From vkilborn at swin.edu.au Mon Mar 25 23:01:57 2019 From: vkilborn at swin.edu.au (Virginia Kilborn) Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2019 12:01:57 +0000 Subject: [ASA] Fw: NCA | 2020 Academy of Science Awards open for nomination In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: ________________________________ From: Meaghan Dzundza Sent: Monday, 25 March 2019 1:47 PM To: National Committee for Astronomy Subject: NCA | 2020 Academy of Science Awards open for nomination Dear NCA The Australian Academy of Science invites nominations and applications for its 2020 honorific awards, research conferences, research awards and travelling fellowships. The closing date for award nominations is 1 May 2019 and the closing date to apply for travel, conference and research support is the 1 June 2019. You are invited to consider nominating candidates and forwarding this invitation to any relevant parties. The Academy is committed to celebrating and supporting diversity. To do this we need nominations from outstanding scientists from all career stages, all backgrounds and genders. We strongly encourage more nominations of women for all our awards, in particular our career and mid-career honorific awards. Nomination schemes and awards that may be of particular interest to you are listed below: Early-career honorific awards Frederick White Medal (physical, terrestrial and planetary sciences) Pawsey Medal (physics) Mid-career honorific awards Nancy Millis Medal for Women in Science (any branch of the natural sciences) Other awards and Prizes Selby Travelling Fellowship (all fields of science) The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Scientist Travelling Research Award The Moran Award for history of science research Elizabeth and Frederick White Research Conferences (Physical sciences) Information on eligibility criteria and nomination/application procedures, is available on the website www.science.org.au/opportunities. For enquiries please email the Awards Team or call +61 2 6201 9407. An awards information leaflet is available for download and distribution. Thank you in advance for helping to support and promote excellence in science. Yours sincerely, Meaghan [cid:image009.jpg at 01D4C931.F71165C0] Meaghan Dzundza Coordinator National Committees for Science (hours: 7.30 am-4.00 pm) Australian Academy of Science Ian Potter House, 9 Gordon Street, Acton ACT 2601 | GPO Box 783, Canberra ACT 2601 T (02) 6201 9456 F (02) 6201 9494 E meaghan.dzundza at science.org.au www.science.org.au [cid:image002.jpg at 01D4E310.51B40080] [cid:image003.jpg at 01D4E310.51B40080] Disclaimer: This message is intended for the addressee named and may contain confidential information, which also may be legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender and delete. 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Name: 2020-academy-awards-flyer.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1346584 bytes Desc: 2020-academy-awards-flyer.pdf URL: From richard.mcdermid at mq.edu.au Tue Mar 26 14:54:37 2019 From: richard.mcdermid at mq.edu.au (Richard McDermid) Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2019 03:54:37 +0000 Subject: [ASA] Call for volunteer school student mentors - Siding Spring Observatory Dark Sky Education Competition In-Reply-To: <6D22075A-6D0F-4618-B977-0B74E2CDB5AA@mq.edu.au> References: <6D22075A-6D0F-4618-B977-0B74E2CDB5AA@mq.edu.au> Message-ID: Dear ASA Colleagues, I would like to bring to your attention a new initiative from the NSW Department of Planning and Environment and the NSW Department of Education, who have created an exciting education program around the important topic of light pollution and preserving the pristine dark skies around Siding Spring Observatory, which many of us use for our research. The unit is aimed at Stage 3 (years 5-6) students, and involves them working in teams to tackle the question of how they can protect the night sky around Siding Spring Observatory by helping their community take specific steps to reduce light pollution. Students will gather information about different types of light pollution in their area, and develop an idea/concept/product that will help maintain or reduce the levels of light pollution in their community. A competition will be held to select the best projects. More information is available here. The program has had an excellent response, with 49 schools (up to 120 classes!) signing up from all over NSW to participate in the next school term. The organisers are now looking for volunteer 'expert mentors' to connect with these classes and provide feedback and advice to the students on their solutions. This is where you come in?.! You don?t need to be an expert on the topic of light pollution - just an enthusiastic scientist who can provide helpful input and guidance to a bunch of equally enthusiastic school students. Mentors will be required to connect via videoconference to their class/es 2 times in total (about 90 minutes each session), at a time agreed upon with the class teacher. Approximate timing would be during the weeks of 20th-24th May, and 3rd-7th of June. The program organisers will provide mentors with guidelines and support in advance of connecting with class/es. If you are interested in participating, then please contact Kelly Pfeiffer at the following address: kelly.pfeiffer3 at det.nsw.edu.au . Best wishes, Richard ---- Dr Richard McDermid ARC Future Fellow / Senior Lecturer Department of Physics and Astronomy, Macquarie University NSW 2109, Australia Tel: +61 2 9850 4476 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cfluke at swin.edu.au Tue Mar 26 15:29:15 2019 From: cfluke at swin.edu.au (Christopher Fluke) Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2019 04:29:15 +0000 Subject: [ASA] PhD Internship: The Eyes and the Sky - Medical Image Analysis with Astrophysics Message-ID: The following internship opportunity may be of interest to astronomy and astrophysics PhD students nearing the end of candidature. Full details are on the APR.Intern web-site: https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/62PJCgZowLHOKmOviN-tb_?domain=aprintern.org.au Applications close: 10 April 2019 Project Background The Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA) has successfully applied hyperspectral imaging, a technology initially developed by NASA for satellite imaging of the earth, for the detection of retinal disease. In a world first, CERA adapted this approach for the detection of retinal biomarkers of Alzheimer?s disease. A central component of this work has been the application of advanced computational approaches, including machine learning, to image processing and analysis. In doing so CERA have had the fortune of collaborating with researchers from the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing at Swinburne University. Together they?ve applied insights from methods of signal processing used in astrophysics to the challenges of hyperspectral retinal image analysis. Additionally, CERA have explored ways in which retinal image processing methods may inform computational challenges in astrophysics. This is a valuable collaboration that has great potential to yield novel transdisciplinary approaches to ophthalmic imaging and possibly to astrophysics. Candidates will be hosted at CERA with regular visits to Swinburne University. As an integral part of the team, candidates will work on a day-to-day basis with our data scientist and clinician-scientist. They will also have close and regular interactions with CERA?s larger team. Skills required The ideal candidates will have demonstrated interest in image analysis and can be either: ? a biomedical engineer who is keen to learn state-of-the art analytical methods from leading astrophysicists and/or, ? an astrophysicist who wants to develop biomedical skills and apply their knowledge to clinical problems. The ideal candidates will need to have the following skills: ? Data science (machine learning, statistics and data visualisation) ? Programming (Python, Matlab) ? Interest in cross-disciplinary collaboration If you have any questions about the research to be conducted during the internship, you can contact * Dr Xavier Hadoux: xavier.hadoux at unimelb.edu.au (CERA) * Dr Ned Taylor: entaylor at swin.edu.au (Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing) * A/Prof Christopher Fluke: cfluke at swin.edu.au (Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing) Any questions about the APR.Intern program, application process, timelines, eligibility, etc. should be directed to Justin Mabbut: j.mabbutt at aprintern.org.au -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From simon.otoole at mq.edu.au Tue Mar 26 16:26:56 2019 From: simon.otoole at mq.edu.au (Simon O'Toole) Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2019 05:26:56 +0000 Subject: [ASA] First Announcement: Astronomical Data Archives meeting, August 5-8 2019, Sydney Australia Message-ID: <8ABD25EC-458F-4C0A-A7FE-292A49588C4D@mq.edu.au> Data Central is pleased to announce a meeting on Astronomical Data Archives, to be held on 5-8 August at AAO Macquarie, Sydney Australia. The meeting website is here: https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/KWCiCvl0PoCpqM7RIQQSHK?domain=docs.datacentral.org.au Motivation The goals of the meeting are to determine what areas of data archives we can collaborate on, and where we can share information, data and code. There is a lot of great work being done here with new technologies (as seen at the ADASS and IVOA meetings), and it would be great to avoid duplicating effort. And of course we?re all interested in interoperability. Themes * Exploring different technologies for storage and querying (SQL, noSQL, Hadoop, Elasticsearch, etc, what works and what doesn't) * Beyond Data Storage (What services should archives offer and what do they currently?) * Interoperability (incl. IVOA) * Tools (incl. access control and code-to-the-data) * User Interfaces and User Experience * Hardware (incl. cloud vs hosted vs hybrid) The meeting will be a mix of talks, Birds of a Feather sessions, mini-workshops, a networking session, and a discussion about things to take away from the meeting and possibly report on at a future meeting. We are also planning a poster session, however the posters would display the full stack of a participant?s data archive rather than research or projects. Registration The Early Bird fee is $250 AUD (the Standard fee after 31 May 2019 is $300 AUD). Registration is now open via the meeting website above. Organising Committee Simon O'Toole (AAO/Data Central) Elizabeth Mannering (AAO/Data Central) Katrina Sealey (AAO/Data Central) Tom Donaldson (Space Telescope/MAST) [Data Central] Simon O'Toole ? Senior Research Systems Engineer ? Data Central Project Scientist datacentral.org.au ? Australian Astronomical Optics, Macquarie University ? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pete.wheeler at uwa.edu.au Tue Mar 26 17:24:04 2019 From: pete.wheeler at uwa.edu.au (Pete Wheeler) Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2019 06:24:04 +0000 Subject: [ASA] ICRAR Year Book Message-ID: <74EB6625-E598-4C5F-BD9A-4D123F753F4A@uwa.edu.au> Dear all, We produce a biennial publication called the 'Year Book? which aims to communicate ICRAR's key activities and highlights in the Science, Engineering, Data Intensive Astronomy and Outreach domains. If you?re interested, it can be viewed and downloaded via the following link. https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/gZIHCOMxNytzl6KEHEajNv?domain=icrar.org We hope you enjoy it, please feel free to share. Thanks Regards Pete Pete Wheeler Outreach, Education and Communications Manager Ph: +61 8 6488 7758 Mobile: +61 423 982 018 [https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/9BJGCP7yOZt897xJh0KrXV?domain=s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com] www.icrar.org Subscribe to our eNewsletter ICRAR on Twitter ICRAR on Facebook -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au Wed Mar 27 09:38:55 2019 From: john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au (John O'Byrne) Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2019 22:38:55 +0000 Subject: [ASA] GMTO Newsletter - March 2019 Message-ID: <22DB5D8A-5439-4912-9EAD-5BBF4CB195F4@sydney.edu.au> To view this email in your browser click here. Just a reminder that you're receiving this email because you have expressed an interest in the Giant Magellan Telescope project. You may unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive our emails. [https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/-bO5CzvOWKiQvRNKTgnDNb?domain=img.constantcontact.com] [https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/ze9dCANZvPiLM9JjTY4m4E?domain=img.constantcontact.com] [https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/tkheCD1jy9tNQBrXSkCHli?domain=img.constantcontact.com] [https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/RVxgCGvmB5iKoJZwuYB5ER?domain=img.constantcontact.com] [https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/V1SUCK1qJZtz0qxLIQz3hS?domain=img.constantcontact.com] [https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/XyxwCL7rK8ty5PMLuAiHfb?domain=img.constantcontact.com] [https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/wBQ_CNLwM9iD1N5os7aqLE?domain=img.constantcontact.com] [https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/tC7LCOMxNytzoAr3Ip-r3K?domain=img.constantcontact.com] [https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/rH2MCQnzP0tMm647hYn_QY?domain=files.constantcontact.com] GMTO Newsletter - March 2019 Welcome We have had a great start to 2019 at GMTO. A significant milestone was achieved on the site in Chile with the completion of excavation of the foundations for GMT's massive pier and enclosure. No sooner had that finished, work started on an important upgrade to the site's water and electrical distribution systems. Read more about this work below. We are also very pleased to announce that two of GMTO's Founders, the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) and the University of Arizona, have committed additional funding for the GMT project. We are grateful to KASI and its President, Dr. Hyung Mok Lee, for their $20M commitment, and to the University of Arizona and its President, Dr. Bobby Robbins, for their $10M cash commitment and their in-kind contribution (covering the costs at the Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab) for the casting of GMT's sixth and seventh primary mirror segments. The generous and sustained support of our Founders allows us to keep moving forward with the construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope. On the technical front, prototyping work for one of GMT's critical optics positioning systems is underway. Read the story below to find out what is happening with this room-sized device and learn about the people working on it. In this newsletter, we are pleased to profile a recent addition to the team: Dr. Cynthia Hunt, who came to us from Carnegie Observatories. Cindy is already proving to be an exceptionally valuable member of GMTO's Development team. In community news, GMTO attended the winter session of the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle and held events in partnership with the Thirty Meter Telescope and NOAO as part of the U.S. Extremely Large Telescope Program. In addition, we are pleased to announce the opening of registration for the 7th Annual GMT Community Science Meeting - this year the topic is the "Cosmic Baryon Cycle" and its impact on galaxy evolution. Finally, in Chile this month, GMTO took part in the country's annual Astronomy Week, hosting a public event at a Metro station in Santiago. Travelers were able to try out the accessible astronomy tools being developed by the GMT Chile team. Remember you can always keep up to date with what's happening at GMTO from our website or from our presence on social media. Read the whole newsletter here. -Dr. Patrick McCarthy Vice President, GMTO [https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/vSF3CROAQotj8rPNiLWa4V?domain=files.constantcontact.com] Excavation of GMT pier and enclosure foundations complete Excavation of the foundations of the Giant Magellan Telescope's massive pier and enclosure have finished, completing the next step towards the construction of the GMT in Chile. Read more... [https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/kjq7CVAGXPtN1ljMSjIBc2?domain=files.constantcontact.com] Decadal Survey and U.S. Extremely Large Telescope Program The past few months have seen significant progress in our preparations for engaging with the U.S. Astronomy & Astrophysics Decadal Survey via the U.S. Extremely Large Telescope Program - the shared effort between GMT, the Thirty Meter Telescope and NOAO to strengthen scientific leadership by the U.S. community-at-large through access to extremely large telescopes in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Read more... [https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/a4E5CWLJY7iRvjw0slTYQ2?domain=files.constantcontact.com] Acquisition, Guiding and Wavefront-sensing System prototyping success Design of many of the most complex subsystems of the Giant Magellan Telescope involves constructing and testing prototypes. One prototype that was recently tested is the Acquisition, Guiding and Wavefront-sensing System (AGWS) - a device that sits at the heart of the GMT. Read more... [https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/LH-fCXLKZoiV3n7mT2YJDf?domain=files.constantcontact.com] Profile: Cindy Hunt, Assistant Vice President for Development GMTO is pleased to welcome Dr. Cynthia Hunt to the fundraising team as Assistant Vice-President for Development. Cindy joins GMTO from the Carnegie Institution for Science. Cindy describes her role this way, "I want to get everyone so excited about GMT that they can't help but support us through grants, philanthropic donations, or partnerships." She says that "development is all about relationships: building ones we already have, starting new relationships, and stewarding the people and organizations who've already contributed to the project. One of the best parts of being a development officer is helping people do good in the world by making substantive contributions that reflect their passions." Read more.... [https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/1QKqCYWL1viEP3o5Tl2201?domain=files.constantcontact.com] GMTO Board Meeting: Sydney, Australia GMTO Corporation and its two Australian Founder Institutions, Astronomy Australia Ltd. (AAL) and the Australian National University (ANU), hosted a triannual meeting of the GMTO Board of Directors in Sydney, Australia, from February 21-22, 2019. Prior to the meeting, Dr. Robert Shelton, GMTO President, and Ms. Jennifer Eccles, GMTO Vice President for Development, visited Canberra to hold a series of meetings with Australian government officials at Parliament House and the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. Read more.... [https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/B5oQCZYM2VFryMnzsk9Wfb?domain=files.constantcontact.com] Astronomy Week Chile GMTO was invited to participate in the inclusive astronomy fair "Feeling the Universe", the closing public event of Chile's Week of Astronomy 2019, organized by Conicyt at the B?o B?o subway station in Santiago. Chile's Minister of Science, Andr?s Couve, visited the fair. Read more.... [https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/9F2lC1WZXri2Kpw8cM--Av?domain=files.constantcontact.com] Registration Opens for 7th Annual GMT Community Science Meeting The Seventh Annual GMT Community Science Meeting, "The Cosmic Baryon Cycle: Impact on Galaxy Evolution" sponsored by GMTO Corporation, will be held from September 19-21, 2019 near San Diego, California. The rich taxonomy of galaxies we observe today is understood to be regulated by two competing processes: accretion and feedback. Understanding the intricate exchange of matter between star-forming regions and the intergalactic space and its impact on subsequent galaxy growth remains a primary goal in astrophysics research. This meeting will bring together leading theorists and observers to discuss the latest progress in studying baryonic flows in and out of galaxies with an outlook towards key growth areas in the era of giant telescopes. Registration is now open: check https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/VYasC2xZYvCPAko7fqFRle?domain=conference.gmto.org for more details. Join our mailing list GMTO Corporation | +1 626 204 0500 | Email us | gmto.org STAY CONNECTED: [Like us on Facebook] [Follow us on Twitter] [View our profile on LinkedIn] [View on Instagram] [View our videos on YouTube] GMTO Corporation, 465 N. Halstead St., Suite 250, Pasadena, CA 91107 SafeUnsubscribe? john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au Forward this email | Update Profile | About our service provider Sent by info at gmto.org in collaboration with [Constant Contact] Try it free today -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Cathryn.Trott at curtin.edu.au Wed Mar 27 20:54:04 2019 From: Cathryn.Trott at curtin.edu.au (Cathryn Trott) Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2019 09:54:04 +0000 Subject: [ASA] Science and Technology Australia Board update and #SolveitwithScience Message-ID: Dear ASA members, As you are hopefully aware, ASA is a member of Science and Technology Australia (STA), the peak body representing 70,000 scientists and technologists across Australia. ASA sits within the Physical Sciences Cluster, of which I am the current Board representative. Other members of the cluster include a number of CoEs and other discipline societies across quantum computing, crystallography, emerging fuel technology, meteorological and oceanographic sciences, biophotonics, nuclear science, and others. I attended the Science & Technology Australia Strategy Planning meeting and Board meeting yesterday as our Cluster Representative. Today I attended the STA President's and CEO's Forum in Sydney, where 80 society presidents and CEOs developed election and ongoing strategy, and we had science policy presentations from the three major parties (Hon Karen Andrews MP, Senator the Hon Kim Carr, Hon Adam Bandt MP). The input from this planning day will be valuable for our cluster and the ASA, as well as the broader STA Election strategy and future policy development. At the meetings yesterday and today there were a few key points of relevance for the ASA as part of STA: * There was a discussion about how to get the most information from members to be able to serve the members better. As part of this, future requests from me for input will be more targeted and aligned with the strategic priorities of STA * The Superstars of STEM program has been hugely successful. The Executive discussed expanding this type of diversity initiative to new sectors: indigenous, LBGQTIA, ethnic minorities. * 11 new member organisations have joined in the past year, bringing the total to 79. STA now provides a voice to a large number of organisations * STA is investing a lot of energy developing an Election Strategy based on #SolveitwithScience, with four key priorities, as outlined in the Communique that featured a large array of member logos * Science Meets Parliament 2019 registrations are going strong. Please have your members sign-up as soon as possible (August 13-14). STA's election communique is available at: https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/GGJPCyoNVrcqmPn2UZEqA6?domain=scienceandtechnologyaustralia.org.au Best wishes, Cathryn _______________________________________________________ Cathryn Trott Associate Professor ARC Future Fellow ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3D (ASTRO 3D) International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research Curtin University Bentley WA, Australia cathryn.trott at curtin.edu.au -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From psyfitz at gmail.com Fri Mar 29 15:16:26 2019 From: psyfitz at gmail.com (Michael Fitzgerald) Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2019 15:16:26 +1100 Subject: [ASA] Nominations for Education and Public Outreach Chapter (EPOC) Steering Committee positions. Message-ID: Dear ASA Members, This is a call to members of the Education and Public Outreach Chapter (EPOC) of the ASA for nominations to serve on the EPOC Steering committee. Nominations are open for the following positions: *Ordinary Members* *Student Representative* Membership positions for ordinary members on the Steering Committee are for two years in a staggered rotation. The Student Representative position is for one year and is open to any current student member of EPOC. If we receive more nominations than positions available we will organise an online election which would be held in late April. New members will take their positions in May. Details about EPOC and committee responsibilities and structure may be found at: https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/ZOYfCyoNVrcqnZANFZqZtD?domain=asaepoc.org Please consider nominating and serving on the EPOC Steering Committee. Self-nominations are fine. If you wish to nominate another EPOC member please ensure you have the nominee?s permission. To nominate please send an email to asaepoc at gmail.com with your name, affiliation, together with a one or two paragraph outline of your interest in the position (this will be included in an election form if needed). Please contact me if you require any further information. if you are an ASA member but not yet an EPOC member you may join EPOC at any time. Pleas update your chapter memberships via the ASA Member page and also send an email to asaepoc at gmail.com with name, affiliation and status (student, ECR, etc) requesting EPOC membership. *Nominations are due by 23.59 AEST Thursday 18 April 2019.* Regards, Michael Fitzgerald -- Michael Fitzgerald Senior Research Fellow , Edith Cowan Institute for Educational Research. Chief Editor, International Astronomical Union astroEDU Chief Investigator, Our Solar Siblings (www.oursolarsiblings.com) (Donate! ) Organizer, Remote Telescopes, Student Research and Education Conference ( rtsre.net) Mobile: 0431 480007 Email: mfitzasp at gmail.com Skype : mfitzasp -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: