BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO 30 Jan 2006 - 13 Feb 2006 ******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT**************************** On 31 January, President Bush delivered the annual State of the Union Address. Included within that speech is a preview of the major initiatives to be included in the Administration's forthcoming budget proposal for fiscal year 2007. The details of that budget proposal will be released next week. Science, normally not an element of State of the Union speeches, figured prominently in this one. The President announced the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI), which includes among its goals doubling the Federal commitment to the most critical basic research programs in the physical sciences over the next 10 years. The sum of the budgets of the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy's Office of Science, and the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology is proposed to double over 10 years, a total of $50 billion of new funding. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Though of course I cannot speak for the panels, I think most participants have felt that the reviews of the past week have gone well. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The current issue of Nature has an article on ALMA. Although it has some misleading statements, it has been published. If you have not seen it, you might follow this link (there is also a podcast). http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v439/n7076/full/439526a.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Napier assumed his new task as Team Leader for the ALMA Prototype System Integration group in Socorro. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Past issues of this Calendar may be viewed at http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html See also the JAO ALMA Calendar overview at: http://www.alma.cl/alma_project *************************************************************************** General Happenings OSF: Clearing of land for the laydown areas for the Vertex and Mitsubishi antenna assembly continues. There are about 175 people on the ALMA construction site. The 'Altiplano Winter' remains mild. AOS: Steel erection on the Technical Building continues. ATF: Preparations continue for optical pointing tests. NTC: A photonics reference from the master laser and laser synthesizer were propagated over a 15 km fiber from the LO Photonics Lab to the 1st LO Phase Lock Loop lab. This was a very successful demonstration for the committee reviewing the North American Cost and Management of ALMA. NAASC: The North American Cost and Management of ALMA Review takes place 30 Jan - 1 Feb. Version 0.2 of the NAASC staffing plan has been written. Plans are for a review of this plan in the first half of this year. Efforts are underway to develop unified EPO efforts for international meetings and in Chile. *************************************************************************** DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT ) see https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar Mon 30 January All Day: North American Cost and Management Review, CV Tue 31 All Day: North American Cost and Management Review, CV Wed 1 Feb All Day: North American Cost and Management Review, CV 01:00 - 2:30 NAASC Meeting Thu 2 Feb Groundhog Day (An astronomical event day, midway between solistice and equinox). 4:00 pm NAASC: Tony Remijan, ALMA postdoc, speaks on "IRAS 16293-2422: Evidence for Infall onto a Counter-Rotating Protostellar Accretion Disk". Fri 3 Feb Sat 4 Feb Sun 5 Feb Mon 6 Feb Visiting Committee, CV. Tue 7 Feb 10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon 4:00 PM-5:00 PM: NAScienceIPT teleconference (open to all interested parties) (434)296-7082 Wed 8 Feb Thu 9 Feb Duisburg: VERTEX Preliminary Pre-Production Design Review Fri 10 Feb Duisburg: VERTEX Preliminary Pre-Production Design Review Sat 11 Feb Sun 12 Feb Lincoln's Birthday ****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS **************************** Feb 22 2100UT ASAC Telecon Feb 23 1500UT ALMA Board telecon Feb 24 1900UT ANASAC Telecon March 20-21 all day AMAC Meeting Kyoto, Japan March 22-24 all day ALMA Board Meeting Kyoto, Japan June 13-14 all day ALMA Board Meeting OSF November 9-10 all day ALMA Board Meeting Madrid TBD Nov 13-16 all day Science with ALMA: a new era for Astrophysics Madrid ******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS **************************** --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ******************************ALSO OF INTEREST***************************** The last issue of the SMA Newsletter said: A call for proposals for the 1 May - 31 October 2006 period will be issued in February 2006. Please watch the SMA website http://sma-www.harvard.edu for the announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEAD-NORTH AMERICA ALMA SCIENCE CENTER REQ. NO.: CV2327 The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is searching for an astronomer to head the North American ALMA Science Center located at Charlottesville, Virginia. The Head of the NAASC has the overall responsibility, and scientific leadership, for the development and operations of the Center and fostering optimum science use of ALMA by the North American scientific community, including overseeing the development of the North American ALMA Regional Center and a taking a leading role in the development of the ALMA Operations concept for North America. Please see: http://www.nrao.edu/administration/personnel_office/careers.shtml#cv2327 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- European ALMA Regional Center Manager Applications are invited for a European ARC Manager in the Data Management and Operations Division at the ESO Headquarters in Garching near Munich, Germany. Please see: http://www.eso.org/gen-fac/adm/pers/vacant/arcmanager.html *************************************************************************** Please send information for upcoming calendars by Friday evening of the preceding biweekly period to Jennifer Neighbours or Al Wootten via e-mail (jneighbo@nrao.edu or awootten@nrao.edu). The calendar will be issued between late Friday and sometime on Monday by e-mail to all NRAO scientific staff members and anyone else interested. A specific mailing list, alma-info, has been created for anyone wishing to receive it. Past issues are available at http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html