Call for ngVLA Science Advisory Council Membership

SAC Membership Description

The NRAO would like to solicit nominations for membership to the Next-Generation VLA (ngVLA) Science Advisory Council (SAC). The ngVLA SAC will act as the interface between the scientific community and NRAO, providing feedback and guidance as we move towards a final design for a next-generation centimeter-to- millimeter wave interferometer centered around the VLA site in the Plains of San Agustin in New Mexico. We plan to hold a similar call for the ngVLA Technical Advisory Council (TAC) in the coming months. The ngVLA SAC and TAC are cornerstones of a program to fully engage the astronomical, computing, and radio engineering communities to develop the ngVLA project for submission to the Astro2020 decadal review. The process for selecting the SAC, as described below, is largely based on NASA's process for selected membership to the Science and Technology Definition Teams (STDTs) that are in the process of identifying Mission Concepts for candidate large missions to follow JWST and WFIRST.

Membership of the ngVLA SAC will be selected to cover a broad range of expertise in relevant science areas. The ngVLA SAC membership will be constructed of future Science Working Group co-chairs for the key ngVLA science areas of:

  • Cradle of Life
  • Galaxy Assembly over Cosmic Time
  • Galaxy Ecosystems
  • Time Domain/Cosmology/Physics

The ngVLA SAC will additionally consist of a number of "at-large" members to ensure representation from the broader astronomical community working at other wavelengths and theorists working in relevant areas. The co-chairs of the ngVLA SAC will be appointed from the ngVLA SAC membership.


Nomination Process

Nominations (and self-nominations) for ngVLA SAC membership are due to NRAO no later than September 14, 2016. We anticipate announcing the SAC membership by September 30, 2016.  Nominations may be submitted by filling out the web-form found here. The nomination should consist of:

  • A statement of interest identifying applicable capabilities and experience that will be brought to the SAC.
If self-nominating, please additionally provide:
  • A short statement of commitment to perform required tasks assigned to the ngVLA SAC within the allocated timeframe.
  • A brief ($\leq$2 page) CV including relevant publications and activities.

Selection will be made by the NRAO director and the ngVLA project office, in consultation with NRAO advisory committees, based on the above criteria.

We at the NRAO look forward to working closely with the entire astronomical community as we build towards delivering an instrument that will make transformational leaps for a wide range of the most pressing questions facing the field of Astronomy and Astrophysics today.

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