[asapmembers] Fwd: Arecibo Science Advocacy Partnership August 2012 Member Newsletter

[Joanna Rankin]

Dear ASAP Member,
The NAIC Arecibo Managing Partners (AMP) has now been in full charge  
of the
Observatory since October 1 last year.  They clearly have had their  
work cut out
for them, and the ASAP Board has tried to follow events and progress  
especially
closely during this period.  Indeed, this management transition seems  
to have been
unparalleled even in NSF experience, both in terms of the three- 
partner structure
and the need to restructure so much to conform the AMP procedures and  
business
protocols after almost five decades of Cornell administration.

Overall, the ASAP Board believes that the transition has been  
successful.  Proposal
and scheduling cycles have proceeded seamlessly for the users, though  
changes
in these procedures are forthcoming, as discussed below. It is a great  
benefit to the
facility that most staff, apart from a few retirements, have been able  
to remain in the
employment of the Observatory.  Though we do not know the details, AMP  
has been
working on benefits packages and has been trying to make them as  
consistent as
possible for those employed by each of the partners.  We were happy to  
learn that
the long hiatus on hiring new AO staff is now at an end, and in  
particular Prakash
Atreya has joined the NAIC Computer Department to fill the long vacant  
telescope
systems specialist position.

NSF AST Portfolio Review (PR).  The Cornell flag had hardly been  
lowered when
NSF Astronomy announced its new "Portfolio Review" of NSF AST  
facilities, and the
ASAP Board was asked to prepare scientific "white papers" for  
submission to the PR.
Ten "white papers" were prepared by different Board members over the  
turn of the
year and submitted by the January 31 deadline.  The ASAP board, with  
the rest of the
astronomical community, is awaiting the release of the Portfolio  
Review report and
the response from NSF-AST later this year.  We believe that advocacy  
for high-quality
science remains important in this and any community review process.

BREAKING NEWS:  The NSF AST Portfolio Report has just been released,  
and AO
seems to have come off relatively well.  The ASAP Board is meeting  
this week in an
emergency session to assess the import of the Report and formulate its  
responses.
Another Member Newsletter with the PR as its major subject will be  
coming shortly.

NAIC Science and Management Committee (SMAC).  In February, NAIC  
Director
Bob Kerr requested that ASAP nominate two candidates to the new NAIC  
SMAC
—the AMP’s replacement for the old Visiting Committee—and that one be an
astronomer and the other an atmospheric scientist.  The ASAP Board  
determined
that SMAC nominees should be ASAP Board members, either as current Board
members or by election to the Board.  The Bylaws were then revised to  
reflect this
decision and experienced nominees sought urgently to comply with  
Kerr’s tight
schedule for forming the SMAC.  Fortunately, both Frank Djuth and  
David Nice
agreed to be nominated to the SMAC, the latter by first being elected  
to the ASAP
Board.  As of Newsletter publication time the Board has heard nothing  
more on the
SMAC appointments.

“Re-Inventing Arecibo” Workshop.  The two-day meeting was held at the  
prestigious
El Convento Hotel on the island of Old San Juan a stone’s throw from  
El Morro and
near to the Puerto Rican Legislature and the Governor’s residence, La  
Forteleza.
Deputy Director of NAIC, Juan Arratia of UMET (Universidad  
Metropolitana, an AMP
partner) organized the meeting under the leadership and sponsorship of  
NSF AGM
NAIC Program Manager Bob Robinson.  The first day was well attended  
and surely
was the most Puerto Rican event concerning the Observatory that any of  
us had ever
attended.   The highest official of the Puerto Rican government to  
attend was Victor
Rivera Castro of PRIDCO (Puerto Rican Industrial Development  
Company).  However,
there was a substantial participation by PR university chancellors and  
others from
island universities as well as participants from Spain and Latin  
America.  Five ASAP
Board members participated (Carlson, Mathews, Rankin, and Werthimer—as  
well
as Rick Jenet who had recently cycled off the Board).  The first day  
was opened by
NSF AST Director Jim Ulvestad, Bob Robinson and Bob Kerr as well as UMET
Chancellor Federico Matheu.  Most of the first day talks that followed  
focused on
AO’s strengths and contributions or on possible areas of collaboration  
in a variety
of areas.  John Mathews proposed putting AO at the center of a new  
institute he
called PRIAS (PR Institute for Advanced Studies), that would award  
PhDs and that
would have faculty and students distributed around the world.  The  
first day ended
with a panel discussion of PR university chancellors, who reported on  
their joint work
through a number of meetings and committees to find ways to interact  
with and support
the Observatory.  The breaks and meals of the Workshop on the first  
day kept participants
together in the hotel, so there was good opportunity to meet the other  
participants, a
number for the first time.  Unfortunately, there was limited AO staff  
participation.  The
second day was more focused on practical ideas for finding new revenue  
sources for
the Observatory.  Among these, however, were several people with  
strong ideas and
many suggestions.  These included those given by Kathy Olsen, formerly  
of the NSF,
as well as Louis Duncan, now President of Rollins College.  Olsen,  
Duncan, Mathews,
and Rafael Rodrigo (AO visiting scholar) comprised the panel that  
closed the second
day with open discussion on the various ideas raised by participants  
earlier.  The third
day gave the participants opportunity to visit the Observatory.

Overall, the meeting was pronounced a success by Bob Robinson although  
he expressed
his disappointment that no one had come to the meeting with “pockets  
full of money”.  The
spirit of the meeting was positive and upbeat.  Although new  
directions and revenue
sources are needed to assemble a fully adequate level of support, at  
the same time it was
clear that NAIC could and would be judicious so as to avoid  
undermining its fundamental
capabilities and mission.  There were no reports or undercurrents of  
leftover business from
the transition to SRI management; rather, the implication was that the  
transition had largely
been finished and finished reasonably well, such that the Workshop  
could now focus on
future possibilities and needs.  Appreciation to Cornell was expressed  
in strong terms at
various points by Bob Kerr and other members of the new management team 
—that CU and
Don Campbell in particular had been constructive and cooperative—so it  
seems that this
area of potential awkwardness has also been negotiated successfully.   
In other news, we
had the opportunity to meet the new NSF AST NAIC Program Manager, Eric  
Bloemhof.
Zavin Arzoumanian also confirmed that he was stepping down as the AO  
Astronomy head
and Fernando Camilo, then at Columbia University, would be phasing  
into the position over
a four-month interval during which the responsibility will be shared.

AO Astronomy Head and Proposal System. Fernando Camilo has now assumed  
the
Astronomy Directorship position and Zaven Arzoumanian has stepped  
down, with emails
from both addressing the AO user community in early July.  Of  
particular importance to ASAP
members is Fernando’s call for “more regular and substantive  
communication” from the users.
Let us take advantage of this opportunity to stay in communication,  
particularly when solicited
for feedback on specific items; we should feel free to ask questions,  
but also be conscientious
about answering queries.

Proposal reviewers and PIs of large ongoing proposals have already  
been contacted for their
feedback on changes to the proposal system, and a general announcement  
has now been
released (see attached) with the plan to redefine the proposal grades  
and to fold all proposals
(large and small) into a common peer review, with proposals  
resubmitted every semester or
every year.  As a result, the Observatory will be seeking to expand  
and diversify the reviewer
pool.  ASAP members should consider nominating colleagues who would  
serve well in this
capacity, for there may also soon be a call for reviewer nominations.

Other News.  Arecibo is a crucial observatory to work on the  
overarching themes outlined in
the Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey, New Worlds, New  
Horizons in Astronomy
and Astrophysics.   Examples of ongoing Arecibo programs highlighted  
in the decadal survey
include the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational  
Waves (NANOGrav), a
project with the potential to add to Arecibo’s unique heritage of  
conducting exquisite precision
timing experiments to test the Einstein's General Theory of  
Relativity.  Time domain astronomy
is another arena identified by the Decadal Survey where Arecibo’s  
capabilities offer a unique
advantage.  Looking to the future, surveys with the planned Arecibo 40- 
Beam Array would
have unparalleled sensitivity and survey speed in mapping Galactic and  
extragalactic HI and
should play a pivotal role in addressing some of the key questions  
identified in the Decadal
Survey.

Arecibo is also planning to develop, or in the middle of developing, a  
myriad of new instruments
and associated digital backends, including a new radar backend  
processor, Mark 5C VLBI data
recorder, the PUPPI pulsar machine (commissioning is underway), a new  
wide band IF/LO
distribution system, the 12 meter antenna and associated  
instrumentation, and two new wide
band receivers and their backends.

ASAP Board Election.  The ASAP Board is seeking nominations for new  
Board members.
If you are interested in serving as a Board member, or would like to  
nominate an Arecibo-
interested colleague, please send your nominations to board at areciboscience.org 
  by the
first week of September.  Four three-year Board positions will be open.

ASAP membership recruitment. We take this opportunity to remind you  
that ASAP is influential
in direct proportion to its body of members.  At this promising and  
very challenging point for the
Observatory, however, ASAP needs to increase its membership to about  
250 colleagues to
support its work.  Building this new membership will now be much  
easier, because ASAP
membership is now completely open to those interested in AO science— 
that is, theorists, users
or appreciators.  The Board has taken the position that renewed  
financial support will not be
requested from existing members at this time, although such  
contributions are always welcome.
However, the support of new members remains an essential source of  
funding for ASAP operation.
Please then assist us in building the ASAP membership by approaching  
your own colleagues—
especially those outside the immediate community of AO users—using the  
brochure as needed.
If the current members were to bring in but one new member, ASAP would  
more than meet this
crucial goal easily.

Finally, the Board wants to take this opportunity to encourage members  
to email us with suggestions,
help build the membership or assist with ASAP's work in future. For  
instance, you may be an expert
on aspects of AO's scientific excellence and uniqueness that are not  
now well described on the
ASAP website; if so, please consider writing up a short piece (a "one- 
pager") for this purpose.

Sincere thanks from the ASAP Board for your absolutely essential  
support at members.

         With best wishes to you and for a vital Arecibo future,

                     The ASAP Board







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