NAASC Meeting for June 2, 2010

Table of Contents


This agenda is available at https://safe.nrao.edu/wiki/bin/view/ALMA/NaascMinutes2010Jun02

Meeting Logistics:

  • Call date: Wednesday, June 02, 2010
  • Call time 13:00 ET or 17:00 UT
  • Duration: NEW! 1.0 hr
  • Locations: CV-ER230/TUC-N525/Soc280(SO-conf2)/JAO-Alsacia/JAO-OSF(Science)/NRC
  • Connection for Video:
    • From NRAO select "CV-ER230"
    • hub ip=192.33.117.16
    • 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: KSheth, ARemijan, AWootten, HLiszt, MHatz, JStoke, MLacy, MAdams, RIndebetouw, ALeroy, JGallimore, MThornley, RFriesen, DKim, JMangum, BKent, DMehringer, CLonsdale, JHibbard
  • Soc: CBrogan, THunter
  • GB:
  • Canada:
  • Tuc: RPulliam, DEmerson
  • JAO: APeck
  • Other:

Action Items from past meetings (RED=OPEN)

  • ACTION: Post abstracts for Miami AAS special session and advertise
  • ACTION: User eNews email exploder to advertise Miami AAS event
    • WHO: MAdams
    • DUE: ASAP
    • DONE: May 12
  • ACTION: Set up run-through for Miami AAS session
    • WHO: MAdams
    • DUE: ASAP
    • DONE: May 7
    • NOTES: run-through is Friday May 28 at 4pm
  • ACTION: Get table, power for AAS booth in Miami so we can conduct CASA & simdata tutorials
    • WHO: MAdams
    • DUE: May 28
    • DONE: May 12
  • ACTION: Post instructions for Summer School tutors and set up day for them to work through all summer school CASA tutorial datasets.
  • ACTION: Set up day for summer school attendees to work through simdata2 recipies
    • WHO: Remy
    • DUE: ASAP
    • DONE: May 7: have reserved May 28 for this activity.
  • ACTION: Post Simdata walkthrough and 6 recipes
    • WHO: Remy -> D-C. Kim
    • DUE: Jan03 -> June2
    • DONE: June 2 (but being worked on)
  • ACTION: Take a new look at NAASC website (http://science.nrao.edu/alma/) and send any comments (we anticipate proposal panel to be hitting it in the coming weeks)
    • WHO: All
    • DUE: ASAP
    • DONE: No comments received
  • ACTION: Post FAQ for new hires
    • WHO: New Admin with input from Kartik, Mark L., Aaron, other recent hires
    • DUE: Jan 1, 2010 -> June
    • DONE:
  • ACTION: Develop & deploy staff pages for the NAASC (http://science.nrao.edu/alma/ALMApeople/naascstaff.shtml)
    • WHO: Shanika/Aaron -> D.C. Kim
    • DUE: preliminary page ready Nov13; new scope: include non-CV sites?
    • DONE:
    • NOTES: Carol needs to decide how to incorporate all the different sites & advise Aaron (CV/Soc/Tuc/NRC/Chile)
  • ACTION: Transfer tickets from old CASA helpdesk to kayako instance
    • WHO: CB: identify tickets to transfer. K.Sharp: transfer tickets
    • DUE: ?
    • DONE: Not necessary - CB closed out in old system; non transfer
  • ACTION: Look into documentation solutions (single system that produces both web and hardcopy documents). Define requirements and ask CIS to recommend solutions
    • WHO: JHibbard/MAdams/DHalstead
    • DUE: July 2
    • DONE: Requirements defined by June 16. Systems need to be evaluated - new AI?
    • NOTES: htlatex preferred to latex2html. Used for CASA, AIPS, GBTIDL cookbooks/user guides. Other alternatives have been posted by staff.

Action Items from this meeting:

  • ACTION: Lead group to improve Technical Assessment form for OT
    • WHO: HLiszt
    • DUE: Aug1
    • DONE:

Agenda

  • Project News (APeck/RHills or CSV Liaisons)

  • NAASC News (Hibbard/Lonsdale)
    • The Wednesday meetings are moving to 1-2pm ET henceforth
    • Current NA CSV turnos: None in June. Upcoming: Manuel Aravena will go July 9-Aug18 (see NAASC2Chile)
    • Crystal and Todd are away doing EVLA RSRO April 20-June30
    • Scott Schnee and Adam Leroy have accepted NAASC scientific positions. They will start duties in Sept 2010 and March 2011 respectively
    • Next NAASC postdocs have all accepted:
      • Robin Pulliam (UAz) will start in June
      • Amy Kimball (UWash) will start in Sept
      • Nuria Marcelino (Laboratory for Molecular Astrophysics, Madrid) to start Nov
      • Kartik has a postdoc starting in the Fall to work on S4G: Carlos Munos
    • Shortlist compiled for Administrative support
    • JAO 1st Integrated test May 10-June 4.
      • To be tested: UP SSO-0, OT-phI, loadtest, PHY/Ph1M, PT, helpdesk
      • NAASC Participants: JHibbard, ARemijan, KSheth, AWootten, HLiszt, RIndebetouw, GSchieven, BMatthews, DJohnstone, [CLonsdale]
      • There are additional "external" testers for OT (Adam, MarkL, ToddH)
    • Updated near-term timeline. See ALMALookingAhead

  • NRC News (Schieven)
    • Victoria will host Jan workshop (after Seattle AAS) (more details below)
    • Participants in integrated test: Gerald, Brenda, Doug
    • CASCA workshop in Halifax

  • ANASAC (AWootten)
    • Last telecon: May14 Agenda. Provided names of potential NA panelists
    • Next telecon: June 16
    • ASAC f2f meeting TBD

  • Main Event: Experiences during the on-going JAO 1st Integrated test: OT, Ph1M (Technical & Scientific assessment)
    • Helpdesk tests went well. Need more instructions. Biggest misunderstanding seemed to deal with transferring tickets between ARCs, and procedure for closing tickets.
    • I (JH) for one was encouraged by OT experience. Needs some attention to interfaces for novices - more instructions in templates; subsets of spectral line lists; better display defaults. Others at meeting had issues with spectral visualizer. AI: Need concerted effort on improving Technical Assessment view. HL to take up after he returns July 3. Won't be possible to include for July 22 "public preview" version.
    • Less impressed by Ph1M. Seemed cumbersome. Needs capability to generate single pdf of all proposals. Technical Assessments need to be reconsidered. Seems unavoidable that TAs must invoke OT to understand proposal.
    • JH ran ~6 OT tutorials at NRAO booth in Miami. Believe this is ready to walk-people through. Can we do this at Summer School? Yes. Lets add it to Tuesdays scheduled. KS & JH will lead
    • Next step: some people will be asked to use the OT to submit Phase II schedule blocks over the next two days. Not sure if this is just JAO?

  • Reports from Cognizant Leads
    • ObsPrep (incl. ObsTool=OT) (Harvey)
      • R7.1 ("pre-beta") was used for integrated test. There will be a "Public Preview" release July 20, to be part of Aug staff "training" (will documentation be based on R7.1, or "Public Preview"??). Finally, R8.0 is due to be released Oct 20, just before ESDP (Nov 22).
    • CASA (Crystal)
      • Tutorials will be given at the upcoming summer school on June 11 & 15.
    • Casapy simulator (Remy)
    • Phase I Manager (Ph1M) (Harvey):
    • Project Tracker (PT)
      • Will be tested in upcoming integrated test link?
    • ALMA Archive & Helpdesk (Mark L)
      • Helpdesk used during integrated test. See Main Event
    • Pipeline (Remy)
      • User Test 6 (UT6) is now taking place (May 19- June 21) This external test exercises: mosaics, continuum subtracted imaging, group gain calibrations, improved flagging, and improved imaging algorithms
      • NAASC testers: Official - Remy, Rachel. Unofficial - John, Brenda, Kartik.
    • Splatalogue (Tony)
    • EPO (J. Stoke)
      • Writing script for ALMA virtual tour
      • ALMA EPO WG will meet f2f in Chile (when?)
    • Science User Outreach/Webpages (M. Adams/A.Evans)
      • Miami AAS meeting (May 24-27): Have Carol/Mark Report
      • June Summer School June 8-15 in Socorro. NAASC effort being organized by AE. Planned activities (see "Supplemental Material" from April's meeting for schedule); see also email from Amy at end of this agenda.
      • ARC Managers are discussion what to use for documentation. Want a single user-friendly system to edit that will produce acceptable web and pdf versions of documentation. We need to specify requirements, CIS/Comm will recommend solution.
    • NAASC Workshops (Tony & Al)
      • Next workshop will be ALMA: Extending the Limits of Astrophysical Spectroscopy. See email from Tony under "Supporting Material" below. Needs posted to NAASC science web. Website located at: http://www.almatelescope.ca/Spectroscopy2011. Article has been posted to the recent NRAO eNews and the SOC has been selected. Current status:
        • NEW dates confirmed - Jan 15-17, 2011
        • May 17 - work on poster design
        • June 1 - finalize poster design, get to NRAO for printing and mailing
        • July 1 - Go "live" with full website with pre-registration option.
    • Upcoming Science Meetings: (Al)
    • Upcoming NAASC Science Visitors (see google calendar NAASC Visitors)

Additional Supporting Material

NAASC items submitted to JAO for May 2010 Monthly report

Hiring activities
  • Scott Schnee & Adam Leroy accepted positions with the NAASC, to start in the Fall (Scott) and Spring (Adam)

JAO support
  • H. Liszt provided support to CSV in Chile
  • Served on search committee for JAO Operations Astronomers
  • Held internal discussions on ALMA Development program
  • Provided list of potential proposal review panelists from NA to JAO

Software Development & testing
  • Pre-tested and Deployed instance of ALMA helpdesk, registered testers, and generated test instructions & matrix for ALMA helpdesk, to be used in first JAO Integrated test
  • Seven NAASC scientists (Hibbard, Indebetouw, Liszt, Lonsdale, Remijan, Sheth, Wootten) and three NAASC-Canadian scientists (Schieven, Johnstone, Matthews) participated in first JAO Integrated test (OT-phI, helpdesk, Ph1M/PHT).
  • Three NAASC scientists (Hunter, Lacy, Leroy) participated in external test of OT
  • Two NAASC scientists (Friesen, Indebetouw) started participation in User Test 6 of the ALMA pipeline
  • Participated in CDR8 planning, including User Portal & ASA working groups
  • Developed and improved data reduction and CASA simulator examples on CASAguides (http://casaguides.nrao.edu/), in preparation for NRAO Summer School tutorials
  • Participated in CASA Developers meeting
  • Supported CASA helpdesk

Conferences and workshops
  • Five NAASC staff Participated in 216th meeting of the AAS in Miami, FL, USA, including sponsoring an evening session on "Preparing for ALMA", with talks by C. Lonsdale, A. Peck (JAO), A. Wootten, K. Johnson (UVa; ASAC & ANASAC member) & A. Remijan. Gave ~dozen OT tutorials at NRAO booth.
  • Helped organize NRAO Synthesis Imaging Summer School, including "Preparing for ALMA" session and CASA data reduction and simulator tutorials
  • B. Kent gave an invited talk at the Visualize 2010 scientific computing meeting in Washington, DC, on software designed for datacube visualization. Discussed current and future data volumes for various radio astronomy projects, including ALMA.
  • M. Lacy gave a contributed talk at the meeting "Science with ALMA band 5" in Rome

Other
  • Participated in NRAO Visitors and Users Committee meetings
  • Planning for NSF Review in July
  • Evaluated JAO budget documents for 2009Q3, Q4 & incorporated into budget planning for USFY2010
  • Held internal "Lessons learned" session for NA participation in CSV
  • Added multimedia content to NAASC Science website
  • Two NAASC staff participated in outreach activity with students, including promotion of ALMA

Email from Amy Mioduszewski on Summer School Tutorial plans:

Subject: CASA summer school tutorials and meeting
From: Amy Mioduszewski <amiodusz@nrao.edu>
Date: Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:36:16 -0600
To: Gustaaf van Moorsel <gvanmoor@aoc.nrao.edu>, Juergen Ott <jott@nrao.edu>, Crystal Brogan <cbrogan@nrao.edu>, Claire Chandler <cchandle@aoc.nrao.edu>, rfriesen@nrao.edu, bkent@nrao.edu, Joseph Lazio <Joseph.Lazio@nrl.navy.mil>, "Todd R. Hunter" <thunter@nrao.edu>, Alwyn Wootten <awootten@nrao.edu>, John Hibbard <jhibbard@nrao.edu>, Remy Indebetouw <ri3e@virginia.edu>, Mark Lacy <mlacy@nrao.edu>, George Moellenbrock <gmoellen@aoc.nrao.edu>, Sanjay Bhatnagar <sbhatnag@aoc.nrao.edu>, Miriam Krauss Hartman <mkh@aoc.nrao.edu>, "Steven T. Myers" <smyers@aoc.nrao.edu>, Urvashi Rau <urvashi.rau@gmail.com>, Kumar Golap <kgolap@nrao.edu>, Joe McMullin <jmcmulli@aoc.nrao.edu>, Laura Chomiuk <lchomiuk@aoc.nrao.edu>, ttsutsum@nrao.edu, Kartik Sheth <ksheth@nrao.edu>, Aaron Evans <aevans@nrao.edu>, Anthony Remijan <aremijan@nrao.edu>, aleroy@nrao.edu
CC: Amy Mioduszewski <amiodusz@nrao.edu>

I have arranged a meeting on Thursday June 3rd from 11-12 MDT (Socorro Rm 317), 1-2 EDT (CV Rm 230) to discuss any final questions about the tutorials.

Given the responses I gotten (for people who did not respond I assumed they didn't care what they were assigned). This is what I have worked out for the tutorials on the 11th and the 15th. We have 3 computer classrooms at NMT (36, 18 & 18 computers each). The plan is somewhat tentative because the students are allowed to change what they want when they get here. I have assumed 60 students each for spectral line and the cont/poln (based on the 2008 school when exactly 50% signed up for each).

June 11th
  • Spectral line:
    • Gustaff vanMorsel
    • Juergen Ott
    • Crystal Brogan
    • Claire Chandler
    • Rachel Friesen
    • Brian Kent
    • Joe Lazio
    • Todd Hunter
    • Al Wootten
    • John Hibbard
    • Remy Indebetouw
  • Cont/poln:
    • Mark Lacy
    • George Moellenbrock
    • Sanjay Bhatnagar
    • Miriam Krauss
    • Steve Myers
    • Urvashi Rau
    • Kumar Golap
    • Joe McMullin
    • Laura Chomiuk
    • Takahiro Hayakawa
June 15th
  • Millimeter:
    • Rachel Friesen
    • Mark Lacy
    • Brian Kent
    • Remy Indebetouw
    • Kartik Sheth
    • John Hibbard
    • Al Wootten
    • Aaron Evans
    • Tony Remijan
    • Todd Hunter
    • Adam Leroy
  • EVLA Advanced Data Analysis: I picked experts here because it will be more free flowing, additional ideas on topics welcome.
Spectral line (self calibration and visualization of data cubes):
    • Claire Chandler
    • Juergen Ott
    • Gustaff van Morsel
  • Cont/pol (self-calibration, spectral index and rotation measure):
    • George Moellenbrock
    • Steve Meyers
    • Joe McMullin

Thanks,

Amy

-- JohnHibbard - 2010-06-27
Topic revision: r3 - 2011-01-05, JohnHibbard
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