Issue 16-01, January 10, 2016
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- MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR: CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS
- REMINDER: CALL FOR DPS 2016 PRIZE NOMINATIONS
- OPAG 2016 WINTER MEETING: INFORMATION CIRCULAR
- 615. WE-HERAEUS-SEMINAR: HOW PRIMITIVE ARE COMETS?
- 41ST SCIENTIFIC ASSEMBLY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SPACE RESEARCH (COSPAR)
- JOBS, POSITIONS, OPPORTUNITIES
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MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR: CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS
The DPS runs on the efforts of volunteers. We are currently soliciting
volunteers for the various positions described below.
In addition to the elected positions, the DPS Committee appoints additional
officers that serve for fixed terms. We as a society have had the good fortune
to have Andrew Rivkin serve us as our Treasurer since 2011, and Vishnu
Reddy serve as our Press Officer since 2010. Both are stepping down at the
completion of their present terms.
As the DPS committee considers potential new Treasurers and Press Officers,
we want to cast a wide net as possible. To that end if you, or someone who
you know, would be both capable and willing to serve the DPS in one of these
capacities, then please let us know by emailing me at DPS.Chair@aas.org .
The job of the Treasurer is to track the Division's finances, participate in DPS
Committee discussions and business, and to pay claimants from the DPS
accounts when needed. The Press Officer's primary duties occur during the
annual meeting where they must organize daily press briefings. Lately the job
has also included considerable time during the year to coordinate with the DPS
Committee, oversee deliberations for the Eberhart Award, and to field press
inquiries to the DPS on planetary topics. Both of these officers participate in
two DPS Committee telecons per month and attend an annual 2-day DPS
Committee meeting in Washington, DC. Both the Treasurer and Press Officer
serve for 3-year terms.
The DPS Committee is creating a Subcommittee on Harassment to keep up
the momentum from Christina Richey's Masursky Prize lecture at our recent
meeting. The charge of this new subcommittee will be to investigate concrete
actions that the DPS can take to ensure that our field's professional climate
allows for success based solely on scientific merit. I envision that this
subcommittee will be populated by a diverse set of creative-thinking DPS
Members, so I encourage both men and women as well as junior and
well-established people to volunteer (send an email to DPS.Chair@aas.org).
Now's not the time to be shy; if you would be willing to actively contribute
to the DPS, please let us know!
Jason W. Barnes
DPS Chair
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REMINDER: CALL FOR DPS 2016 PRIZE NOMINATIONS
DEADLINE MARCH 15, 2016
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 http://dps.aas.org/prizes. The nomination form and
instructions can also be retrieved from this website. The completed nomination
form and supporting material should be emailed to dpsprize@aas.org.
Starting this year we are requiring that the nomination package with all
supporting material be submitted as a single document. If you have a
nomination from a past year that is being carried over, you do not need to
resubmit unless you are including new material.
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 March 15.
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OPAG 2016 WINTER MEETING: INFORMATION CIRCULAR
We cordially invite you to attend the 2016 face-to-face meeting of the
Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG), scheduled for 2 days, February 1-2, 2016,
at Southwest Research Institute (SWRI) Building 263 located at 1223
Martin Goland Avenue, San Antonio, TX 85721 near the East Gate.
Meetings will begin at 8:30 AM each day, and end by 5 PM on Feb 2.
Please register to attend in person at: http://icpi.nasaprs.com/opag2016
Key information and discussion topics will include:
* Developments in Outer Planets exploration since the summer 2015 OPAG
meeting, including status of a new “ocean worlds” program, potential Europa
mission augmentations, and New Frontiers Announcement of Opportunity.
* Overview of latest mission science planning and results:
Cassini
New Horizons
Juno
Europa Mission
* Report from “Ocean Worlds” workshop
* Formulation of a Science Analysis Group study to explore ocean worlds
* Next Decadal Survey
* Ice Giants mission study progress report
* Department of Energy Pu238 production status
* Potential High Definition Space Telescope
* Poster presentations on CubeSats and technology
developments
The meeting is open to all members of the planetary science community,
including our international colleagues. If you want to present a CubeSat
or Technology poster, please send title and authors to Pat Beauchamp,
pbeaucha@jpl.nasa.gov. We will also broadcast the meeting
via Adobe Connect for those who cannot attend in person.
We look forward to seeing you in San Antonio!
Candice Hansen and Alfred McEwen, Current and incoming OPAG Chair
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615. WE-HERAEUS-SEMINAR: HOW PRIMITIVE ARE COMETS ?
Bad Honnef, Germany, 24th - 29th April 2016
Sponsored by the WE-Heraeus-Stiftung
Website of the meeting:
http://www.igep.tu-bs.de/WE-Heraeus/index_en.html
Scientific Organizers:
Murthy Gudipati (JPL, USA), contact: Murthy.Gudipati@jpl.nasa.gov
Jürgen Blum (IGeP, TU Braunschweig, Germany) contact: j.blum@tu-bs.de
Motivation:
In the light of recent advances in our understanding of comets, in particular
through the space missions Rosetta, Deep-Impact, and Epoxi, this Wilhelm
und Else Heraeus-Stiftung-supported "615. WE-Heraeus-Seminar: How
Primitive are Comets?" will focus on the interior composition of cometary
nuclei. All of the talks, posters, and discussion will focus on how recent
scientific advancements and future comet missions could enable a better
understanding of the cometary nucleus, its structure, and composition,
from the deep interior to the surface, as well as of the formation of the
first solid bodies in the young solar system.
Contributions:
Besides about 25-30 invited talks, a few (~5-10) contributed oral presentations
and a significant number (~30) of contributed poster presentations are available.
Please send your title, abstract, and preference (oral or poster) to the organizers
before the end of February 2016. MS Word, pdf or plain text abstracts are
welcome.
Logistics:
There will be no conference fee and the WE-Heraeus-Stiftung takes over all
costs for the accommodation and meals of all participants.
The scientific program is scheduled to start on Monday, April 25th, 2016,
09:00 h and will end on Friday, April 29th, 2016, 17:30 h. Arrival is planned
for Sunday afternoon/evening. The registration desk will be open on Sunday
from 17:00 h through 21:00 h and on Monday morning. Departure will be on
Friday, around 17:30 h.
An informal welcome and get together plus a buffet supper will take place
on Sunday evening from 18:30 h onwards.
One evening the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation invites all participants
to a “Heraeus Dinner” (conference dinner) and free beverages.
An excursion is planned for Thursday afternoon, a leisurely hike in the
vicinity (destination is the Drachenfels "Dragon's Rock". It is a hill - 321
meters - in the Siebengebirge uplands between Königswinter and Bad Honnef).
In order to stimulate as much exchange and discussion as possible, we hope
that your schedule permits you to be present for the full duration of the seminar.
Venue, accommodation, and meals: Lectures and meals are all arranged in
the main building of the Physikzentrum Bad Honnef.
Physikzentrum Bad Honnef
Hauptstraße 5
53604 Bad Honnef
GERMANY
Accommodation will be booked for you automatically according to the
arrival and departure information you provided to us - either in the main
building of the Physikzentrum or in the guesthouse in the park area of the
Physikzentrum. Information of your accommodation will follow in due
time (about one week before the seminar).
More information about the Physikzentrum and travel hints are available at
http://www.pbh.de/en/index.shtml
All meals will be served at the Physikzentrum, starting with dinner on
Sunday, ending with lunch on Friday. Vegetarian food is available on request.
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41ST SCIENTIFIC ASSEMBLY OF THE COMMITTEE ON
SPACE RESEARCH (COSPAR)
Title: Planetary Formation session at COSPAR 2016
(Istanbul, Turkey, on 30 July - 7 August 2016)
The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) will hold its 41st Scientific
Assembly in Istanbul, Turkey, on 30 July - 7 August 2016. The COSPAR
Scientific Assemblies supply a forum to all scientists involved in space
research for the presentation of their latest scientific results, the exchange
of knowledge and also the discussion of space research problems. Together
with the now traditional session devoted to exoplanetary studies, event E1.21
"Exoplanets", COSPAR 2016 will also hold for the first time a session
specifically dedicated to the formation and the evolution of planets and
planetary systems, event B0.5 "Planetary Formation: From Dust to Giant
Exoplanets". This event, currently planned to take place over two half-day
sessions, is jointly organized by Commission B "Space Studies of the
Earth-Moon System, Planets, and Small Bodies of the Solar System" and
Commission E "Research in Astrophysics from Space".
Scientific rationale of event B0.5 "Planetary Formation: From Dust to Giant Exoplanets":
Our understanding of planetary formation as derived from the Solar System,
for decades the only known example of a planetary system, has been
challenged over the last twenty years by the rich diversity of discovered
extrasolar planets. The Solar System, however, still represents a unique
source of detailed information on the processes shaping the formation and
subsequent evolution of planets, both individually and as a whole. Theoretical
works on the formation and early dynamical evolution of planetary systems has
helped to bridge the gap between the story told by the Solar System and that
coming from the extrasolar planets, but the ever growing body of data supplied
by space missions and ground-based facilities promises new challenges in the
coming years. The aim of COSPAR 2016 event B0.5 "Planetary Formation:
From Dust to Giant Exoplanets" is to offer to all involved communities a
common space for discussing new theoretical, observational and laboratory
results about the formation and evolution of planetary systems and of their
formation environments, the protoplanetary disks.
Conference website: https://www.cospar-assembly.org/
Abstract submission deadline: 2016 February 12
Scientific Organizing Committee: Diego Turrini (Main Scientific Organizer,
INAF-IAPS, Italy), Sho Sasaki (Deputy Organizer, Osaka University, Japan),
Francesca Altieri (INAF-IAPS, Italy), Gennaro D'Angelo (SETI Institute, USA),
Francesco Marzari (University of Padova, Italy), Motohide Tamura (National
Astronomical Observatory, Japan), Mark Wyatt (University of Cambridge, UK),
Hajime Yano (JAXA, Japan).
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JOBS, POSITIONS, OPPORTUNITIES
A) LUNAR AND PLANETARY SCIENCE POSITIONS
FLORIDA SPACE INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF
CENTRAL FLORIDA (UCF), ORLANDO, FLORIDA
The Florida Space Institute (http://fsi.ucf.edu/), a multi-disciplinary
center based in Orlando, Florida is devoted to facilitating and conducting
leading edge applied and basic research in space fields ranging from
planetary science to space physics to Earth science. We are now seeking
new applications for lunar, planetary and extra-solar planet research
scientist positions.
UCF and FSI have a range of planetary scientists, primarily working
in the areas of small body studies, Mars, and exoplanets (see http://planets.ucf.edu/),
and we are committed to becoming a premier institution in planetary
science and education. Of particular interest to FSI are Principal Investigators
of planetary science research grants, centers, and mission experiments who
are seeking a greater career opportunity.
Applicants must have a PhD in a planetary science or a relevant field.
Preference will be given to candidates with at least six years post qualification
experience. Successful applicants should have demonstrated research leadership
ability and interpersonal skills, and a consistent record of both research
publications and competitively funded space research and/or experimentation
grants and contracts.
Review of applications will start in March 2016. Applicants should apply
online at www.jobswithucf.com and click on the 'Search Available Positions'
option on the top left. Once there, type in position number 42542 in the
“keywords” box to search for this position. The hired candidate is expected
to start employment at UCF in the Fall 2016 semester.
The University of Central Florida is an equal opportunity, equal access,
and affirmative action employer.
B) SUMMER INTERNSHIPS IN RADIO ASTRONOMY, SOLAR
SYSTEM STUDIES & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES
ARECIBO OBSERVATORY
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Send submissions to:
Anne Verbiscer, DPS Secretary (dpssec@aas.org)
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To change your address email address@aas.org.
--
Anne J. Verbiscer
Research Associate Professor
Department of Astronomy
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4325