AAS Electronic Notification Service - Announcement #75 NOV 99
[Mailed from aas.org at 4:35pm 10 NOV 99]
CONTENTS
- DOUBLING BILL (H.R. 3161) INTRODUCED IN HOUSE
- ROCHESTER TOPICAL SESSION PROPOSALS DUE
- YOUR DUES ARE DUE
- ANNUAL REVIEWS SHIPPING DELAYED
- ATLANTA MEETING REMINDER
- ATLANTA CAREER WORKSHOP
- REASONS TO COME EARLY AND LEAVE LATE AT THE ATLANTA AAS MEETING
- NASA SENIOR POSITIONS
- AAS IS READY FOR Y2K
- CALL FOR PROPOSALS WITH THE OVRO MILLIMETER-WAVE ARRAY
- SOFIA's DELAY IN THE SECOND CALL FOR PROPOSALS
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
1. DOUBLING BILL (H.R. 3161) INTRODUCED IN HOUSE
On October 28, 1999, Representative Heather Wilson of New Mexico's first Congressional district introduced a House version of a Senate measure (S.R. 296, passed in July) that authorizes doubling of federal funding for civilian research and development over the next decade. In Wilson's version of the bill, authorization is given for an increase in federal civilian R&D expenditure that will reach 2.6% of the total budget in 2010. Co-sponsors are currently being recruited and include Rush Holt (D-NJ), John Dingell (D-MI), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), James Maloney (D-CT), Ellen Tauscher (D-CA), Merrill Cook (R-UT), Bob Franks (R-NJ), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), and James E. Rogan (R-CA).
Members are encouraged to write letters to their representative encouraging them to either co-sponsor or at least support this bill as it moves through the legislative process. If your member is already a co-sponsor, write a letter thanking them for their leadership. More details will be available on the AAS policy web page (http://www.aas.org/policy).
_________________________________________________________
2. ROCHESTER TOPICAL SESSION PROPOSALS DUE
Proposals Due: 15 November 1999
Want your area of astronomy highlighted at next summer's AAS meeting? Two days of the four-day Rochester Meeting are available for Topical Sessions. Members interested in organizing Sessions are invited to submit proposals.
Further information is available at:
http://www.aas.org/meetings/topguide.html
_________________________________________________________
3. YOUR DUES ARE DUE
By now, all members should have received an invoice for renewing their membership for the year 2000. In order to ensure uninterrupted service of AAS publications please send renewal payments by 1 December 1999.
_________________________________________________________
4. ANNUAL REVIEWS SHIPPING DELAYED
The Annual Reviews of Astronomy & Astrophysics #37, is expected to be shipped during November. Members, who have ordered this book, should expect to receive it no later than mid December.
_________________________________________________________
5. ATLANTA MEETING REMINDER
Due 8 December 1999: Late Paper Submission
Early Meeting Registration
Paper Rescheduling Requests
Due 10 December 1999: Hotel Reservations
You will receive email notification as soon as the Atlanta Final Program is on-line, definitely by the end of November.
Please check the schedule for your presentation and if there is a problem, please contact Diana Alexander (diana@aas.org). No changes will be made to the program after 8 December.
_________________________________________________________
6. ATLANTA CAREER WORKSHOP
Tuesday, 11 January 2000
Workshop 2-5pm
One-on-One Resume critiquing 5-7pm
The Workshop provides participants with valuable information on career choices open to astronomers today as well as ways to sharpen job-hunting skills.
To register, send your name to Dawn-Marie Craig (dcraig@aas.org) and a check for $15 to the AAS Executive Office, 2000 Florida Ave., NW Suite 400, Washington DC 20009-1231.
See the Atlanta Meeting or Job Register webpages for more information (www.aas.org).
_________________________________________________________
7. REASONS TO COME EARLY AND LEAVE LATE AT THE ATLANTA AAS MEETING
Save money and do a good deed [at the Atlanta AAS meeting] -
Will you be attending the next AAS meeting? If you stay over Saturday night you may get a much cheaper airfare, AND do a good deed. We are looking for about a dozen astronomers to attend the Astronomer-Teacher Workshop from 1:30 - 5:30 Saturday afternoon. Teachers at past workshops have been particularly appreciative of the chance to talk informally with astronomers about their research, what life is like as an astronomer, to get something that has always puzzled them answered, etc. This is also a great way to improve your communication and outreach skills, or to find a teacher who would like to help put together the EPO component of a proposal.
If you can attend the workshop, please let us know at the AAS Education Office, aased@aas.org.
-Doug Duncan and Gina Brissenden
If you teach introductory astronomy, don't forget that "Astronomy 101 - A Continuing Dialogue" is held the first afternoon of every AAS Meeting. The discussion topics this time will be: Education Research and Assessment as Applied to Teaching Astronomy, Evolution - How Do We Deal With It?, and Using Planetariums and the Real Sky in Teaching.
_________________________________________________________
8. NASA SENIOR POSITIONS
NASA has reopened the recruitment for two important senior positions in the Research Program Management Division of the Office of Space Science at NASA headquarters. These positions, which originally appeared in the September 1999 AAS Job Register
http://www.aas.org/JobRegister/september/no10723.html
are: SENIOR SCIENTIST FOR PLANETARY PROTECTION, and SENIOR SCIENTIST FOR ASTROBIOLOGY. The ads will be re-posted in the December Job Register with an application deadline of 15 December 1999.
_________________________________________________________
9. AAS IS READY FOR Y2K
The AAS Executive Office has been getting ready for Y2K and we believe that all of our systems are ready to handle the new year. In an effort to ensure that our members are also ready to welcome 2000, we would like to recommend some of the following upgrades and enhancements to your personal systems.
Web Browsers include enhancements enabling users to browse effectively and avoid security risks. Upgrading to Netscape Communicator 4.6 or higher or Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher will ensure maximum browsing capabilities.
Ghostview - Postscript Reader 2.7 or higher in addition to Ghostview are helpful tools to read and print Postscript and Encapsulated Postscript files.
Adobe Acrobat Reader - 3.0 or higher is used to view and print PDF formatted files. These filetypes allow the publication to be printed and viewed the way the author intended it to look.
In addition to the above tools, please make sure your institution has evaluated your individual workstation for application software and operating system compatibility with Y2K.
If you have any questions, please direct them to Debbie Kovalsky, Manager Information Systems at the AAS -kovalsky@aas.org.
_________________________________________________________
10. CALL FOR PROPOSALS WITH THE OVRO MILLIMETER-WAVE ARRAY
The deadline for proposals for observations with the Owens Valley Radio Observatory millimeter-wave array in the period February 2000 through May 2000 is Monday, 10 January 2000, 5PM PST.
Proposals from investigators who are not at Caltech are strongly encouraged! In the past, external proposals have typically received about half of the assigned time in an observing season. All proposals are evaluated on a competitive basis independent of whether they involve internal collaborators.
Instructions for submitting proposals and technical information about the array can be found at the OVRO web site at
http://www.ovro.caltech.edu/mm/main.html
Questions concerning the interferometer or proposal submission should be directed to one of the OVRO postdocs listed at the above web site, or by contacting Anneila Sargent at afs@astro.caltech.edu (phone: 626-395-6622).
_________________________________________________________
11. SOFIA's DELAY IN THE SECOND CALL FOR PROPOSALS
To conform to NASA's re-baselined schedule for SOFIA, USRA is postponing the second call for instruments by 12 months. The expected call for second generation instrumentation is now March 2001.
In anticipation for the call, SOFIA will host several workshops at the June 2000 AAS meeting in Rochester. These session will cover airworthiness instrument certification, general investigator proposals and observations, and a topical SOFIA science session based upon funded first light instrumentation.
Please direct questions regarding SOFIA instrumentation to Sean Casey at scasey@mail.arc.nasa.gov. Further information on SOFIA can be found at http://sofia.arc.nasa.gov
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
An AAS Electronic Announcement is mailed to all members around the 10th of each month. Included are important items that do not fit into the schedule of the AAS Newsletter.
Items for possible inclusion in this announcement series should be sent to johnson@aas.org. Keep announcement short and refer readers to sources of additional information.
Address corrections should be sent to address@aas.org.