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 naascrec@nrao.edu. 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). Register
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). Register What's new in CASA (Bright & Butterfield). Register	Introduction to the ALMA Observing Tool (hands-on) (Quiroga-Nuñez & Rebolledo; Talk in Spanish). Register	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). Register	Introduction to the ALMA Observing Tool (hands-on; Spanish language Q&A support available; Butterfield & Jones). Register			CASA Simulations (hands-on; Breiding & Butterfield). Register
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). Register
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). Register Science Ready Data Products (Butterfield & Cramer). Register	Introduction to the ALMA Observing Tool (hands-on; Lucero & Thelen). Register 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). Register	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). Register What's new in CASA (Cramer & van 't Hoff). Register	Introduction to the ALMA Observing Tool (hands-on; Lucero & Thelen). Register
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). Register		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:

Ambassador	Affiliation	Scientific 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)