What the DOE looks for in a CSGF application

I talked to DM at DOE and here were his suggestions on how I should change my application

What does the process look like?

First step, a screening committee reduces the pool of applications by factor of two. Then applications are circulated.

When number of applications is reduced to 200 people, winners decided by a team gathered in a single room in NYC.

What is the CSGF, really?

A program to assist in the graduate training of computational scientists, namely scientists who can merge domain knowledge, computer science, and applied math. The CSGF was created in the 1990s, when the DOE had a very hard time finding scientists who had the training in all three domains.

When a CSGF grant is give, the DOE takes an active role in your development as a scientist. The CSGF is a contract, a community, and a recruiting tool. So, in your application you're selling how the CSGF will help you build as a scientist. What does the CSGF buy you? What does it change about your plans?

Some examples of what it might provide you: the national lab practicum! It's an incredible program that provides you contact with a variety of talented people who may have expertise which isn't represented in my home department. What does that get me? Similarly with the community of fellows. What does this get me!

What would you be able to answer with 100x computational power? This question is meant to assess your broad-picture understanding of what computational science can do. What is the power of scientific computing? How would access to world-class compute allocations change my plan? What questions could I answer that I couldn't before? This funding frees you up, but unlike the GRFP it wishes to direct you squarely into computational science.

Specifics: There's something interesting to be found there! You can't just say "I'll run it at 10x the resolution and decrease the error bar by a factor of 10". What new avenues can you pursue?

Attribution: one example of computational power opening new frontiers

In Field of Science + role of HPC: Bigger picture sentence Here's what wasn't possible before

Constraints of your advisor's funding: LESS OF AN ISSUE IN CSGF! YOU GET TO SHOOT FOR THE MOON. Be reasonable, but ambitious, and above all: a computational zealot.

Key: this is a proposal showing that I am capable of becoming, firstly and foremostly, a computational scientist. That I can find a novel direction to forge

Ideas: