Newsletter 15-15

Issue 15-15, March 31, 2015

 

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  1. REMINDER: CALL FOR DPS 2015 PRIZE NOMINATIONS
  2. DPS HAS PARTNERED WITH MENTORNET
  3. PLUTO NAMING OPPORTUNITY
  4. JOBS/POSITIONS OPPORTUNITIES
  5. UPCOMING MEETINGS & WORKSHOPS

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REMINDER: CALL FOR DPS 2015 PRIZE NOMINATIONS

 

DEADLINE APRIL 15, 2015

 

Every year the DPS recognizes exceptional achievement in our field. It is time to consider nominating
a respected colleague for one of the annual DPS prizes:

 

The Gerard P. Kuiper Prize honors outstanding contributions to the field of planetary science.

The Harold C. Urey Prize recognizes outstanding achievement in planetary research by a young scientist.

The Harold Masursky Award acknowledges outstanding service to planetary science and exploration.

The Carl Sagan Medal recognizes and honors outstanding communication by an active planetary scientist to
the general public.

The Jonathan Eberhart Planetary Sciences Journalism Award recognizes and stimulates distinguished popular
writing on planetary sciences. 

 

Detailed descriptions of each of the prizes and the criteria for nominees for each can be found at
prizes. The nomination form and instructions can also be retrieved from this website.
The completed nomination form and supporting material should be emailed to [email protected]

 

Anyone except current DPS Committee members may submit a nomination. A completed nomination will
be retained and considered by the Prize Subcommittee for three years, or as long as the nominee is eligible,
whichever is less. Past nominees may be re-nominated after the expiration of a prior nomination. A
posthumous nomination is allowed for a limited time after the nominee’s death, except for the Sagan Medal.
For specific details, see the URL noted above.

 

The deadline for nominations this year is April 15.

 

Consider for example the Carl Sagan Medal, which recognizes excellence in public communication in
planetary science. Do you have a colleague that excels in reaching out to the public, who has a particularly
effective way of communicating new findings in our field? We want to recognize those efforts that are so
important to the health of our field!

 

The Masursky Award recognizes meritorious service to planetary science. Do you have a colleague whose
efforts made a significant difference in the success of an endeavor you’ve been involved in through
engineering, managerial, programmatic or public service activities? Consider nominating that individual!

 

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DPS HAS PARTNERED WITH MENTORNET

Members of the planetary science community are invited to participate in the acclaimed e-mentoring program MentorNet.  Both mentors and mentees (protégés) can take advantage of this program, which provides a detailed matching algorithm, and guides for getting the most out of a mentoring relationship.  This is an opportunity to participate in professional development activities with other DPS members throughout the year.  The program is very flexible, mentors and protégés always have options when being paired, and they mutually decide on the frequency of communication during the recommended four month mentoring cycle (with the option to renew or select a new mentor/mentee at the end of the cycle). 

We are seeking both mentors and protégés to sign up in spring 2015.  At this point in time we particularly need mentors!  Anyone can be a mentor or a protégé at any stage of their career.  Visit MentorNet.net to create a profile and select “Division for Planetary Sciences” as your affiliation.  The required online training takes ~30 minutes, but can be done in sections.  This assures that mentors and protégés start off with similar expectations about the mentoring relationship. 

Contact Kelsi Singer ([email protected]) or Karly Pitman ([email protected]) from the professional development committee with questions or for more info.

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On July 14, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft will fly past Pluto, and we will map that distant world and its moons for the first time. Working with the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the New Horizons team plans to assign names to the features on the maps of Pluto and its large moon Charon, once we have seen them in sharp detail this summer. At the “Our Pluto” website you can suggest your ideas for names and vote for your favorites. The team will use your best ideas in their proposal to the IAU.

This is an opportunity for the students, teachers and the public to vote on names for the features on Pluto and Charon. The public input will be provided to the IAU, which ultimately determines the official scientific names for astronomical objects. 

Press Release: 

http://www.seti.org/seti-institute/press-release/public-asked-help-name-features-pluto

Our Pluto website:  http://www.ourpluto.org/

Ballot closes April 7, 2015.

 

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JOBS/POSITIONS OPPORTUNITIES
 

A) RESEARCH ASSOCIATE: MSL and MER Missions

Cornell University

 

content/research-associate-1

Application Due Date: April 30, 2015

 

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UPCOMING MEETINGS & WORKSHOPS

 

A) VEXAG MEEETING #12

Thursday, April 9, 2015, Hampton, VA

VEXAG meeting #12 will be held on Thursday, April 9, 2015 at the National Institute of Aerospace, just outside NASA’s Langley Research Center. This follows the 2-day Venus Science Priorities for Laboratory Measurements and Instrument Definition Workshop also held at the National Institute of Aerospace.

A preliminary agenda is available at VEXAG Web-Site:

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/vexag/

Key items for this meeting will be progress reports on NASA Headquarters and VEXAG activities as well as reports on Venus Express, Ataksuki, and other opportunities for international collaboration. Posters on technologies for Venus missions are invited.

If you’ll be attending in person and haven’t done so already, please enter your name on the Meeting Registration /Intent to Attend Form on the VEXAG Web-Site: 

https://www.hou.usra.edu/meeting_portal/registration/index.cfm?mtg=vexag2015

Audio conferencing: U.S. Toll-Free 1-844-467-4685; U.S. Local/Toll 1-720-259-7012Pass Code  5813913422 / Conference ID 2771783 

WebEx:

To join the meeting (Now from mobile devices!)

1. Go to: 

https://nasa.webex.com/mw0307l/mywebex/default.do?service=1&siteurl=nasa&nomenu=true&main_url=%2Fmc0806l%2Fe.do%3Fsiteurl=nasa%26AT=MI%26EventID=228512392%26UID=
1363036817%26Host=9509cb191e731e1803%26FrameSet=2%26MTID=me2b9f49a75405f998a56bdh

2. If requested, enter your name and email address.

3. If a password is required, enter the meeting password: C@T123456!

4. Click “Join”.

B) SOFIA OBSERVERS’ WORKSHOP

 

Registration is still open for the SOFIA Observers’ Workshop;

the registration deadline is April 17. 

 

The workshop agenda is available at:
http://www.sofia.usra.edu/Science/workshops/SOFIA_Workshop_2015/workshop.html

There is now a page within that website with travel information for attendees.

 

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Send submissions to:

Anne Verbiscer, DPS Secretary ([email protected]

 

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Anne J. Verbiscer
Research Associate Professor
Department of Astronomy
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4325