Keck Telescope Time
A) All ladder rank faculty and ladder rank emeritus faculty of the University of California are entitles to apply on a competitive bases for UC observing time at Keck Observatory. This includes faculty Professor Series (APM-220) and the Astronomer Series (APM-115), but excludes appointees at Instructor or Junior Astronomer rank. Non-faculty UC instrument Pls may apply on the same bases for a period of up to five years following delivery of a new instrument to the Keck Observatory.
B) Up to 20% of the UC share of observing time can be awarded to UC scientists with appointments in Professional Research Series (APM-310). These must be appointments for which the UC Research Series positions represents the scientist’s primary professional affiliation and employment (at least 51% time per year) This category also includes research scientists and staff scientists holding full-time career-track or career appointments at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Proposals from individuals in this category will be judged in competition with those coming under category A above.
C) Scientists in other appointment series are not eligible to apply for UC Keck observing time. This category includes (but is not limited to) Postdoctoral Scholars (APM-390), Project Scientists (APM-311), Lecturers (APM-283 and APM-285), Non-Salary Researchers (APM-355), Adjunct Professors (APM-280), Specialists (APM-330), and Visiting Scholars (APM-430). For scientists in this category, access to the Keck Telescopes will be through collaborations with proposers in categories A and B.
D) Graduate students are not eligible to apply for UC Keck observing time, but may participate in carrying out Keck observations and research as part of their advisor’s Keck observing programs. Whilst use of Keck data for graduate thesis research is highly encouraged, graduate student participation in a Keck observing program is not a sufficient justification for the allocation of telescope time to the project. Proposals will be judged on scientific merit, and acceptance of a proposal for a program that is a component of a student’s thesis research does not guarantee future time allocations to that program.
The criteria listed above refer to eligibility to submit UC Keck proposals as Principal Investigator (PI). For proposal collaborators or co-investigators, there are no eligibility restrictions with regard to affiliation, appointment series or rank, or student status.