When your research proposal involves AI, the review is different.
Independent counsel for principal investigators submitting federal scientific research proposals that use, develop, or apply artificial intelligence.
Built for PIs whose science now includes AI.
Federal agencies are funding a rapidly growing share of research that uses machine learning, foundation models, or other AI methods as part of a scientific agenda. If you are planning to submit a proposal in that space, the program-manager read is not the same as a generic methods review. Reviewers ask whether the AI is actually required for the science, whether the claims are feasible, and whether the work belongs in the program you chose.
That is the point of this service. It is not about how a consultant uses AI tools. It is about whether your AI-involved research proposal will hold up in front of the people who decide what gets funded.
ASCR sat at the intersection of computing, data, and scientific machine learning.
Dr. Spotz spent eight years as a program manager at DOE's Advanced Scientific Computing Research office, co-leading the applied mathematics program and managing almost $300M in research. That portfolio spanned high-performance computing, scientific machine learning, and data analysis, the same terrain where a large share of AI-for-science proposals now land.
He can read an AI-involved draft the way a federal program manager does: mission fit, technical feasibility, over-claiming, and whether the AI component is doing real scientific work or sitting on top of the narrative.
How the engagement works.
- Program-manager-perspective review of research proposals that involve AI methods or AI-for-science aims.
- Feedback on whether the AI component is necessary, feasible, and clearly tied to the scientific questions.
- Framing advice for DOE Office of Science, NSF, and related solicitations where AI is part of the research, not a side tool.
- Live debrief to work through the recommendations before you revise.
- Optional pre-submission read closer to the deadline.
Planning an AI-involved research proposal?
Reach out to Dr. Spotz to discuss the funding opportunity and how a program manager would read the AI component of your work.