Equipment Award Status Report
September 2006

Sandra Petrie


Unidata provided $100,000 funding (including overhead) for the 2006 Equipment Awards. The solicitation was first announced on 1/6/2006 and the deadline for submission was 3/24/2006. The awards panel met the afternoon of April 11 and the morning of April 12. The panel consisted of UCAR staff and Unidata Committee Members, and the overall quality and representational diversity of the committee this year was quite excellent.

The number of proposals submitted this year was rather small, with eight proposals to review totaling $142,152 before UCAR overhead, $189,220 including UCAR overhead. For the most part, the proposal quality and diversity this year was quite good. Only one proposal was unacceptable to the point that it did not warrant more than one round of review by the panel. Before the panel meeting in April, all of the proposals were sent to the panel for an initial evaluation and the preliminary results were tallied. At the meeting the proposals were reviewed and discussed in more detail, and the panel recommended full funding for four out of the eight proposals. The final funding recommendations are listed in the table below.

Special Consideration

This year special consideration was given to proposals submitted by investigators in new disciplines and departments outside of those traditionally active in the Unidata community (e.g., meteorology). The primary purpose of this focus was to give the broader Unidata community access to new tools and datasets that could be relevant to their teaching and research.

Funding Recommendations from 2006 Panel:

Organization
Description
Requested
Funded
Funded with OH

University of Alaska-Fairbanks

Automating a Volcanic Ash Forecast System with Improved Visualization Tools for Increasing Public Accessibility
$ 8,874
$ 8,874
$11,695

University of Nebraska

WAHTER: Integrating Meteorology Data in Hydrology Research and Education, and Expanding the University of Nebraska's IDD Capabilities
$20,000
$ 20,000
$26,360

George Mason University

Equipment for Fire and Remote Sensing Data Processing and Distribution Between EastFIRE Lab at GMU and the Unidata Community
$ 20,000
$ 20,000
$26,360

University of Northern Colorado

Advancing Education and Research in Meteorology at UNC Using the Unidata IDD
$ 20,000
$ 20,000
$26,360
   
Total

$68,874

$90,775

This year the panel discussed the possibility of appointing Usercom and Unidata representatives to each awardee to assist them with the implementation of their award, and to make sure their funded project is successful and relevant to the broader Unidata community. Mohan was very receptive to the idea, so when the acceptance letters were sent out each awardee was notified that they would be contacted by a representative after their award was in place.

Summary