NOAO received 417 new proposals for the 1998B semester (1 August 1998 - 31 January 1999), up 16 from the previous semester. These include 179 proposals for CTIO and 238 for KPNO. Twenty-seven percent (or 111) of our users elected to use the Web proposal form to prepare and submit their proposals, and an additional 20 or so proposals were prepared on the Web but submitted by e-mail. All proposals were submitted electronically, either by e-mail or over the Web -- none were submitted on paper. Sixty-three proposals, or 15% of the total, were requests for thesis observations. Seventy-two percent of all proposals included figures; we received over 500 PostScript figure files.
This is also a remarkable semester for the number of proposals related to solar system programs -- a total of 16 programs. SCOPE has formed a new panel of the Telescope Allocation Committee -- the Solar System Panel -- to provide a more comprehensive review of proposals in this area.
As in previous semesters, most investigators were able to obtain the latest version of the proposal template. The most significant change to the proposal form for the 1998B semester was the new "Experimental Design" question and the elimination of the "Why NOAO" question from the previous form. The Web version offered a new option to import an old LaTeX proposal template into the new form for updating and resubmitting. We are grateful to all investigators who make the effort to obtain the new forms.
Another significant new feature was the " NOAO Proposal Queue Status" Web page that allowed investigators to check the status of their proposals. You can link to this page at http://www.noao.edu/scope/propinfo.html or from the Proposal Information link on the NOAO home page.
We anticipate that changes in the proposal form in September for the 1999A semester will be modest, as we devote our efforts to preparing for proposals for the Gemini 8-m telescopes. The proposal forms for submission in March 1999, for time at KPNO and CTIO will be our first test of the new template designed for Gemini programs, although proposals for the Gemini telescopes will not be accepted until September 1999, at the earliest.
Caty Pilachowski for the SCOPE Proposal Team