PLANETARY EXPLORATION NEWSLETTER Volume 6, Number 13 (March 25, 2011) PEN Website: http://planetarynews.org Editor: Susan Benecchi Co-Editors: Mark V. Sykes, Melissa Lane Email: pen_editor at psi.edu o-------------------------TABLE OF CONTENTS---------------------------o 1. Special: Input Requested on Impact of Delays in Selection and Funding of Research and Data Analysis Program Awards 2. NASA Presentations at LPSC Posted 3. Survey of Planetary Workforce 4. NASA Postdoctoral Fellowships 5. NLSI Dust, Atmosphere, and Plasma: Moon and Small Bodies Workshop 6. Elsevier Award on Radiative Transfer 7. New Topography for Venus Now Available 8. Planetary Meeting Calendar Additions o---------------------------------------------------------------------o 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1 SPECIAL: INPUT REQUESTED ON IMPACT OF DELAYS IN SELECTION AND FUNDING OF RESEARCH AND DATA ANALYSIS PROGRAM AWARDS Program officers of a number of planetary research and data analysis programs this past year have had to contend with long delays in being allocated budgets, which have resulted in delays for selections (in at least one case more than 300 days!) and delays in scientists getting their funds. This has caused serious problems for scientists who have had to worry about whether to make hires, make purchases, or even whether they have sufficient funds to cover their own salaries. This was apparent by statements made at the NASA R&A Lunch at LPSC last Monday. Over this week, I would like to gather information about how these delays have impacted members of our community and how it impacts our science. These will be posted minus personal information at a link in the next PEN. Your input will be of great value in making the case that stability of these programs needs to be a priority of PSD management (as has been recognized by several past NRC reports). Please send your input on this to Mark Sykes sykes@psi.edu Thank you. 2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2 NASA PRESENTATIONS AT LPSC POSTED Charts presented at the R&A Lunch at LPSC by Jonathan Rall have been posted at: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2012/archive/ This includes a breakdown of the 2010, 2011 and 2012 budgets for all of the research and data analysis programs. This page also includes the charts presented at NASA Night by John Grunsfeld and Jim Green. 3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3 SURVEY OF PLANETARY WORKFORCE The results of an extensive survey of the planetary workforce is now available at: http://lasp.colorado.edu/mop/resources/links/ PlanetaryScienceWorkForceSurvey2011/ Part A: A survey of academic departments that include planetary science was published last year. We now have completed Part B: A survey to individual members of the AAS/DPS, the AGU Planetary Science Section, the Meteoritical Society as well as attendees of the LPSC will be distributed summer 2011. This survey is aimed at professional planetary scientists (with a PhD) working in the US.You can download a 2-page summary and full report of the survey. Fran Bagenal bagenal@colorado.edu 4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4 NASA POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers scientists and engineers unique opportunities to conduct research at NASA Centers. Each NPP fellowship opportunity is designed to advance NASA research in a specific project related to space science, earth science, aeronautics, exploration systems, lunar science, astrobiology, or astrophysics. Applicants must have a Ph.D. or equivalent degree in hand before beginning the fellowship, but may apply while completing the degree requirements. U. S. citizens, Lawful Permanent Residents, and foreign nationals eligible for J-1 status as a Research Scholar may apply. Stipends start at $50,000 per year, with supplements for high cost-of-living areas and for certain academic specialties. Financial assistance is available for relocation and health insurance, and $8,000 per year is provided for professional travel. Applications are accepted three times each year: March 1, July 1, and November 1. For further information and to apply, visit: http://nasa.orau.org/postdoc/description/index.htm Questions may be submitted by e-mail to nasapostdoc@orau.org 5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5 NLSI DUST, ATMOSPHERE, AND PLASMA: MOON AND SMALL BODIES WORKSHOP The 'NLSI Dust, Atmosphere, and Plasma: Moon and Small Bodies' (DAP-2012) workshop will take place in Boulder, June 6-8, 2012. Please visit our meeting web site: http://ldap2012.colorado.edu/ to register and submit your abstract by the 30 March deadline. We are looking forward to see you in Boulder! Alan Stern & Mihaly Horanyi 6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6 ELSEVIER AWARD ON RADIATIVE TRANSFER We would like to bring to your attention a recent inaugural Elsevier Award on Radiative Transfer, open to all scientists who had sizeable impact on the advancement of Radiative Transfer. The Poynting Award on Radiative Transfer will be administered by JQSRT and its details are announced at the JQSRT web site: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-quantitative-spectroscopy- and-radiative-transfer/news/poynting-award-on-radiative-transfer-call- for-nominations/ Please send all nomination packages no later than April 30, 2012 to M. Pinar Menguc, one of the three Editor-in-Chief of JQSRT (pinar.menguc@ozyegin.edu.tr). 7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7 NEW TOPOGRAPHY FOR VENUS NOW AVAILABLE Left-left stereo SAR images from the Magellan mission have been processed by a team at the University of Alaska Fairbanks to generate stereo-derived topography for Venus. These data have a horizontal resolution of 1-2 km, roughly an order of magnitude improvement over the gridded altimetry data from Magellan. The stereo-derived topography cover ~20% of the planet, including significant portions of Maxwell Montes, Tellus Regio, and Aphrodite Terra. This effectively represents a new data set for Venus, a planet that has not seen a NASA mission in over two decades. The data and more information are available at: http://www.gi.alaska.edu/~rherrick/stereotopo.html Questions regarding the data can be sent to Robert Herrick at rherrick@gi.alaska.edu 8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8 PLANETARY MEETING CALENDAR ADDITIONS August 27-29, 2012 Double-Diffusive Systems http://dd2012.soe.ucsc.edu Santa Cruz, CA October 22-24, 2012 Annual Meeting of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG 2012) http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/leag2012/ Greenbelt, Maryland October 23-26, 2014 Solar Eclipse Conference 2014 http://www.eclipse-chasers.com/SEC2014.html Alamogordo, NM Posted at http://planetarynews.org/meetings.html [Editor Note: If there is a planetary-related meeting, conference or workshop of which your colleagues should be aware, please send the date, title, URL and location to pen_editor at psi.edu.] *********************************************************************** * The Planetary Exploration Newsletter is issued approximately weekly. * Current and back issues are available at http://planetarynews.org * * To subscribe, go to http://planetarynews.org/pen_subscribe.html, or * send a request to pen_editor at psi.edu * * To unsubscribe, send an email to pen_editor at psi.edu * * Please send all replies and submissions to pen_editor at psi.edu. * Announcements and other messages should be brief with links to URLs * for extended information, including detailed descriptions for job * announcements. 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