Infrastructure Improvements at the National Solar Observatory

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This award supports infrastructure upgrades at the National Solar Observatory (NSO) that will ensure the viability of current NSO assets for supporting the solar physics community for the next several years until the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope comes online. The funds are designated to support forefront solar research by replacing failing and outdated systems at NSO telescopes and data handling facilities and to ensure the continued safety of operations at NSO observatory sites for visiting scientists and staff. A total of $1.4M is awarded to replace obsolete and failing instrumentation, to conduct maintenance on items that have been deferred due to previous funding constraints, and to upgrade computing and data storage capabilities to match the output of new instrumentation that have been installed on NSO's flagship telescopes.NSO facilities are used by the solar community to address many outstanding problems in solar physics and the solar causes of space weather and its impacts on the Earth. Through these upgrades, NSO?s ability to support this research will be substantially enhanced. Information technology upgrades will permit NSO to store and disseminate data to a broader segment of the solar community. NSO participation in programs to broaden participation in research, such as the NSF Partnerships in Astronomy & Astrophysics Research and Education program and its other ongoing student programs, will benefit from improved observing and data handling capabilities, making it easier for students to work with forefront solar observations