Report of the ANASAC face-to-face meeting, August 17th

ANASAC Members
Andrew Baker (Rutgers)
John Bally (Colorado)
Andrew Blain (Caltech)
Xiaohui Fan (Arizona)
Paul Ho (CfA, ASIAA)               did not attend
Kelsey Johnson (Virginia)
Doug Johnstone (HIA/DAO)           by telecon
Jaqueline van Gorkom (Columbia)    by telecon
Gordon Stacey (Cornell)
Alycia Weinberger (DTM)            did not attend
Jonathan Williams (Hawaii)         chair
Christine Wilson (McMaster)
Mel Wright (Berkeley)              by telecon


We thank the local organizers, Jennifer Neighbors and Laurie Clark,
for arranging the meeting and for their hospitality in Charlottesville.
We also thank the NRAO staff, Crystal Brogan, Chris Carilli, Todd Hunter,
Jeff Mangum, Adrian Russell, and Al Wootten, for their informative
presentations.


The committee addressed four charges:
1. ALMA User Grants Program
2. Terms of Reference
3. Science Workshop 2008
4. Membership

Letters from the NRAO Futures Committee and from John Bally in support of
an ALMA User Grants program have been sent to the NSF. It is hoped that
the entire AST budget can grow to accommodate ALMA without severely
impacting existing facilities. Phil Puxley informed the committee that
a working group will be convened later this year to examine realistic
mechanisms to fund new facilities such as ALMA. This does not preclude
the status quo but there exists an opportunity for new optimnization of
the grants program. The working group is expected to report to the NSF
by mid-2008. The reponse to Charge I is attached.

Charge II was uncontroversial and there was universal agreement that
ANASAC be provided with ASAC charges to provide a community perspective.
We recommend that this be formalized in an amended Terms of Reference.
The response to Charge II is attached. As the ASAC reports to the
ALMA board, ANASAC input into ASAC charges will not be in the official
report to NRAO.

The committee discussed potential workshop topics but postponed a
decision on the 2008 meeting until September when more information
on potential workshop leaders will be known. Possible topics for
2008 and future years are (Extra-)Planetary Science, Astrochemistry and
Astrobiology with ALMA, Resolved Imaging of Galaxies, and ALMA beyond
reionization. It was also suggested that future (2020) ALMA development
be considered for a session in each workshop.

There was broad agreement that the committee stay at its current size
and that replacements maintain diversity in all major science areas.
Two members, Xiaohui Fan and Lee Mundy, rotated off this year and we
thank them for their service. We anticipate that the frequency of
telecons will slow down to about once every two months. Andrew Baker
was elected as the new chair and began his term at the conclusion of
this meeting.