University Radio Observatories Program
(AST-URO)
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CONTACTS
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PROGRAM GUIDELINES
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Solicitation
08-543
As announced on May 21st, proposers must prepare and submit proposals to the National
Science Foundation (NSF) using the NSF FastLane system at
http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/.
This approach is being taken to support efficient Grants.gov operations during this busy
workload period and in response to OMB direction guidance issued March 9, 2009. NSF will
continue to post information about available funding opportunities to Grants.gov FIND and
will continue to collaborate with institutions who have invested in system-to-system
submission functionality as their preferred proposal submission method. NSF remains
committed to the long-standing goal of streamlined grants processing and plans to
provide a web services interface for those institutions that want to use their
existing grants management systems to directly submit proposals to NSF.
Please be advised that the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) includes
revised guidelines to implement the mentoring provisions of the America COMPETES Act (ACA)
(Pub. L. No. 110-69, Aug. 9, 2007.) As specified in the ACA, each proposal that requests
funding to support postdoctoral researchers must include a description of the mentoring
activities that will be provided for such individuals. Proposals that do not comply
with this requirement will be returned without review (see the PAPP Guide Part I:
Grant Proposal Guide Chapter II for further information about the implementation of
this new requirement).
SYNOPSIS
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The URO program provides support for operations, technical enhancements, scientific investigations, and student training at university-based radio facilities. A primary function of funded University Radio Observatories is to provide focused research environments that foster hands-on student access to state-of-the-art radio astronomy instrumentation. UROs also serve the general astronomical community by providing open access to 30% - 50% of available telescope time.
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