Subject: [DPS Members] DPS Mailing #09-14: Election results, teaching workshop... Issue 09-14, August 6th 2009 +-----------------------------CONTENTS--------------------------------+ 1) DPS Election Results 2) 2009 DPS Meeting: Astro 101 Teaching Workshop 3) NASA Keck Telescope Call for Proposals 4) Correction: Decadal Survey Mars Polar Science White Paper 5) Upcoming Meetings +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ 1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1 DPS ELECTION RESULTS The winners of the DPS election are as follows: Vice Chair: Melissa McGrath DPS Committee: Jason Barnes, Leslie Young The new officers' terms will begin at the 2009 DPS meeeting. Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to everyone who ran in the election, and to everyone who voted. 2---------2---------2---------2---------2---------2---------2---------2 2009 DPS MEETING: ASTRO 101 TEACHING WORKSHOP There will be a Center for Astronomy Education (CAE) Astro 101 Teaching Workshop on Sat Oct 3 and Sun Oct 4 2009, 9am-4pm, just prior to the 2009 DPS meeting, at the same venue (the El Conquistador resort). Deadline for registration is Friday, August 21 Fee: $30 This workshop is an ideal teaching workshop for anyone teaching intro-level astronomy and planetary sciences classes to non-science majors. Grad students, post-docs, lecturers, and professors welcome! Learn how to turn your classroom from a standard (dare I say boring for you and your students??) lecture-only format to a highly effective, interactive style. It is not only easier on the professor/lecturer, but research proves it is significantly more effective at aiding the students in learning and retaining the material you cover. Help improve test scores, understanding, and interest! Registration is currently below the minimum, so the workshop MAY BE CANCELLED- but not if this number grows, so it is important that you register now if you are planning to attend. The deadline is 21 August! To register, please follow the link below now (thank you!). If you have questions about what the workshop has to offer, and for registration, please see the following link: http://astronomy101.jpl.nasa.gov/workshops/workshops_details.cfm?ID=49 If you have further questions, contact workshop organizer Gina Brissenden at [email protected] or DPS committee member (and 3-time Astro 101 workshop attendee) Sue Lederer at [email protected] 3---------3---------3---------3---------3---------3---------3---------3 NASA KECK TELESCOPE CALL FOR PROPOSALS Proposal deadline: 16 September 2009 at 4pm PDT NASA is soliciting proposals using the Keck Telescopes for the 2010A observing semester (Feb 2010 - July 2010). NASA intends the use of the Keck telescopes to be highly strategic in support of on-going missions and/or high priority, long term science goals. Thus, starting with the 2009A semester, NASA Headquarters opened up the NASA Keck call to a wider range of disciplines. These disciplines include studies of exoplanets and our own solar system, as well as galactic and extragalactic studies in support of NASA's Cosmic Origins science goals and missions. In addition, an identified Key Science project for 2010A is in support of the CoRoT mission. This 2010A call includes proposals for CoRoT Key Science as well as proposals in the following discipline areas: 1) Investigations in support of Exoplanet Exploration science goals and missions; 2) Investigations in support of Cosmic Origins science goals and missions; 3) Investigations of our own solar system; and 4) Direct mission support. The proposal process is being handled by the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (NExScI) at Caltech. See http://nexsci.caltech.edu/missions/KeckSolicitation/index.shtml for further information. Questions not answered on these pages can be directed to [email protected]. 4---------4---------4---------4---------4---------4---------4---------4 CORRECTION: DECADAL SURVEY MARS POLAR SCIENCE WHITE PAPER A cut-and-paste error in the last newsletter resulted in an announcement for the "ARS Polar Science White Paper". Here is the corrected announcement in full: ------- Mars Polar Science White Paper Solicits Coauthors Dear Colleagues, We have prepared a white paper for the consideration of the Planetary Science Decadal Survey promoting the idea of a subsurface drilling mission focused on paleoclimatology to the north polar cap of Mars. Deep drilling is one possible approach, but not the only one. The purpose of the White Paper is to indicate to the panel the strong community support for such a project. The white paper may be viewed at: http://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/decadal/Polar_White_Paper_23UL09.pdf If you would like to lend your support to this white paper please reply by email to Michael Hecht ([email protected]) as follows: "I would like to be listed as a co-author on the Decadal Survey white paper entitled "Next Steps in Mars Polar Science."Thanks for your consideration, Michael Hecht and coauthors. 5---------5---------5---------5---------5---------5---------5---------5 UPCOMING MEETINGS 1) UCF Winter School 2010: Exoplanets for Planetary Scientists, University of Central Florida Campus, Orlando, Florida, USA, 6-8 January 2010 http://planets.ucf.edu/winterschool2010 This warm winter workshop will bring together experts in exoplanet observation and planetary theory, delivering both the latest research results and school-style talks on applying planetary science to exoplanetary problems. We hope you will join us! Prof. Joseph Harrington, Program Chair Dr. Csaba Palotai, Local Arrangements Chair and the UCF Planetary Sciences Group Department of Physics University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida 32816-2385 USA 2) Galileo's Medicean Moons: Their Impact on 400 Years of Discovery IAU Symposium 269, University of Padua, Italy, Jan. 6-9, 2010 http://www.astro.unipd.it/galileo The discovery of the Medicean Moons by Galileo Galilei took place in Padova from January 7 -15, 1610. The discovery added four new worlds to the known solar system, destroyed the Earth-centered universe, and had a major influence on the development not only of astronomy and science, but also religious and philosophical theories and social behavior. This symposium, to be held in Padova 400 years after the discovery, has several aims: * to recall the memorable event and examine its influence on science and humanities; * to examine the status of present knowledge on Jupiter, the Medicean Moons and its system in general, and the prospects for advancing our understanding by future space missions and future telescopes; * to expound the contemporary vision of our solar system, of the many extra solar planetary systems, and the expectations of discovering new intelligent inhabitants in them. Galileo's discovery of the Medicean Moons continues to point the way towards a deeper understanding of our place in the Universe -- but now from the linked perspectives of the physical and life sciences. 3) Workshop on Granular Materials in Lunar and Martian Exploration, Honolulu, Hawaii, March 14-17 2010 The meeeting will be held in conjunction with the ASCE Earth and Space 2010 conference. http://content.asce.org/conferences/earthspace2010/index.html We are soliciting papers in the areas of: Cratering and Plume Flows on Granular Media Geotechnical Properties and Excavation of Plenatary Regolith Granular Flows and Geotechnical Properties Lunar Dust Lunar and Martian Simulants Modeling of Regolith Mechanics Particle Properties of Lunar Soil and Dust The deadline for abstract submission is August 18th. Juan H. Agui Symposium Chair +---------------------------------------------------------------------+