[asapmembers] Arecibo Science Advocacy Partnership Newsletter - Spring 2023

Wed Mar 1 17:28:30 UTC 2023

Arecibo Science Advocacy Partnership

areciboscience.org

Newsletter February 2023

ASAP Soliciting Donations
ASAP response to the NSF decision to close science operations at the Arecibo Observatory
ASAP Advocacy in Congress
Future ASAP Advocacy in Congress
Arecibo Observatory Media Articles
Members Meeting on December 1
SACNAS 2022 Meeting in Puerto Rico
Lunchtime talks

(1) ASAP Soliciting Donations: ASAP GoFundMe 

ASAP is seeking donations to support the advocacy work we do in favor of the Arecibo Observatory. Our goals are that scientific work and the maintenance and development of the existing research infrastructure continues beside the new Arecibo Center for STEM Education and Research, and that plans for a large radio telescope on site to replace the collapsed 305-m William E. Gordon receive funding, first, for an engineering study, then for building. 

The donations will be used primarily for reimbursing travel costs for trips to Washington, D.C. to educate our congressional legislators on the importance of Arecibo. Although some Members of Congress have already called for the NSF to revise their plan for Arecibo to not exclude research and technology from the site, further effort is required urgently to persuade the NSF to salvage AO’s science mission and to request Congress to allocate funds for building the telescope. A minor part may also be used for other advocacy-related purposes and/or administrative costs such as the upkeep of our areciboscience.org website. Donate here: ASAP GoFundMe

(2) ASAP and U.S. Congress responses to the NSF decision to close science operations at the Arecibo Observatory

Despite powerful, worldwide support for continued science at AO, the NSF has released a call for solely an education center (Arecibo Center for STEM Education and Research – ACSER).  ASAP released a response to this decision on October 30, 2022 in English and in Spanish. ASAP also shared a two-page Summary Media Release in English and in Spanish.  

A number of U.S. Senators and Members of Congress questioned NSF on the decision through letters to the Director of NSF, Sethuraman Panchanathan. The first of the two letters is available through a press release by Jenniffer González Colón’s office, here:

https://gonzalez-colon.house.gov/media/press-releases/members-congress-request-updated-cooperative-agreement-arecibo-observatory

The second letter, by Senators Blumenthal, Warren, and Menendez, is available here: https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/download/121422_-nsf-nasa---arecibo-observatory

NSF has replied to the letters, and ASAP has compiled annotated responses which have been delivered to the original Congressional offices, as well as to other interested Congressional offices.  The ASAP replies can be found here: 

Letter from ASAP to Senator Blumenthal:

https://areciboscience.org/ASAP-NSF-Blumenthal-20230207.pdf

Letter from ASAP to Representative González-Colón: https://areciboscience.org/ASAP-NSF-GonzalezColon-20230206.pdf

(3) ASAP Advocacy in Congress

ASAP Board members and Arecibo advocates Luisa Zambrano-Marin (organizer), Paul Bernardt, Brett Isham, and Robert White completed a successful visit to Congress the week of November 28 to December 2, to advocate for continued science and maintenance of the existing instrumentation at the Arecibo Observatory, and to discuss ongoing work on ideas and proposals for ways forward for the Observatory.  

The group met with Puerto Rico Congresswoman Jenniffer González-Colón and her staff, with the science staff at the offices of several members of Congress on the science, space, and technology committees, and visited the House and Senate offices of a few states with special interests in Arecibo, including Florida, Texas, and Alaska. Tracy Becker, who works in the Department of Space Research at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, joined in via cell phone Zoom during meetings with her representative. Paul Bernhardt works at the University of Alaska, which operates instrumentation similar to the HF, radar, and lidar facilities at Arecibo, and that science synergy may play a role in future opportunities for Arecibo.  

ASAP members Joanna Rankin, Brett Isham, and Robert White returned to Congress the week of February 6th and met with 25 different offices. Many of these visits were with members of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, the Senate Subcommittee on Space and Science, and the House and Senate subcommittees on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies. Competition with China was clearly also on the Congressional agenda. The team found that members of Congress and their staffers were interested and appreciative of the advocacy and information on behalf of Arecibo Observatory. 

Photo: The ASAP group in the Hart Senate Office Building on November 30, 2022. From left to right: Robert White, Paul Bernhardt, Luisa Zambrano-Marin; Brett Isham took the picture. 

Photo: ASAP members meeting with Puerto Rico Congresswoman Jenniffer González-Colón, at her office in the Rayburn House Office Building on December 1, 2022. From left to right: Robert White, Luisa Zambrano-Marin, Jenniffer González-Colón, Paul Bernhard, Brett Isham. Photo credit: Congresswoman González-Colón staff. 

Photo:  ASAP members with Vermont Senator Peter Welch, outside his office in the Dirkson Senate Office Building, on February 7, 2023.  From left to right: Brett Isham, Peter Welch, Joanna Rankin, Robert White. Joanna is a constituent of Senator Welch, which was a plus in gaining his support for Arecibo.  Photo credit: Senator Welch staff. 

More pictures can be found at this link: https://areciboscience.org/DCvisit.pdf.  

(4) Future ASAP Advocacy in Congress

ASAP has been advised by several Congressional offices to plan followup visits in March. As a result, ASAP members will continue to visit Congress.  

If you are interested in participating in person, joining in virtually especially for meetings with Congressional delegations from your home state, providing assistance with boarding during the visit, or donating flight miles, please let us know via email to <secretary at areciboscience.org> or by contacting any member of the ASAP Board or ASAP committees. 

(5) Arecibo Observatory Media Articles 

ASAP members and other advocates for the facility have produced a number of powerful op-eds and have been interviewed for articles to bring more awareness about the past and future of the Arecibo Observatory. Of the dozens of articles, we highlight two here and we encourage ASAP members to continue to widely share their own perspective for the importance of maintaining and restoring the observatory. 

A new Arecibo telescope and radar could help defend our planet, by Hector Arce, The Hill, November 22, 2022: https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/3742685-a-new-arecibo-telescope-and-radar-could-help-defend-our-planet/

What a telescope in Puerto Rico has to do with Vermont, by Joanna Rankin and Mary Fillmore, November 14, 2022. https://vtdigger.org/2022/11/14/rankin-fillmore-what-a-telescope-in-puerto-rico-has-to-do-with-vermont/

(6) ASAP Members Meeting: December 1, 2022

ASAP hosted a members meeting on December 1, 2022 – the second anniversary of the telescope’s collapse — with the goals of sharing recent work done by the ASAP board and committees and to discuss work needed to sustain science at Arecibo into the future.

The attendees split into four splinter groups to discuss the ways to best advocate for Arecibo science to (1) Congress; (2) the NSF; (3) the Media / Community engagement; and ideas for (4) the Arecibo Center for STEM Education and Research (ACSER). In summary, these splinter groups determined that:

ASAP members should continue engaging in congressional visits and sending letters to their representatives using ASAP resources and talking points;
ASAP members should continue to work with NSF, highlighting/reminding them that Arecibo observations continued to have strong science merit and impact in all science areas until the day of the collapse; and work to prevent mothballing or abandonment of existing, working instrumentation;
ASAP members should continue to use Slack or another forum to remain in touch; continue posts in social media and op-eds in larger journals and local newspapers;
Proposal for ASCER could target graduate students to keep both science and research alive within the ACSER program; but the details of the NSF call for proposals is vague and therefore it is difficult to define a strong proposal.

The notes from the meeting can be found here: Members Meeting Notes.

(7) ASAP Advocates for Arecibo Observatory at SACNAS

Members of the Arecibo Science Advocacy Partnership organized a successful session entitled Enlightening Our World, Our Universe with the Arecibo Observatory at the 2022 Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The goal of this session was to spotlight the groundbreaking scientific and education contributions of the Arecibo Observatory, and the scientists of Puerto Rico who have led these efforts.  The session featured four invited speakers who showcased how the Arecibo Observatory (AO) has enhanced our understanding of the universe, and positively impacted so many STEM students from Puerto Rico and around the world. Prof. Héctor Arce opened the session with a welcome and call to action to engage in advocating for the AO’s future.  He introduced the first speaker,  Prof. Mayra E. Lebrón-Santos, who gave a moving personal account of her path to becoming a successful radio astronomer and how the Arecibo Observatory contributed powerfully to her success. Dr. Shikha Raizada then gave a fascinating talk on the ground-breaking atmospheric science research done at the AO, the many interesting questions still to be answered, and the promising paths forward in this field with a future Observatory. Dr. Abniel Machín discussed the wide-reaching AO education and public outreach programs that have inspired students of all ages, and led to thousands of students from Puerto Rico and beyond to pursue careers in STEM. Finally, Dr. Edgard G. Rivera-Valentín gave a wonderful and dynamic talk on the AO’s absolutely crucial and unparalleled role in planetary defense and radar studies of Solar System objects.

The end of the session was devoted to an open discussion (moderated by Dr. Nicole Lloyd-Ronning) about the future of Arecibo Observatory.  The discussion was particularly focused on the recent NSF solicitation and how it excludes funding for the vibrant science ongoing with the existing (fully-operational) instruments, and also leaves no room for the possibility of building a new telescope at the site. The session was very well attended by a broad range of SACNAS members, at all career levels and across scientific disciplines, and included administrators from NSF and NASA.

(8) ASAP Lunchtime Talks

ASAP Lunchtime Talks focused on the science of Arecibo have resumed in 2023! Our first speaker was Dr. P. K. Manoharan, who presented “Regular Solar Radio Imaging at Arecibo: Evolution of Active Regions” on February 2nd. Our second speaker, Dr. Pedrina Terra, presented “Forcing of the Upper Atmosphere from Coupling of Troposphere during Extreme Weather Systems” on February 16th.

We had more than 30 attendees and lots of great discussion at each of the talks. Be on the lookout for ASAP emails with details about future speakers, topics, and dates! 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://areciboscience.org/pipermail/asapmembers_areciboscience.org/attachments/20230301/a26f0976/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 856537 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://areciboscience.org/pipermail/asapmembers_areciboscience.org/attachments/20230301/a26f0976/attachment-0003.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1059420 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://areciboscience.org/pipermail/asapmembers_areciboscience.org/attachments/20230301/a26f0976/attachment-0004.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.png
Type: image/png
Size: 601156 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://areciboscience.org/pipermail/asapmembers_areciboscience.org/attachments/20230301/a26f0976/attachment-0005.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image004.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 238243 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://areciboscience.org/pipermail/asapmembers_areciboscience.org/attachments/20230301/a26f0976/attachment-0001.jpg>