Requests through NSF
Proposals can be submitted anytime through the NSF GEO Core solicitation. The NSF FIRP guidelines and timelines are no longer in effect.
Generally, NSF needs to approve a proposal at least 1 year in advance for projects that include user instrumentation or projects with operations away from Laramie. Shorter timelines may be feasible for local projects using facility instrumentation. NSF and the King Air Facility have a history of supporting educational projects, research projects (previously Track 1 & Track 3), and instrument development projects.
If you have questions about project feasibility, King Air availability, or instrument/platform
capabilities, you can reach out to a facility contact. Solicitation questions should
be directed to the GEO Core program contact.
Notifying the KA facility with a Statement of Interest (SOI) is appreciated although
not required.
Requests other than through NSF
Please reach out directly to the contacts for Facility Requests to discuss facility availability and instrumentation prior to completing the facility request form. Discussions with the facility will help define the expected timeline, which will also depend on the scale of the planned project. Following this, the facility request form should then be completed and sent in directly to the facility manager.
Contacts for Facility Requests
King Air inquires: Jeff French and Matt Burkhart | jfrench@uwyo.edu (307) 766-4143 and monoski@uwyo.edu | (307) 766-4150
WCL inquires: Owen Cruikshank | ocruiksh@uwyo.edu | (307) 766-3245
WCR inquires: Coltin Grasmick | cgrasmic@uwyo.edu | (307) 766-4899
Feasibility analysis
Each request is assessed by UWKA facility personnel for feasibility in terms of intended payload, flight operations, and project logistics, as well as anticipated budgetary needs. This assessment occurs for both NSF and non-NSF projects. The investigator(s) may be contacted at this time to answer additional questions regarding various aspects of the project. Facility personnel will attempt to work through any potential issues noted during the feasibility assessment, in order to give each project as high a chance of success as possible given operational and availability constraints. Requests may be made at this point to adjust payload, logistics, or other parameters as needed to maintain feasibility while accomplishing the project’s goals.
Once the request passes feasibility analysis, the project will be committed to the UWKA’s deployment calendar. Once the NSF proposal is funded, or (for a non-NSF project) a contract has been finalized, the UWKA team will begin working with the investigator(s) towards implementation.
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