The Heilmeier Catechism’s Ongoing Legacy
ARPA-H goes online in 2023 and borrows from DARPA’s longtime guiding principle
After the Russians launched Sputnik 1 in 1957, the United States responded the following year by establishing the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better known as DARPA. Thus the Space Race began, and other “moonshot” big research ideas followed.
DARPA projects have had a major impact on civilian life that extends far beyond just satellites and rockets. For instance, DARPA began partnering with Moderna to develop mRNA vaccines way back in 2013.
Much of DARPA’s work has been guided by a principle that has become known as the Heilmeier Catechism. This was named after George Heilmeier, who served as director of the agency from 1975 to 1977 after pioneering liquid crystal displays and working in other positions within the Department of Defense.
During his tenure as head of DARPA, George Heilmeier gathered a succinct checklist of questions that any DARPA-funded proposal should answer. Several variations and elaborations of it are floating around out there, but the list DARPA still maintains on its webpage today includes the following eight points:
- What are you trying to do? Articulate your objectives using absolutely no jargon.
- How is it done today, and what are the limits of current practice?
- What is new in your approach and why do you think it will be successful?
- Who cares? If you are successful, what difference will it make?
- What are the risks?
- How much will it cost?
- How long will it take?
- What are the mid-term and final “exams” to check for success?
These points align well with common advice on writing grant proposals for other agencies, including the NIH. So it is not surprising that the recently launched NIH Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) agency also invokes Heilmeier’s Catechism in a modified form as they get ready to start funding high risk/reward “moonshot” research projects in the realm of human health. Most notably, ARPA-H adds two interesting questions:
To ensure equitable access for all people, how will cost, accessibility, and user experience be addressed?
How might this program be misperceived or misused (and how can we prevent that from happening)?
The inaugural round of major ARPA-H funding will come through their open Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), released in March, 2023. In a webinar on the open BAA the following month, ARPA-H Director Renee Wegrzyn said, “We base all of our programs around the Heilmeier Catechism questions, but you should think about your concept in that way too. So, what problem are trying to solve? How is it done today? And what is that new insight in your approach that you think is going to be changing?” (1:08:15)
The first step to apply for ARPA-H funding through the open BAA is to submit a 3-page abstract during a rolling submission period open until March 14, 2024. From the submitted abstracts, some will be asked to submit full proposals that will be selected for funding.
Looking at the required sections for the 3-page abstracts, here is how the Heilmeier Catechism can fit into each part:
a) Cover Page: NA
b) Concept Summary (1/4 page): Here the researcher provides a brief description of their project “with minimal jargon.” This aligns with Heilmeier Catechism Question 1.
c) Innovation and Impact (3/4 page): Here the researcher must define the innovative advantage their proposed work provides over existing or emerging technologies. This aligns with Heilmeier Catechism Questions 2,3, and 4.
d) Proposed Work (1.5 pages): Here the researcher must define their expected outcomes, milestones, and technical approach. There must also be a description of technical risks and challenges, and how they will be overcome. This aligns with Heilmeier Catechism Questions 1, 5, 7, and 8.
e) Team Organization and Capabilities (1/2 page): Here the researcher describes the experience of everyone involved in the proposal. This section is the only one that goes beyond the Heilmeier Catechism.
f) Rough Order of Magnitude: This is a separate document that doesn’t count toward the three pages. It is basically just a rough sketch of the budget. As such, it would align with Heilmeier Catechism Questions 6 and 7.
Here is a visual I made of how those questions (as phrased by ARPA-H) fit into the 3-page abstract:
If you can squeeze the additional two questions (equitable access, misuse) of ARPA-H into the proposed work, that would be good although maybe not necessary. But if you are invited to submit a full proposal, you’ll definitely want to address those two questions, along with the other questions in greater detail.
Since there are no prior ARPA-H projects to look at for reference, it will be very interesting to see what they decide to fund in 2024 from the first round of applications.
Robert Lawrence is a science editor at Baylor College of Medicine. You can find his published work at www.robertlawrencephd.com
