Abstract
Over its more than 30-year history, the Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation (ATI) program has provided grants to support technology development and instrumentation for ground-based astronomy. Through a combination of automated literature assessment and in-depth literature review, we present a survey of ATI-funded research and its impact on astronomy and society. Award acknowledgment and literature citation statistics for ATI are comparable to a comparison astronomy grant program that does not support technology development. Citation statistics for both NSF-funded programs exceed those of the general astronomical literature. Numerous examples demonstrate the significant, long-term impact of ATI-supported research in astronomy. As part of this impact, ATI grants have provided many early career researchers the opportunity to gain critical professional experience. However, technology development unfolds over a time period that is longer than an individual grant. A longitudinal perspective shows that investments in technology and instrumentation have led to extraordinary scientific progress.
Highlights
Ever since the dawn of modern astronomy, better observations have enabled a better understanding of the universe
Basic information on all National Science Foundation (NSF) awards is publicly available. Such information includes the NSF award ID, principal investigator (PI) name and organization, title and abstract, program name, start and end dates, and awarded amount to date
Not adopted in the current lasers, this program was a key evolution to the current generation of laser guide star (LGS) systems and included developing a physical understanding of the impact of various laser formats; it was the laser type used during the early science with adaptive optics (AO) systems on Gemini, Keck, and Subaru.[42]
Summary
Ever since the dawn of modern astronomy, better observations have enabled a better understanding of the universe. This program provides individual investigator and collaborative research grants for the development of new technologies and instrumentation for astronomy and astrophysics. While it may be obvious that, without telescopes and detectors, modern astronomy would not exist, in an environment of constrained budgets and competing funding priorities, the relative importance of new technology and instrumentation cannot be taken for granted With this spirit in mind, this paper presents a historical overview of the ATI program with the goal of addressing the impact of ATI-supported research. A new technological solution to a particular problem may enable a wide range of scientific investigations, spur additional innovation in the field, or comprise a critical role in a larger initiative These impacts may not be fully apparent until years or even decades after an initial award.
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