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Large Multi-semester Approved Programs

 

For significant fractions of Shane time, more than 45 nights a semester or >25% of the total available time, please follow the LMAP guidelines for Keck proposals. This must be stated as a LMAP in the coversheet abstract and on the first page of the proposal.

In summary:

  1. State why such a program uniquely uses the Shane.
  2. Clearly justify the large allocation and over such a long period of time.
  3. The program must have intermediate publications and results.
  4. A strong, clear statement of which participants will be performing the target planning, data reduction, data analysis, and leading the publications.
  5. A plan for required resources from other observatories.
  6. It is expected that the PI and Co-Is will focus on this project primarily, and will not submit other Shane proposals.

LMAPs represent the largest commitments of UC Shane time to individual projects. The goal of the policies described here is to help ensure that LMAP projects are maximally successful, once approved by the Time Allocation Committee.

Current and Past LMAPs and LSAPs

Purpose of LMAPs: An LMAP is a program with well-defined objectives that requires a large number of nights to bring to completion. LMAPs will generally be directed toward obtaining a high quality, coherent, homogeneous data set that will allow scientific questions of major importance to be addressed in a thorough, systematic manner. The UC LMAP program allows programs extending for more than one semester to be carried out with multi-year approval from the beginning. The program is not to be open-ended, but must have a well-justified total number of nights required to bring the project to completion. LMAPs normally are defined as those requiring 10 or more nights per semester, though programs of fewer nights may qualify for LMAP status if specifically justified. No more than 75% of the UC Shane time will be devoted to LMAPs. It is expected that LMAPs will generally involve the collaboration of a fairly large group of UC PIs, with the size of the request proportional to the number of PIs.

Process To obtain approval for an LMAP, a special proposal must be submitted at the outset. The scientific discussion with figures and references should be no longer than 10 pages with a 20 page maximum for the entire LMAP proposal. In addition to the normally-required sections, it must include the following items:

1. A detailed discussion of the specific scientific goals of the program, including justification for the program having LMAP status.

2. A clear and well-justified statement of the total number of nights needed. This statement must relate the time requested to the specific intended outcomes of the project. Additionally, the proposal should explain and justify the total duration (in years or semesters) over which these requested nights are distributed.
3. For programs lasting more than two years, the program should be structured so that intermediate results will be published before the entire project is completed. These milestones and intermediate results should be discussed carefully in the proposal.

4. The discussion of the scientific team should be more lengthy than usual, making clear who will be responsible for what, how the data will be reduced and analyzed, and how the final results will be disseminated.

5. It is expected that all or most of an LMAP PI or Co-I’s Shane observing time requests will be devoted to the LMAP, during semesters when the LMAP observations are being done. However, occasional proposals for relatively small projects on clearly distinct subjects may also be submitted.

6. If results to be obtained with other telescopes are an important part of the project, this should be made clear. Information should be provided that will allow the TAC to judge the likelihood of such data being available.

7. When an active LMAP proposal is resubmitted for *continued* observations, the following additional guidelines apply:

7a. First section: LMAP continuation proposals should begin with a summary of progress to date and a list of publications based on nights already allocated to this LMAP program. This progress report should make reference to the specific goals and outcomes of the project as described in the original proposal, and should describe progress on each. The page limit for this progress report is four pages (including figures and references).

7b. Second section: The next section of the continuation proposal should contain, where appropriate, a discussion of how the original proposal’s methods or objectives have changed since its original submission.

Neither the First nor Second sections described above shall count toward the 10-page limit for LMAP proposals.

7c. Third section: For completeness and for the benefit of new TAC members, the third section should consist of the scientific justification and technical sections of the version originally submitted for the initial LMAP proposal.