Oceanographic Technical Support CY 2024 Year 1 of 5

The University of Delaware (UD) proposes to support oceanographic technical services on R/V Hugh R. Sharp operated as part of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet (ARF), which is scheduled by the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS). As part of their basic operations, UD will provide shipboard technicians on each seagoing research project to support basic services. Technicians will maintain, calibrate and provide for qualified users, items from their pool of shared-use research instrumentation. Research vessels in the ARF 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 costs 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 principal impact of the present proposal is under Merit Review Criterion 2 of the Proposal Guidelines (NSF 23-525). 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.