Time Allocation Committee (TAC) Guidelines

1. Purpose

In the "real world", the purpose of a TAC is to review proposals for telescope time, decide which will be granted access (typically 10 - 30%!), and schedule the telescope.

In this course, however, the intent is that all projects should get time. So our emphasis is slightly different. Our first objective is to review and critique the proposals, providing feedback and advice to the PIs that will increase their chances of obtaining good data and help them to write a better paper. Second, we want to logically group projects that can, or should, be done on the same night, and determine a prioritized schedule to follow as weather permits.

2. Procedure

a. Before the TAC Meeting

After the proposal deadline, the reviewer assignments will be posted here. Each proposal will be assigned to a primary and secondary reviewer. Each reviewer should critically read the proposal, with the intent of identifying weaknesses and strengths. This should be an in-depth examination; to the extent possible, reviewers should verify the exposure time estimates and consider the reasonableness of the science objective and the total time request. Examples of proposal strengths could include: flexibility; high probability of obtaining an interesting result; ability to tolerate less than optimal observing conditions; attempts to realistically "push the envelope" of the hardware. Weaknesses might include unrealistic exposure time estimates, inadequate consideration of calibration issues, very large (multiple-night) time requirements, or high probability of a null result. Each reviewer will fill out a review form , listing the proposal's strengths and weaknesses (follow this link for an example). These written reviews should be in grammatical English and complete sentences, and should be submitted the day before the TAC meeting.

While only the assigned reviewers for each proposal will be producing written reviews, all TAC members are expected to thoroughly read all of the proposals before the meeting.

b. TAC Meeting

The TAC meeting will be conducted as realistically as possible, with two exceptions: the PIs will be in the room during discussion of their proposals; and "local experts" will be in attendance to give additional advice and comments.

The first part of the meeting will be devoted to a discussion of each proposal. The written reviews will be distributed to everyone attending. The primary reviewer will concisely summarize the proposal, and describe its strong and weak points. The secondary reviewer will proceed with any additional comments, followed by an open discussion. PIs are not permitted to participate in the discussion of their own proposals.

It is important to remember that the purpose of this discussion is to help the PI strenghten the project and improve its chances of success. Under no circumstances is the PI to be asked to explain or defend his or her proposal.

The primary reviewer on each proposal is responsible for keeping notes on the TAC discussion, in order to prepare a final written review after the meeting (see below).

In the second part the TAC will consider issues of scheduling. For example, which projects require photometric conditions? Which can be performed on the same night? Are there monitoring (light curve) projects with targets in the same part of the sky, that can alternate between targets? The TAC will produce a number of "scripts", each of which lays out the allocation of time on a single night. An example might look like this:

Local Time                PI                  Target(s)
----------                --                  ---------

2015 - 2045               --                  Flats
2045 - 2200               --                  Alignment, darks, zeros, etc.
2200 - 2330            Smith/Jones            Photometric standards
2330 - 0130              Jones                NGC 3379
0130 - 0230            Smith/Jones            Photometric standards
0230 - 0430              Smith                M 92
0430 - 0600            Smith/Jones            Photometric standards
0600 - 0630               --                  Flats

The goal is to try to ensure that every project gets at least some useful data as soon as possible. The TAC should additionally determine which scripts should be used on the first photometric night and the first useable night.

c. After the Meeting

The primary reviewer on each proposal will synthesize his/her original written review with that of the secondary reviewer and the comments raised in the TAC meeting, and produce a final TAC report on the proposal using this form.

Last updated 2008 April 8. Written and maintained by Tom Statler