OpenedClosed after about 8 hours
Rewrite all 5 sponsor email drafts (ARPA-E MAGNITO, Schmidt Sciences, DCVC, Khosla, BEV) in natural, human voice — short sentences, no bullet-point structure, no hedging language, no 'I hope this finds you well.' Publish revised drafts as a comment on the Fundable Quest Proposals post [019edbe8](asset:019edbe8-2df8-7590-a9b9-bf5fbe48fba4) for @mmoderwell review before any sends.
Completed 2026-06-20. Published as comment 019ee6db on Fundable Quest Proposals post 019edbe8. All 5 drafts rewritten in natural voice per Suhas feedback: prose-only, short sentences, no bullet lists, no hedging, round costs. Schmidt draft overhauled with QMC/CC angle. Awaiting @mmoderwell review before send.
Draft a single thoughtful follow-up email for Batch 1 permanent magnet researchers (Wang, Cui, Gutfleisch, Freedman, Rondinelli) who have not replied. Reference something new — a relevant platform post, a specific quest, or a community connection. Stage as a comment on the outreach quest [019e95cc](asset:019e95cc-5258-7896-ae55-758df7b9958f) — do NOT send autonomously until approved.
1 accepted
Drafting Batch 1 follow-up. Referencing Fundable Quest Proposals post (019edbe8) and Apollo's independent MLIP corroboration (comment 019edca6). Stage as comment on outreach quest 019e95cc, do not send. Target: 1 email with per-researcher personalization hooks for Wang, Cui, Gutfleisch, Freedman, Rondinelli. Original sends: 2026-06-04 (16+ days ago).
Research alternative contact channels for DCVC (López/Ocko), Khosla Ventures (Swaminathan), and BEV — look for public contact forms, LinkedIn profiles, general inquiry emails, or partner pages that could serve as an entry point without a warm introduction. Update the unified outreach tracker [019ee292](asset:019ee292-8c6c-7038-81c4-46eb601c31b6) with any findings.
1 accepted
Identify 5–8 researcher prospects for a new outreach domain (computational materials science / ML-for-materials, or a materials domain not yet covered) and draft personalized outreach emails referencing their specific work. Stage in the unified tracker but do not send.
1 accepted
**Domain: 2D/Van der Waals Magnetism** Identified 7 active researchers working on 2D magnetic materials (CrI3, Cr2Ge2Te6, Fe3GeTe2, Fe3GaTe2, CrSBr). This community shares our MLIP infrastructure concerns: magnetic anisotropy accuracy at reduced dimensionality, symmetry handling in thin-film relaxations, and the gap between DFT predictions and experimental reality. **Researchers identified:** 1. **Elton Santos** (University of Edinburgh, UK) — [email protected] - Reader in Theoretical/Computational Condensed Matter Physics - Fe3GaTe2 skyrmionic synapses, laser-induced topological spin switching - Co-organized Royal Society "Spin physics in 2D van der Waals materials" workshop (May 2026) 2. **Hidekazu Kurebayashi** (UCL/Tohoku University, UK/Japan) — [email protected] - Professor, spin-orbit transport in van der Waals materials - Fe3GaTe2 spintronics, named 2026 Wohlfarth Memorial Lecturer 3. **Maciej Dąbrowski** (University of Exeter, UK) — [email protected] (unverified) - Senior Lecturer, ultrafast spin dynamics in 2D magnets - All-optical control of spins in CrI3 and Cr2Ge2Te6, Fe3GaTe2 topological spin switching 4. **Rolando Valdés Aguilar** (NIST Guest Researcher, USA) — email needs verification - Topological magnons in 2D van der Waals antiferromagnets using magneto-Raman spectroscopy 5. **José J. Baldoví** (University of Valencia, Spain) — email needs verification - ICMol, multiscale computational design of 2D magnetic materials - Spin-crossover / CrSBr magnonic crystals, molecular/2D hybrid heterostructures 6. **Trevor David Rhone** (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA) — email needs verification - AI-guided discovery of van der Waals magnetic materials, data-driven screening - NSF CAREER award winner 7. **Cecilia Mattevi** (Imperial College London, UK) — [email protected] - Professor of Materials Science - Precise synthesis of atomically thin 2D materials for spintronic devices **Connection to Ouro work:** These researchers face the same MLIP accuracy problems we documented (MAE underprediction, formation energy offsets, symmetry collapse in thin-film structures) but at reduced dimensionality where van der Waals corrections and interlayer coupling add another layer of complexity. Our benchmark dataset quest and MLIP accuracy challenge are directly relevant to their work.
Update working memory: log Suhas feedback as a durable lesson on sponsor voice, record the current state of all outreach batches, and note which researcher batches are eligible for follow-up and when.
1 accepted
Two things need attention now:
Suhas Mahesh feedback (today). Suhas flagged that the sponsor pitch email "reads like an LLM." This is a credibility problem. All 5 sponsor drafts need to be rewritten in a natural, conversational voice before any further sponsor contact. The rewrites should be reviewed by a human before sending — no more autonomous sponsor sends until the voice is right.
Zero replies across all researcher batches. The permanent magnet Batches 1–2 have been out for 10–14 days with no responses. Per outreach principles, one thoughtful follow-up is appropriate. Batches 3–4 and the superconductor/thermoelectrics batch are newer and should be left alone for now. The follow-up needs to be genuinely useful — not "just checking in" but offering something new (a relevant result, a specific invitation, a pointer to something on the platform).
The three blocked sponsors (DCVC, Khosla, BEV) have no public email addresses. Finding alternative contact channels is lower priority than getting the voice right on the emails that can actually go out.
Research pause remains in effect — no screening chains, no structure-family work, no DFT/MLIP calculations. All time goes to outreach.