What's New in 26B?

NRAO and GBO Users' Policy.  The NRAO and GBO Users' Policies have been updated and include the following:

  • Updates to Proposal Requirements (Section 3.3.1):
    • The Scientific Justification must not include embedded or clickable hyperlinks within the text. Plain text URLs are permitted.
    • References must be included within the page limit of the Scientific Justification. While no specific citation format is required, reference entries must contain sufficient information to identify the work, consistent with standard professional practices.

GBT Large Proposals.  Starting in 26B, GBT Large proposals will be offered every semester.  However, for 26B, no large proposals with observations above 60 GHz will be considered.

GBT Cyclic Spectroscopy Backend.  The GBT cyclic spectroscopy backend will be included in the 26B call for proposals.

GBT Ultra-wideband Receiver (UWBR).  The GBT ultra-wideband receiver will be included in the 26B call for proposals.

Reminders:

  • Constraints on Opportunities (Section 3.2.4): Starting with the 26A semester there will be the following constraints for VLA proposals with a PI from a non-US institution.
    1. Only scheduling priorities A and B will be allocated time; no filler time.
    2. The priority A and B time will be further restricted by applying a country cap of 10% and a total foreign cap of 30%
  • Proprietary Period (Section 5.5.4): Beginning with the 26A semester the proprietary period will be increased from one to two years for all PIs.
  • Use of AI (Section 3.3.2): Starting in 26A, proposers that use AI tools during proposal preparation should select the checkbox under the "AI Usage" section on the proposal's "General" page in the Proposal Submission Tool.
  • Joint Proposals (Section 3.2.3):  To submit a joint proposal requires that both facilities are necessary to do the science.  See the memorandum of understandings (MOUs) on the Joint Proposal Opportunities page.  Joint Proposals with ALMA or JWST need to be submitted to the facility requesting the larger amount of observing time.
  • Dissertation Plans.  The Dissertation Plan requirements (Section 7.2) were revised to specify that the plan must be written by the student.  Students that have dissertation plans as part of their NRAO profile will be REQUIRED to update their plans following a strict thesis template.  The LaTex and  Word formats are available online.
  • PST Proposal Template.  The NRAO offers an optional Latex template for proposals.  Proposers are strongly encouraged to use this template for all proposal types - Regular, Large and DDTs and to follow the appropriate guidelines for font size, page margins and references.

See the NRAO and GBO Users' Policy page for more details.

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