AAS Travel Support for NRAO Summer Students

The NRAO has a small amount of funds to help students attend the winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society in the January following their appointment, for the purpose of presenting a poster or talk about their summer research project. If in discussion with the NRAO advisor it is decided that it would be worthwhile for the student to attend this meeting, then the student should prepare a proposal, as described below.

This years AAS meeting will be held on January 3-7, 2010 in Washington, DC. The Abstract deadline is Thursday, 1 October 2009, 9pm EDT. More details can be found at the AAS website at http://www.aas.org/.

To be eligible for NRAO support, the student must have submitted a project summary and written report outlining their summer research to their local Summer Student coordinator by the end of September. In addition, students should submit a brief proposal to the Summer Student program (see example below). Proposals should be composed in plain ascii text and emailed to jmangum@ nrao.edu by Wednesday September 16, 2009. A small committee will meet shortly after the proposal deadline to decide the number and amount of the awards, and students will be informed of the results by Friday, September 18th 2009. Provided that there are suitable funds available, almost all eligible applications will receive some funding. Proposals which include contributing funds from the students' home institution will be viewed very favorably by the award committee, and are likely to receive the full amount requested of NRAO. We encourage students to contact their home departments early to investigate the possibility of matching funds. A successful proposal should contain the following elements:

1. Students name, institution, and contact information on Friday September 18th, 2009.
2. Project Title, NRAO advisor, and any co-authors.
3. Summary of results to be presented at AAS meeting.
4. Detailed budget request, including estimated airfare (US flag carrier, economy travel) and hotel cost, registration costs, and any contributing funds from students home institution.

I will fill out a joint travel authorization for all of you. At the meeting, please give me your travel expense receipts. I will give you a check for your allotted travel grant. Please come by the NRAO booth to pick this up.

Successful awardees must acknowledge support from the NSF REU program in their AAS presentation. Additionally, the NSF and NRAO logos must appear on the presentation.

Example Student Proposal for AAS Travel Support

Ima Student
Mid-USA University and National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Mia Mentor
National Radio Astronomy Observatory

The gamma-ray burst of 1998 March 29 (GRB 980329) had an unusually dim optical afterglow despite the fact that it was readily detectable at X-ray and radio wavelengths. Taylor et al. (1998) were the first to suggest this dimness was due to a high dust content in the region where the burst originated. Other explanations, however, require that the burst have occurred at a redshift of ~5. Taylor et al. monitored the afterglow for a month after the burst and have already published their results. We intend to present the results of follow-up observations made with the VLA at 8.46 GHz, 4.86 GHz, and 1.43 GHz for up to 500 days after the burst. We will discuss preliminary applications of models to the radio data as well as a broadband view of the afterglow to include x-ray and optical data.

We intend to present a poster at the 215th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, 3-7 January, 2010 in Washington, DC. A proposed and tentative budget is listed below:

Registration (AAS Undergraduate Nonmember rate): $ 126
Travel (economy air DC-LAX R.T., 
        including Sat night stay):               $ 639
Shuttle IAD to DC ($17 each way):                $  53
Lodging (5 nights at AAS discount double 
         occupancy rate of $199/night 
         plus 15% tax; assumes room share):      $ 572
Per diem (5 days at $71 per day) :               $ 355
Poster Printing Costs:                           $ 100
=======================================================
Total                                            $ 1845
Support from home institution                    $ 922
Total request from NRAO:                         $ 923