The 2008 Unidata Equipment Awards Program
Sponsored by the National Science Foundation
Terry Mitchell and Mohan Ramamurthy
October 15, 2008
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We had a low profile year but received another quality group of proposals with our Unidata Community Equipment Awards.  This year special consideration was given to  proposals that further the use of Unidata tools and systems (e.g., THREDDS, NetCDF, IDV, GIS connections) to support education and research on various aspects of climate (e.g., diagnostics, change and impacts), including upgrades to existing classroom and laboratory equipment or procurement of new computers to support climate studies.  Additionally, to enhance participation and advancement of underrepresented populations, proposals submitted by investigators in Community and Baccalaureate colleges and minority serving institutions was encouraged.

We set aside $100k to fund the Unidata Community Equipment Awards, which includes UCAR overhead on awarded subcontracts.  A request for proposals was sent out on January 17th with a submission deadline of March 14th.  A Review Panel was formed and met on Wednesday, April 9th at the Unidata Program Center.  Of the four proposals that were received, three stood out and each received a part of the total funds allotted for the program:

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Dr. Christopher G. Herbster – “The Creation of a Community Resource for Weather Case Studies and Innovative Real-Time Weather Data for the IDD”

Jackson State University, Loren D. White – “Unidata Equipment Proposal to Upgrade the JSU Meteorology High-Performance Computing Lab”

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey,  Steven G. Decker -  “Upgrading the Rutgers Weather Center to Meet Today’s Needs”

Congratulations to all of the recipients and we thank the Review Panel members, NSF and the Unidata community for their continued support of the Equipment Awards Program.