Criteria for Proposals for Non-Core Funded Activities

When NCAR was created in 1960, one of the key purposes was to help the universities “mount an attack” on fundamental atmospheric science problems that were beyond the scale of an individual university department. The 17 February 1959 University Committee on Atmospheric Research report, Preliminary Plans for a National Institute for Atmospheric Research (the “Blue Book”) that established NCAR also said that this could be done in a way that “preserved the natural alliance of research and education without unbalancing the university programs.” Over time this partnership has been very effective and has propelled atmospheric sciences well beyond what could have been accomplished by NCAR or the university community acting alone. To ensure that NCAR maintained this natural alliance with the community when proposing for funding over and beyond its NSF core support for laboratory operations, a process was established to review non-core proposals. This review is currently administered by a subcommittee of the President’s Advisory Committee on University Relations (PACUR). In April l993, the PACUR began reviewing NCAR's non-core proposals. UCAR Office of Programs (UOP) non-core proposals were added in 1995 and UCAR Education and Outreach Office (E&O) proposals in 2001. This review process is important for two reasons: it is an assurance to the universities that there is no unfair competition and it serves as a mechanism to encourage collaboration between NCAR, UOP and E&O, and the university community.

Review Criteria. UCAR proposals for non-core funding must: (1) be mission appropriate, (2) use UCAR facilities fairly, (3) be collaborative or community service oriented, and (4) identify co-sponsorship levels. To determine whether proposals meet these criteria, UCAR staff must provide the following information:

Mission Appropriate. Explain how the proposal supports the research, facilities, education and/or leadership objectives and strategic plans of the appropriate entity within UCAR (e.g., UCAR, NCAR, UOP, or E&O).
Fair Facility Use. Identify which UCAR facilities will be used for the proposed activity: (check all that apply)
- High-Performance Computing,
- Observational,
- Research Data,
- Community Models,
- None
- Explain how the proposed activity does not utilize these facilities in a way that is not available to the typical university investigator.

Collaboration Level. Identify the collaboration type (pick a, b, c, or d) and provide the requested explanation:

a.	Joint (e.g., separate proposal from UCAR and each university institution). No further explanation needed provided the proposal is clear as to how it supports and complements the community.
b.	Collaborative with funding to or from university partner. No further explanation needed provided the proposal is clear as to how it supports and complements the community.
c.	Collaborative with no funding to or from university partner. Describe in detail the nature of the collaboration including letters of collaboration. The collaboration should be significant and meaningful. The level and scope of the collaboration must be clearly stated (including graduate student participation if applicable) in both the Advance Notice Forms and in the letters of collaboration. In addition, it must be clearly stated how this collaboration is supportive of and complementary to the university PI.
d.	No University Collaboration. Explain how the proposed activity supports and complements the university community through: 1) contribution to the development or support of community facilities, community models, community data sets, or other community projects such as field programs, workshops, visitor programs, or community meetings, or 2) development or transfer of UCAR-developed technology or expertise to the scientific community or to society at large with demonstrable benefit to the community and to society.

Co-sponsorship Level. (NCAR Proposals Only) Describe and justify any activities that are co-sponsored by NSF Base Funds (i.e., NCAR funds from NSF that contribute to research sponsored by other organizations -- NOAA, NASA, etc)

Revised and approved by the PACUR (Formerly URC) in April 2007