From cbignell at nrao.edu  Wed May 14 08:30:48 2008
From: cbignell at nrao.edu (Carl Bignell)
Date: Wed, 14 May 2008 08:30:48 -0400
Subject: [gbtnews] GBT Call for Proposals - Deadline 2 June 2008
Message-ID: <482ADB78.1010008@nrao.edu>

Call for GBT Proposals - Trimester 08C
Deadline: 2 June 2008, 5:00 P.M., EDT


The 2 June deadline will cover the 08C observing period from 1 October 
2008 through 31 January 2009. We will accept proposals for the following 
receivers: 290-920 MHz (PF1), 910-1230 MHz (PF2), 1.15-1.73 GHz (L), 
1.73-2.60 GHz (S), 3.8-6.1 GHz (C), 8.0-12.0 GHz (X), 12.0-15.4 GHz 
(Ku), 18.0-26.5 GHz (K), 26.0-39.5 GHz (Ka) and 38.2-49.8 GHz (Q) receivers.

Two new instruments are also available for the June 2 deadline. 
Proposals submitted to use either of these instruments must be a 
collaborative effort with the appropriate instrument team.

(A) The Zpectrometer backend. Zpectrometer will be the backend of choice 
for galaxy searches in the CO J = 1-0 transition from redshifts 2 to 
3.5, among other similar experiments.  It has 14 GHz of instantaneous 
bandwidth that cover 26-40 GHz with moderate resolution and with superb 
baselines, due to its correlation design.  Those considering 
Zpectrometer projects will find details about the instrument at in the 
January, 2008 and October, 2007 NRAO newsletters 
(http://www.nrao.edu/news/newsletters/nraonews114.pdf, p. 22 and 
http://www.nrao.edu/news/newsletters/nraonews113.pdf, p. 21-22).  The 
first CO detection with Zpectrometer is described at 
http://www.gb.nrao.edu/gbt/Zpectrometer/firstDetection.shtml. Please 
contact Andy Harris (harris at astro.umd.edu) for more details and 
collaboration information.

(B)The Mustang bolometer array has 64 pixels and operates with a 20 GHz 
bandwidth centered at 90 GHz.  More details about Mustang commissioning 
and the call for proposals can be found in the April 2008 Newsletter 
(http://www.nrao.edu/news/newsletters/115/nraonews115.pdf, pp. 21-22 and 
at http://www.gb.nrao.edu/mustang). Please Brian Mason (bmason at nrao.edu) 
for more details and collaboration information.


Available observing modes include spectral line (including 
cross-polarization), continuum, pulsar, and VLBI/VLBA. Pulsar modes 
include the Pulsar Spigot, the Spectral Processor and the BCPM 
(Berkeley-Caltech Pulsar Machine) through agreement with its developers. 
The VLBA back end with Mark5A disk recorder may be used as a high-time 
resolution (&gt; 2 ns) back end for single-dish  observing. Details of 
all GBT observing modes are described in the proposer's guide at: 
http://www.gb.nrao.edu/gbtprops/man/GBTpg/GBTpg_tf.html Proposers should 
also consult the more general document, "The Performance of the GBT: A 
Guide for Planning Observations", available at the link 
http://www.gb.nrao.edu/~rmaddale/GBT/ReceiverPerformance/PlaningObservations.htm

In addition to regular GBTproposals, the following will be accepted

(A)Large Proposals 
(http://www.nrao.edu/administration/directors_office/largeprop.shtml) at 
this deadline. Proposals will be accepted for the fully commissioned 
hardware only (Zpectrometer and MUSTANG are excluded).

(B)Proposals for the <b>Lunar Crater and Observation Sensing Satellite 
(LCROSS) Mission</b>. This opportunity was described in the October 2007 
NRAO Newsletter (http://www.nrao.edu/news/newsletters/nraonews113.pdf, 
p. 29-30). NRAO will accept proposals related to the LCROSS mission for 
peer review at the 2 June 2008 deadline.  More details are available at 
http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov

Proposals requesting GBT participation in HSA, VLBA or global VLBI 
observations should be submitted to the VLBA only, not to the GBT. 
Proposers requesting joint GBT and VLA and or VLBA observations must 
submit separate proposals for each instrument and indicate in these 
proposals that they are a joint request.

The Observatory continues to offer financial support for graduate and 
undergraduate students performing research with the GBT through the 
Student Support Program. Awards of up to $35,000 are possible. 
Applications are made in conjunction with GBT observing proposals, and 
will be accepted at the 2 June 2008 deadline. Student support 
applications are now made through an integrated feature of the proposal 
submission tool. Information about the program can be found at the NRAO 
Student Observing Support Program link 
http://wiki.gb.nrao.edu/bin/view/Observing/NRAOStudentSupportProgram

We remind proposers of the NRAO policy requesting a Plan of Dissertation 
(http://www.gb.nrao.edu/gbtprops/gbtproppolicies.shtml) as part of the 
support for PhD dissertations using NRAO facilities. If the proposal is 
part of a dissertation thesis and a Plan of Dissertation has not been 
submitted in the past (or one has been but there are major changes) 
please use the NRAO Proposal Submission Tool to submit one.

Proposers must use the NRAO Proposal Submission (PST) tool available at 
the link http://www.gb.nrao.edu/nraoPST.htm or directly from  
http://my.nrao.edu.  Several modifications to the PST have been made and 
will be in place starting 12:00 EDT (noon) Friday, 16 May 2008, and 
accessible from NRAO Interactive Services at http://my.nrao.edu.  The 
principal investigator, the contact author and any students who will use 
the proposed observations for their dissertation thesis, must be 
registered users. On the registration form you will be asked contact 
information which will be used for notification about proposal status, 
telescope schedules, funding, etc. We encourage proposers to register 
early. The PST can now upload a Plan of Dissertation either within the 
Author's page for a specific proposal or from a student's profile under 
user preferences.  For more details see: 
https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/Software/PSTReleaseNotesFeb2008.

The policy for observing with the GBT, including a description of the 
strict restrictions concerning remote observing, can be found at the 
link http://wiki.gb.nrao.edu/bin/view/Observing/GbtObservingPolicies

Proposal receipt will open on 12:00 EDT (noon) Friday, 16 May 2008 and 
will close at 17:00 EDT (5pm) on Monday, 2 June 2008.

Questions about the proposal process may be addressed to Carl Bignell 
(304-456-2165 or cbignell at nrao.edu). Technical questions about GBT 
hardware, software, and observing modes may be addressed to Ron 
Maddalena  (304-456-2207 or rmaddale at nrao.edu). Questions about the 
proposal submission tool should be sent to proposal at aoc.nrao.edu.

K. O'Neil, R. Maddalena, C. Bignell