To what extent do the proposed activities suggest and explore creative, original, or potentially transformative concepts? Is the plan for carrying out the proposed activities well-reasoned, well-organized, and based on a sound rationale?

Your proposed plan of research is an essay that in a clear, concise, and original statement, presents a complete plan for a research project that you may pursue while on fellowship tenure. You should include how you became interested in the topic. Your statement should demonstrate your understanding of research design and methodology and explain the relationship to your previous research, if any. You must provide specific details in this essay that address both the NSF Merit Review Criteria of Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts in order for your application to be competitive. Please refer to the Program Announcement for further information on the NSF Merit Review Criteria. Format: Include the title, key words, hypothesis, research plan (strategy, methodology, and controls), anticipated results or findings, literature citations, and a statement attesting to the originality of the research proposal. Applicants must follow the instructions in the user guide and application module for completing each section of the application. The essays must be written using standard 8.5″ x 11″ page size, 12-point, Times New Roman font, 1″ margins on all sides, and must be single spaced or greater. Only references and footnotes may be a smaller font, no less than 10-point Times New Roman. The Proposed Plan of Research has a maximum length of two pages, including all references, citations, charts, figures, and images. Even one line over this limit and the application will be summarily rejected.

Proposed plans of research are evaluated on two NSF-defined criteria: Intellectual Merit: The Intellectual Merit criterion encompasses the potential to advance knowledge; and Broader Impacts: The Broader Impacts criterion encompasses the potential to benefit society and contribute to the achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes. The following elements should be considered in the review for both criteria: What is the potential for the proposed activity to: Advance knowledge and understanding within its own field or across different fields (Intellectual Merit); and Benefit society or advance desired societal outcomes (Broader Impacts)? To what extent do the proposed activities suggest and explore creative, original, or potentially transformative concepts? Is the plan for carrying out the proposed activities well-reasoned, well-organized, and based on a sound rationale? Does the plan incorporate a mechanism to assess success? How well qualified is the individual, team, or organization to conduct the proposed activities? Are there adequate resources available to the PI (either at the home organization or through collaborations) to carry out the proposed activities? Broader impacts may be accomplished through the research itself, through the activities that are directly related to specific research projects, or through activities that are supported by, but are complementary to, the project. NSF values the advancement of scientific knowledge and activities that contribute to achievement of societally relevant outcomes. Such outcomes include, but are not limited to: full participation of women, persons with disabilities, and underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); improved STEM education and educator development at any level; increased public scientific literacy and public engagement with science and technology; improved well-being of individuals in society; development of a diverse, globally competitive STEM workforce; increased partnerships between academia, industry, and others; improved national security; increased economic competitiveness of the US; and enhanced infrastructure for research and education. for this proposed plan have the topic be on physcial activity and cognitive development and make sure that it is novel and original, fills gaps within present day literature, can advance knowledge within the field, and have a large impact for benefiting society in some way. there are two example essays of what is expected attached and the end product should resemble those examples.