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)是一个由联邦政府资助的研究和开发中心，由国家科学基金会(NSF)赞助，由一个管理组织根据与NSF的合作协议运营。根据这一奖项，大学天文学研究协会(AURA)公司将在2015年10月1日至2020年9月30日期间管理和运营NOAO。在获奖期间，AURA将把NOAO带入一个专注于数据科学的时代；帮助天文学家获取和使用包含数百万至数十亿天体观测的极大和复杂的数据集。这些数据集和基于这些数据集的后续观测将由国家海洋和大气局运营的亚利桑那州和智利的设施以及其他陆基和天基设施产生。AURA将与大学科学家、其他领先的联邦资助的国家天文和物理中心以及国际合作伙伴关系来执行其计划。基于与合作伙伴以及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，并最有可能实现科学投资回报最大化。智力优势：通过AURA设想的NOAO，来自世界各地的高素质科学家将使用在亚利桑那州和智利由NOAO运营的设施获得的丰富数据集以及个别、有针对性的观测数据集来调查广泛的研究问题，例如探测和表征地球附近对人类构成潜在威胁的小型(直径10米)小行星。解开银河系的组装历史，测量时空宇宙结构中的微小涟漪，以更多地了解神秘的暗物质，并创建更准确的地图，展示自大爆炸以来在暗能量影响下的时空如何展开和扩张。这项研究的很大一部分将需要采用、适应和使用目前在几乎所有研究、商业和政府领域出现的大数据可视化和分析技术。通过NOAO，AURA还将继续与能源部(DOE)、美国国家航空航天局(NASA)和国家科学基金会开展新的、强有力的研究和技术开发合作。NOAO将继续吸引其社区的多样性，从亚利桑那州和智利NOAO设施的当地低收入小学生，到在这些设施开始他们职业生涯的博士后学者，寻求研究经验的本科生，以及亚利桑那州和智利NOAO？S山区设施的数以万计的游客。AURA将继续其雄心勃勃的计划，从代表性不足的群体中招聘、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锋。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.