Issue 21-02, January 31, 2021
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- DPS AFFILIATE MEMBERSHIPS
- FREE ICARUS SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR DPS MEMBERS
- CALL FOR DPS PRIZE NOMINATIONS
- JWST USER COMMITTEE: CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
- SOFIA SCIENCE CENTER WORKSHOP: ROCK, ICE AND DUST: INTERPRETING PLANETARY DATA
- CELEBRATE THE PERSEVERANCE LANDING WITH NASA JPL FEB 18
- OUTER PLANETS ASSESSMENT GROUP (OPAG) FEB 9-11
- JPGU: OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION TODAY AND TOMORROW
- PLANETARY CULTURE AND CLIMATE SUBCOMMITTEE
- UPDATE ON NASA R&A STATUS
- JOBS, POSITIONS, OPPORTUNITIES
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DPS AFFILIATE MEMBERSHIPS
A reminder that individuals who are not members of the American Astronomical Society are eligible to join the DPS as an affiliate member if they belong to other professional societies; see the list at https://dps.aas.org/membership. Also, if you are a member of one of these other societies, the DPS Committee encourages you to publicize the DPS Affiliate Membership program within your professional society. The cross-pollination provided by members of our affiliate societies provides exciting opportunities for scientific collaboration.
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FREE ICARUS SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR DPS MEMBERS
Every year, Icarus provides 30 free subscriptions to DPS members. If you are in need of a subscription, please send a request to the Chair of the Publications Subcommittee, Catherine Neish (cneish@uwo.ca). In that request, please include one paragraph explaining why you need access to Icarus, emphasizing any financial hardships that act as a barrier to access. We anticipate putting out a call for requests every year, but applications will be accepted at any time.
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CALL FOR DPS PRIZE NOMINATIONS
Deadline: April 1, 2021
Every year the DPS recognizes exceptional achievement in our field. Please consider nominating a respected colleague for one of the annual DPS prizes.
The DPS sponsors five prizes:
The Gerard P. Kuiper Prize [https://dps.aas.org/prizes/kuiper] recognizes and honors outstanding contributors to the field of planetary science.
The Claudia J. Alexander Prize [https://dps.aas.org/prizes/alexander] recognizes excellence and achievements by a mid-career scientist.
The Harold C. Urey Prize [https://dps.aas.org/prizes/urey] recognizes and encourages outstanding achievements in planetary research by an early-career scientist.
The Harold Masursky Award [https://dps.aas.org/prizes/masursky] recognizes and honors individuals who have rendered outstanding service to planetary science and exploration through - but not limited to - engineering, managerial, programmatic, editorial, or public service activities.
The Carl Sagan Medal [https://dps.aas.org/prizes/sagan] recognizes and honors outstanding communication by an active planetary scientist to the general public.
The Jonathan Eberhart Planetary Sciences Journalism Award [https://dps.aas.org/prizes/eberhart] recognizes and stimulates distinguished popular writing on planetary sciences.
DPS members and the planetary science community-at-large are encouraged to submit nominations for DPS prizes.
A complete nomination submitted by the deadline will be considered by the DPS Prize subcommittee for 3 years (i.e. for this year's award, next year's award, and the year after that), or for the duration of a candidate's eligibility, whichever is less. Please fill out the nomination form [https://dps.aas.org/prizes/eberhart#Nomination], and it will be submitted to the prize subcommittee. The Eberhart Award has different rules and procedures than the other DPS Prizes, please see its page [https://dps.aas.org/prizes/eberhart-nomination-form] for more information.
Scroll to the bottom of https://dps.aas.org/prizes for rules and procedures.
Questions: Email dpsprize@aas.org
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JWST USER COMMITTEE: CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
The JWST User Committee (JSTUC) is responsible for advising STScI and the JWST Project on all aspects of observatory operations. Membership is drawn from the U.S, Canadian and ESA communities, and includes representatives from the JWST instrument teams. Further information can be found here https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/science-planning/user-committees/jwst-users-committee
A number of members are rotating off the committee in the coming year, and STScI is calling for expressions of interest from community members who would like to serve as JSTUC members. Self-nomination is welcome. Submissions should include a cover letter and a one-page curriculum vitae summarizing the nominee’s relevant background and JWST-related interests, and should be submitted by e-mail to jstuc@stsci.edu. There is no restriction on citizenship. Nominations will be considered through April 7, 2021.
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SOFIA SCIENCE CENTER: ROCK, ICE AND DUST: INTERPRETING PLANETARY DATA WORKSHOP
March 23-26, 2021
The SOFIA Science center and the SOC are excited to invite you to the “Rock, Ice and Dust: interpreting planetary data” workshop, which will happen online on March 23, 24, 25, 26 of this year (8-11 am Pacific Time). The objective of this workshop is to bring together observers, modelers and laboratory astronomers to discuss the interpretation of observations of rocks, ices and dust on and around Solar System objects (see description below). The last day will be a moderated discussion on the current tools and needs for this community.
We solicit contributions for posters and short talks (abstract submission deadline: March 9th 2021), and we welcome attendance from scientists at any career level, especially early career scientists. Registration is free but necessary to attend.
Description
How can we leverage multi-wavelength observations, radiative transfer theory and laboratory work to characterize planetary solids? This 4-day virtual workshop will bring together observers, modelers and laboratory astronomers to discuss the interpretation of observations of rocks, ices and dust on and around Solar System objects. A large variety of complementary observational techniques will be featured, via invited and contributed presentations, as well as different methods to constrain solids’ fundamental properties such as composition, porosity, thermal inertia and grain size distribution. The workshop is organized by the SOFIA Science Center, and a special emphasis will be put on mid- and far-IR data. Each daily 3-h session will include ample time for moderated interdisciplinary discussions. The fourth day will be dedicated to a moderated discussion on databases, archives and public codes.
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CELEBRATE THE PERSEVERANCE LANDING WITH NASA JPL FEB 18
Educators and their students are invited to join the celebration of the landing on February 18, 2021 of the next NASA rover on Mars, named “Perseverance”! There are many ways to be involved, including our “Mars Student Challenge” with hands-on STEM enrichment activities, the Mars Photo Booth to picture yourself on Mars, and ways to watch the landing live [https://mars.nasa.gov].
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OUTER PLANETS ASSESSMENT GROUP (OPAG) FEB 9-11
Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG) February 9–11, 2021 Virtual held 9:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. PST (12:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. EST).
Meeting Agenda: https://www.lpi.usra.edu/opag/meetings/OPAG2021Feb/
The meeting will focus on aspects of the Decadal Survey that are relevant to OPAG. Status reports will be requested from the Decadal Survey co-chairs and panel chairs.
Registration deadline — February 4, 2021
Registered attendees will receive an e-mail prior to the meeting from Houston Meeting Info with virtual connection information.
https://www.lpi.usra.edu/opag/meetings/OPAG2021Feb/
For more information, contact Meeting and Publication Services USRA/Lunar and Planetary Institute meetinginfo@hou.usra.edu
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JPGU: OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION TODAY AND TOMORROW
Please consider submitting an abstract to the"Outer Solar System Exploration Today, and Tomorrow" online session at the Japan Geoscience Union (JpGU) Meeting 2021 held on 4 June, 2021: http://www.jpgu.org/meeting_e2021/sessionlist_en/detail/P-PS01.html
Our session will discuss a wide range of topics encompassing the giant planets and their moons, including their origins, interiors, atmospheres, compositions, surface features, and electromagnetic fields. To advocate for current and future outer planets exploration (Juno, New Horizons, JUICE, Europa Clipper, Dragonfly and beyond), we also call for discussions on future missions to explore giant planet systems, including how to develop better international cooperation. Discussion in this latter category will include progress in developing a solar sail mission concept for observing the Jupiter system and its Trojan asteroids.
Abstracts can be submitted at the following link:
http://www.jpgu.org/meeting_e2021/presentation.php
- Early submission deadline: 4 Feb (Tue), 23:59 JST
- Final submission deadline: 18 Feb (Tue), 17:00 JST
Conveners:
- Jun Kimura, Osaka Univ.
- Kunio Sayanagi, Hampton Univ.
- Cindy Young, NASA Langley Research Center
- Fuminori Tsuchiya, Tohoku Univ.
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PLANETARY CULTURE AND CLIMATE SUBCOMMITTEE
The Planetary Culture and Climate Subcommittee would like to draw members' attention to URGE (Unlearning Racism in Geoscience), a community-wide network, focused on journal reading and policy design.
URGE is an assembly of local "pods" which will follow URGE's curriculum based on eight two-week units that incorporate readings, interviews, and discussions among pod members. This goals of this collective effort are 1) deepening the community's understanding of the effects on racism in the geosciences, 2) the development of anti-racist strategies through an examination of existing literature, expert opinions and personal experiences and 3) a review of anti-racist policies and strategies in a community framework.
Local URGE pods have already been formed at a multitude of institutions. The deadline for signing up for your local pod is Friday, February 5th.
PCCS also invites the DPS membership to review the American Institute for Physics' summary of the 2020 survey of the planetary science workforce. Links to the survey can be found at
Also available are the full results, raw data and summary slides prepared by PCCS members. The goal of the survey was to gather information on the demographics, education, background employment experience of the current planetary science workforce, both generally and specifically among the DPS membership.
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UPDATE ON NASA R&A STATUS
NASA has presented new data on its research and analysis programs at the recent Planetary Advisory Committee meeting. The presentation slides are publicly available at:
https://www.lpi.usra.edu/pac/presentations/1120/
The DPS Committee encourages review of the materials. We would like to collect feedback on them so that we may refine our strategies for advocacy within the Federal Relations Subcommittee (FRS). Please send comments to the DPS Committee by Feb 15, 2021. If you are interested in working with the FRS to help work on advocacy, please contact the FRS Subcommittee Officer, Kurt Retherford. You can find contact information for the DPS officers here: https://dps.aas.org/leadership/officers
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JOBS, POSITIONS, OPPORTUNITIES
A) Postdoctoral Research Associate in Planetary Sciences
The Small Bodies Group in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Maryland, College Park invites applications for up to two Postdoctoral Research Associate positions to work with Tony Farnham and Jessica Sunshine on studies involving the composition and evolution of small bodies in the Solar System.
For more information:
https://dps.aas.org/content/postdoctoral-research-associate-planetary-sciences
B) Postdoctoral Research Associate in Planetary Geochemistry, U. of Washington, Seattle.
Applications are invited for a postdoctoral scholar to work on planetary geochemistry using a combination of lab work and numerical modeling. The position will be supervised by Prof. David Catling. The postdoctoral researcher will be expected to contribute to funded projects about the nature of brines on Mars, the chemistry and habitability of Enceladus’ ocean, and the geochemical environment for the origin of life on early Earth and early Mars. Applications received by Feb 15, 2021, will receive higher priority.
For full details, please see: https://ap.washington.edu/ahr/position-details/?job_id=68370
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Send submissions to:
Maria Womack, DPS Secretary (dpssec@aas.org)
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