Making the CHARA Array, Part Ⅱ - project management: 15 years on thin ice

摘要

The reviewers of our first NSF proposal asked us to prepare a more ambitious plan, and we did. When it was funded, the scope of the resources made available was far below the scope of the project. What to do? The only way to proceed within budget was to eliminate the entire professional engineering component of the proposal team, and we did so. This left the CHARA staff and a few consultants. The story of building the CHARA Array is largely the story of how to build a facility and instrument with no engineers, no managers, and no meetings. How was this possible?