CEDAR email: CEDAR 2014: Student MREFC Competition

[Timothy Duly]

Dear Members of the CEDAR Community,


We would appreciate if you could pass this announcement of the Student
MREFC Competition to any students who may not be on the CEDAR mailing list.


Thanks,

Leda & Tim


 2014 CEDAR Student Workshop: Student Major Research Equipment and
Facilities Construction (MREFC) Competition

For the upcoming 2014 CEDAR Workshop, we are bringing something new to the
Student Workshop: A Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction
(MREFC) Student Competition.

Historically, the MREFC competition is designed for projects that are on
the cutting edge of research that are innovative for answering big science
questions.  We would like to bring this spirit to a competition at the
Student Workshop in which student teams are challenged to present their
ideas for a research project that would solve a big science question.
 Teams are encouraged to think creatively for this competition— what are
some of the unknowns in CEDAR science that you would like to solve?

Teams will be comprised of ~4-10 people and are encouraged to form from
your school.  A team can be composed of members from a single school or
from more than one in cases of schools with small programs.

To get started, we have provided a quad chart template for your team
(attached), which will serve as your presentation.  In addition, we have
provided a document that describes the MREFC competition in more detail and
provides example projects that have been funded in the past.  Entries are
due on Friday, May 23rd and can be submitted by email to
leda.sox at aggiemail.usu.edu and duly2 at illinois.edu.  After all the
presentations have been submitted, we will pick 10, and these teams will
have the opportunity to present at the Student Workshop.

These 10 teams will present an outline of their idea at the Sunday Student
Workshop and will be 7-8 minutes in length (with time for a few questions).
 NSF and CEDAR Scientists will be available to provide feedback on the idea
and generate discussion on the topic.  After the presentations, the
students will vote, and the top 3 will have the opportunity to present
their idea at a Plenary Session later in the week.

We look forward to this new and creative event this year.  We encourage you
to start forming teams and begin thinking about a prospective research
question to submit for the Student Workshop!

Sincerely,

Leda & Tim

CEDAR Science Steering Committee (CSSC) Student Representatives

What is a Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC)
Grant?

(obtained from http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/docs/mrefcguidelines1206.pdf )

DEFINITION OF MREFC ACCOUNT

The MREFC Account is an agency-wide account. It provides funding for the
establishment of major science and engineering infrastructure, with total
construction costs ranging from several tens to hundreds of millions of
dollars. With Congressional approval, NSF established this appropriations
account in FY 1995 to promote effective planning and management for the
support of such sizable investments made over a limited period of time.
Specifically, the Account was intended to:

   -

   Provide a special account to fund acquisition, construction and
   commissioning of major facilities and other infrastructure projects;
   -

   Prevent large periodic obligations from distorting the budgets of NSF
   directorates and program offices;
   -

   Ensure availability of resources to complete large projects that are
   funded over several years;  and
   -

   Provide uniform NSF standards for large facility projects that ensure
   accountability and maximize success.

The MREFC Account supports state-of-the-art tools that are centralized in
nature, integrated systems of leading-edge instruments, and/or shared-use
networked infrastructure in advancing one or more fields of scientific
study. Examples include accelerators, telescopes, research vessels,
aircraft, earthquake simulators, networked high-tech research platforms,
and advanced computing resources. To qualify for MREFC investment,
networked infrastructure must exhibit systems characteristics greater than
inferred simply by the connectivity of its parts.

The MREFC Account is used to support the acquisition, construction and
commissioning of a facility. Other activities, including research, design,
development, and operations costs, will be covered under the R&RA and/or
EHR appropriations accounts. When funds from these separate appropriations
are obligated under a single award, there should be included provisions
that specify the appropriations account under which the expenditures are to
be charged and restrict any reprogramming of such funds by the awardee.


 Past Funded MREFC Projects

IceCube Neutrino Observatory: http://icecube.wisc.edu/icecube/

Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST): http://www.lsst.org/lsst/

Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA): http://www.almaobservatory.org/

Research Vessel Sikuliaq: https://www.sfos.uaf.edu/sikuliaq/about/

Advanced LIGO: https://www.advancedligo.mit.edu/

Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI): http://oceanobservatories.org/

Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST): http://atst.nso.edu/

National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON): http://www.neoninc.org/
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