Enhancing scientific discovery and problem-solving through integrated research.

Proposals are evaluated for scientific merit, novel approaches, and rationale for conducting investigative activities at the Powell Center. The Powell Center’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) reviews proposals and makes recommendations to the Directors who make the final decisions about which proposals to support.

SAB members are provided proposals under consideration and may indicate those they prefer to review. Review assignments are accommodated as much as possible and designated according to reviewers' preferences. Reviewers recuse themselves from proposal review if conflict of interest is perceived, according to the terms of the Powell Center Code of Ethics.

A context statement and reviews written by Board members (excluding reviewers' scores) are returned to principal investigators. Reviews are not paired with SAB member identities to promote objectivity and candor of the reviews. Reviews may not reflect SAB meeting discussions, which focus less on specific content than the nature, scope, and innovation of the proposed project.

Proposals that are clearly inappropriate for the Powell Center (e.g., those requesting overhead, funds to be spent at the investigator's home institution, new data collection, exploratory workshops, etc.) will be returned without review.

Proposals recommended for joint USGS/NSF funding must be resubmitted to and approved by the appropriate NSF Program to satisfy NSF funding guidelines (after discussions with the relevant NSF Program Director). These proposals will be subject to the normal eligibility requirements for NSF proposals, but do not require additional peer review.