Cooperative Agreement for NSF's National Optical-infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory as a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC)

国家光学天文台（NOAO）是一个联邦资助的研究和发展中心（FFRDC），由国家科学基金会（NSF）赞助，并由管理组织根据与NSF的合作协议运营。 根据该奖项，大学天文学研究协会（AURA），Inc。AURA将在2015年10月1日至2020年9月30日期间管理和运营NOAO。在授予期间，AURA将带领NOAO进入一个专注于数据科学的时代;帮助天文学家获得和使用包含数百万到数十亿天体观测的超大型复杂数据集。 这些数据集和基于这些数据集的后续观测将由美国国家海洋天文台在亚利桑那州和智利运营的设施以及其他地面和空间设施生成。 AURA将与大学科学家、其他主要的联邦资助的国家天文学和物理学中心以及国际合作伙伴合作执行其计划。 根据与合作伙伴以及NSF的持续对话，AURA将每年更新其计划，以确保NOAO提供社区所需的服务和能力，并最有可能最大限度地提高科学投资回报率。通过AURA设想的NOAO，来自世界各地的高素质科学家将使用丰富的数据集以及个人，NOAO在亚利桑那州和智利运营的设施获得的有针对性的观测数据集，以调查广泛的研究问题，如小行星的探测和表征。（直径10米）地球附近的小行星，对人类构成潜在威胁，解开银河系的组装历史，测量宇宙时空结构中的小涟漪，以了解更多关于神秘的暗物质，并创建一个更准确的地图，说明自大爆炸以来，在暗能量的影响下，时空是如何展开和扩展的。 大部分研究都需要采用、调整和使用大数据可视化和分析技术，这些技术现在几乎出现在研究、商业和政府的所有领域。 通过NOAO，AURA还将继续与能源部（DOE）、国家航空航天局（NASA）和NSF开拓新的、强有力的研究和技术开发合作。更广泛的影响：通过投资联邦基金，所有公民都是NOAO计划的利益相关者。NOAO将继续参与其社区的多样性，从低收入的小学生到亚利桑那州和智利的NOAO设施，到博士后学者，他们开始在这些设施的职业生涯，寻求研究经验的本科生，以及成千上万的NOAO游客。在亚利桑那州和智利的山区设施。 AURA将继续其雄心勃勃的计划，从代表性不足的群体中招募、培训和留住科学家和工程师，鼓励他们成为新的、充满活力的研究和技术开发的先驱。 培训学生和早期职业科学家使用大数据技术是该奖项的主要目标。

The National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC), sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and operated by a managing organization under cooperative agreement with NSF. Under this award, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. will manage and operate NOAO for the period 1 October 2015 to 30 September 2020.During the award period, AURA will lead NOAO into an era that focuses on Data Science; helping astronomers obtain and use extremely large and complex data sets containing observations of millions to billions of celestial objects. These data sets and the follow-up observations based on them will be generated by facilities in Arizona and Chile operated by NOAO as well as other ground-based and space-based facilities. AURA will execute its plan in partnership with university-based scientists, other leading federally funded national centers for astronomy and physics, and international collaborations. Based on an ongoing dialogue with its partners as well as the NSF, AURA will update its plan on an annual basis to ensure that NOAO is delivering the services and capabilities needed by the community and most likely to maximize the scientific return-on-investment.Intellectual Merit: Via the NOAO envisioned by AURA, highly qualified scientists from around the world will use rich data sets as well as individual, targeted observational data sets obtained at NOAO---operated facilities in Arizona and Chile to investigate a broad range of research problems such as the detection and characterization of small (10s of meters in diameter) asteroids near Earth that are potential threats to humanity, untangling the assembly history of the Milky Way, measuring small ripples in the cosmic fabric of space-time in order to learn more about the mysterious dark matter, and creating a more accurate map of how space-time unfolded and expanded since the Big Bang under the influence of dark energy. Much of this research will require adopting, adapting, and using the Big Data visualization and analysis techniques now emerging in almost all areas of research, commerce, and government. Through NOAO, AURA will also continue to pioneer new, vigorous research and technology development collaborations with the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and NSF.Broader Impacts: Through the investment of federal funds, all citizens are stakeholders in the NOAO program. NOAO will continue to engage the diversity of its community from low-income primary-school students local to NOAO facilities in Arizona and Chile, to postdoctoral scholars who begin their careers at those facilities, undergraduate students seeking research experiences, and the tens of thousands of visitors to NOAO?s mountain-based facilities in Arizona and Chile. AURA will continue its ambitious program to recruit, train, and retain scientists and engineers from underrepresented groups, encouraging them to be pioneers in new, vigorous research and technology development. Training students and early career scientists in the use of Big Data techniques is a major goal of this award.