Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 11:28:17 -0500 (EST)
Subject: CSWA Newsletter of 3/15/2000
To: AASMAIL: ;
AAS Committee on the Status of Women
weekly issues of 3/15/2000, ed. by Priscilla Benson
*** send email and addresses to aaswomen
wellesley.edu ***
This week's issues:
1. Telescope Time
2. NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts
3. Back to Menstrual Cycles
4. Jobs
NOTE: No newsletter next week!
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1. Telescope Time
From: "Wright, James P." jwrightnsf.gov
The following program solicitation is now available:
Advance Technologies and Instrumentation (ATI): Special
Competition: Astronomical Applications with the Advanced
Electro-Optical System (AEOS) of the United States Air Force
(NSF 00-70)
It is on the NSF Astronomy Webpage
(http://www.nsf.gov/mps/ast), under New
and Important.
The direct URL is: http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-
bin/getpub?nsf0070
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2. NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts
From: Bob Cassanova bob.cassanovapeaches.niac.usra.edu
THE FOLLOWING IS A DESCRIPTION OF THE NASA INSTITUTE FOR
ADVANCED CONCEPTS (NIAC). THE NIAC OFFERS THE OPPORTUNITY
FOR MEMBERS OF THE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING COMMUNITY TO
PARTICIPATE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF REVOLUTIONARY ADVANCED
CONCEPTS FOR ARCHITECTURES AND SYSTEMS THAT COULD HAVE A
SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON THE FUTURE OF AERONAUTICS AND SPACE.
(For additional information, see the NIAC website at
http://www.niac.usra.edu)
The Universities Space Research Association (USRA) has
established the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC)
under contract from NASA Headquarters through the Goddard
Space Flight Center. The NIAC has been formed for the
explicit purpose of being an independent source of
revolutionary aeronautical and space concepts that could
dramatically impact how NASA develops and conducts its
mission. The institute is to provide a highly visible,
recognized and high-level entry point for outside thinkers
and researchers.
The purpose of the NIAC is to provide an independent, open
forum for the external analysis and definition of space and
aeronautics advanced concepts to complement the advanced
concepts activities conducted within the NASA Enterprises.
The NIAC will have advanced concepts as its sole focus. It
shall focus on revolutionary concepts -- specifically
systems and architectures -- that can have a major impact on
missions of the NASA Enterprises in the time frame of 10 to
40 years in the future. It will generate ideas for how the
current NASA Agenda can be done better; it will expand our
vision of future possibilities. The scope of the NIAC is
based on the National Space Policy, the NASA Strategic Plan,
the NASA Enterprise Strategic Plans and future mission plans
of the NASA Enterprises, but it will be bounded only by the
horizons of human imagination.
Normal development of the NIAC advanced concepts will be
carried out through issuance of research grants or
subcontracts in a two-phased approach. Phase I awards of
approximately $50K-$75K will be for 6 months to validate the
viability of the proposed concept and definition of major
feasibility issues. Phase II award(s) of $350K-$500K for a
period of 18-24 months would study the major feasibility
issues associated with cost, performance, development time
and key technology issues. Both Phase I and Phase II awards
will be competitively selected by the NIAC based on an
independent peer review. Principal investigators (PIs)
receiving NIAC grants will be designated as NIAC Fellows.
If you want to learn more about the NIAC, please visit our
web site at http://www.niac.usra.edu.
If you have an idea for an advanced concept and want to get
on our mailing list for the next Call for Proposals or just
want to learn more about the NIAC, please visit our web site
at http://www.niac.usra.edu.
"Don't let your preoccupation with reality stifle your
imagination." Robert A. Cassanova NIAC Director
The NIAC encourages potential proposers to focus their
thoughts and stretch their imagination decades into the
future in an aggressive pursuit of concepts that will "leap-
frog" the evolution of current aerospace systems and can be
the framework for future NASA missions and programs. While
the NIAC seeks concepts that stretch the imagination, these
concepts should be based on sound scientific principles.
The NIAC advanced concept proposals should be aimed well
beyond the evolution of technical approaches that occupy
current programs and set new, revolutionary directions that
can offer the prospect of significant and dramatic advances
in aeronautics and space. We are seeking advanced concepts,
specifically systems and architectures, that are
revolutionary, and which will expand our vision of future
possibilities. In the context of the NIAC requirements,
successful proposals for advanced concepts will be:
Revolutionary, new and not duplicative of previously
studied concepts,
An architecture or system,
Described in a mission context,
Adequately substantiated with a description of the
scientific principles that form the basis for the concept,
Largely independent of existing technology or a unique
combination of systems and technologies.
The NIAC seeks proposals for advanced concepts that are
appropriate for NASA missions. The NASA Strategic Plan and
NASA Enterprise Strategic Plans provide valuable background
information about the visions of future aeronautics and
space programs, and should be considered as a starting point
for the development of revolutionary concepts being sought
by the NIAC. The proposer should become familiar with the
information supplied in the NASA website,
http://www.nasa.gov/, which provides valuable insight into
the NASA Mission, current activities and future directions.
Briefly, the respective emphases of the NASA Enterprises are
as follows:
Aero-Space Technology: To develop the technology for safe,
environmentally friendly, and cost effective aviation and
space transportation.
Human Exploration and Development of Space: To open the
space frontier by exploring, using and enabling the
development of space and to expand the human experience into
the far reaches of space.
Space Science: To understand our cosmic origins and destiny
through research from the middle levels of Earth's
atmosphere to the edge of the Universe.
Earth Science: To understand the Earth's environment and the
phenomena affecting the patterns of change.
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3. Back to Menstrual Cycles
From: "Dr. Scott C. Smith" scott.c.smithlmco.com
I wonder if you can stand another response to Lynda
Williams' question regarding the apparent connection between
the lunar cycle and the human menstrual cycle. (I realize
that this is an old topic, but I'm just getting caught up on
my reading and went through two months of CSWA newsletters.)
I was surprised in reading the responses that, in a forum of
astronomers, nobody touched on the argument (which can be
found in most intro astro texts and some intro physics
texts) that gravitational tidal effects are insignificant in
humans. The common, and fallacious, argument goes that we
are mostly water and thus experience tides just like the
oceans, when in fact we experience tides more like a
bathtub, or similar sized body of water. I won't repeat the
full argument here, but suffice to say that, just as we do
not observe high tides in our toilet bowls twice daily,
neither do we observe tidal effects on our bodies. (A
similar, though distinct, argument against astrology
involves calculating relative gravitational effects to show
that the placement of personnel in the delivery room is more
likely to have an effect on your personality than the
relative position of the planets at the time of your birth.)
If the connection cannot be gravitational, what other
mechanism is there? The nocturnal illumination theory
mentioned by Maren Leyla Cooke seems the most promising
explanation, if one is really required. If that is the
case, then we would presumably find that women in cultures
that do not make widespread use of artificial lighting would
still be in phase with the moon (an interesting research
project for anyone who is interested). Personally, I am
inclined to put it down to pure coincedence. As evidence,
the fact that menstrual cycles in other mammals, even those
closely related to humans, do not share the same period. If
there was some causal relationship, you would expect that
relationship to be shared by other species (and then the
puzzle would be to explain the exceptions).
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4. Jobs
From: Mark Semon msemonbates.edu
Bates College would like to hire someone to teach
Introductory Astronomy for the upcoming Fall semester.
Teaching would include three hours of class meetings and two
(three-hour) afternoon labs each week. Our semester runs
from September 4th to December 16th, 2000.
The pay for this position would be in the neighborhood of
$13,000 - $15,000, depending upon the person's background
and experience. The Mathematics Department at Bates also
has an opening for someone to teach Calculus during the Fall
semester, and it might be possible for one person to fill
both the Astronomy and Mathematics positions and thus
increase their teaching load and salary.
Bates is 80 from Portsmouth, NH and 140 miles from
Cambridge, MA. The Astronomy course and its associated labs
are taught Tuesday - Thursday, so it is possible for someone
to commute from these (or other) locations. In this case we
would try to arrange local lodging for the least possible
cost.
Our Introductory Astronomy course typically has an
enrollment of about 60 students.
Persons interested in this position should contact Mark
Semon, by email at
msemonbates.edu ,
by phone, at
207-786-6324,
or by letter, at
Physics Dept., Bates College
44 Campus Ave.
Lewiston, ME 04240.
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End of CSWA Newsletter of 3/15/2000