The deadline for this special call has passed. If you wish to submit a proposal on a topic relevant to homeland security, please consider submitting your proposal as part of the routine TESS proposal submission process (for details, go to the TESS home page: www.experimentcentral.org ).

We received lots of interest for this special call and currently have several proposals in the peer review process.

For each proposal, TESS will obtain two or more peer reviews from members of the scientific community with particular expertise in the subject matter. Our goal is to complete the peer review process for these special call proposals and notify principal investigators by October 15, 2007, but this date is subject to change.

Once proposals are accepted, they will also receive feedback from an administrator within the Department of Homeland Security. The goal of including this additional advice will be to provide TESS investigators with additional input about how their work may be most relevant for policymakers. The DHS policy review will not determine final disposition of a proposal; that decision rests with the TESS Co-Principal Investigators.

If you have submitted a proposal in response to this special call, we encourage you to proceed with processes necessary at your institution to acquire approval from your local institutional review board. All projects must have IRB approval on file with TESS before they can be fielded.