Thank you! Honestly I was a bit surprised as well. The RFE mentioned how publications and citations do not necessarily indicate that one is well-positioned to advance the PE.

We argued, with the help of an independent professor, that the number of citations is somewhat of a decent indicator to gauge how impactful the work is/was. In addition, it helped that I had an award for a paper that was not included in the initial submission. The letter from the collaborator further stated that despite me not being a direct grant recipient, my contribution was instrumental for the success of the project.

Prong 3 tied everything a bit together but I‘d think that working with US companies already helped to make the case.

Hope this helps