Our Challenge Area Coordinators have read your preproposals, and the domain science stories you are telling are compelling — the outcomes you describe have the potential to significantly transform society.
However, across submissions, there is an opportunity strengthen rigorous, end-to-end AI narratives that demonstrate AI advantage, not merely AI usage. Videos produced by the ModCon Seed teams offer strong examples of how to demonstrate and narrate the AI advantage. Proposals that stand out will clearly convey both the scientific opportunity and the practical path to impact.
As you prepare for Thursday’s AI Clinic, and your final submission, consider how your proposal addresses the following:
- What is the measurable advantage? Identify what will improve and how you will measure it — whether that’s prediction accuracy, discovery speed, experimental throughput, uncertainty reduction, or cost.
- Is this the most compelling workflow? Clearly describe the scientific or engineering challenge and how AI will meaningfully accelerate or transform it. Help reviewers understand why AI is the right, necessary approach.
- Is the AI approach contemporary and well-matched to the problem? Be specific about the methods you plan to use (e.g., foundation models, multimodal approaches, agentic workflows) and why they are appropriate. Clear justification helps reviewers assess both rigor and relevance.
- What does the full pipeline look like? Outline the end-to-end approach, including data curation, model development, inference, and how the outputs translate into a usable capability. Proposals are strongest when they demonstrate impact beyond a standalone model.
- How does your proposal leverage and contribute to the Genesis Platform?Consider how you will use core resources (e.g., AmSc, ModCon) and how your outputs (e.g., datasets, models, workflows, or software components) could be shared or extended to benefit the broader community.
- Do you have the right team? Highlight how your team brings together AI expertise, domain knowledge, data stewardship, and validation. Well-integrated teams strengthen both execution and impact.
Framing your proposal with these elements will help DOE reviewers quickly understand its significance, feasibility, and broader value.
We are starting from a position of strength. You’ve put forward compelling ideas, and now is the opportunity to translate them into proposals that command attention and position Argonne to lead in the scale and impact of what we secure.