May is one of the busiest times of the year at the SERDP and ESTCP Office. We’ll spend much of this month at In Progress Review meetings for all of the Program Areas, while also moving forward in the review and selection of new SERDP and ESTCP projects for FY18.

We’re coming to a close on peer review for SERDP FY18 proposals. These will then make their way to the SERDP Technical Committee, and by July, we’ll have a short list of projects for FY18. These will go before the SERDP Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) in September and October for final approval.

In ESTCP, we’re in the middle of the selection process. By June, the Technical Committees will choose the full proposals to request and the investigators will need to submit them in early August. The selection meetings at which the investigators present their ESTCP proposals are scheduled for September in time to start the contracting process once our budget is finalized and funds are available for distribution.

We’re also very busy finalizing the details for the SERDP and ESTCP Symposium to be held on November 28 – 30, 2017 in Washington, D.C. We’re excited to be hosting the Symposium once again, in particular for the excellent opportunity for collaboration among our investigators and as a means to bring researchers and end users together. Every funded SERDP and ESTCP investigator attends the Symposium and presents their project results through both the technical sessions and the posters.  We’re very much looking forward to seeing the technical presentations and discussions this November.

Keep an eye out for updates on the Symposium website as we develop the technical sessions, and you can register to attend at the website also. Abstracts for the technical poster session are due June 30 and must be submitted on the SERDP and ESTCP website.