Submit a Proposal for an Approved Program

An Approved Program (AP) enables an investigator, or a group of investigators, to receive an assured percentage of beam time to carry out an extended program of research for a period of up to three years.

AP Proposal Submission Deadlines

• January 15
• July 15

AP Proposal Submission Guidelines

Step 1: Contact the ALS

Email the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to provide advance notification that you will be submitting an Approved Program application. You may choose this opportunity to suggest potential referees for your proposal.

Step 2: Submit a Proposal

Read the Proposal Writing Guidelines and Scoring Criteria.

Complete the AP form online. Make sure all publications resulting from previous work at the ALS are added to our Publications Database before completing the AP form, since these will be appended to your proposal. You will be asked to attach a PDF file of the scientific case. The scientific case may not exceed 10 pages in length, written in 12-point font or larger, and it should include the following sections:

• Title of the proposal
• Abstract
• Justification for AP status, including resources to be contributed, beamline, and amount of beam time requested
• Narrative description of the science to be pursued
• Previous scientific accomplishments
• Synchrotron track record
• Synchrotron-related publications

Review of AP proposals

Proposals will be sent out for external review and will also be evaluated by the Proposal Study Panels (PSP), which will provide its evaluation to the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC). The SAC then makes its recommendation regarding the disposition of the proposal to the ALS Division Director.

A letter will be sent to the PIs of successful proposals specifying the percentage of beam time and the period of the AP. The AP will terminate at the end of the prescribed period, but an additional period can be requested with another full AP proposal. Proposals that are not accepted as an AP may be considered as General User proposals and assigned a score by the PSP for consideration of beam-time allocation along with other GU proposals.

Criteria and Policy for Granting an Approved Program

The following criteria for granting an AP were established by the SAC:

• The science must be judged as well above that of a General User Program proposal.
• The investigator(s) will bring resources, personnel or equipment that will enhance the capability of the facility.

AP status is not an entitlement based solely on the historical success of a group, but rather is intended to create a direct partnership with the ALS, and support its strategic mission of performing world-class science. As only a limited number of APs can be accommodated on a particular beamline, it is anticipated that relatively few proposals will be approved.

In general, members of an AP are not entitled to submit additional General User Proposals for beam time on the beamline where they have AP time.

See information on other types of proposals.