NSF Reviewer 2014
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)?
This is the weakest part of the proposal. The authors describe impacts which a narrowly focused on their specific subfield within nuclear physics. Either they do not take this requirement seriously or they are unable to find impacts that go beyond their sub-discipline.
To what extent do the proposed activities suggest and explore creative, original, or potentially transformative concepts?
The main thrust of the proposal is a measurement of the d/u quark distribution ration. The authors did not compare the expected precision of their measurements to many available fits/predictions at large x. The lack of this comparison left the question of the impact of their work un-answered.