CMMS Business
Next Round of MRS Funding
We used this wiki for discussions prior to the last application for Major Resource Support. It is not too early to start planning for the next round. We are currently half way through our 5-year grant. But remember that we must apply in the previous year, and that the process starts with a Letter of Intent with a May 1st deadline. That means that detailed planning must be underway early in 2013, just over a year away! We need to choose a P.I. to manage the application. Note the March 2008 posting below: "...Paul should take on this responsibility one more time" (my emphasis). I did that and now someone younger should take over. (Paul Percival)
I concur. Note that if you end a message with four tildes ("∼∼∼∼") it will stamp it automatically with both your user ID and the time/date. -- Jess 21:42, 20 January 2012 (PST)
Update 18 March 2008
Jason has accepted our invitation. The list of MRS applicants is now Percival (P.I.), Brewer, Chow, Clyburne, Fleming, Ghandi, Kiefl, Kreitzman, Luke, MacFarlane and Sonier.
CMMS Council Meeting March 2008
Sat. March 15 TRIUMF Main Office Building Conference Room 12:30 pm
Present: J.H. Brewer, D.G. Fleming, R.F. Kiefl, S.R. Kreitzman, G.M. Luke, P.W. Percival, and J.E. Sonier; K.H. Chow and K. Ghandi by telephone conference (intermittently); D. Arseneau to assist with computer/telephone conferences. Absent: W.A. MacFarlane
1. Graeme Luke summarized the CMMS presentation to PPAC by himself and Rob Kiefl. Graeme then reported the principal recommendations of PPAC concerning CMMS. Essentially the news is good: CMMS was praised for its productivity and there was clear recognition that CMMS deserves a greater share of TRIUMF’s resources.
2. There was discussion of the pros and cons of changing the MFA P.I. for the upcoming MRS grant application. The conclusion was that Paul should take on this responsibility one more time.
3. Paul displayed lists of past MFA co-applicants and suggested that Dominic Ryan would not want to continue since he has not used TRIUMF for many years. Paul displayed a list of possible NSERC-eligible CMMS users and it was agreed that Jason Clyburne should be invited. He represents an additional university (St. Mary’s, in Atlantic Canada) and he is a Canada Research Chair.
Action: Paul will check with Dominic and contact Jason. Done. See above update.
4. Paul described some new features of the MRS application, including the possibility of listing up to 10 major users who are not NSERC grant-eligible.
Action: Paul will distribute a list of suggestions for discussion and approval.
5. The Letter of Intent (due May 1st) must show how CMMS qualifies for the MRS program (easy to do). Potential referees are not required at this stage, but the funding request is necessary and so must be established in the next few weeks. We will ask for a 5 year grant.
6. Paul reviewed our MFA funding history, showing how we were rated very highly by the scientific panel and recommended for full or almost full funding. The grants set by the MFA oversight committee were much lower. It was agreed that a site visit would be valuable and (if MRS is similar to MFA) there would be a threshold grant size to qualify for a visit and that we could expect to exceed it.
7. It was agreed that we should ask for an increase in personnel: 1 scientist and 1 technician immediately (in addition to the 2 scientists and 3 technicians under the current MFA grant), and an additional scientist when M20 is completed. (The M20 technician would be covered by the CFI Infrastructure Operating Funds.)
Action: Paul and Syd will review salary projections and develop a draft budget.
8. A concern was raised about the need for wider consultation in decisions involving expenditure of CMMS funds (MFA, User fees, TRIUMF contribution). Since management of the facility is a required feature of the MRS application, it is important to demonstrate good practice (hence these Minutes).
Action: Graeme will send Paul some comments about management of another facility.
9. Jeff has taken the initiative in considering a bid to organize the MuSR conference in 2011. It was generally agreed that it was “our turn” again, and that the timing would be good, with completion of the M9A and M20 beam projects. A formal bid must be submitted during uSR08 in Tsukuba.
Action: Jeff will set up a wiki page where we can discuss this topic further (particularly location and date). Paul will consult his records (MuSR93, CSC98) to estimate gross costs.
10. Graeme gave some details of a workshop organized by Bob Cywinski on FFAG to be held in Europe April 8/9 this year.
links for more on FFAG: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutrino_Factory http://pubweb.bnl.gov/users/jsberg/www/talks/060606.pdf
The meeting adjourned at about 2.30 pm.
