National Science Foundation 4201 Wilson Boulevard Arlington, Virginia 22230 July 21, 2003 Dear Colleague: Providing timely support for your research and education activities is a priority for each of us in the Division of Materials Research. We especially regard the timely communication of your achievements to non-specialist audiences - those in other technical fields, teachers, students, industry, government, and the public - as an important shared responsibility. You may be aware that current legislation under consideration puts taxpayer-backed research results in the public domain. Making your results accessible to us and to the public enables us to explain to stakeholders why our investment in materials research is essential. We request your help in DMR to do this effectively. While your response is entirely voluntary, it will help us to illustrate the excitement and importance of the research and education NSF supports. You can help us in two ways: 1. Send us a "nugget"1. Attached to this letter is a suggested template (http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2003/nsf03052/nugget_template.ppt) for providing us with such a nugget, that is, a crisp summary with an interesting image highlighting your DMR funded work2. A nugget comprised of two viewgraphs - the first featuring NSF merit review criterion 1 (intellectual merit) and the second viewgraph featuring criterion 2 (broader impacts) - can make a compelling story. We plan to use these nuggets to illustrate the work that DMR supports. They might be used in talks and presentations or posted on our web page, for example. The text and graphics should capture the essence of the activity you wish to highlight. The graphics are particularly important and can include static or dynamic images, photographs, or animations. "Narrated nuggets", in which grantees and/or their co-workers provide narration accompanying their text and graphics (images or videos), are also acceptable. The text and graphics should be at the level of a press release, explaining briefly and in non-technical language what has been accomplished and why it is significant. We anticipate that the collections of nuggets will be made available to the public on the Division's website, in our Annual Report, and in CD or DVD format. By sending us a nugget you grant NSF the right to reproduce and disseminate your images for various possible uses. If you are planning to patent your work it is your responsibility to consult with the appropriate person at your institution to ensure that sending us the requested material does not jeopardize your intellectual property rights. 2. Let us know as much in advance as possible if you will be making a major presentation of your research at a meeting, or if a paper is to appear in a journal such as Science or Nature. If we think that your results are newsworthy, we can work with you, your public relations personnel, and our public relations staff (the NSF Office of Legislative and Public Affairs, OLPA) to bring additional attention to your work. To do this most effectively, send an email to your DMR program officer, to me at tweber@nsf.gov, or to OLPA at tellus@nsf.gov. We are aware that some journals have embargoes related to publicity on forthcoming articles, and we will work with all parties involved to ensure compliance with journal policies. Please send only information that DMR can share, put on a public NSF web site or distribute. If you have questions or comments regarding these two requests, please contact us. By working together, we hope to share the excitement of your achievements with opinion leaders and with the public. Thank you for your help. Sincerely, Thomas A. Weber Director, Division of Materials Research National Science Foundation tweber@nsf.gov 1 Please include your last name and NSF award number in the file name, and send the nugget by e-mail to your DMR Program Officer. 2 Examples of recent DMR nuggets can be accessed via the DMR web page at http://www.nsf.gov/mps/divisions/dmr/. The original (http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2003/nsf03052/9981815.ppt) for the attached template, provided by Per Rikvold and colleagues at Florida State University, is listed among the Materials Theory program nuggets.