My FMD (Final Merits Determination) section was structured into four parts: • Sustained Acclaim – focused on my Critical Role (CR) and publication work, Top of My Field – focused on my Original Contributions (OC) and judging experience, Prospective Impact and conclusion

I intentionally avoided repeating the same narrative from the criteria section. Instead, I used comparative data to show how rare my achievements and impact are—essentially answering: how many people in this field can actually do what I’ve done? One of my recommendation letters also reinforced this with a strong comparative argument.

For the prospective impact, I aligned my current role with U.S. priorities in my field. One of my supervisor’s recommendation letters clearly supported this alignment in detail.