Cycle 4 Stage 2 (Budget Proposal) Information
Deadline
- Stage 2 proposals are due on May 22, 2009.
Budget for TOO Targets
- The above deadline applies to all Cycle 4/Stage 2 proposals, including
those for TOO targets whose observations are not guaranteed.
Budget for Priority C
- Due to the severe funding limitations, we do not intend to fund proposals
with only priority C targets in Cycle 4.
NSPIRES registration
- The PI needs to register with NSPIRES. If you do not already have an
NSPIRES account, use the "Registration Information" in the
upper right section of the
the NSPIRES Homepage.
Starting the proposal
- Since the Stage 1 proposal was not submitted through NSPIRES, the
Stage 2 proposals are considered "new" under the NSPIRES system.
Thus the first step in preparing a Suzaku Cycle 4/Stage 2
proposal is for the PI to log into NSPIRES, select proposals, and
choose "Create Proposals," then select "solicitation"
as the source. Suzaku Cycle 4 should appear as an option.
The PDF document to be attached
- A complete Stage 2 proposal must include the following
elements.
- A copy of the Stage 1 form generated by AKBAR/RPS.
- Stage 1 scientific justification as submitted.
- A budget narrative (1 page maximum)
- A list of current and pending support for the PI (as needed)
- The vita of the PI (which was optional in Stage 1; one is required for guest observer grants to be issued)
The first two elements must not be modified, even to correct a typographical error. We recommend that all these elements be concatnated into a single PDF document, then uploaded to NSPIRES as an attachment of the type "proposal document."
On Unix/Linux platforms, pdfpages module (part of pdflatex packages) appears to be the most robust solution for combining multiple PDFs into a single document, while ghostscript can often (though not always) do so as well. The syntax for the latter is:
gs -q -sPAPERSIZE=letter -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=<output file name> <file1.pdf> <file2.pdf> ...
We are also aware of freewares, combinePDFs for Mac users, and pdfcreator that are said to be able to combine PDFs, although we have little direct experiences with these packages.The budget narrative should include a summary of responsibilities of any members of the team whose salaries are included in the budget, as well as the levels of effort and rates. Any equipments and trips in the budget should also be explained.
NSPIRES will generate a number of "element check" error messages about the proposal submission. If the combined document as described above is provided, and all sections of the proposal cover page have been completed, these message can be ignroed.
Submitting the Proposal
- The PI must release the proposal to his or her organization. The proposal must then be submitted by the deadline, by an official authorized to legally bind your institution.
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