Oceanographic Technical Services, University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine&Atmospheric Science (RSMAS), 2018-2022

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University of Miami proposes to support technical services on R/V Walton Smith, a 96?, general purpose regional vessel operated and owned by the University of Miami?s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (RSMAS) as part of the US Academic Fleet. These vessels are scheduled by the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS). R/V Walton Smith conducts a substantial portion of her operations in the near shore waters of South Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, providing scientific information relevant to major environmental initiatives. As part of their basic operations they will provide one technician on each seagoing research project, and will maintain, calibrate and provide for qualified users items from their pool of shared-use research instrumentation. The budget in this proposal is for the first year of a five-year continuing grant. Out years are provided as estimates and the awards will be negotiated upon receipt of the annual report.The Program received the proposal on 12/20/17. As required, the report provided information regarding 2017 operations as well as outlining plans and a proposed budget for 2018. Research vessels in the Academic Fleet provide support for researchers from a variety of federal and state agencies, as well as some private sponsors. All users (or the appropriate funding agencies) share support for basic technical services on the vessel equally, via a day-rate, with each paying a share of the costs based on fractional usage of the vessel. The rates are negotiated annually with the NSF Program Manager.Broader Impacts The principal impact of the present proposal is under Merit Review Criterion 2 of the Proposal Guidelines (NSF 13-589). It provides infrastructure support for scientists to use the vessel and its shared-use instrumentation in support of their NSF-funded oceanographic research projects (which individually undergo separate review by the relevant research program of NSF). The acquisition, maintenance and operation of shared-use instrumentation allows NSF-funded researchers from any US university or lab access to working, calibrated instruments for their research, reducing the cost of that research, and expanding the base of potential researchers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.