Individual Survey (Revised)

NSF's Convergence Accelerator Individual Entrance Survey (Revised)
Background
Welcome to the Convergence Accelerator!
Participation in this survey helps the Convergence Accelerator adapt to your team's needs and evaluate our
progress as a program. This will help us improve, and in turn help every team we serve. Your participation and
responses will not be attributed to you without prior consent, and will not influence any current or future funding
award decisions made by NSF. Your participation is also entirely voluntary. We are still very grateful for your help.
You can skip a question if you don't know the answer, but please try to answer everything you can!
Thank you! We value your time and appreciate your participation!!
OMB Control No. 3145-XXXX

1. What is your name?

2. What is your team number? Ex: A123, X456 ...

3. What type of organization is your primary employer?
Research university
Teaching university
Non-profit
Industry
Government
Other (please specify)

4. Briefly, what are your fields of expertise?

5. What are your current primary roles on your team? Select all that apply.
Leadership
Technical
Research
Outreach/Partnerships
Support
Sales
Project Manager
Other

6. Approximately how many hours a week do you intend to spend on the Convergence
Accelerator project? Please enter a number, not words.

NSF's Convergence Accelerator Individual Entrance Survey (Revised)
Team Goals
7. During the next year, what specific goals do you have for working effectively with your
team?

8. What are some ways you hope the Convergence Accelerator will support you in your goals
for working effectively with your team? Please provide all the details you think would be
helpful for us to support you.

9. How comfortable are you sharing your opinions with your team?
Extremely comfortable
Somewhat comfortable
Neither comfortable nor uncomfortable
Somewhat uncomfortable
Extremely uncomfortable

NSF's Convergence Accelerator Individual Entrance Survey (Revised)
Project Goals
10. During the next year, what specific goals do you have for the development of your product
/ solution?

11. What are some specific ways you hope the Convergence Accelerator will support you in
those goals for your product / solution? Please provide all the details you think would be
helpful for us to support you.

12. In a sentence or two, what is your current very long-term goal for the project — your full
vision of the path you’re starting now? We're completely aware it might change dramatically,
but are still interested to know your current thoughts.

13. Teams meet with Convergence Accelerator coaches regularly to check in on progress, and
get support where it’s most needed. Coaches often have expertise in fields like startups,
entrepreneurship, and venture capital, but are here to support you broadly. Is there anything
in particular you would like to get out of the coaching relationship?

NSF's Convergence Accelerator Individual Entrance Survey (Revised)
Organizational Sustainability
14. Which of these options BEST describes your current team? Or, if it has not chosen a legal
structure yet, which one do you most EXPECT it to become?
For-profit company
Non-profit organization
Open source project
Don’t know yet
Other

15. During the next year, what specific goals do you have for supporting the long-term
sustainability of your organization?

16. What are some ways you hope the Convergence Accelerator will support you in your goals
for the long-term sustainability of your organization? Please provide all the details you think
would be helpful for us to support you.

NSF's Convergence Accelerator Individual Entrance Survey (Revised)
Testing and Exploration
17. Do you have any specific goals for user testing during Phase 1 (approximately the next
year)?

18. What are some ways you hope the Convergence Accelerator will support you in your goals
for user testing? Please provide all the details you think would be helpful for us to support
you.

19. Currently, and overall, what proportion of your time is spent on exploring what you
should do (such as basic research, market research, experimental prototyping, etc), and what
proportion is spent on implementing things you’ve decided are good ideas (such as building
the solution, adding features, or installing systems for users)? Choose the response that fits
best.
100% exploration, 0% implementation
75% exploration, 25% implementation
50% exploration, 50% implementation
25% exploration, 75% implementation
0% exploration, 100% implementation

NSF's Convergence Accelerator Individual Entrance Survey (Revised)
Impact
20. On average, how much do you think your solution will change the lives of those affected
by it?
An enormous change to their quality of life
A large change to their quality of life
A moderate change to their quality of life
A small change to their quality of life
I have no idea

21. Please briefly describe the ways in which you believe your solution will affect their lives
positively, and why that's important.

22. How helpful would it be to have training in the Phase 1 innovation curriculum to help you
evaluate the impact of your project?
Extremely helpful
Somewhat helpful
Slightly helpful
Not at all helpful

NSF's Convergence Accelerator Individual Entrance Survey (Revised)
Ecosystem
23. Are you one of the first people in your department or division to found an organization
that delivers a product or solution? In other words, this does not include organizations that
might only host speaker series, for example.
Yes
No
I don’t know

NSF's Convergence Accelerator Individual Entrance Survey (Revised)
Curriculum
24. The Convergence Accelerator's Phase 1 curriculum on Team Science focuses on topics
like team structure, social psychology, and collaboration. How familiar are you with these
topics?
Extremely familiar (Ex: I could teach, or have a taught, a course on this topic)
Very familiar (Ex: I have worked with this topic substantially)
Somewhat familiar (Ex: I have taken a class, or training, on this topic)
Slightly familiar (Ex: I have a little, possibly self-taught, familiarity with this topic)
Not at all familiar (Ex: I have never had any exposure to this topic)

25. Is there anything in particular you would be interested in exploring in depth, within the
topic of Team Science?

26. The Convergence Accelerator's Phase 1 curriculum on Human Centered Design focuses
on topics like user research and low fidelity prototyping. How familiar are you with these
topics?
Extremely familiar (Ex: I could teach, or have a taught, a course on this topic)
Very familiar (Ex: I have worked with this topic substantially)
Somewhat familiar (Ex: I have taken a class, or training, on this topic)
Slightly familiar (Ex: I have a little, possibly self-taught, familiarity with this topic)
Not at all familiar (Ex: I have never had any exposure to this topic)

27. Is there anything in particular you would be interested in exploring in depth, within the
topic of Human Centered Design?

28. The Convergence Accelerator's Phase 1 curriculum on Communications, Story Telling,
and Pitching focuses on topics like how to effectively communicate and connect with
stakeholders about your project. How familiar are you with these topics?
Extremely familiar (Ex: I could teach, or have a taught, a course on this topic)
Very familiar (Ex: I have worked with this topic substantially)
Somewhat familiar (Ex: I have taken a class, or training, on this topic)
Slightly familiar (Ex: I have a little, possibly self-taught, familiarity with this topic)
Not at all familiar (Ex: I have never had any exposure to this topic)

29. Is there anything in particular you would be interested in exploring in detail, within the
topic of Communications, Pitching, and Story Telling?

30. Do you have any additional questions, concerns, or comments at this stage?

31. Would you be willing to have a more in-depth discussion to talk about your answers to this
survey?
Yes
No

That's the end of the survey -- thank you so much for your time and contribution!