As a final project, you will be writing a General User (GU) Proposal to the Advanced Photon Source (APS). This guide will assist you in preparing the proposal. This project is due on the day after our Final Examination.
NOTE: if you have not been able to obtain a registration from the APS, you still need to complete this assignment but do it in a document and submit a PDF of your proposal to me directly. In this case, be sure to answer all of the questions on each of the pages just as you would have done if you could submit a proposal. The assignment will be incomplete unless you do this!
Once you have registered with the APS, you may begin a GU proposal. You will see the screen shown below. Select the "General Users" button.
You will now have to fill in a proposal title and answer all the questions about the experiment. Make sure to click on all the radio buttons and select a research subject, then press the "Next" button at the bottom of the page.
This page is where you fill in the names of the experimenters. You should see yourself at the top but you need to put yourself in as an experimenter as well. Then add me (you can search for me with the "Find" link and just put "Segre" in the search box). This will give me access to your proposal.
The next page is where you insert your abstract. Make sure to keep to the character limit!
The Beam Time Request is the trickiest part of the proposal. You need to make a separate beam time request for each different beamline you need to carry out your experiment. insert the total number of shifts you are requesting for the duration of the experiment (you might want to come to the APS more than once) but you will have to justify this later in the proposal so ask for a reasonable amount for the experiment you are interested in carrying out. Then select the beamlines which are suitable for your experiment. You need to consult the Beamlines Directory to figure out which beamlines are suitable for your experiment. There may be multiple instruments available on each beamline so you may also need to select the instrument. If you have any specialized equipment you are bringing to the beamline, add this too and make a request for the number of shifts that you want during the upcoming run (this is not the total that you inserted above if you plan to come more than once).
This is the meat of the proposal. Here you need answer questions about the scientific merit of the proposed experiment, why you have chosen a specific beamline and the APS, and make a strong case for the amount of time you have chosen to request for your experiment. The latter needs to be justified as carefully as possible. You need to describe the experiment itself and let the review panel know about the experience of your team. Include any references.
Finally, you need to choose the panel which will review your proposal. This is usually dependent on technique. At this point, DO NOT SUBMIT the proposal, just "Save" it and then tell me that it is done and what the GU number is. This can be found at the top of each page and in the case of the images here, the proposal number is 30230. having this number makes it possible for me to find your proposal and read it.
