Issue 16-32, August 28, 2016
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- MESSAGE FROM THE FRS: CALL TO ACTION THIS WEEK – PLEASE CONTACT YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
- MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR: STUDENTS AT DPS 48/EPSC 11
- REMINDERS FOR UPCOMING DPS 48/EPSC 11 DEADLINES
- ANNOUNCEMENT OF SPECIAL ISSUE OF ADVANCES IN SPACE RESEARCH ON SMALL BODY SCIENCE AND EXPLORATION
- JOBS, POSITIONS, OPPORTUNITIES
- REGISTRATION OPEN FOR THE ACADEMIES’ SEARCH FOR LIFE WORKSHOP
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MESSAGE FROM THE FRS: CALL TO ACTION THIS WEEK –
PLEASE CONTACT YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
This week we are asking each member of the DPS to contact his/her members
of Congress to encourage strong support for planetary science. In Fiscal Year
2016 Congress appropriated $1.63B for planetary science and we want to be
sure that the FY2017 appropriation is at least at that level. While we hope that
Congress can pass appropriations in regular order it is likely that there will be
a continuing resolution of some duration passed by the end of this fiscal year.
There is a lot of uncertainty there but Congressional support for planetary science
has been very strong in recent years; we want to encourage that to continue.
Congress is currently in August recess so staff members are less busy with the
day-to-day demands of the Hill. When Congress reconvenes in September there
will be a lot of activity surrounding current events, getting an FY2017
appropriation together, and the election. So this coming week gives us an
opportunity to get out a positive message regarding support for planetary science.
For details of this call to action please go to
and if you have any questions please feel free to contact Makenzie Lystrup at
And please distribute through social media and other avenues!
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MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR: STUDENTS AT DPS 48/EPSC 11
As we here at the DPS gear up for this Fall’s joint meeting in Pasadena, we’d like
to extend a special invitation to students to attend and participate in the conference.
I think that DPS is the most student-friendly annual planetary meeting. We have
a high proportion of abstracts that get oral talks, and a special category of
dissertation talk to ensure that every student gets exposure prior to hitting the
postdoc market. We also hold special events specially targeted to students,
starting with the Student & Postdoc Reception on Sunday night at 5:00PM before
the official Opening Reception. The Student Reception is your opportunity to
relax with your peers, and to make the friendships and start the collaborations
that will continue for your entire career. And all of this without the pressure of
needing to present yourself to potential future employers.
On Tuesday morning we hold the Student Breakfast. This one should be a
no-brainer — a free hot breakfast for all early-career planetary scientists
(students and postdocs). All of the DPS Committee Leadership will attend the
breakfast for the explicit purpose of hearing student concerns so that the society
can respond to the needs of its most junior members. Note that we no longer
require registration for the Student Breakfast: just show up at 7:30AM on
Tuesday morning because it will be worth getting up early for.
And finally on Wednesday evening we hold the annual Banquet, your chance
to hob-nob with the field’s senior scientists over a social dinner. To encourage
student attendance at the Banquet this year the DPS Committee voted to offer
a special student rate of just $55 (instead of the standard $80). That discount
puts the price of the banquet enough under Pasadena’s per diem ($64) for
students to attend the banquet and still eat the rest of the day. No more excuses
about not being able to afford the Banquet, then! We hope that this financial
encouragement and the excitement of our second annual Open Mic night to
follow will serve to reinvigorate junior member attendance at the Banquet.
Along with Local Organizing Committee Chair Diana Blaney and the AAS
Meetings staff I just returned from a site visit to the Pasadena Convention
Center this past Monday. The team has a great meeting planned, and we
hope to see all of you students there in Pasadena,
Jason W. Barnes
DPS Chair
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REMINDERS FOR UPCOMING DPS 48/EPSC 11 DEADLINES
Pasadena, CA, 16-21 October 2016 at the Pasadena Convention Center
https://aas.org/meetings/dps48
* Important dates
– 14 September 2016: Hotel Reservations Deadline
– 16 September 2016: Dependent Care Grant Application Deadline
– 16 September 2016: Late Registration Deadline
The DPS is grateful to our Meeting Sponsors:
ESA
Europlanet
NASA
The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
AURA
Nature Astronomy
Southwest Research Institute
Ball Aerospace
Nature Geoscience
Space Science Institute
The University of Arizona Press
Universities Space Research Association (USRA)
VORTICES
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ANNOUNCEMENT OF A SPECIAL ISSUE OF ADVANCES IN SPACE
RESEARCH ON SMALL BODY SCIENCE AND EXPLORATION
Papers are invited for a special topical issue of Advances in Space Research
(ASR) entitled “Past, Present and Future of Small Body Science and
Exploration” that was proposed within the 41st COSPAR 2016 Scientific
Assembly.
This special issue is open to all scientists that want to share their results with
the scientific community about small body science connected to space exploration.
The year 2016 has seen an incredible burst in the Space mission activities to
minor bodies, leading to tremendous or surprising results. Huge amount of data
are/were returned from investigations of a cometary nucleus by Rosetta, Ceres
by Dawn, and Pluto by New Horizons. While space observatories HST,
HERSCHEL, WISE, Gaia collect their large datasets on remote, Hayabusa-2
and OSIRIS-REx will be on their ways to primitive asteroids for sample returns
and future missions are studied for Phobos, activated asteroids, Jupiter Trojans,
binary asteroid, planetary defense, human exploration, etc. The present special
issue welcomes contributions that have a Scientific, Technical or Instrumental
focus and serves as a crossroad of recent results and future prospects of small
body explorations.
Papers must be submitted electronically to http://ees.elsevier.com/asr. To ensure
that all manuscripts are correctly identified for inclusion into the special issue,
authors must select “Special Issue: Small Body Exploration” when they reach
the “Article Type” step in the submission process. The deadline for
submissions is 31 January 2017.
Questions can be directed to Drs. Palomba, Hestroffer or to the Co-Editor
for Special Issues, Dr. Peggy Ann Shea ([email protected]).
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JOBS, POSITIONS, OPPORTUNITIES
A) TENURE TRACK ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts
The Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology invites qualified candidates to
apply for a tenure track position at the assistant professor level beginning
July 2017 or thereafter. Applicants with research interests in Planetary
Science are encouraged to apply. We seek an outstanding scientist with
interest in and potential for innovation and leadership in teaching at the
undergraduate and graduate levels and research. The search is in the broad
area of Planetary Science encompassing our Solar System as well as
exoplanets, including theory, observation, and instrumentation. However,
we are especially interested in individuals whose research complements
existing MIT expertise.
Applicants must hold a Ph.D. in Planetary Science or related field by the
start of employment and must demonstrate ability to excel in teaching. A
complete application must include curriculum vitae, two-page description
of research and teaching plans and three letters of recommendations.
Applications are being accepted at Academic Jobs Online:
https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/7724 To receive full consideration,
complete applications must be received by: December 1, 2016.
Search Contact: Ms. Karen Fosher, HR Administrator, EAPS, 54-924
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue,
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307, email: [email protected]
MIT is an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants
will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated
against on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity,
religion, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, ancestry, or
national or ethnic origin.
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REGISTRATION OPEN FOR THE ACADEMIES’ SEARCH FOR LIFE WORKSHOP
The Space Studies Board of the National Academies of Sciences,
Engineering, and Medicine is hosting a workshop and poster session to
explore the current status of activities to detect extraterrestrial
life in the solar system and extrasolar planetary systems. The
workshop will feature presentations from experts on the environmental
limits of life, habitable environments in the solar system and beyond,
extraterrestrial biosignatures, and life detection techniques and
instrumentation.
The workshop will take place at the Beckman Center in Irvine, CA on
December 5-6, 2016. To register as a poster presenter or participant
and learn more about the workshop, please visit:
http://SearchingForLife.eventbrite.com.
The deadline for poster abstracts is November 7, 2016.
For those unable to attend in person, the live workshop webcast will
be available at:
https://livestream.com/accounts/15221519/events/6098927.
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Send submissions to:
Anne Verbiscer, DPS Secretary ([email protected])
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