The SDSS Legacy: Call for Letters of Intent

The Steering Committee for After Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) IV (AS4) seeks Letters Of Intent (LOIs) regarding long-term plans for data distribution and public engagement. These LOIs are in preparation for a call for proposals, due in fall 2016.

Data Management and Long Term Archiving
One of the triumphs of the SDSS I-IV enterprise has been the curation of an extensive, easily accessible, and user-friendly data archive and associated data products, distributed with fully integrated education and public engagement initiatives. We solicit LOIs from teams (which can be multi-institutional) to continue the SDSS-IV legacy in these areas. Letters should address the distribution of the full legacy data set, accommodating the existence or not of new data from an AS4 program. They should address how the long-term data archiving and distribution will be achieved.

Education and Public Outreach
SDSS has played a crucial role in citizen science efforts, science education, and public engagement. The data distribution platforms have been integral to the success of these programs. LOIs should address how the plans will directly support and/or enable continuing efforts in this area.

Preparing your Letter of Intent
The LOIs should contain: a list of team members and their institutions; a high-level description of the data archive and the data access tools to be supported; a list of education and public engagement activities to be supported; a description of how the data archive would integrate with the data analysis and distribution needs of an AS4 program; a rough budget for development and maintenance; and any suggested funding concepts. At the LOI stage, plans which address subpackages, such as EPO plans or data access tools alone, are also welcome. At the proposal stage, plans should address the full scope of data and EPO. The SC will help connect teams submitting partial LOIs with other teams in order to integrate their plans into a full proposal where appropriate.

Submitting your Letter of Intent
The LOI should be no more than two pages in total length and must be emailed as a single PDF document to [email protected]. Review of LOIs will begin after 15 May 2016. Please include the last name of the LOI primary contact in your email subject line and in all file names.

Proposal Solicitation
An initial review of LOIs will be completed by the SC by 15 June 2016. Teams will be invited to work on full proposals during a series of summer meetings (virtual and in person) in coordination with the SC.

Proposer Resources
Information for LOI writers will be made available on the SDSS webpage.

LOI teams are welcome to consult with members of the AS4 Steering Committee with questions regarding the scope and content of the LOIs.

• Juna Kollmeier (Carnegie Observatories, Chair)
• Conny Aerts (KU Leuven/Radboud)
• Scott Anderson (UW)
• Matthew Bershady (University of Wisconsin)
• Michael Blanton (NYU)
• Daniel Eisenstein (Harvard)
• Dani Maoz (TAU)
• HansWalter
• Rix (MPIA)
• Connie Rockosi: (UC Santa Cruz)
• Bruce Gillespie (ARC, ExOfficio)
• Rene Walterbos (ARC, ExOfficio)