ACCESS TO NHMFL RESOURCES

Introduction: There are several ways to do research using the facilities of the NHMFL; all are described below.

The "Users' Resources" of the NHMFL are for those who want to work independently using the general purpose DC and pulsed magnets and their associated instrumentation, certain of the NMR instruments, or the Ultra High B/T Laboratory. Visits are scheduled for an appropriate length of time (usually about a week), NHMFL staff help the user get started, and then the user works independently with occasional assistance if needed.

Access to laboratories and instruments funded primarily by grants other than the NSF cooperative agreement with the NHMFL depends on the terms of the other grants and usually involves collaboration with the principal investigator to whom the grant was given. Potential users should contact the principal investigator they wish to work with or see the Users page of the NHMFL WWWeb site.

The NHMFL Science Program funds and supervises longer term research involving NHMFL scientists and outside collaborators. The criteria to be met by such research are described below.

The Visiting Scientist program funds sabbaticals, summer research, and other visits of a month or more by users of the Users' Resources.

Users' Resources.

User access to NSF-funded NHMFL facilities is controlled by a two-step proposal and review process that is administered by the Director of Continuous Field Facilities and the Director of the Pulsed Field Facility.

To provide rapid response to new science opportunities, only a brief initial proposal is required. It is reviewed by NHMFL staff and approved or denied by the Director of NHMFL. Then, every quarter, a summary listing of all user programs is compiled and ranked in order of magnet use. Users who are likely to consume a significant portion of resources (about 2%) within the year ending during the next quarter are then required to submit a more detailed proposal based on their present and future work in high fields. Users in this category are the largest users that collectively account for at least 80% of the annual total facility use. In addition, all users of the 45 T hybrid magnet will be required to submit such a proposal for peer review. Each accepted proposal is in force for three years. The final decision for use of the High Field Facility rests with the Director of the NHMFL.

A detailed proposal is reviewed by one member of the Users' Committee, one outside reviewer (not NHMFL or Users' Committee), and one member of the NHMFL Science Program Committee. Each reviewer gives the proposal a score on a "0-to-10" scale. The total of the review score determines the priority and amount of magnet time given to the proposed experiments. The Principal Investigators can indicate specific scientists who should not review the proposal if a conflict of interest exists. The NHMFL and its reviewers treat proposals as confidential documents and respect the intellectual property rights of the authors.

The detailed proposal process is waived for any research program that is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, or any other public or private agency that follows a peer-review process acceptable to the NHMFL. This waiver assumes that the research proposed is fully described in the grant proposal or award and that funds were included to support the high magnetic field research activity.

Most of the NMR Spectrometers, Electron Magnetic Resonance Facilities, FT-ICR Mass Spectrometer Facilities, Isotope Geochemistry Facilities, and the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Facilities are supported by other grants; access to the resources is governed by the terms of the grants or the Principal Investigators. Many of these facilities are available through collaborative programs.

Science Program Resources:

Criteria and Procedures: The NHMFL has established criteria and procedures for evaluating proposals for research to be included in and funded by the NHMFL Science Program. These procedures will guarantee that a fair and equitable selection of the most meritorious research projects occurs. They have been established with a sensitivity to the additional requirements set forth in the NSF Cooperative Agreement and in the knowledge that the external users provide a broad expertise base and points of view outside the NHMFL that should be included. All proposals requesting support from the Science Program are to be submitted to the NHMFL Director of the Science Program, who also serves as Chair of the Science Program Committee. The Science Program Committee will recommend for funding those proposals that pass the peer review process and will monitor their performance annually.

The following criteria will be used in the evaluation of all proposals:

The same criteria applied by the NSF in reviewing proposals are included in the NHMFL's review criteria. They include:
1. research performance competence
2. intrinsic merit of the research
3. utility or relevance of the research, and
4. effect of the research on the infrastructure of science and engineering.
The proposal must fulfill the explicit requirements of the NSF Cooperative Agreement "(1) that it is of the highest intellectual quality, and (2) that this research requires NHMFL facilities and will lead to the improvement of these facilities."
Proposals that involve multi-institutional activities and external users as well as NHMFL researchers will be given high consideration. Support for external users may include travel, summer or sabbatical stipends for time spent at a NHMFL facility, specialized equipment, and support for students and postdocs who spend a majority of their research time at an NHMFL facility.
Proposals submitted by young researchers, i.e., researchers within 7 years of the most advanced degree, will be given a high funding priority.
The evaluation will be based on a combination of internal and external peer review. The NHMFL Science Program Committee will screen all proposals and pre-review them to be sure that they meet the basic requirements set forth by the NHMFL. The NHMFL Science Program Committee, appropriately augmented with a few additional members if necessary, will evaluate and rank reviewed proposals, with all proposals required to have at least two external reviews and one internal review. The Science Program Committee will submit a ranked list of proposals to the Director of the NHMFL who will make the final decision on funding in consultation with the NHMFL Executive Committee.

NHMFL Visiting Scientist Program.

Funds are provided annually by the State of Florida for a Visiting Scientist Program in support of the laboratory research programs. Each year the Executive Committee will recommend allocation of limited visitors funds to specific departments with the balance of the funding remaining in the Director's office. Departments will then be free to select visitors within the limits of their funding. Additional proposals for visiting faculty can be submitted to the Director. These proposals will be reviewed by the Executive Committee and recommendations made to the Director.

More Information can be obtained from one of the contact persons.

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Curator: Scott Hannahs <sth@magnet.fsu.edu>
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