19 January 2016

A Recap of Policy-Related Sessions at the 227th AAS Meeting

Heather Bloemhard Vanderbilt University

Whether you attended the meeting in person, monitored the meeting via social media, neither of the above, or both, a lot happened at the 227th meeting of the AAS in Kissimmee, Florida. If I had to summarize the entire list of policy-related town halls, sessions, and talks, then I would say this: The astronomical sciences are making progress in all aspects of science — including improving the overall inclusivity of the field and developing the resources/tools for our continued success. That said, there are still many ways that we can continue to make improvements.

Note that I wasn’t able to attend all of the sessions; if I’m missing key information from any session, please send it my way.

 “A New Universe of Discovery”, a plenary talk by NSF director Dr. France Córdova

Advocacy Town Hall with a Panel of CVD Participants

“Science to Action: Thoughts on Convincing a Skeptical Public”, a plenary talk by Dr. William Press

Harassment in the Astronomical Sciences Town Hall

New Worlds, New Horizons Midterm Assessment (aka Astro Mid-Decadal)

WFIRST Science

The NASA K2 Mission

Astronomy Education Board Forum

NASA Town Hall

NASA Decadal Mission Studies and STDTs

Report from the Inclusive Astronomy 2015 Meeting

TMT Open House

Preparing for JWST Town Hall

NOAO Transformed: A Status Report

NSF Town Hall

LSST Town Hall

Gemini Observatory Town Hall