CFHT
New Instrumentation at the 2013+ Horizon
Call for Proposals for
Feasibility Studies - Receipt
Deadline: 20 October 2007 - 24:00 UTC
The submission form, with the information also provided below,
is
available in a file here (pdf).
Important note: The form is
not as portable as claimed
by Adobe... If you have trouble sending it, you can
- email the pdf file to director
at cfht.hawaii.edu
- email its ascii content to
director at cfht.hawaii.edu
The context
The immediate future of CFHT is relatively clear: up to the end of
2012, the observatory will offer its three current instruments,
MegaPrime, WIRCam and ESPaDOnS, each of them offering to their users
unique and exciting opportunities for first-class scientific
contributions. At the recent CFHT Users' Meeting, the possibility of
bringing to the telescope new instruments for 2013 and beyond was
discussed and various ideas were presented. At the immediately
thereafter meeting of the Scientific Advisory Council of the
observatory, it was recommended that a call related to new instruments
be issued, a recommendation which was endorsed by the Board of
Directors.
This Call for Proposals
While the current CFHT instruments could still be very
useful in 2013 and beyond, new instrument(s) may be contemplated to
maintain the position of the observatory at the forefront of astronomy.
The CFHT community is therefore offered an opportunity to submit
proposals for a feasibility study, at a conceptual level, of new
instruments. The deadline is 20 October 2007 (24:00 UTC). Whatever the
technical interest of the proposed instrument, science should remain
the first driver of the proposed project. Therefore, the PI should
present a compelling science case, in summarized form, that would make
such an instrument of interest to CFHT and its users.
If
you intend to submit a proposal, you should keep in mind the
preparatory document (accessible here)
issued before the Users' Meeting, which states: For guidance, the cost to CFHT of MegaCam and WIRCam
was in the order of 4 to 5M$, and this provides a very rough estimate
of the scale of the new projects that can be contemplated for projects
that would only be supported by the current Agencies. Larger scale
projects would have to consider new partners.
CFHT will be able to provide “seed money” (in the range of $10K to
$30K) to help with the preparation of the feasibility studies. SAC will
select the most interesting proposals to be funded by CFHT.
Which criteria will be used in the
selection process?
While science is indeed the main driver for a new instrument, other
elements will be taken into consideration in the selection process: the
adequacy of the instrument to make good use of the site characteristics
of Mauna Kea and of the CFH telescope itself, the uniqueness of the
instrumental capabilities for the CFHT community at the 2013+ horizon,
the potential appeal of the instrument to a large fraction of the
users, and the ability of the PI and the collaboration around the
proposal to prepare a feasibility study.
Selection process schedule of events
- 20 October 2007, 24:00 UTC -
Deadline for Receipt of Proposals for Feasibility Studies.
- 6/7 November 2007 - At the
SAC fall meeting, start of the selection process for the proposals to
be funded for a feasibility study .
Though the schedule of the next steps could depend on the proposals
received, a tentative subsequent schedule could be as follows:
- End of 2007 - Early 2008 -
Notification to the PIs of the selection results.
- 15 September 2008 - Deadline
for the submission of the feasibility study. Information on the format
of this report will be provided to the selected PIs at the time of
their selection notification.
- November 2008 - First review
of the studies at the fall SAC meeting.
Instructions to fill the Call for
Proposals form
The form is a simple Adobe pdf form. Beside basic information on
yourself and your collaborators, you will have to fill four sections,
which can be prepared using your favorite editor. Just paste it in the
appropriate area of the form when you are ready. You are allowed a
maximum number of characters for each of them and your text will be
truncated if it is too long. So, be concise and to the point.
You are proposing to conduct a feasibility study. Therefore, it is
understandable that the technical description may still be vague and
the challenges not completely clear yet. Remember to highlight the key
elements that will demonstrate how well the selection criteria will be
met by your proposal.
The last page will allow you to insert two figures that will be scaled
to fit in their box, and to add a caption for each of them: a good
opportunity to complement your text with useful visual information.
When you are done, click the "Submit" button. An xml file with the
information you entered in the form will be sent to CFHT.
Important
note: The form is not as
portable as claimed
by Adobe... If you have trouble sending it, you can
- email the pdf file to director
at cfht.hawaii.edu
- email its ascii content to
director at cfht.hawaii.edu
Useful Links
CFHT
SAC
May 2007 Report