guidance and direction to the project. There is usually an overall chair- 

 man or co-chairman, a scientific coordinator, executive officer, or project 

 manager, and sometimes a small administrati\-e staflf. New proposals for 

 incorporation into the project are considered by the scientific council 

 before being forwarded to the IDOE Office, thus ensuring that all pro- 

 posals are indeed integrated into the overall plan. 



This apparatus takes somewhat different form in different projects, 

 and works more effectively in some than in others. When difficulties arise, 

 the IDOE Office may as'sist in establishijig a special advisory group to 

 recommend solutions. Project accomplishments are reviewed every one 

 or two years. There is no guarantee that the project \vill be funded for 

 its full four to ten year anticipated lifetime, although there is obviously 

 a serious commitment on the part of the scientists and the Foundation 

 to keep the project going as long as the work being carried out continues 

 to be sound and promising. 



In addition to the work of the Proposal Review Panel, the IDOE 

 program as a whole receives periodic overview from NSF's IDOE 

 Advisory Panel and from the National Academy of Sciences and National 

 Academy of Engineering, as well as from the National Science Board. 

 Thus the entire IDOE program, from projeqt inception to completion, 

 has a firm base in the American scientific community^ and leans heavily 

 on that community for ideas, criticism and guidance. 



42 



