The Semi-Annual Report of the WGPAC
January to June 2000
The members of the WGPAC Steering Committee met in Toronto,
Canada in July 1999 during the ASP Symposium on Partners in Astronomy
to discuss short term and long term goals of WGPAC and the following action
list was made:
- Submit an article for the AAS newsletter on WGPAC
- Propose a Special Session session at the June, 2000 AAS meeting
- Establish a database to foster pro-am collaboration
To date we have accomplished the following:
1. An article was published in AAS Newsletter, No.
97, October 1999, by J. Kelly Beatty, the Senior Editor of Sky & Telescope
giving the background of how the WGPAC came about, its purpose and initial
goals.
As a result of this article, many people both amateur
and professional who has had successful collaborations, and/or interested
in such collaborations have contacted me offering their help in our future
activities.
2. At the ASP Symposium, panel session was organized
on forming and facilitating amateur-professional partnership. Talks were
given on the history of successful collabarations, the formation of the
WGPAC, and its goals. A lively discussion followed on the hopes, thougths,
and concerns of the audience on Pro-Am collaboration. Report of this session
will be published in the Proceeding of this Syposium.
3. A proposal was submitted to hold a Special Session
and also Poster Session at the June AAS meeting in Rochester. NY.
If we are granted these sessions, we will send individual
invitation to professional colleagues encouraging them to attend the sessions.
We will also publicize the sessions among the amateur community. We will
collaborate with the local amateur group and also Michael Richmond of
the Local Committee
4. Another mini-meeting of the Massachussetts members
of WGPAC was held on Jan. 5, 2000 when we discussed our present and future
plans, especially on the structure and content of the WGPAC website and
the database on amateur astronomers.
At the AAS meeting in Atlanta, GA, the WGPAC members
will get together again, to further finalize the plans on the webpage
and the database. Our goal is to have the WGPAC website active by April
2000, and the database establisehd by the time of the Rochester meeting.
Respectively submitted,
Janet A. Mattei WGPAC Chair
Read the first report of WGPAC (January-June
1999);
Read the last report of WGPAC (June 2000-June
2001);
Read the Index of Reports to the Board of the
A.A.S.;
Return to the WGPAC Home Page.
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