Analyzing the Peer Review Process at NSF

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Interdisciplinary (99)In this project, student interns are developing a process for characterizing and evaluating the quality of individual reviews and for selecting appropriate reviewers for panels based on specific desired characteristics. A team of three undergraduate students from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) will work at the NSF full time during the fall semester in an internship program. Regular WPI faculty members, who are resident in Washington with the students, are guiding their work with consultation from NSF personnel who have access to data and other resources that the students need. Intellectual merit of the proposed project results because it will enable program officers to select appropriate reviewers more effectively thereby improving the peer review process at NSF. This, in turn, will lead to higher quality, more consistent reviews and thus to a more productive use of NSF funds and a greater potential that funded work results in real improvements in student learning. Broader impacts result because the project will help project officers to create more diverse panels. Also the research that improves teaching and learning ultimately benefits society by improving the state of STEM education. Finally, as young scientists and engineers, the students who participate in this project are affected directly in a way that broadens their educational horizons.