A Man for All Wavelengths - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

1 / 21
About This Presentation
Title:

A Man for All Wavelengths

Description:

0123456789:; = ?_at_ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[]^_`abcdefghijklmn ... Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YY Y Y Y Y'Y'YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY YYYYYYYYYYYYYY ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:48
Avg rating:3.0/5.0
Slides: 22
Provided by: johnh123
Category:

less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: A Man for All Wavelengths


1
A Man for All Wavelengths
  • Roger Blandford
  • and the
  • Astronomical Community
  • John Huchra
  • CfA
  • Oct 2009

2
Rogers Scientific Side
  • 200 papers, multiple threat, ? invariant

  • even solar!

Egypt 2006
Not Roger !
3

Longevity Impact!
4
But breadth wisdom can get you into serious
trouble --- and has!
  • Major National Committees Panels in just the
    last decade
  • AANM HEA Panel 1998-2000
  • AAS Council 1999-2002
  • CAA Co-Chair 2002-2006
  • Space Studies Board 2002-2006
  • MPS Advisory Committee 2001-2004
  • Quarks to the Cosmos (Physics of the
    Universe) 2002-4
  • NAS Decadal Survey Mid-Course Review
  • NSF OIR Roadmap Committee
  • NSF AST Senior Review (Chair) 2005-2006
  • and now ASTRO2010 (Chair)

5
Its a Dirty Job
  • NSF Senior Review
  • Called because resources
  • were running out and
  • very little progress was
  • being made in AST on
  • the ground-based projects
  • recommended in AANM
  • Its underpinnings still hold today

6
  • For the SR, we devised a process. Key elements
    included
  • (1) Involve people --- town halls, open meetings
  • (2) Stay broad --- avoid attempts to fence off
    programs. Consider all budgets.
  • (3) Maximize scientific return
  • After a years
  • work

7
Principles developed for the Senior Review
8
The Base Program
9
Additional Findings
  • 1. The Scientific Challenge. Proper maintenance
    of current facilities while simultaneously
  • developing and beginning operations of the
    proposes new facilities is infeasible under any
  • reasonable expectations for federal budget
    support based on past funding levels. The cuts
  • that are recommended here are as deep as they can
    be without causing irreparable
  • damage and will only allow s start to be made on
    the new initiatives. The scientific promise
  • of the proposed facilities is so compelling and
    of such broad interest and importance that
  • there is a strong case for increasing the
    overall AST budget to execute as much of the
  • science as possible.
  • 2. The Operations Challenge. Major astronomical
    observatories typically take at least a
  • decade to plan,construct and commission. They are
    usually operated for several decades.
  • The full cost of operating, maintaining,
    upgrading, exploiting and decommissioning them
    are
  • many times the cost of construction. Realistic
    life cycle costing for observatories that are
  • under construction or consideration is an
    essential part of planning.
  • 3. The Strategic Challenge. Construction on the
    ATST may begin as early as 2009 (so as
  • to be operational in 2014) and there is a strong
    scientific case for proceeding with the
  • GSMT the LSST and the SKA as soon as feasible
    thereafter. A realistic implementation
  • plan involves other agencies and independent and
    international partners. Some choices

10
  • 4. Towards a Coherent National Astronomy
    Enterprise. In order to meet the challenge of
    (multi-)billion dollar, ground-based
    optical-infrared and radio observatories, there
    will have to be strong collaboration between the
    federal and independent components of the US
    astronomical enterprise and firm leadership by
    AST. A high level commission addressing optical
    and infrared facilities provides one way to start
    to bring together the diverse components of the
    national program to begin to realize the
    fullpotential of the US system.
  • 5. Future Reviews. Balancing the demands of the
    current program against the aspirations of the
    future program is an ongoing obligation. The
    senior Review process should be implemented as a
    standard practice within the Division of
    Astronomical Sciences and should be a
    consideration included in the next decadal
    Survey.

11
And now ASTRO 2010
  • Planning for this started in 2006!
  • Roger selected as chair in the summer of 2008
  • Process defined over the first few months
  • 5 Science Panels (PSF,SSE,GAN,GCT,CFP)
  • 4 Program Panels (OIR,RMS,EOS,PAG)
  • 6 Infrastructure Study Groups
  • (CDH,DEM,FFP,IPP,EPO,APP)
  • Town Halls, Open Meetings, White Papers,
    Position Papers, Project Submissions
  • Hundreds of people have been involved so far
  • (P.S. Im accepting suggestions for a good
    title!)

12
Context
  • The good, the bad the ugly
  • Astronomy, scientifically has been very
    successful in the last decade
  • Astronomy draws students the public
  • Opportunities ? in major funding lines (e.g.
    ATST)
  • Now ? many other related decadal survey
  • NASA Astrophysics flat or declining
  • NSF burdened by operations costs, grant success
    at 20
  • DOE officially in the game
  • AA not currently identified with National
    priorities
  • NSF currently has a significant leadership
    problem

13
NASA SMD Budgets

But awaiting Augustine Decadal
Survey
14

Its Still a Dirty Job.
  • And how is it going?
  • Under Rogers deft leadership we are on
  • schedule --- expect a
  • report release summer
  • 2010.
  • The science is exciting
  • and compelling.
  • The public loves us.
  • and the pictures speak for themselves

15
(No Transcript)
16
(No Transcript)
17
(No Transcript)
18
(No Transcript)
19
(No Transcript)
20
Last Call -- A plea from me and the AAS
  • Astronomers and Astrophysicists need to
    participate in the process, starting from service
    on committees and panels, including editorial and
    refereeing work, high level advisory committees,
    and, perhaps most importantly, service in the
    agencies themselves.
  • Roger has stepped upto the plate--- will you!

21
Thank you, Rogerfrom all the Astronomical
CommunityandHappy Birthday!
Write a Comment
User Comments (0)
About PowerShow.com