NAI EC meeting 4/20/07
Members of the NAI Executive Council present:
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Director |
Pilcher |
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Deputy Director |
Goolish |
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Team |
PI |
Representative |
Notes |
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ARC |
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Hoehler |
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CIW |
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Boss |
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CUB |
Jakosky |
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GSFC |
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Deming |
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IPTAI |
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Droppo |
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MBL |
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Huber |
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PSU |
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Kasting |
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SI |
Mancinelli |
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UA |
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Pavlov |
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UCB |
Banfield |
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On phone |
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UCLA |
Young |
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UH |
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Kadooka |
On phone |
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Affiliation/Institution |
Attendee |
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NAI International Partner |
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NAI Central |
Abe, Boldt, Dolci, Kirven-Brooks, Morrison |
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NASA HQ |
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NAI Team Members |
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EPO Rep |
DeVore |
Carl Pilcher opened the meeting at 10 AM
Director’s Discretionary Fund
An announcement was posted on the NAI website, in the NAI newsletter and letters were sent informing NAI members of the DDF 2007 awards.
A list of Focus Groups and recommended chairs were discussed.
Neither Mitch Sogin nor T. C. Onstott were available to discuss combining the Microbial systems and the Subsurface Life focus groups, however the group felt there was definite value gained in the plan, so they have tentatively been combined.
Sara Seager wishes to resign as chair of the Astronomy Focus Group.
Scott Hubbard was proposed as a chair of the Lunar Focus Group.
Young and Boss agreed to co-chair the Planetary Formation Focus Group.
Wendy Dolci, Marco Boldt and Shige Abe of NAI Central prepared a proposal for John Rummel to develop a portal to incorporate news and information providing overall coverage of NASA’s Astrobiology Program. The project would result in a coherent, accessible NASA astrobiology web presence. Rummel has approved this proposal and the group plans to have this astrobiology web presence live in 7 months.
The notification of DDF awards has been distributed. Each team needs to incorporate the additional DDF funds into the reduced budgets that were submitted in the fall of 2006. Pilcher was very impressed by the high quality of the proposals and the relevance to NASA programs.
NAI is responsible for assembling a science organizing committee for AbSciCon 2008. The SOC needs to be identified by May to develop the program and invite speakers, to meet the schedule for a call for abstracts on August 1, an abstract deadline of Oct. 15, to provide abstracts to Astrobiology by January 1. Pilcher asks each team to suggest 3 people, by Wednesday April 25, as candidates for the SOC, both those associated with NAI and not. The goal is to call on one candidate per team and to have all disciplines represented.
The current date is September 12, which conflicts with two religious holidays. Pilcher proposed extending the meeting to 1-1/2 days, and to change the date to either Sept 18 – 19 or September 19 – 20. The dates will be confirmed at the May EC meeting. The meeting will be held at the Goddard Space Flight Center.
Boss requested a discussion at the May meeting on interactions between AbSciCon, the IAU (Bioastronomy) and ISOL, for a joint meeting in 2011.
Kasting reported that at last week’s Exoplanet Task Force meeting, a joint NASA/NSF/DOE effort, 84 white papers were developed in the search for exoplanets.
Droppo reported that a proposal was submitted to the ROSES call for a joint EPO program, partnering with MBL and GSFC, for teacher workshops, a DVD and workbooks.
An ISI was submitted by members of the team, for funding to examine the origin and evolution of organics.
The UCB team submitted a ROSES proposal for a public site for environmental genomics. Manga is resubmitting a paper to Nature on eruption of liquid water on active planets.
Jakosky asked if there were any signals from HQ regarding the future of Ab funding. Pilcher responded that the signals appear favorable.
UA
Pavlov reported that the UA team submitted white papers to the Exoplanet Task Force. Hinz has made an observation of Procyon and its white dwarf companion, to demonstrate the limit to 5 micron searches for planets. The radioastronomy group has been exploring the molecular composition in the Helix planetary nebula, in an attempt to understand previous observations of molecules in the diffuse interstellar medium.
DeVore reported that he SETI team submitted two ROSES proposals, to 1) extend the ASSET program, in partnership with the Oklahoma Space Grant and 2) amplify Seth Shostack’s “Are We Alone” radio broadcast. The LOC has settled on the dates April 15 – 17 for AbSciCon at the Santa Clara Convention Center.
Kadooka informed the group that UH is starting a new astronomy program, working with students and teachers, funded by NASA IDEAS, to incorporate other programs in geology and biology.
Astrobiology will be publishing a special issue, this summer, on “Follow the Energy”, with contributions from several current and former NAI teams.
Pilcher announced that the next Director’s Seminar will be on Monday April 30, presented by Steve D’Hondt, on nutrient poor regions of the sea floor
The meeting was adjourned at 11:00AM.