Slide title: "Transformational" Issues: Thinking Outside the Norm

Slide words: "The Foundation must support the most innovative and potentially transformative research – research that has the capacity to revolutionize existing fields, create new subfields, cause paradigm shifts, support discovery, and lead to radically new technologies."

Transformational research:
Is less predictable in its course and outcomes
May not fit comfortably within scope of project-focused, step-by-step research
May not fare well in a panel-based system if experts are invested in current paradigms
Investigators may be reluctant to submit radical or paradigm-shifting ideas, especially when there are scarce resources
Desirable to base funding decision as much on the creative potential of the researchers as on the merit of proposed idea

Slide image: A model of cells within the lateral geniculate nucleus (LCN)

Credit: Greg Hood, John Burkardt and Greg Foss of the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center

Slide background image: An illustration titled "The Synapse Revealed" showing a neuron preparing to transmit a signal to its target

Slide background credit: Graham Johnson, Graham Johnson Medical Media

Design by: Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation