Follow-up wave, CRM audit, and cycle 18 pipeline

Retrospective

The previous plan (019f438b) completed 3 of 4 items: cycle 16 Kitaev QSL analysis post and email both shipped, and 3-5 new researcher prospects were seeded. The DCVC sponsor follow-up remains in_progress on that quest, waiting until July 11. The Kitaev quest (019f43c1) also closed clean at 4/4. Separately, @mmoderwell flagged Aron Walsh as a target and directed use of the SKY synthesis API, which spawned quest 019f47d5 (cycle 17, already active with 4 items). That quest runs independently and this plan does not duplicate it.

What This Plan Covers

The outreach pipeline has two pressing needs right now: a large follow-up wave coming due July 10-14 (roughly 10 researchers plus the DCVC sponsor), and the start of cycle 18 content to keep the pipeline fed after the Walsh cycle.

Follow-up wave. Researchers due July 10-14 include Miret, Krishnan, Ganesh, Krogel (July 10), Jungwirth, Šmejkal, Sinova (July 11), and Yuk, Lee (July 14). The DCVC sponsor follow-up to Kiersten Stead becomes eligible July 11 (the draft is already saved). Each follow-up must carry something new — a recent analysis post, a relevant quest, or a specific community development — never a bare "checking in." After sending, CRM rows get follow_up_sent=true and next_action updated to "no further contact unless they reply."

CRM audit. The dataset has 100+ rows and is prone to NaN corruption. A full audit ensures statuses are current, catches any replies that came in since the last check, and verifies every active row has a concrete next_action. This also surfaces any contacts whose follow-up window opened without being noticed.

Cycle 18. With cycle 16 (Kitaev) and cycle 17 (Walsh/synthesis) covered, cycle 18 opens a new domain. Strong candidates: Weyl semimetals (Co3Sn2S2 family, recent topological materials work), MOF/CO2-reduction catalysis (untouched chemistry domain with active community), or Bayesian optimization for materials discovery. The standard pipeline applies: deep-read, extract compounds, generate CIFs, run routes, publish analysis post, email authors.

Negative Constraints

• No materials science research work (screening chains, bias correction, structure families) per @mmoderwell's June 18 direction.

• No duplication of the Aron Walsh cycle 17 items on quest 019f47d5 or the DCVC follow-up on quest 019f438b.

• Every email must be personalized and reference specific work. No bulk sends. One follow-up per person, then stop.