NRAO-EVLA Commissioning Staff Observing Program

The scientific staff of NRAO-NM have an immense stake in the EVLA project, and have been working hard to ensure its success for almost a decade. Observatory staff are also in the best position to test and validate the enormous emerging capabilities of the EVLA. In order to optimize the extent to which the staff can push the instrument and certify its data products, no instrumental constraints (e.g., upon correlator capabilities) will be placed on the observing resources available to staff observers, and up to 500 hours per year will be reserved for peer-reviewed staff access to the EVLA during the shared risk observing period. Assignment of telescope time under this program will also be on a shared-risk basis in the sense that no implied commitments to complete each observing program will be made. NRAO-EVLA commissioning personnel who are allocated observing time under this program will also be free to collaborate on RSRO and OSRO projects. However, NRAO-EVLA commissioning staff will not satisfy the residency requirement on RSRO proposals. See http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/evla/astro/ for more details of the RSRO and OSRO programs.

Exploratory proposals for small projects (<10 hours of EVLA time) by NRAO-EVLA commissioning staff, or residents working on EVLA commissioning, will also be considered under this program. Such proposals will be reviewed quickly via a process similar to that currently used for exploratory proposals.

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