In 2008 we received 8 applications. Awards by our Grants Committee totaling $13,585 were as follows (principal investigator indicated in parentheses):

1. The University of Alabama in Huntsville (Lior M. Burko). $3,000 to purchase a high-end multi-core computer which would make possible the simulation of extreme mass-ratio binaries and the computation of the emitted gravitational waveform.

2. Carthage College (Douglas N. Arion). $2,035 to upgrade camera electronics which will allow students to engage in a wider range of observational activities, including multiband photometric observations, spectral classification of cluster members, and further mapping of planetary nebula structure in multiple elements.

3. The American Association of Variable Star Observers (Arne A. Henden). $1,600 to purchase a JHKL set for the multichannel development effort led by Vincent Dovydatis, and to purchase one set of J&H filters for each of the two NIR imaging cameras that will be installed on the AAVSO 24-inch telescopes. The F.A.R. gratefully acknowledges the donation by the Institute for Space Observations of the funds for this grant.

4. Vanderbilt University (Kelly Holley-Bockelmann). $3,400 to purchase a workstation that will be used for analyzing very large data sets obtained from high resolution numerical simulations aimed at resolving outstanding issues with black hole growth and survival in the Universe.

5. West Chester University (Karen Vanlandingham). $3,550 to purchase an IDL Mini-Lab license (10 seats) from ITT Visual Information Solutions and an additional one-year maintenance agreement that will provide software maintenance, including upgrades, and technical support for two years following the purchase of the license.