The Maryland-NOAO Instrument Partnership (2003-2009)

TL;DR

This paper reviews the seven-year partnership between Maryland and NOAO, highlighting its success in developing and deploying new instrumentation and data capabilities at observatories, benefiting the astronomical community.

Contribution

It documents the collaborative development of the NEWFIRM imager and data systems, showcasing a successful model of partnership in astronomical instrumentation.

Findings

Successful deployment of NEWFIRM at KPNO and CTIO

Enhanced data reduction and archiving capabilities

Strengthened collaboration between Maryland and NOAO

Abstract

Seven years ago, with the encouragement of the NSF and AURA, NOAO requested proposals from the community to partner with the national observatory to improve instrumentation and/or telescope capabilities at KPNO and CTIO. Of the proposals that were selected, one came from the University of Maryland with the goals of helping NOAO complete the development, construction, and deployment of a new, wide-field, near-IR imager (NEWFIRM) and of working with NOAO to develop data reduction pipelines and data archiving capabilities at NOAO. By all measures, the Maryland-NOAO instrument partnership has been a resounding success. In this article, we briefly describe the positive impact this partnership has had on Maryland, NOAO, and the astronomical community.