ALMA/NAASC Community Events

NRAO Community Outreach Events

To prepare the North American community to fully participate in the ALMA Call for Proposals and archivel research, the North American ALMA Science Center (NAASC) organizes proposal preparation and data processing workshops. In addition, the North American community is encouraged to request to host ALMA proposal preparation workshops at their home institutions. These events are one to two day workshops organized and led by experienced local postdocs from the ALMA Ambassadors program and/or NAASC staff with a focus on the capabilities of ALMA, mm/submm interferometry observing techniques, and the tools required to design ALMA observing programs and submit proposals. For more information, contact .

A list of community outreach events from 2016 through the present is provided in the tables below. A list of events from other cycles is provided here.

Cycle 11 ALMA Events

ALMA Data Reduction Party: Polarization

The North American ALMA Science Center (NAASC) is pleased to announce an ALMA Data Reduction Party on Polarization that will take place March 3-6, 2025 at the North American ALMA Science Center in Charlottesville, Virginia. During this 3.5-day event, NAASC scientists and data analysts will provide focused information and individualized support to a cohort of North American PI or Archival ALMA users who want support to image ALMA polarization data. To facilitate data processing, attendees will be provided access to NRAO computing resources both during and after the workshop; the event is fully in-person, and travel support can be provided upon request. More information here . If you are interested in this opportunity, please apply by the deadline of December 13 at 17:00 ET.

Data Processing Workshops

ALMA Ambassadors will host data processing workshops across North America in September–November 2024. Events will be hybrid and include both in-person and virtual components. Please see the table below for event locations, dates, and webpages. Registration for each event is encouraged and registration forms are available on the individual event webpages.

Dates

Location

Ambassador

Webpage

19–20 September 2024 University of Virginia Erica Behrens and Mélisse Bonfand-Caldeira webpage
30 September 2024 Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute Jeff Jennings webpage
22 October 2024 University of Victoria Jess Speedie webpage
24-25 October 2024 Arizona State University Patrick Kamieneski webpage
24 October 2024 University of Alberta Hamid Hassani webpage
29 October 2024 Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian Joshua Lovell webpage
29 October 2024 University of Maryland Yu-Hsuan (Eltha) Teng webpage
22 November 2024 University of Texas, Austin Olivia Cooper webpage

Proposal Preparation Workshops

During the Spring of 2024, ALMA Ambassadors will host Cycle 11 proposal preparation workshops at institutes across the US. Information on these events and links to the event webpages are provided in the table below.

Dates

Location

Ambassador

Webpage

21 March 2024 NASA Ames Valentin Le Gouellec webpage
25 March 2024 University of California, San Diego Yu-Hsuan (Eltha) Teng webpage
27 March 2024 University of Wisconsin-Madison Stephen McKay webpage
28 March 2024 Carnegie Mellon University Mohit Bhardwaj webpage
28 March 2024 Arizona State University Patrick Kamieneski webpage
03 April 2024 Texas A&M University Jack Birkin webpage
05 April 2024 Universidad de Valparaíso David Rebolledo webpage

Cycle 10 ALMA Events

ALMA Data Reduction Party: Data Combination

The ALMA Data Reduction Party will take place November 6-8, 2023 at the North American ALMA Science Center in Charlottesville, Virginia. During this 3-day event, NAASC scientists and data analysts will provide focused information and individualized support to a cohort of North American PI or Archival ALMA users who want support to image ALMA data from multiple arrays that include 7-m and/or Total Power observations. Attendance is limited to 10 researchers based at institutions in North America. If you are interested in this opportunity, please fill out this form as soon as possible but no later than September 25. More information here.

ALMA Data Reduction Party: Data Combination

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) together with the NAASC cordially invite you to an NRAO Community Day at the Institute of Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics (IRyA UNAM) in Morelia, Mexico on September 28 and 29, 2023. This event is designed for all astronomers, and in particular for those who do not regularly utilize radio data in their research. The workshop will provide an overview of NRAO instruments (VLA, ALMA) including new capabilities, a discussion of data reduction, pipelines, including aspects of polarimetry and self-calibration. The second day will also include hands-on tutorials for ALMA and VLA data reduction and imaging. This community day will be preceded by the First Mexican meeting en route to the Next Generation Very Large Array. More information here.

Data Processing Workshops

The ALMA Ambassadors will be hosting data processing workshops between September to October 2023. Information on specific events is available on the table below.

Dates

Location

Contact

Webpage

13 September 2023 University of British Columbia Adam Dong webpage
05 October 2023 West Virginia University Emily Moravec webpage
16 October 2023 Villanova Dylan Paré webpage
19–20 October 2023 National Solar Observatory
[Solar-focused workshop]
Johnathan Stauffer webpage
23–24 October 2023 JPL, Pasadena, CA Marion Villenave webpage

Proposal Preparation Workshops

During the Spring of 2023, ALMA Ambassadors hosted targeted Cycle 10 proposal preparation workshops at institutes across the US. Information is provided below.

Dates

Location

Contact

Webpage

03-04 & 18 April 2023 MIT Haystack Dongjin Kim webpage
April 14 2023 University of Texas, Austin Arianna Long webpage
April 14 2023 Universidad Católica del Norte David Rebolledo webpage
April 18 2023 Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics Jiayi Sun webpage
April 19 & 20 2023 University of Massachusetts, Amherst Sinclaire Manning webpage
April 20 2023 West Virginia University Emily Moravec webpage
April 20 2023 University of British Columbia Adam Dong webpage
April 25 2023 IPAC/Caltech Marion Villenave webpage
April 27 2023 Universidad Diego Portales Miguel Vioque webpage

Cycle 9 ALMA Events

Data Processing Workshops

In the Fall of 2022, the Cycle 9 ALMA Ambassadors will host workshops focused on the basics of processing and analyzing ALMA data. The full set of workshop dates and locations will be announced by mid-September; preliminary information is available below.

Workshops

Dates

Location

Contact

Webpage

October 05 and 07, 2022
(postponed from original September dates due to Hurricane Ian)

University of Florida webpage
October 05, 2022 University of Arizona webpage
October 11, 2022 Montana State University webpage
October 18, 2022 University of Maryland webpage
October 24, 2022 Stanford webpage
October 26, 2022 University of Colorado, Boulder webpage
October 26, 2022 CfA / Harvard University webpage
October 28, 2022 Northwestern University webpage

Community Day & Proposal Planning

For Cycle 9, ALMA Ambassadors will be hosting targeted workshops at institutes across the US and giving an abbreviated webinar series that is more broadly targeted. Information (including event or registration links) are provided below.

Workshops

Dates

Location

Contact

Webpage

March 28, 2022 Stanford University Webpage
March 29, 2022 University of Maryland
Webpage
March 29, 2022 Montana State University Webpage
March 30, 2022 Yale University Webpage
April 01, 2022 Northwestern University Webpage
April 02, 2022 University of Alabama
April 5, 7, 8, 2022 University of Florida Webpage
April 08, 2022 University of Arizona Webpage

Webinar Series

In addition to the in-person workshops, a webinar series presented some Cycle 9 information. The listing of these events is below.

Date

Title

March 30, 2022 (4pm ET) ALMA Basics and Cycle 9 Capabilities (Slides: Part 1, Part 2)
March 31, 2022 (Noon ET)
Cycle 9 Proposal Preparation & the Proposal Review Process (Slides: Part 1, Part 2)
April 05, 2022 (2pm ET) ALMA Basics and Cycle 9 Capabilities (Slides)
April 05, 2022 (4pm ET) Cycle 9 Proposal Preparation & the Proposal Review Process (Slides: Part 1, Part 2)
April 06, 2022 (Noon ET) Fundamentos de ALMA y Capacidades del Ciclo 9 / ALMA Basics and Cycle 9 Capabilities (in Spanish; Slides)
April 07, 2022 (Noon ET) Planificación de propuestas y proceso de revisión de propuestas / Proposal Planning and the Proposal Review Process (in Spanish; Slides: Part 1, Part 2)

Cycle 8 (2021) ALMA Community Day & Proposal Planning Events

Proposal planning events for Cycle 8 (2021) were fully virtual and took place from 22 March - 02 April 2021. These events were presented in an "a la carte" format by the 2021 ALMA Ambassadors. Details are available on the Cycle 8 2021 Events Page.

 

Cycle 8 (2020) ALMA Community Day & Proposal Planning Events

Dates

Location

Contact

Event Website

March 6, 2020 University of Massachusetts - Amherst website
March 10-11, 2020 University of Guanajuato website (Cancelled)
March 19, 2020 Online (originally at Carnegie, Pasadena) website
March 20, 2020 Online (originally at UMaryland) website
March 23, 2020 Online (originally at UToronto/OSU) / website
March 24, 2020 Online (originally at Haverford College) website
March 25, 2020 Online (originally at U La Serena) website
March 26, 2020 Online (originally at UWyoming) website
March 27, 2020 Online (originally at JHU) / website
March 30, 2020 Online (originally at UOklahoma) website
March 31, 2020 Online (originally at Columbia) website
April 1, 2020 Online (originally at UDP, Chile) website
April 2, 2020 Online (originally at NASA Goddard) / website
April 3, 2020 Online (originally at UWashington) website
April 7, 2020 Universidad de Antofagasta website (cancelled)

 

Cycle 7 (2019) ALMA Community Day & Proposal Planning Events

Dates

Location

Contact

Event Website

March 20, 2019 ALMA JAO website
March 21, 2019 University of Maryland / website
March 22, 2019 Universidad de Concepcion website
March 27, 2019 NASA JPL website
March 27, 2019 University of Florida website
March 28, 2019 UC Berkeley website
March 28, 2019 Northwestern University. / website
March 28, 2019 Rochester Institute of Technology website (cancelled)
March 29, 2019 University of Toledo / website
April 1, 2019 Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian website
April 1, 2019 University of Toronto website
April 8, 2019 MIT website
April 8, 2019 University of Texas / website
May 30-31, 2019 Texas Tech University website
June 13-14, 2019 University of Maryland, Baltimore County website

 

Cycle 6 (2018) ALMA Community Day & Proposal Planning Events

Dates

Location

Contact

Event Website

March 26, 2018 Australian National University website
March 27, 2018 Stanford University website
March 27, 2018 Johns Hopkins University website
March 28, 2018 Universidad Diego Portales website
March 28, 2018 Rochester Institute of Technology website
March 29, 2018 CSIRO (Marsfield) website
March 29, 2018 Northwestern University website
March 30, 2018 Columbia University website
March 30, 2018 University of Iowa website
April 10, 2018 University of Oklahoma website
April 10, 2018 University of Arizona website

 

Cycle 5 (2017) ALMA Community Day & Proposal Planning Events

Dates

Location

Contact

Event Website

March 16, 2017 University of Florida website 
March 28-29, 2017 West Virginia University website
March 29, 2017 University of Michigan website
March 30, 2017 University of Toronto website
March 30, 2017 Rice University & website
April 4, 2017 University of Hawaii website
April 5, 2017 University of Texas, Austin website
April 5, 2017 Yale University & website
April 25-26, 2017 UNAM-Morelia website
July 10-11, 2017 Cornell University website

 

Cycle 4 (2016) ALMA Community Day & Outreach Events

Dates

Location

Contact

Event Website

Mar 31-Apr 1, 2016 Carnegie Observatories Alison Peck website
Mar 22, 2016 Socorro, NM Alison Peck website
Mar 18, 2016 University of Colorado Alison Peck website
Mar 15-16, 2016 University of Wisconsin, Madison Alison Peck website
Mar 10-11, 2016 University of Texas, Austin Alison Peck website
Mar 7-8, 2016 Boston University Alison Peck website
Mar 3-4, 2016 University of Massachusetts at Amherst Alison Peck website
Feb 18-19, 2016 University of McGill Alison Peck website
Jan 27-29, 2016 ALMA Data Reduction Party Alison Peck website
May 6-8, 2015 NRAO Community Event: Data Reduction Party Alison Peck website
Apr 13-Apr 14, 2015 NRAO Community Event at the Space Telescope Science Institute Alison Peck website
Mar 31-Apr 1, 2015 NRAO Community Event at the University of California at San Diego Alison Peck website
Mar 27, 2015 NRAO Community Event at the SPF1 Laura Perez website
Mar 9-10, 2015 NRAO Community Event at the Florida Institute of Technology Alison Peck website
Feb 26-27, 2015 NRAO Community Event at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Morelia Alison Peck website
Nov 13, 2014 NRAO Community Event at the 46th DPS Meeting Arielle Moullet website
Jun 16-20, 2014 UIUC - Molecular Spectroscopy Anthony Remijan website

ALMA Cycle 8 2021 Community Days and Proposal Planning Events

Do you want to learn about ALMA Cycle 8 2021 capabilities, the proposal submission process, and what's new in CASA? Do you have questions about the Observing Tool or using CASA to simulate your proposed observations?

ALMA Ambassadors have organized a 2-week series of public talks and tutorials to provide information on the latest ALMA capabilities, changes to the proposal review process, and much more. These events will be fully virtual and each topic will be presented multiple times, to make it as easy as possible to get the information you need for your proposals.

The ALMA Cycle 8 2021 timeline can be found in the ALMA Cycle 8 2021 Pre-Announcement.

Talks will be given between 22 March - 02 April 2021, on the following topics:

  • ALMA Basics and Cycle 8 2021 Capabilities (slides)
  • Radio Interferometry Basics (slides)
  • Proposal Planning and the Cycle 8 2021 Proposal Review Process (slides)
  • Introduction to the ALMA Observing Tool (includes a hands-on component)
  • ALMA Data Products, Archive Use, and Notes on the Pipeline Weblog (slides)
  • What's new in CASA
  • CASA Simulations (includes a hands-on component) (slides)
  • Science-ready Data Products (includes a demo) (slides)
  • Imaging with CASA (slides)
Talks will last approximately an hour (including time for Q&A). Registration for sessions with a hands-on or demo component (noted above) will be limited to approximately 25 participants and once reached, will be marked as full in the schedule below.

Event Schedule

This talk series will be conducted in an à la carte style; each session of a given talk (e.g., "What's new in CASA") will present the same material, but talks will be given multiple times over the course of the two week period. Some sample talk tracks are provided below the schedule.

Registration is required for all talks, at the URLs below or by contacting . Note that the number of participants for talks with hands-on components will be capped to ensure a reasonable speaker-participant ratio. All talks will include time for Q&A.

A selection of the talks will be presented in Spanish and other talks will have Q&A support in the Spanish language; these talks are noted below.

The ALMA Ambassadors will be presenting the talks as listed. The talks will be aimed at a general audience, but the general scientific expertise of each Ambassador is listed at the bottom of this page.

Week 1: 22-26 March 2021

 

Time (ET)Monday (22 March)Tuesday (23 March)Wednesday (24 March)Thursday (25 March)Friday (26 March)
09:00
  • ALMA Basics and Cycle 8 2021 Capabilities (Quiroga-Nuñez & Rebolledo, talk in Spanish). Register
  • ALMA Basics and Cycle 8 2021 Capabilities (Breiding & van 't Hoff). Register
10:00
  • Proposal Planning and the Cycle 8 2021 Proposal Review Process (Breiding & Rebolledo). Register
  • Proposal Planning and the Cycle 8 2021 Proposal Review Process (Breiding & Bright). Register
  • Introduction to the ALMA Observing Tool (hands-on; Azadi & van 't Hoff).
11:00
  • Radio Interferometry Basics (Breiding & Bright). Register
  • Radio Interferometry Basics (Azadi & Breiding). Register
12:00
  • CASA Simulations (hands-on; Lucero & Thelen). Session full, registration closed.
  • Introduction to the ALMA Observing Tool (hands-on; Breiding & Thelen).
  • What's new in CASA (Bright & Butterfield). Register
  • Introduction to the ALMA Observing Tool (hands-on) (Quiroga-Nuñez & Rebolledo; Talk in Spanish).
  • ALMA Basics and Cycle 8 2021 Capabilities (Azadi & Lucero). Register
13:00
  • ALMA Basics and Cycle 8 2021 Capabilities (Breiding & Cramer). Register
  • ALMA Basics and Cycle 8 2021 Capabilities (Spanish language Q&A support available; Azadi & Quiroga-Nuñez). Register
14:00
  • Imaging with CASA (Cramer & Rebolledo). Register
  • Imaging with CASA (Breiding & Cramer). Register
  • Radio Interferometry Basics (Spanish language Q&A support available; Butterfield & Quiroga-Nuñez). Register
15:00
  • Introduction to the ALMA Observing Tool (hands-on; Breiding & Lucero).
  • Introduction to the ALMA Observing Tool (hands-on; Spanish language Q&A support available; Butterfield & Jones).
  • CASA Simulations (hands-on; Breiding & Butterfield).
16:00
  • Science Ready Data Products (Butterfield & van 't Hoff). Register
  • Science Ready Data Products (Butterfield & van 't Hoff). Register
  • ALMA Basics and Cycle 8 2021 Capabilities (Bright & Butterfield). Register
  • ALMA Basics and Cycle 8 2021 Capabilities (Spanish language Q&A support available; Jones & van 't Hoff). Register
  • Proposal Planning and the Cycle 8 2021 Proposal Review Process (Bright & Rebolledo). Register
17:00
18:00
  • Proposal Planning and the Cycle 8 2021 Proposal Review Process (Spanish language Q&A support available; Jones & Quiroga-Nuñez). Register
  • Proposal Planning and the Cycle 8 2021 Proposal Review Process (Spanish language Q&A support available; Jones & Quiroga-Nuñez). Register
  • Radio Interferometry Basics (Spanish language Q&A support available; Azadi & Quiroga-Nuñez). Register
  • Radio Interferometry Basics (Spanish language Q&A support available; Jones & Lucero). Register
  • ALMA Data Products, Archive Use, and Notes on the Pipeline Weblog (Lucero & Thelen). Register

 

Week 2: 29 March - 02 April 2021

 

Time (ET)Monday (29 March)Tuesday (30 March)Wednesday (31 March)Thursday (01 April)Friday (02 April)
09:00
  • Proposal Planning and the Cycle 8 2021 Proposal Review Process (Spanish language Q&A support available; Quiroga-Nuñez & Rebolledo). Register
  • Proposal Planning and the Cycle 8 2021 Proposal Review Process (talk in Spanish; Quiroga-Nuñez & Rebolledo). Register
  • Introduction to the ALMA Observing Tool (hands-on; Butterfield & Lucero). 
10:00
  • Imaging with CASA (Bright & Butterfield). Register
  • Imaging with CASA (Azadi & Bright). Register
11:00
  • Introduction to the ALMA Observing Tool (hands-on; Lucero & Thelen).
  • Science Ready Data Products (Butterfield & Cramer). Register
  • Introduction to the ALMA Observing Tool (hands-on; Lucero & Thelen).
  • Science Ready Data Products (van 't Hoff). Register
  • ALMA Basics and Cycle 8 2021 Capabilities (Azadi & van 't Hoff). Register
12:00
  • ALMA Data Products, Archive Use, and Notes on the Pipeline Weblog (Azadi & Lucero). Register
  • Radio Interferometry Basics (Spanish language Q&A support available; Azadi & Quiroga-Nuñez). Register
  • Radio Interferometry Basics (Cramer & Thelen). Register
13:00
  • ALMA Data Products, Archive Use, and Notes on the Pipeline Weblog (Thelen & van 't Hoff). Register
  • CASA Simulations (hands-on; Azadi & Lucero).
  • Radio Interferometry Basics (Bright & Thelen). Register
14:00
  • ALMA Basics and Cycle 8 2021 Capabilities (Thelen & van 't Hoff). Register
  • ALMA Basics and Cycle 8 2021 Capabilities (Spanish language Q&A support available; Butterfield & Jones). Register
15:00
  • ALMA Basics and Cycle 8 2021 Capabilities (Bright & Thelen). Register
  • ALMA Basics and Cycle 8 2021 Capabilities (Butterfield & Cramer). Register
  • Proposal Planning and the Cycle 8 2021 Proposal Review Process (Azadi & Butterfield). Register
16:00
  • Introduction to the ALMA Observing Tool (hands-on; Bright & Butterfield).
  • What's new in CASA (Cramer & van 't Hoff). Register
  • Introduction to the ALMA Observing Tool (hands-on; Lucero & Thelen).
17:00
  • Radio Interferometry Basics. (Talk in Spanish; Jones & Quiroga-Nuñez). Register
  • Radio Interferometry Basics (Spanish language Q&A support available; Jones & van 't Hoff). Register
  • Proposal Planning and the Cycle 8 2021 Proposal Review Process (Spanish language Q&A support available; Jones & Quiroga-Nuñez). Register
  • ALMA Data Products, Archive Use, and Notes on the Pipeline Weblog (Bright & Thelen). Register
18:00
  • CASA Simulations (hands-on; Cramer & Lucero).
  • Proposal Planning and the Cycle 8 2021 Proposal Review Process (Spanish language Q&A support available; Jones & Thelen). Register

 

Suggested Talk Tracks

Can't decided which talks to attend? Below are some sample tracks to get an idea of what talks you might want to attend.

Novice ALMA User without Interferometry Experience

  • ALMA Basics and Cycle 8 2021 Capabilities
  • Radio Interferometry Basics
  • Proposal Planning and the Cycle 8 2021 Proposal Review Process
  • Introduction to the ALMA Observing Tool

Have Used ALMA in Previous Cycles and Worked with ALMA Data

  • ALMA Basics and Cycle 8 2021 Capabilities
  • What's new in CASA
  • Proposal Planning and the Cycle 8 2021 Proposal Review Process
  • Science-ready Data Products

Experienced Observer at Other Wavelengths

  • ALMA Basics and Cycle 8 2021 Capabilities
  • Introduction to the ALMA Observing Tool
  • Proposal Planning and the Cycle 8 2021 Proposal Review Process

 

2021 ALMA Ambassdors

The 2021 ALMA Ambassadors will be hosting all the events, as listed above. Their general scientific areas are:

AmbassadorAffiliationScientific Area
Mojegan Azadi Harvard CfA Galaxies and galactic nuclei (AGN)
Peter Breiding West Virginia University Galaxies and galactic nuclei (multi-mesenger SMBH studies)
Joe Bright Northwestern University Stellar evolution and the Sun (transients)
Natalie Butterfield Green Bank Observatory ISM, star formation and astrochemistry (Milky Way molecular clouds, star formation, and chemistry)
William Cramer Arizona State University Galaxies and galactic nuclei (galaxy clusters, galaxy evolution)
Kristen Jones University of Kansas Galaxies and galactic nuclei (AGN, galaxy evolution)
Danielle Lucero Virginia Tech Galaxies and galactic nuclei; ISM, star formation and astrochemistry (ISM content of galaxies)
Luis Henry Quiroga-Nuñez University of New Mexico and NRAO ISM, star formation and astrochemistry (Milky Way structure and stellar populations)
David Rebolledo ALMA ISM, star formation and astrochemistry (Milky Way molecular clouds, star formation)
Alexander Thelen NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Circumstellar disks, exoplanets, and the solar system; ISM, star formation and astrochemistry (chemistry in planetary atmospheres)
Merel van 't Hoff University of Michigan Circumstellar disks, exoplanets, and the solar system; ISM, star formation, and astrochemistry (embedded and protoplanetary disks)

ALMA Basics & Cycle 8 2021 Capabilities

ALMA Archive & Data Products - Cycle 8 2021

Interferometry Basics - Cycle 8 2021

Introduction to CASA Imaging - Cycle 8 2021

SIMALMA - Cycle 8 2021

Proposal Preparation & Review - Cycle 8 2021

Science Ready Data Products - Cycle 8 2021

ALMA Basics 30 March 2022

Proposal Review 31 March 2022

ALMA Basics 05 April 2022

Proposal Preparation 05 April 2022

Cycle 9 capabilities 30 March 2022

Proposal Review 05 April 2022

ALMA Basics (Spanish) 06 April 2022

Proposal Planning 07 April 2022

Proposal Review 07 April 2022

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