From: aasmail [aasmail@aas.org]
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2005 1:46 PM
To: 'aasmembers@aas.org'
Subject: AAS Informational Email 2005-23

The following message is being sent to all US AAS members 
on behalf of the NSF-AST Senior Review Committee chair, 
Roger Blandford.

Kevin B. Marvel, Deputy Executive Officer


As most of you will be aware, the NSF Astronomy Senior 
Review is now underway. The Committee membership, charge 
and schedule are published on the website (http://www.nsf.gov/mps/ast/ast_senior_review.jsp). 
Town meetings have been held at Boston, Minneapolis, 
Clemson, Washington and Boulder and future ones will 
take place in Berkeley (15 Dec) and Washington AAS 
(10 Jan). 

The first meeting of the committee held last week was 
dominated by dialogues with the managements of NOAO, NSO, 
Gemini, NRAO and NAIC. These were all very constructive. 
There is a widespread acknowledgment of the challenge 
faced by the Astronomy Division of the NSF and the 
Committee was left in no doubt about the high quality of 
the research conducted at each of these facilities. 
However, the cost of prosecuting forefront science is high 
and hard choices will be necessary. Consequently, the 
challenge to the Senior Review, and the community at large, 
is considerable.

The input from the Town meetings, as well as emails and 
conversations with committee members have been extremely 
helpful and we hope community comment will continue. If 
you have not done so already, we encourage you to attend 
one of the town hall meetings and to submit comments/ 
concerns/suggestions to us directly. The email address 
established for the Senior Review is mailto:astsenior-review@nsf.gov. 
However, to be most effective, the input should occur 
prior to our second meeting starting on Thursday 12 Jan. 

Thank you,

Roger Blandford (on behalf of the Senior Review Committee). 



(Mailed to US members from aas.org 27 October 2005)

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