BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO 8 Sep 2008 - 22 Sep 2008 ******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT************************* Appointment of ALMA Director The ALMA Board is pleased to announce that Dr. Thijs de Graauw of the Netherlands has been appointed Director of the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA). Dr. de Graauw's appointment follows a search by an international committee. Dr. Thijs de Graauw is a world expert in infrared and sub-millimeter astronomy. He has considerable experience in coordinating and leading large international scientific projects. In particular, he was the Principal Investigator of the successful Short Wavelength Spectrometer that flew on the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) and is currently the Principal Investigator of the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI) on the Herschel Satellite which is to be launched in 2009. Dr. de Graauw has been serving as Interim ALMA Director since April 1st, 2008. Before joining ALMA, he was a professor at Leiden University. At the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON), he was responsible for the infrared and sub-millimeter research program. --------------------------------------------------------------------- On behalf of the ALMA Director, we are pleased to announce that Dr. Richard Kurz has been appointed Project Manager of the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) in the Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) effective November 1st, 2008. Dr. Kurz's appointment follows a search by an international committee. Dr. Kurz has extensive management experience in space and astronomical projects. He has been serving as Interim European Project Manager since February 2008. From 1999 to 2004, Dr. Kurz was ALMA European Project Manager at the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) in Germany. At ESO, he organized the European side of the ALMA collaboration. Dr. Kurz was Project Manager of the Gemini 8-Meter Telescopes and, before that, managed a variety of NASA and Department of Defense space programs while at TRW Space and Defense and NASA. Dr. Kurz holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California at Berkeley. He has published many scientific and technical papers on high energy elementary particle physics and presented ALMA at international conferences throughout the last decade. --------------------------------------------------------------------- ADDITIONALLY, Dr. Tetsuo Hasegawa has been appointed Deputy JAO Project Manager of the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) effective November 1st, 2008. Dr. Hasegawa's appointment follows a search by an international committee. Dr. Hasegawa has considerable experience in management of astronomical projects, as well as a distinguished academic career. He has been serving as JAO Interim Project Manager since May 2008. Before coming to Chile, Dr. Hasegawa was JAO Project Director and Project Manager at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. Dr. Hasegawa holds a Ph.D. in Science from the University of Tokyo, where he taught at the Institute of Astronomy (1988-2000) and Nobeyama Radio Observatory (1980-1988). He specialized in interstellar medium physics and has published extensively on this and other topics. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Past issues of this Calendar may be viewed at http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html *************************************************************************** General Happenings Photos of activity may be found at NRAO eNews: http://www.nrao.edu/news/newsletters/ Sky: The major planets are all in the evening sky. Jupiter is in the South, Venus low in the West, Mars and Saturn nearby. SCO (Santiago Central Office): AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): Seventeen foundations have received concrete now. Very low levels of precipitable water were measured, with 2/3 of nights below one millimeter of precipitable weather. All crates containing the 64-antenna correlator first quadrant have arrived at the AOS. All racks for the first quadrant have been installed in the AOS TB (see picture) and partially populated with boards. The tedious task of inter-rack cable installation has begun. See photo in NRAO eNews. OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): Grading of the antenna assembly area for the AEM antenna was completed. The first prototype Amplitude Calibration Device arrived for integration with the Front End and subsequent mounting in the production antenna. The first BackEnd Antenna Article was installed in Melco antenna No 2. Signal connectivity and synchronization have been established for all eight basebands between the Antenna Article in Melco antenna No 2 and the BackEnd Antenna Article Testset in the interim lab for Assembly, Integration and Verification elsewhere at the OSF. Optical telescope pointing continued on Vertex antennas No1 and No2. Electrical interface tests between the fourth ACA antenna and Transporter (Lore) were conducted. AOC: Construction of storage building is ongoing. ATF: Antenna maintenance is scheduled for the ATF for this period. During August, amplitude and phase stability were demonstrated in interferometric observations of a series of quasars. Planet tracking was demonstrated. NTC (NRAO Technology Center): The last pre-production Warm Cartridge Assemblies finished testing. The Band 6 (1.3mm) Manufacturing Readiness Review is scheduled for Sep 18. Validation of the beam scanner at the Front End Integration Center (FEIC) continues. NAASC: The ANASAC holds its face-to-face meeting at the NAASC on 12 Sep. A calendar of NAASC events may be found at: http://www.cv.nrao.edu/naasc/calendar/calendar.php *************************************************************************** DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT/EST ) see https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar ****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS ************************* July 16-18 Software Review No 6. Aug 11-12 EPO face-to-face Ch'ville Sep 2 1430UT ASAC Telecon Telecon Sep 8-10 Simulation Workshop Grenoble Sep 9-11 ACA 7m antenna PPDR Itami Sep 12 ANASAC f2f meeting Charlottesville Sep 25-27 NAASC Workshop Charlottesville Sep 28-29 ASAC face-to-face Charlottesville Oct 8-10 Safety Review Chile Nov 12-14 ALMA Board Chile Nov 17-19 Software Review Chile Dec 9-11 ALMA Annual External Incremental Review OSF ******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS ************************* *****************************ALSO OF INTEREST*************************** Several ALMA positions are available at NRAO. Example: The National Radio Astronomy Observatory invites applications for an ALMA Postdoctoral Fellow position with the Commissioning team in Chile. When completed in 2012, ALMA will be the most powerful (sub)millimeter interferometer ever constructed, and will transform our understanding of topics ranging from the formation of nearby protoplanetary disks to the earliest epochs of galaxy formation. This position is assigned to the ALMA project with operational duties in Chile. The position is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation through the ALMA Construction Project and as an international staff position will exist during the construction period through 2011. There may be possibilities to transfer to the observatory science operations team during or after construction. Details for all positions may be viewed at: http://members.aas.org/JobReg/JobDetailPage.cfm?JobID=25062 or http://www.nrao.edu/administration/personnel_office/careers.shtml#CV4917_ALMA_POSTDOC *************************************************************************** Please send information for upcoming calendars by Friday evening of the preceding biweekly period to Jennifer Neighbours or Al Wootten via e-mail (jneighbo at nrao.edu or awootten at 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