Report from the Committee of Visitors on its Review of the Processes and Procedures used to Manage the Theory and Computations Program, Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee
A Committee of Visitors (COV) was formed to review the procedures used by the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences to manage its Theory and Computations program. The COV was pleased to conclude that the research portfolio supported by the OFES Theory and Computations Program was of very high quality. The Program supports research programs at universities, research industries, and national laboratories that are well regarded internationally and address questions of high relevance to the DOE. A major change in the management of the Theory and Computations program over the past few years has been the introduction of a system of comparative peer review to guide the OFES Theory Team in selecting proposals for funding. The COV was impressed with the success of OFES in its implementation of comparative peer review and with the quality of the reviewers chosen by the OFES Theory Team. The COV concluded that the competitive peer review process has improved steadily over the three years that it has been in effect and that it has improved both the fairness and accountability of the proposal review process. While the COV commends OFES in its implementation of comparative review, the COV offers the following recommendations in the hope that they will further improve the comparative peer review process: The OFES should improve the consistency of peer reviews. We recommend adoption of a “results-oriented” scoring system in their guidelines to referees (see Appendix II), a greater use of review panels, and a standard format for proposals; The OFES should further improve the procedures and documentation for proposal handling. We recommend that the “folders” documenting funding decisions contain all the input from all of the reviewers, that OFES document their rationale for funding decisions which are at variance with the recommendation of the peer reviewers, and that OFES provide a Summary Sheet within each folder; The OFES should better communicate the procedures used to determine funding levels. We recommend that the OFES communicate a clear and consistent policy on the level at which successful proposals are funded to both PI’s and reviewers and document their rationale for the funding level of successful proposals; The OFES should add additional criterion when evaluating large university and laboratory theory groups with multiple investigators. We recommend that larger theory groups include an additional review criterion including clear evidence of collaborative work and the extent to which the group addresses problems requiring a team effort and that the threshold (currently 6 FTE’s) for holding an on-site panel review of theory groups be reduced; The OFES should increase opportunities for new investigators (who have not previously received fusion theory and computations grants). We recommend that the OFES track the success rate for proposals by new investigators and that OFES consider ways that increase the success rate for proposals from new investigators; and, The OFES should encourage greater interaction between the theory and experimental programs. We recommend that experimentalists be invited to participate in the peer review process for theory grants and that reviewer evaluation criteria include efforts to validate theoretical models.
- Research Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Washington, DC (United States). Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
- OSTI ID:
- 1206492
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/SC-0085; TRN: US1500814
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Annual Report: Fuels (30 September 2012)
HILL: The High-Intensity Laser Laboratory Core Team's Reply to Questions from the NNSA Experimental Facilities Panel