From john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au Mon Sep 16 21:06:27 2013 From: john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au (John O'Byrne) Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 21:06:27 +1000 Subject: [ASA] ECR Workshop on "How To Be An Effective Referee" - filling up fast! Message-ID: <2B4B9224-B22F-46C6-9150-A7A3B844E5D6@sydney.edu.au> Dear all, A reminder about the one-day Workshop on "How To Be An Effective Referee" being organised by the Early Career Researcher Chapter of the Astronomical Society of Australia. It will be held on the 29th November 2013 at the Sydney Institute for Astronomy, University of Sydney, 44-70 Rosehill Street, Redfern. The aims of the workshop will be to learn and enhance refereeing skills. We intend this event to be very interactive, with attendees working in small groups to practice refereeing example papers and proposals. Because of this, there is a a maximum limit of 40 participants, which we are very close to filling. If you are at all interested in attending, please register as soon as you can. We will hold the names of those who register too late in a reserve list, in case those who have already registered are unable to attend. This workshop is being sponsored by ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO) and the ASA. There is no fee to attend, and coffee and lunch will be provided during the day. More details and registration can be found at: http://www.caastro.org/event/2013-ecr Thanks, The organising committee, David Parkinson, James Allison and Daniel Bayliss, and the interim Steering Committee of the ECR chapter. ______________________________ David Parkinson University of Queensland d.parkinson at uq.edu.au From bryan.gaensler at sydney.edu.au Tue Sep 17 10:08:47 2013 From: bryan.gaensler at sydney.edu.au (Bryan Gaensler) Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 10:08:47 +1000 Subject: [ASA] PASA Editorial Board - Call for Applications Message-ID: ============================================ PASA EDITORIAL BOARD - CALL FOR APPLICATIONS ============================================ Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia (PASA) is an ISI-listed, fully-refereed journal for new and significant research in astronomy and astrophysics. PASA seeks up to three suitably qualified astronomers to join its Editorial Board for three-year terms, beginning January 2014. Applications can be made by sending a statement of strengths and suitability and a brief CV to the Chair of the PASA Editorial Board, Bryan Gaensler (bryan.gaensler at sydney.edu.au) by 31 Oct 2013. About the Journal ------------------ PASA (journal WWW page at http://journals.cambridge.org/pas) publishes new and significant research in astronomy and astrophysics. PASA covers a wide range of topics within astronomy, including multi-wavelength observations, theoretical modelling, computational astronomy and visualisation. PASA also maintains its heritage of publishing results on southern hemisphere astronomy and on astronomy with Australian facilities. PASA publishes research papers, review papers and special series on topical issues, making use of expert international reviewers and an experienced Editorial Board. As an electronic-only journal, PASA publishes paper by paper, ensuring a rapid publication rate. There are no pages charges. PASA's Editorial Board approve a certain number of papers per year to be made available without a paywall or subscription to the journal. All papers are indexed by the NASA ADS database; the ISI impact factor for PASA is currently 3.1. PASA is published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA). The PASA Editorial Board ------------------------ PASA maintains an Editorial Board of seven members (currently chaired by Prof Bryan Gaensler). The main duties of the Editorial Board are to select referees for submitted papers, to make final decisions based on those reports, to solicit papers for submission, and to be an advocate for the Journal. Detailed duties are outlined below. There will be up to three vacancies on the Editorial Board, beginning in January 2014. Appointment to the Editorial Board is for a period of three years. An honorarium is paid annually, currently at the level of AU$3000 per year. Members of the Editorial Board are selected on the basis of their standing in the community, the breadth of their knowledge, and their specific areas of expertise. Applications are sought from candidates with expertise in any areas of astrophysics. Interested candidates should send a statement of their suitability for the position, along with a brief CV, to Bryan Gaensler (bryan.gaensler at sydney.edu.au) by 31 Oct 2013. A decision on the appointment will be made by the ASA Council shortly following this closing date. Note that ASA Council members may apply, but if selected are not eligible to receive an honorarium. PASA Editorial Board Responsibilities ------------------------------------- Members of the Editorial Board of PASA are appointed by the ASA Council. The ASA also appoints a Chair from among the seven Editorial Board members. The Editorial Board is responsible for the overall scientific success of the journal in the international astronomical community. Measures of success include number and quality of submissions, rejection rate, citations and impact factor, and timeliness of peer review. Individual Editorial Board members contribute to this by: 1) Attracting submissions of quality research papers to the journal. 2) Organising peer review of submitted manuscripts in a timely fashion, using Cambridge University Press' electronic submission and peer review system. Key components of this process are: a) Assessing a manuscript's suitability for review, including identification of possible cases of plagiarism using the results of automated plagiarism-checking software provided by the publisher. b) Selection of suitable reviewers, to be undertaken within 3 days of receipt of a manuscript. c) Delivery of a recommendation for publication/revision/rejection based on reviews, to be completed within 1 week of receipt of a review. 3) Other duties and responsibilities of Editorial Board members are to: a) Act fairly, courteously, and without personal bias in all dealings with authors and reviewers. b) Immediately declare to the Chair of the Editorial Board any personal involvement or potential conflict of interest that may arise for any manuscript or in any component of the review process. c) Be a public advocate for the Journal, including the identification of at least one "special issue" or topical series of articles per year. d) Actively seek to publish one's own work in the Journal, and to encourage colleagues to do the same. e) Enhance the standards and scope of the Journal. f) Ensure that refereeing guidelines are adhered to and comprehensively considered by referees g) Provide strategic advice to the ASA, to the Chair of the Editorial Board and to the publisher on current directions in relevant research disciplines that can be used to the benefit of the Journal, its subscribers and its readers. To this end, the Editorial Board meets three times per year (one half-day face-to-face / video meeting, and two shorter meetings by phone). From yeshe.fenner at astronomyaustralia.org.au Wed Sep 18 15:26:28 2013 From: yeshe.fenner at astronomyaustralia.org.au (Yeshe Fenner) Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 15:26:28 +1000 Subject: [ASA] AAL Board and Committee vacancies: Applications due 4th October 2013 Message-ID: <000001ceb42f$a015d110$e0417330$@astronomyaustralia.org.au> Dear ASA members, Astronomy Australia Ltd (AAL ) will shortly have vacancies on its Board and Committees. Applications for Board and Committee positions are due by 1PM AEST on Friday 4th October 2013. Please see the following advertisements for more details: . Non-Executive Directors advertisement . AAL Committee Membership advertisement AAL encourages applications from everyone with the appropriate expertise and skills. AAL has a target of at least 25% female representation on its Board and Committees, and strongly encourages applications from women. Kind regards, Yeshe ______________________________ Dr Yeshe Fenner Executive Officer Astronomy Australia Ltd T: 03 9214 5520 M: 0430 708 995 F: 03 9214 4396 E: yeshe.fenner at astronomyaustralia.org.au W: astronomyaustralia.org.au P: P.O. Box 2100 Hawthorn VIC 3122 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ausgo at aao.gov.au Thu Sep 19 13:44:07 2013 From: ausgo at aao.gov.au (Australian Gemini Office) Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 13:44:07 +1000 Subject: [ASA] Call for Magellan Proposals in Semester 2014A Message-ID: <523A7307.7070507@aao.gov.au> Proposals for Australian access to the Magellan telescopes for Semester 2014A (mid-Jan - mid-Jul 2014) are due by *5:00pm AEST, Tuesday 8 October 2013*. (A separate call for Gemini and Subaru proposals in Semester 2014A with a 1 October 2013 deadline was issued last week - please see http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/pipermail/asa/2013-September/000348.html) What's new for Semester 2014A? ------------------------------ * There will likely be a single f/5 run with Megacam (and with MMIRS if the demand warrants it) in 2014A, as well as a single adaptive optics (AO) science verification run with VisAO and Clio2. These runs will very likely be scheduled in the March - May 2014 time frame. In order to assist the scheduling of any approved f/5 or AO proposals, *any PI planning to apply for observing time with MegaCam, MMIRS, or AO in 2014A should send an e-mail by Monday 22 Sep* to ausgo at aao.gov.au with a short (2 or 3 paragraph) summary of your project and some indication of the RA distribution of your objects. Note that whenever either the wide-field f/5, or the AO adaptive secondary mirror are mounted on the Clay telescope, none of the f/11 instruments (MIKE, MagE, LDSS3, PFS, M2FS) are available. * The Magellan Adaptive Optics (MagAO ) facility is a new natural guide star system for the Clay telescope that uses a high-order wavefront sensor and adaptive secondary mirror to deliver near diffraction-limited imaging performance with either an optical (VisAO ) or an infrared (Clio2 ) camera. Those interested in using MagAO in shared-risks mode in 2014A should contact Laird Close (lclose at as.arizona.edu) before submitting a proposal. * The MMIRS detector will be upgraded in 2013B so MMIRS will be offered in shared-risks mode in 2014A. The new Hawaii-2RG array will offer QE in Y, J, H, and K of 80%, 78%, 82%, and 80%, respectively, together with lower read-noise, dark current, cross-talk, and persistence. Note that the instrument may be moved to the MMT as early as 2014B for at least a couple of years. * The Michigan/Magellan Fibre System (M2FS ) is a new fiber-fed, multi-object, optical spectrograph with both high (R~20,000) and low (300 < R < 4,000) resolution modes offering full wavelength coverage from 370 to 950nm for up to 256 objects over a 30 arcmin field of view. M2FS is a PI instrument and will only be available via collaborative arrangement with the instrument team. Contact Mario Mateo (mmateo at umich.edu) before submitting a proposal. * So as not to inadvertently preclude high-impact science that can be done in a short time, *the previous two-night minimum length on time requests has been reduced to half a night*. The AAO and AAL have secured funds from the Federal government's Collaborative Research Infrastructure Scheme (CRIS) to ensure that Australian users of Magellan awarded observing time by ATAC are able to travel to take up that opportunity. How to apply ------------ Further information about all Magellan instrumentation on offer, travel funding, and the application procedure is described at: http://ausgo.aao.gov.au/magellan.html Need help? ---------- For any enquiries about Australian usage of Magellan please contact the Australian Gemini Office (ausgo at aao.gov.au). Stuart Ryder Australian Gemini Scientist ausgo at aao.gov.au -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrew.green at aao.gov.au Thu Sep 19 16:04:43 2013 From: andrew.green at aao.gov.au (Andy Green) Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 16:04:43 +1000 Subject: [ASA] AAT Service Observing - Call for Proposals Message-ID: <1A1B7023-D3EC-429B-99E9-D8274D682E77@aao.gov.au> AAT SERVICE OBSERVING - CALL FOR PROPOSALS The Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO) operates a service observing programme at the 4-metre Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) for proposals requiring less than 6 hours of observing time. The next deadline is *** Tuesday, 1 October 2013, at 23:59 *** (Australian Eastern Standard Time, i.e. UTC + 10 hrs) Applications are welcomed from all astronomers, worldwide. The following instruments are available for service observations: 2dF+AAOmega, IRIS2, UCLES/UHRF, SPIRAL+AAOmega. NOTE: For the period 21 October to January 2014, only 2dF+AAOmega will be available for service observing. NOTE: It is expected that, once commissioned, KOALA will be used for all SPIRAL proposals as it will be superior in most regards. Service Programmes expire after 18 months. Current programmes submitted before 1 April 2012] will be purged from the queue. If you have an existing programme in this category, you are invited to resubmit this round. Please see http://www.aao.gov.au/local/www/service/service.html for more information about the AAT Service Programme and application forms. Andy Green AAT Service Coordinator service at aao.gov.au -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From carterb at usq.edu.au Sun Sep 22 16:05:47 2013 From: carterb at usq.edu.au (Brad Carter) Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 16:05:47 +1000 Subject: [ASA] APA PhD Scholarships at USQ - deadline extended to 25 Oct 2013 Message-ID: As previous advised the University of Southern Queensland is currently offering PhD Scholarships targeting the following research projects: The Activity of Planet-Hosting Stars The Winds of Planet-Hosting Stars I'm pleased to advise the deadline for applications has now been extended to Friday 25 October, and I welcome requests for further information. Brad Carter Brad.Carter at usq.edu.au -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: