questions or needs additional guidance on the review process, contact IF Program Coordinator, Tessa Lewis, at if@aps.org. The IF inbox is monitored regularly from 9 AM - 5 PM ET, Monday - Friday and most issues are addressed within one business day.