Cycle 5: Homeier – specutils work on Spectrum representation and I/O

finance/proposal-calls/cycle5/homeier-specutils.md

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+# Homeier: Representation and I/O of multiple spectra in specutils
+
+### Project Team
+Derek Homeier
+
+### Project Description
+
+#### Roadmap Items
+List which [roadmap](https://github.com/astropy/astropy-project/blob/main/roadmap/roadmap.md) item(s) this work will help address?
+- Functionality
+  - :large_orange_diamond: Improve support for reading and writing spectra using the IVOA SpectrumDM.
+- Documentation
+  - :large_orange_diamond: Improve integration of core package and coordinated package documentation.
+
+### Project / Work
+
+#### Create functional infrastrucure for multi-Spectrum objects
+
+- Write round-tripping writers/loaders for SpectrumList and potentially SpectrumCollection
+
+- Ensure adherence to standards like IVOA SpectrumDM
+
+- Investigate more efficient data storage options for inhomogeneous collections,
+  such as ragged array/awkward-array.
+
+- Participate in Spectroscopy Dev telecons (12 hrs total).
+
+- Correct and improve [loader documentation](https://github.com/astropy/specutils/issues/952)
+
+- Work on [nonlinear multispec formats](https://github.com/astropy/specutils/pull/1199)
+
+### Approximate Budget
+currency: US $
+
+- Salary under independent external contractor agreement: 6 hours weekly for 45 weeks,
+  a total of 270 hours (accounting for holidays) @ $120 / hour
+
+- TOTAL: $32,400
+
+- Minimum viable amount: any part of the above work package at $5,400 for 1 hr / week,
+  in roughly the priority of tasks as listed there, but likely not equal workloads.
+
+### Period of Performance
+Jan 1, 2026-Dec 31, 2026