General     Proposal Format & Cover Sheets     Instrument availability     Travel Support     Forms for Downloading     Important dates

COO Time Allocation Committee (TAC)

1. Proposals are evaluated by members of the TAC based on:
   • Scientific merit. Projects should address problems of significant scientific interest. The applicant should demonstrate a thorough grasp of the physics of the problem and the status of current work by other investigators.
   • Technical Feasibility. The applicant must demonstrate that the choice of telescope and instrument is appropriate, especially for Keck proposals.
   • Applicant's publication record. The applicant should show a history of timely publication of the results of previous observing allocations.
   • Support of thesis work. If appropriate, the applicant should explain how the proposed observations will be used in support of approved thesis projects, and
   • Service to the Caltech astronomy community. Consideration will be given to applicants who contribute to the Caltech academic environment by serving on committees, interacting with others, participating in instrument developments, etc.
     Please draw attention to this in your application if it is relevant.
2. A few days after close of applications, PIs will receive spreadsheet summaries of all the applications received: PIname, title, telescope, instrument, requested nights - to check for errors or omissions.
   PIs: please DO contact tac at astro.caltech.edu if you do NOT receive these lists by Friday following application date.
3. After reading & discussing the proposals during the TAC meeting, the individual committee members assign a numeric grade (0-low to 5-high) to each proposal, and recommend the number of nights to be allocated.
4. The TAC grades and allocation recommendations are averaged.
5. The proposals for each telescope are arranged in order of decreasing average grade, taking account of the number of CIT assigned dark, grey and bright nights.
6. Initial ranking consists of assigning time based on nights available to Caltech and in order of decreasing TAC recommendations, according to the applicant's Preferred, then Acceptable designations. Thus:
   • When all available time in the applicant's preferred and acceptable times has been allocated to proposals with higher grades, no time will be assigned.
   • By this process, it is conceivable that a proposal with restrictive dates will receive no time, while time may be allocated to a less restrictive proposal with a lower grade. In general, it is of benefit to the applicant to maximize the allocation possibilities, by entering Acceptable whenever possible, and Preferred to optimize time, allowing for target position and season.
7. The TAC reviews the first pass ranked list for possible conflicts with their intentions, and recommends adjustments.
8. The Director sends a memo to each PI summarizing the TAC assigned grade, allocation (if any), and important feedback raised during the TAC discussions, including suggestions for improvements (if any). These memos are distributed to coincide with the release of the schedules, on 1-Dec or 1-June.
9. Scheduling:
   • Keck: The successful proposals and allocations recommended by the TAC are passed to CARA for their scheduling, along with the applicants preferred/acceptable restrictions. Keck staff review AO, LGS and interferometer proposals for technical issues prior to the TAC meeting.
   • Palomar P200: The Caltech, JPL and Cornell allocations are merged to achieve the final schedule. Observers may be shifted between runs (according to their preferred/acceptable restrictions) to achieve better block instrument schedules.

General     Proposal Format & Cover Sheets     Instrument availability     Travel Support     Forms for Downloading     Important dates