This agenda is available at https://safe.nrao.edu/wiki/bin/view/ALMA/NaascMinutes2009Sep02

NAASC Organizational Meeting: Wednesday Sep 02, 2009 1-2:30pm ET (1700-1830UT), CV-ER209/TUC-N525/Soc280(SO-conf2)/JAO-Alsacia/JAO-OSF(Science)/NRC:

Meeting Information

  • Call date: 2009-09-02 (Wednesday)
  • Call time 13:00 ET or 17:00 UT
  • Duration: 1.5 hr
  • Connection for Video:
    • From NRAO select "Conf Hub IVR"
    • hub ip=192.33.117.12
    • alternative ip for Chile only, if above drops: 192.33.117.17
  • Non toll-free number: 434-244-6834
  • USA toll-free Number: 866-675-5385
  • Outside USA Number: +1 517-444-6916
  • Passcode: 8445333#
  • Leader: Hibbard

Attendees

  • CV: JH, CB, RF, JM, BK, RI, MA, JS, TH, HL, CL, SB
  • Soc: SM
  • GB:
  • Canada: GS, JdF
  • Tuc:
  • JAO:
  • Other:

Action Items from past meetings (RED=OPEN)

  • ACTION: Remove http://www.alma.nrao.edu/ when relevant material identified by AWootten is posted elsewhere.
    • WHO: SciWeb
    • DUE:
    • DONE:
  • ACTION: Follow up with UMd on SOW for Casa Carma filler/pathway
    • WHO: JHibbard
    • DUE: 1/07/09
    • DONE:
    • NOTES: Visit by P.Teuben Feb5 & Apr29 & Aug
  • ACTION: have Tuesday meeting to decide if we should use google calendars for work schedules
    • WHO: CLonsdale/JHibbard
    • DUE:
    • DONE:
  • ACTION: post AAS demos someplace (simulator, obstool, splatalogue).
    • WHO: SciWeb
    • DUE: ASAP
    • DONE:
    • NOTES: Being incorporated into new NAASC webpages
  • ACTION: Run proposed ALMA proposal science categories by other observatories, including Neil Reid @ STScI, Lisa S-L at Spitzer
    • WHO: JHibbard
    • DUE: By May s/w review
    • DONE:
  • ACTION: Send possible CSV support travel dates for CY2010 to JHibbard
    • WHO: Brogan, Hunter, Indebetouw, Mangum, Lacy, Liszt, Sci13-15
    • DUE: November 21, 2009
    • DONE:
    • NOTES: see NAASC2Chile
  • ACTION: Agenda for ANASAC f2f meeting; set up video. Ask AP to give presentation?
    • WHO: AWootten
    • DUE:
    • DONE:
  • ACTION: Convene search committees and get job ads written & posted
    • WHO: CLonsdale
    • DUE: Soon
    • DONE: 8/15/2009
  • ACTION: Attach ALMA_Construction_Milestones.pdf: Board-approved ALMA Construction Milestones
    • WHO: AWootten
    • DUE: 8/5/2009
    • DONE: 8/5/2009
  • ACTION: Ask RH for configuration files for ES array(s), for use in alma simulator
    • WHO: Crystal
    • DUE: 9/2/2009
    • DONE: 8/6/2009 (now is in Remy's court to incorporate into alma simulator)

Action Items from this meeting:

  • ACTION: Set up agenda for ANASAC f2f meeting
    • WHO: Al
    • DUE: 9/12/2009
    • DONE: 9/14/2009

Agenda

  • NAASC News (Hibbard/Lonsdale)
    • See new wiki page for NAASC Administrative help: AdminSupport (in top list of NAASC wiki)
    • Rachel Friesen started yesterday
    • New timeline for NAASC proposal to NSF: due March 2010 for review May 2010
    • Recent reports (will post when they become available):
      • Long Range Plan (2011-2015)
      • 2009Q3 Quarterly Report
      • FY2010 Program Plan
      • input to JAO monthly report for August (see Supplemental Material at end of this agenda)
    • DSO & ARC Implementation review happens Sep 29-30 in Santiago. Will post materials on Sept 7 (when the go out to review panel). Reviewers:
      • Chair: George Helou (IPAC Executive Director/SSC Deputy Director)
      • Michitoshi Yoshida (Director of Okayama Astrophysical Observatory)
      • Roy Booth (Director of Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory)
      • Jessica Chapman (ATNF Operations Research Program Leader)
    • ARC trips to Chile in support of CSV started last month. Arranging schedule for following years at NAASC2Chile. Sign up! Tony Remijan is working on FAQ; will distribute soon
    • Fall will be a VERY BIG hiring push for NAASC - at least 3 astronomers, splatalogue postdoc, multiple Data Analysts, EPO support, Archive support.

  • NRC News (Schieven)

  • ANASAC (AWootten)
    • Last telecon was held April 17 Agenda
    • f2f meeting Sep 25-26 in CV. Need agenda & video link set up AI on AW. Possible items:
      • Alison will be available, if we want her to give them a CSV report (JH suggests: SV process; ES modes)
      • Something VERY CONCRETE on Development
      • Have Remy do alma simos demo?
      • Jack Gallimore's mediawiki pages for casa use cases?

  • Main Event:
    • None (some of us wish to attend CSV review)

  • Reports from Working Groups
    • Pipeline (from eSSR wiki)
      • User Test 6 (UT6) is on schedule to start in November. UT6 is the primary focus for pipeline testing right now. Pretesting (done by the developer) is expected to finish up this month (this is a critical step in test preparation). The test scope includes calibration, imaging improvements, small mosaics, and will involve outside users. There may be 6-8 testers (very preliminary number). Once a precise test date is firm, Chris will begin identifying testers (hopefully this month). There has also been significant changes to the user documentation, which will certainly result in user feedback to improve it.
    • CASA (Crystal)
      • New group leader, N. Elias, starts Sept 21
      • Next release (3.0) will be December. This is a VERY IMPORTANT release, as it will be the version used for EVLA early science. Will need LOTS of real-world testing. Developer freeze in Oct, test in Nov.
    • ObsPrep (incl. ObsTool=OT) (Harvey)
      • User Test 6.0: test of Phase I June 1-26. Test report and more details available from eSSR wiki
      • A. Bridger will be visiting Sept 21-26 for CIPT Leads meeting, if anyone wants to meet with him
    • Casapy simulator (Remy)
    • ALMA Archive (Carol)
      • Defining 3 hires that will be posted ASAP - applications developer, DBA, Archive Tech.
    • Splatalogue (Tony)
      • API for splatalogue was due to be released July. Status? - Not ready yet
      • "From Data Cubes to Science: ancillary data and advanced tools for ALMA" meeting is being planned for Oct 5-7 in Cologn. CB, AW, AR will attend. Should have a discussion at this meeting about what the proper subset of spectral lines that should be included in CASA & Obstool for offline use (email from CIPT). Is that on the agenda?
    • EPO (J. Stoke)
      • image/media archive s/w will be demo'd. Could be used for all ALMA
      • Discover channel-level special being pitched.
      • New multimedia design artist, J. Hellermann, was introduced to the group
    • Science User Outreach/Webpages (M. Adams/A.Evans)
      • Interviewing for Web Content Manager; will concentrate on someone with astronomy background
      • Aaron is working on level 2 science pages. These need to be coordinated with EVLA.
      • AAS meeting: Jan 5-9 in DC. Will be NRAO Town Hall on Tuesday.
    • NAASC Workshops (Aaron)
      • N~175 at Omni, Sept 21-25 2009.
      • Science program finalized & registration over; waitlist only
    • Upcoming Science Meetings: (Al)
      • Other Meetings are now listed on the google ALMA Science Meetings calendar
      • Future of the SMA in the ALMA Era CfA 8-9 Sep
    • Upcoming NAASC Science Visitors (see google calendar NAASC Visitors)
      • ABridger will visit Sep21/22 for CIPT Leads meeting

Additional Supporting Material

Operations-related work done by NAASC staff in August 2009:
  • hosted and attended SciOpsIPT f2f meeting near Green Bank WV Aug 9-11 (worked on agenda & documentation for SciOps Implementation Review)
  • Revised NAm ARC Implementation Plan for SciOps Implementation Review
  • reworked NAASC organizational structure within NRAO to better serve users and interface with other relevant NRAO organizations
  • Coordinated with CIPT, spectral line affectionadios, and related NRAO orgnizations on plans for ALMA operations for user portal, spectral line databases, software development & testing, pipeline operations
  • Wrote & revised sections of "DSO & ARC Coordinated Activities" document for for SciOps Implementation Review
  • Defined Science Program and continued planning for 4th NAASC science conference "Assembly, Gas Content and Star Formation History of Galaxies", to be held Sept 21-24 in Charlottesville VA.
  • Planning for ANASAC f2f meeting Sept 25-26 2009 - developed preliminary charges & agenda
  • Reviewed ALMA ops budget
  • Collected data on planned hardware maintenance activities for 2010+ for BE IPT
  • planning for October workshop "From Data Cubes to Science: Ancillary Data and Advanced Tools for ALMA"
  • Casa user support: 10 helpdesk tickets serviced
  • extensive participation in US Decadal Review activities
  • recalculated the expected SED for the MW at various redshifts with the 24 hour ALMA sensitivities for Early Science and full array, for presentation at NAASC september conference
  • implemented the basic machinery to simulate corruptions of synthetic data using the CASA measurement equation calibration heuristics
  • produced summary of considerations & open issues regarding spectral line OTF mapping with ALMA & distributed to working group
  • advertised for web application developer, to work with NRAO implementation of ALMA helpdesk & user portal
  • advertised for next next NAASC scientific staff hires
  • interviewed web content specialists
  • started first tour of NAm CSV Liaison to Chile
  • wrote draft of FAQ for NAASC travel to Chile for CSV support

-- JohnHibbard - 2009-10-06
Topic revision: r1 - 2009-10-06, JohnHibbard
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