[ASA] NCA news

[John O'Byrne]

Dear colleagues,

I'm sending a quick update on behalf of the National Committee
for Astronomy (NCA).

(a) New NCA member
Last month, we sent out an open call inviting nominations
from the Australian astronomy community to fill one vacancy on
the NCA.

Nine nominations were received, and these were discussed by
a small committee consisting of the NCA Chair (Elaine Sadler),
the President of the Astronomical Society of Australia (Kate
Brooks), and one Academy Fellow who is not currently an NCA
member (Warrick Couch).  This committee nominated Professor
Steven Tingay (Curtin University) as the new NCA member, and
Steven's nomination was endorsed by the Academy Council meeting
at their recent meeting.

Steven will join the NCA for our next meeting in mid-December.
I welcome him to the committee, and thank all those who sent
in nominations.  It is clear that we have a strong talent pool
to draw from when future NCA vacancies arise.

(b) Change of NCA Chair
I'd also like to let you know that I will be stepping down as
NCA Chair from 1 December this year, with Professor Stuart Wyithe
(University of Melbourne) taking over as the new Chair.

After three years as NCA Chair (including the completion of the
Mid-Term Review of our Decadal Plan), I think this is the right
time to hand over to someone new and I am delighted that Stuart
has agreed to take on this role. I will remain as a regular
NCA member for the remainder of my current membership term.

Best wishes,

Elaine

____________________________________
   Professor Elaine M. Sadler FAA
   Chair, National Committee for Astronomy
   School of Physics A28
   University of Sydney
   NSW 2006, Australia

   email: ems at physics.usyd.edu.au
   phone: +61 2 9351 2622
   fax:   +61 2 9351 7726
____________________________________