In Cycle 2 PIs can propose to:
In the scientific justification (the PDF text that you will upload through RPS) please describe briefly the level of effort that will be devoted to the research (e.g., 0.5 FTE of a postdoc); this cycle you may include the actual dollar amount. What is the 'NASA FTE Commitment' that must be entered on the first phase RPS form? We must report the number of NASA civil servant FTEs for which support is requested by all proposals that are submitted, whether or not the proposals are successful. Thus, if your project (if successful) will fund one tenth of a NASA civil servant's position for one year, enter 0.1 in this field on the RPS form. Scientists who will be supported by this proposal but are not civil servants should not be included. The civil servant salaries that will be supported should be included in the total budget. Does the page limit include references? Yes, and also figures. If I am submitting a multiyear large proposal, which budget number do I enter on the RPS form? Enter the budget for the first year, not the total for all years. The budget for each subsequent year will be assumed to be the same. In the science justification please describe qualitatively the level-of-effort profile. Can there be separate science and budget PIs? Yes, the PI for the second (budget) phase may be a different person than the PI for the first (scientific justification) phase. Please state in the first phase proposal that the budget will be submitted with a different PI; similarly, in the second phase proposal please identify the proposal number of the first phase proposal. Both PIs are responsible for ensuring that the institution through which the budget proposal will be submitted is willing and able to accept a Fermi GI program grant and to disburse the funds as requested. Can investigators at foreign institutions receive Fermi GI program funding? No, to receive funding investigators must be based at US institutions that have registered with the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES). Why would an investigator at a foreign institution submit a Cycle 2 proposal? All investigators may request observing time on telescopes available through the Fermi-NRAO and Fermi-NOAO Cooperative Arrangements whether or not they are based at US institutions. Also, all investigators may request LAT pointed observations. However, an investigator at a foreign institution cannot receive funding from the Fermi GI program, but co-investigators at US institutions may request funding in proportion to their participation in the proposed research. Finally, an investigator at a foreign institution may use a positive evaluation of their proposal by the Fermi GI program peer review panel to secure funding by a foreign agency. Can GI Program funding be used to bring a collaborator at a foreign institution to the US for a meeting? No What NRAO observing time is available through the NRAO-Fermi cooperative arrangement? NRAO is committing approximately 10% (or 450-650 hours per year) of the scientific observing time on the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), the Very Large Array (VLA), and the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) to proposals submitted to the 'Joint Proposal Process,' which requires only a single proposal for both NRAO observing time and Fermi funding. In the future, observing time may be available on the Expanded VLA (EVLA--scheduled to be completed in 2010) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA--scheduled to be completed in 2012). Proposals to the 'Joint Proposal Process' are limited to less than 200 hours of observing time each.
In addition, investigators may submit proposals through the 'Cooperative Proposal Process' for NRAO observations of 200 or more hours, or Target of Opportunity observations. In this process, proposals are submitted first to the regular NRAO proposal process and, if successful, to the Fermi GI program for funding.
NRAO's commitment of observing time to this cooperative arrangement will depend on the number and quality of the proposals submitted. What NOAO observing time is available through the NOAO-Fermi cooperative arrangement? NOAO is committing time on a large number of different optical telescopes to proposals submitted to the 'Joint Proposal Process,' which requires only a single proposal for both NOAO observing time and Fermi funding. Proposals to the 'Joint Proposal Process' cannot include target-of-opportunity or survey program observations.
In addition, investigators may submit proposals through the 'Cooperative Proposal Process' for NOAO target-of-opportunity and survey program observations. In this process, proposals are submitted first to the regular NOAO proposal process and, if successful, to the Fermi GI program for funding.
NOAO's commitment of observing time to this cooperative arrangement will depend on the number and quality of the proposals submitted. What is the difference between the 'Joint Proposal Process' and the 'Cooperative Proposal Process' in the Fermi-NRAO and Fermi-NOAO cooperative agreements? The Joint Proposal Process awards both time on telescopes available through NRAO or NOAO and Fermi funding as a result of one proposal submitted to the Fermi GI program.
In the Cooperative Proposal Process observing time is awarded as a result of a proposal submitted to NRAO or NOAO, and funding is awarded through a proposal to the Fermi GI program. The evaluation of your proposal to NRAO or NOAO, if successful, will be forwarded to the Fermi GI program. Please state in your proposals to the Fermi program and either the NRAO or NOAO programs that you are applying under the cooperative proposal process.
See the NRAO and NOAO webpages for additional details Where do I provide the specifics of my proposed radio observation? If you are requesting radio observations through the 'Joint Proposal Process,' then click 'yes' for 'Joint Proposal' on the first phase RPS form and enter 'NRAO' as the observatory. Please provide summary information on the RPS webform, and then describe the observation in an additional page of your scientific justification (the PDF file you will upload through RPS). Also include the target in the RPS target form. There are no NRAO-specific webforms.
The specific information you should include in the scientific justification can be found here. Where do I provide the specifics of my proposed optical observation? If you are requesting optical observations through the 'Joint Proposal Process,' then click 'yes' for 'Joint Proposal' on the first phase RPS form and enter 'NOAO' as the observatory. Please provide summary information on the RPS webform, and then describe the observation in the text of your scientific justification (the PDF file you will upload through RPS). Also include the target in the RPS target form. There are no NOAO-specific webforms.
The specific information you should include in the scientific justification can be found here. How do I submit a Notice of Intent (NOI)? Submit a NOI by January 23, 2009, through this webform. A phase 1 GI proposal may be submitted by the March 6, 2009, deadline even if a NOI was not submitted. Can I serve on a peer review panel if I submitted a GI proposal? Yes, we encourage members of the community to assist us evaluate the proposals. Besides providing a service to the community, serving on a panel provides insight into the peer review process (which will assist you in writing future proposals), a crash course in new research areas, and opportunities to meet new colleagues. You must have a PhD at the time of the review, which will be held May 18-20, 2009, in the Washington, DC, area. To ensure fairness, rigorous conflict-of-interest rules will apply. If you are interested, please send an e-mail to the HEASARC Peer Review mailbox. How do I get help with the Fermi data? Submit questions through the FSSC helpdesk: http://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/help/ When will the science tools be released? The science tools for both the GBM and the LAT are now available. Data analysis examples are described in the Analysis Threads section of our web site. Where can I find the example files used in the Analysis Threads? The FT2 files and simulations used in the Analysis Threads were generated to test the tools internally within the Fermi Collaboration, and it was decided not to distribute them to the public.
To run the tools you will first need to run your own simulation (follow the Observation Simulation Tutorial to generate an events file). Simulations of different types of sources are described in the Other Sources section. Should you want to simulate special observing strategies with the spacecraft, you will need to generate a spacecraft file before running the simulation. This is not necessary if you simply want to simulate a generic survey mode observation.
Once your simulation is complete, you can examine the data and then perform a likelihood analysis on the resulting files. How will I learn that Fermi has detected a burst? Subscribe to the GCN (Gamma-ray burst Coordinates Network--see http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov). When either the LAT or the GBM detect a burst, a series of messages will be sent to the ground through TDRSS, resulting in GCN Notices that are fixed format messages disseminated by e-mail, page or internet socket. Additional Notices will be sent out as a result of ground processing. In addition, as a result of further ground processing, the instrument teams may send out GCN Circulars, free format messages relaying information such as burst durations, fluences, spectral parameters, etc. Finally, check the GRB page on the FSSC website for links to other sources of burst information.
