Jeff Holmes

Bio

Jeff specializes in helping researchers to tell compelling and impactful science stories to sponsors and other key stakeholders and in developing and leading disciplined writing processes based on proven best practices and skills improvement. He works closely with program managers in Basic Energy Sciences, Nuclear Physics, and High Energy Physics to coordinate and run program-development initiatives and implement strategies for crafting outstanding proposals for funding opportunity announcements and project renewals. Jeff serves as the Physical Sciences Directorate's proposal manager for ORNL-led proposals and renewals in the DOE-SC space and leads the proposal production team, a collaboration with Communications. He also delivers group and one-on-one trainings in proposal writing. Before his arrival at ORNL in March 2024, Jeff built and led successful proposal and writing capabilities at another national laboratory. Earlier in his career, Jeff served as university writing instruction faculty for over a decade and holds a master of arts degree in English rhetoric and composition with emphases in technical communications and teaching writing to adults. He has a passion for supporting large scientific endeavors and for celebrating the natural world. In his spare time, he writes about fishing, conservation, hunting, and travel for outdoor magazines and is enjoying exploring the Southeast with his family.

Professional Experience

•    Program Manager for DOE-SC Proposal Development, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (2024–present)
•    Communications Proposal Manager, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, (2019–2024)
•    Lead Contributing Magazine Writer, Media Index Publishing, (2021–present) 
•    Science & Technology Communications Specialist III, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, (2015–2019)
•    Lead Contributing Magazine Writer, Amato Publishing and Media Index Publishing (2011–2017) 
•    Lead Technical Writer, Mission Support Alliance, (2014–2015)
•    Writer/Reporter, Field and Stream magazine and blog, (2012–2015)
•    Contract Writer and Communications Consultant, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, (2013)
•    Lead Technical Writer, Hanford Site Prime Medical Contractor, (2012–2013)
•    Technical Editor, Washington Closure Hanford, (2011–2012)
•    Faculty Senior Lecturer in English, Eastern Washington University, (2008–2010)
•    Faculty Lecturer in English, Eastern Washington University, (2002–2008)
•    Regional Organizer/Technical Communicator, Sierra Club, (2004–2005)
•    Adjunct Instructor in English, Eastern Washington University, (2001–2002)
•    Graduate Teaching Assistant, Eastern Washington University, (1999–2001)

 

Awards

• Supported science proposals and renewals at PNNL totaling >$500 million in funding
• Co-wrote two awarded Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) proposals at PNNL
• Earned 23 Outstanding Performance Awards at PNNL over 8 years for proposal leadership
• Led proposal team that won the 2023 Excellence in Teaming Award from Communications
• Selected by Director of Communication to serve on 2022–2023 Leadership Advisory Group 
• Earned 2020 Exceptional Contribution Award from PNNL Human Resources
• Earned Honors Night 2015 Award for Hanford Site 300 Area Transition, Mission Support Alliance 
• Co-wrote $106,000 grant to WA Dept. of Ecology focused on bi-partisan Hanford Site cleanup education
• Researched and co-wrote a 2011 grant proposal to the PEW Foundation, $35,000
• Won Inland Northwest Conservationist of the Year, Inland Northwest Wildlife Council (January 2005)
• Wrote Eastern Washington University Title III Teaching & Learning Grant, $5,400 (May 2004)

Education

Master of Arts in English: Rhetoric and Composition and Technical Communications (2001)
Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA
Graduate Certificate in Teaching Writing to Adults (2001)
Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA 
Bachelor of Arts in English: Literary Studies (1999)
Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA 
 

Professional Service

• Created a successful proposal support capability within the Communications Division at PNNL, including internally recruiting, leading, training, and growing a team of specialists and creating a proposal manager position within Communications supporting all DOE-SC solicitations and renewals.
• Co-created a disciplined and extremely successful Early Career Research Project process for BES early career researchers within the Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate at PNNL. In partnership with a Lab Fellow, we extended the teaching-focused proposal-writing program to support BER. ASCR, FES, HEP, IP, and NP
• Created WritingLab at PNNL, a unique writing-instruction capability featuring instructional editing services and frequent seminars on best practices for writing abstracts, reports, proposals, and journal articles. Specialties included supporting early career researchers and writers from all language backgrounds.
• Co-edited Frontiers in Energy Research, the newsletter for DOE-SC Basic Energy Sciences Energy Frontier Research Centers (2020–2024).
• Edited Low Dose Radiation: The History of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Research Program, by Anton L. Brooks.
• Wrote >250 feature articles in regional and national outdoor magazines and newspapers detailing conservation and science themes in the context of fishing, hunting, and travel.
• Used writing and communication talents as a conservationist with a >20-year history of working and volunteering to protect wild places and manage landscapes based on science.