The primary purpose of the Unidata Community Equipment Awards is to encourage new members from diverse disciplinary backgrounds in the geosciences to join the Unidata community, and for existing members to continue their active participation so as to enhance the community process.
Between 2003 and 2018, Unidata has awarded $1,131,105 to 96 different projects at 60 colleges and universities through the Community Equipment Awards program.
It is the intent of this award program to assist institutions wishing to participate actively in the Unidata community; to assist those who have participated actively in the past but need system upgrades to meet the standards currently recommended for deploying Unidata systems; and to assist organizations from disciplines outside of the atmospheric community who can provide and support important and relevant datasets and tools to the Unidata community at no cost.
Small institutions, institutions that have not previously submitted proposals to this program, and institutions outside Unidata's traditional atmospheric sciences community are especially encouraged to apply.