Tuesday, 10 January 2023, 6:30-8:30 pm PST Seattle Convention Center, Ballroom 6A  Chair: Tony Beasley

This NRAO Town Hall will inform the AAS membership about the status of science, science operations, and development programs at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). Three presentations will update the membership regarding:

1. scientific opportunities and technical development at the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), and the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA); 
2. recent science results from across the community and the Observatory; and 
3. scientific and technical planning for future radio astronomy research facilities, including a next generation Very Large Array (ngVLA).

The NRAO Town Hall will include time for discussion and answering audience questions.

Speakers: Tony Beasley (NRAO Director), Amy Kimball (VLA Sky Survey), Eric Murphy (ngVLA)

	American Astronomical Society winter meeting Monday, 9 January 2023, 2:00-3:30 pm PST Seattle Convention Center, Ballroom 6A Chair: Phil Jewell

Beginning early science operations over a decade ago in 2011, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is now in the midst of Cycle 9 observations. Over the past ten years, ALMA has provided unprecedented sensitivity, image fidelity, and resolution at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths, supporting the research interests of more than 10,000 PIs and co-Is. From solar system objects to the earliest galaxies, ALMA observations have produced breathtaking images and opened new discovery space. ALMA data have been published in over 2900 refereed publications.

This AAS 241 Special Session will describe for the membership ALMA news, capabilities, and expectations for ALMA performance and science in the next few years and plans for its upgrade in the 2030 timeframe. In that period, ALMA will complete its frequency coverage of the millimeter window. ALMA's bandwidth will be increased to enhance continuum sensitivity even as its line sensitivity is increased via receiver upgrades, an upgraded correlator and upgrades of the systems connecting them. Higher resolution imaging is being explored, both on the exceptional site and as part of the extremely long baseline imaging arrays.

The session also features a set of science talks presenting a wide range of recent, exciting ALMA results and highlights the support available to the community from the North American ALMA Science Center (NAASC) at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO).

	American Astronomical Society winter meeting Wednesday, 11 January 2023, Seattle Convention Center Oral Session 10:00-11:30 am PST, Room 607, Chair Eric Murphy iPoster Session 5:30-6:30 pm PST, Exhibit Hall and Online

Astrochemistry has become a critical investigative tool for a large range of astrophysical studies, spanning Solar System objects to the most distant galaxies.  The investigation of extrasolar planetary systems is one of the defining pursuits of contemporary astronomy, using complex chemical tracers to identify the conditions that ultimately lead to habitability.  Extraterrestrial amino acids, the chemical building blocks of the biopolymers that comprise life on Earth, are present in meteoritic samples and in comets, but our understanding of the chemical and physical pathways to the formation of (pre)biotic molecules remains incomplete.   On galaxy scales, the presence of various molecules and associated isotopes indicate the role of energetic processes (e.g., shock, UV, and cosmic-ray heating) affecting interstellar medium conditions and pathways to the formation of the next generation of stars.  While existing facilities are making transformative discoveries by pushing their capabilities to the limit of what can be detected, sample sizes remain small as detections of individual systems are limited to the nearest luminous sources.  Informed by these pioneering efforts, next-generation ground- and space-based facilities will deliver large, multi-wavelength surveys that will produce spectroscopic information across the entire electromagnetic spectrum.  These data will deliver a much-improved theoretical understanding of the fundamental physics driving the formation of habitable planetary systems as well as the formation and evolution of galaxies over cosmic time. 

This Special Session:

• Highlighted recent scientific breakthroughs in astrochemistry enabled by current investigations using large optical/IR, (sub-)millimeter, and radio facilities;
• Described planned near- and long-term improvements for ground- and space-based facilities;
• Discussed major scientific leaps likely to result from next-generation facilities across the electromagnetic spectrum; and
• Reviewed the highest-priority themes in the field of astrochemistry that will be accomplished by the state-of-the-art observatories that will be commissioned in the next decade.

This Special Session featured invited oral presentations and contributed iPoster presentations. The program appears below. Its presentations can be accessed by clicking on their titles.

	Monday, 9 January 2023, 1:00-3:00 pm PST Seattle Convention Center, Room 303 Chair: John Tobin

The NRAO Science Ready Data Products (SRDP) initiative aims to simplify and streamline the way users interact with radio interferometer data products. As part of this effort, we provide several services to users providing them with easier access to calibrated visibility data and reimaging/reprocessing services. At the same time, the VLA Sky Survey, an all-sky survey at 3 GHz and ~2.5” resolution, is providing science ready data for the entire survey. There are multiple classes of data products to support the various science themes of the survey. We will show how the SRDP services for ALMA data (delivery of a calibrated measurement set and reimaging of cubes) can be accessed from the NRAO archive. We will also show images processed using the new VLA imaging pipeline, and how to retrieve a calibrated VLA measurement set from the archive. The data products from the VLA Sky Survey will be described and demonstrated (including images and catalogs), and the tools that have been developed by the community to facilitate the use of VLASS data will be demonstrated.

This will be a hybrid meeting and members of the community not attending the AAS meeting will be able to join via Zoom. The meeting link will be posted shortly before the start of the session. The recording will also be available following the meeting.

Meeting link (to be active 30 mins before session): Zoom link

Light refreshments will be provided to in-person attendees.

Agenda:

NRAO PARTNERSHIP WITH OUR TRIBAL NEIGHBORS MEETING
April 14-16, 2023  

WELCOME NOTE FROM JULIA

We are excited to see you all here in Socorro NM for our first in-person gathering as an initiative. We are so very grateful for your heart and your expertise. We look forward to the bonds we will create sitting side-by-side, listening to each other.

Yahípi na líla čhaŋtéwašte-mayayape (You made me very happy by coming),
Julia Blue Bird

MEETING GOALS 

• Build bonds, in person;
• Share a vision of the NSF Racial Equity in STEM Education proposal;
• Ask for your input and opinions and to share your wisdom and expertise; and
• Develop shared objectives.

WE'LL SEE YOU SOON!

In preparation for our time together, please check out the tabs on the left for additional meeting information. Please be sure to register as soon as possible and to submit the NRAO-NM Official Visitor Registration Form prior to your arrival. (See the Registration and Logistics tab for instructions on how to fill out this form.) 

AGENDA

Friday, April 14th 
6pm    Dinner       

Saturday, April 15th 
8:30am-5pm     Meeting      
5:30pm             Dinner       

Sunday, April 16th
8:30-11:30am   Breakfast/Summary      
11:30am           VLA Tour (*optional)

VLA Tour Note: Close-toed shoes and long pants are required attire for this tour. A jacket and hat are also strongly recommended. 

REGISTRATION

Meeting Registration (Required)
Please register to attend the meeting here. We kindly request your RSVP by March 13.

NRAO-NM Official Visitor Registration Form (Required) NOTE: Firefox is the recommended browser for submitting this form. At your earliest convenience, please follow this link to submit a visitor registration form. This form is required to visit our New Mexico site.

Instructions for filling out the Visitor Registration Form:

1. Under Register by Visitor Type select "NRAO/AUI Official Visitor"
2. For Host Name please list Lori Appel (lappel@nrao.edu)
3. Under Onsite Resources & Communications, select "No resources needed"
4. Under Local Announcement, select "No"
5. Under NRAO-Travel & Lodging, select "No, I've already arranged my travel and lodging"
6. Skip the Travel & Reimbursement section

 _________________

LOGISTICS

Meeting Location
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Pete V. Domenici Science Operations Center (DSOC)
1003 Lopezville Road
Socorro, NM 87801-0387
Phone: 1-575-835-7000

Hotel Accommodations
Best Western Socorro
1100 N California Street 
Socorro, New Mexico 87801 
Toll Free Central Reservations (US & Canada Only): 1 (800) 780-7234
Hotel Direct Number: (575) 838-0556

Note: All hotel rooms will be pre-paid by NRAO.

__________________

CONTACT

Questions or concerns? 
Please contact Nikki Correll at ncorrell@nrao.edu.

The 18th Postdoctoral Science Symposium will be held on May 15 - 17, 2023 at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, New Mexico in a hybrid (virtual and in person) format. The annual symposium brings together the resident and non-resident Jansky fellows along with NRAO & Green Bank Observatory (GBO) postdocs in order to highlight their current research, share ideas, and establish collaborations. Local NRAO scientific and engineering staff are encouraged to attend.

We are pleased to have Dr. Elisabeth A.C. Mills, Assistant Professor at Kansas University, as our Keynote Speaker this year.

Panelists participating in our hybrid career panel session are:

• Dr. Lisa Locke (JPL)
• Dr. Elisabeth A.C. Mills (KU)
• Dr. Erin Ryan (Booz Allen Hamilton)
  
• Dr. Fabian Walter (MPIA)
  
• Dr. Lisa Winter (NSF)
  
  

Symposium

Date: May 15 - 17, 2023

Location: Domenici Science Operations Center Auditorium
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Socorro, New Mexico

Symposium Dinner

Date: Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Location: Yo Mama's Grill
              913 N California St
              Socorro, NM 87801

Time: 6:30 pm

Abstracts for the talks are listed here.

Talks are allocated for 20 minute each, with 15-18 min for the presentation.

All times are listed local to Socorro, NM in Mountain Daylight Time (MDT). 

All times are listed local to Socorro, NM in Mountain Daylight Time (MDT). 

Important Dates

The following is the complete list of registered participants, including postdocs, invited speakers, organizers, and registered local scientific staff:

• Lori Appel (NRAO-NM)
• Dana Baylis-Aguirre (NMT)

• Pedro Beaklini (NRAO-NM)
• Loreto Barcos-Munoz (NRAO-CV)
• Sanjay Bhatnagar (NRAO-NM)
• Julia Blue Bird (NRAO-NM)
• Jesse Bublitz (GBO)
• Tierra Candelaria (NMT)
• Rebecca Charbonneau (NRAO-CV)
• Tao-Chung Ching (NRAO-NM)
• Barry Clark (NRAO-NM)
• Paul Demorest (NRAO-NM)
• Vivek Dhawan (NRAO-NM)
• Dillon Dong (NRAO-NM)
• Kimberly Emig (NRAO-CV)
• Tasha Gautam (NRAO-CV)
• Miller Goss (NRAO-NM)
• Eric W Greisen (NRAO-NM)
• Suzy Gurton (NRAO-CV)
• Preshanth Jagannathan (NRAO-NM)
• Anna Kapinska (NRAO-NM)
• Brian Kent (NRAO-CV)
• Devaky Kunneriath (NRAO-CV)
• Justin Linford (NRAO-CV)
• Lisa Locke (JPL)
• Ryan Lynch (GBO)
• Steven Myers (NRAO-NM)
• Elisabeth A.C. Mills (KU)
• Robert Minchin (NRAO-NM)
• Emily Moravec (GBO)
• Arielle Moullet (NRAO-CV)
• Bang Nhan (NRAO-CV)
• Viral Parekh (NRAO-NM)
• Pallavi Patil (NRAO-NM)
• Rick Perley (NRAO-NM)
• George Privon (NRAO-CV)
• Tatiana M. Rodriguez (NMT)
• Michael Rugel (NRAO-NM / CfA)
• Dary Alexandra Ruiz (NRAO-CV)
• Erin Ryan (Booz Allen Hamilton)
• Frank Schinzel (NRAO-NM)
• Patrick Sheehan (NRAO-CV)
• Lorant Sjouwerman (NRAO-NM)
• Brian Svoboda (NRAO-NM)
• Chenoa Tremblay (NRAO-NM / SETI Institute)
• Lilia Tremou (NRAO-NM)
• Savin Shynu Varghese (NRAO-NM)
• Catherine Vlahakis (NRAO-CV)
• Fabian Walter (MPIA)
• Lisa Winter (NSF)
• Al Wootten (NRAO-CV)
• Ilsang Yoon (NRAO-CV)

• Kimberly Emig (Jansky Fellow, Co-chair, NRAO-CV)
• Bang Nhan (Jansky Fellow, Co-chair, NRAO-CV)

• Pallavi Patil (Jansky Fellow, NRAO-NM)
• Jesse Bublitz (Postdoc Fellow, GBO)
• Tao-Chung Ching (Jansky Fellow, NRAO-NM)
• Anna Kapinska (Jansky Coordinator, NRAO-NM)
• Jessica Burns (Administrative Support, NRAO-CV)
• Lori Appel (Administrative Support, NRAO-NM)

242nd American Astronomical Meeting

Albuquerque Convention Center | Albuquerque , New Mexico | 4 - 8 June 2023

The following sessions and opportunities at the summer June 2023 American Astronomical Society (AAS 242) meeting in Albuquerque will showcase the scientific range and impact of radio astronomy facilities in New Mexico.

The meeting program for the conference is available.

Special Tour A special behind-the-scenes tour of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) will occur on Sunday, 4 June.

Special Session: Radio Astronomy in New Mexico  Monday, June 5.  2:00pm to 3:30pm MDT in Meeting Room 230 and 5:30pm to 6:30pm MDT in Exhibit Hall 3.  The University of New Mexico is organizing "Radio Astronomy in New Mexico" to highlight radio astronomy performed with facilities based in New Mexico.

Splinter Session: An Explorer's Guide to the VLA Sky Survey  Tuesday, June 6.  9:00am to 3:00pm MDT.  Meeting rooms 15/16/32.  "An Explorer's Guide to the VLA Sky Survey (VLASS)" will showcase the survey, science highlights, and data products. Users will be guided through data access and tools with focus on using new single-epoch continuum images and cubes for polarimetry.

Splinter Session: The Next-Generation VLA: Update and Community Forum Tuesday, June 6. 2:00pm to 3:30pm MDT.  Meeting room 230. ngVLA community leaders are organizing "The Next-Generation VLA: Update and Community Forum," a working meeting that will describe and discuss ngVLA science and the development of a transition from the VLA and VLBA to ngVLA.

NRAO Town Hall Tuesday, June 6.  6:30pm to 8:30pm MDT.  Ballroom A. An evening NRAO Town Hall will inform AAS attendees about the status of science, science operations, and exciting development programs at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO).

Visit the NRAO Exhibit during the conference to pick up some giveaways and learn about opportunities and programs like the Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade for ALMA.

See the meeting website for conference details.

The 15^th DiFX Users and Developers meeting will be held at the Pete V. Domenici Science Operations Center (DSOC) in Socorro, NM, USA from September 11 to 15, 2023. The meeting will include two components. The first two days will be the DiFX Users meeting, which will be composed of talks, posters, and discussions. This first portion of the meeting will also include a tutorial on running DiFX. The first two days will be in a hybrid in-person/virtual format. The last three days will be the DiFX Developers workshop, which will consist of future planning, improvements, and documentation. The final three days will be mostly limited to in-person participation, with possible exceptions to accommodate specific interactions.

Important Dates

May 05, 2023: Registration Opens

August 28, 2023: Registration Closes

September 04, 2023: Last day to submit NRAO Visitor Request

September 11, 2023: First day of the meeting

September 15, 2023: VLBA Pie Town Tour, final day of the meeting

Local Organizing Committee

Walter Brisken

Jay Blanchard

Justin Linford

Steven Tremblay

Scientific Organizing Committee

Adam Deller

Helge Rottmann

Shaoguang Guo

September 11 & 12

DiFX Users Meeting (In-person/Virtual Hybrid)

DiFX Users Meeting Day 1 (Monday)

Session 1: Welcome and Introductions
08:40 - 09:00 Arrival, registration, etc.
09:00 - 09:10 Welcome
09:10 - 09:30 Introductions
09:30 - 10:00 Intro to DiFX [Deller]
10:00 - 10:15 DiFX @ NRAO [Brisken]
10:15 - 10:30 DiFX @ ATNF [Reynolds]

Morning tea/coffee
10:30 - 11:00

Session 2: Site activities
11:00 - 11:15 Updates of the Korean VLBI Network and DiFX Correlation [Kim]
11:15 - 11:30 Tsukuba Correlator [Ueshiba - virtual]
11:30 - 11:45 DiFX @ MPIfR [Rottmann]
11:45 - 12:00 Two Approaches to High Throughput Correlations for ngEHT and wSMA [Wei Yu]
12:00 - 12:15 VLBI Capabilities At The NASA's Deep Space Network [Mauger]
12:15 - 12:25 Any other site users can give a 1 slide overview of their use cases

LOC Announcements
12:25 - 12:30

Lunch
12:30 - 13:30

Session 3: Geodesy
13:30 - 14:00 VGOS correlation/simulation in Vienna [Gruber]
14:00 - 14:30 HOPS4 Development [Barrett]
14:30 - 15:00 Correlating VLBI data from the High Rate Tracking Receiver (HRTR) [Skeens]
15:00 - 15:30 Discussion on DiFX needs for geodesy

Afternoon tea/coffee & workshop photo!
15:30 - 16:00

Session 4: DiFX for connected element interferometry
16:00 - 16:30 DiFX for VLITE [Peters - virtual]
16:30 - 16:50 DiFX for ASKAP FRB localization [Deller]
16:50 - 17:10 DiFX for ngVLA [Yeste Ojeda - virtual]
17:10 - 17:30 Discussion on DiFX wishes for connected element interferometry

No-Host Dinner (attendees are responsible for the cost of their meal)
19:00 - 20:30 Bodega Burger

DiFX Users Meeting Day 2 (Tuesday)

Session 1: DiFX upgrades
09:00 - 09:20 DiFX for transients [Liu]
09:20 - 09:35 GPU-DiFX [Deller]
09:35 - 09:55 RADIOBLOCKS @JIVE [Kettenis - virtual]
09:55 - 10:10 Discussion: Deprecating Mark 5 in future versions
10:10 - 10:30 Discussion: User wish list for DiFX future upgrades

Morning tea/coffee
10:30 -11:00

Session 2: Benchmarks, testing, and versions
11:00 - 11:20 Discussion: Moving from DiFX-2.8.1 to 2.8.2
11:20 - 11:40 Benchmarking DiFX [Dutka]
11:40 - 12:00 Simulation VDIF data with VDIFSim [Brisken]
12:00 - 12:15 Running DiFX under SLURM - be good to the climate (and your budget) [Rottmann]
12:15 - 12:30 Discussion: User wish list for benchmarks and testing

Lunch
12:30 - 13:30

Session 3: DSOC Tours
13:30 - 14:30 Correlator and lab tours (two groups)
14:30 - 15:30 DiFX demo (time permitting)

Afternoon tea/coffee
15:30 - 16:00

Session 4: Code hosting and continuous integration
16:00 - 16:30 The status of the SVN to git migration [Guo - virtual]
16:30 - 16:45 Possibilities for revitalizing continuous integration [Deller]
16:45 - 17:30 Discussion: Future code hosting plans

September 13-15

DiFX Developers Workshop (In-person)

DiFX Developers Workshop Day 1 (Wednesday)

Topics to cover:

• Doc-a-thon session
• Versions & long-term plans
• To-do list

12:00 - 13:00 Wednesday Pizza Lunch informal talks

• Wael Farah, "Refurbishment of the Allen Telescope Array"
• Adam Deller, "Putting Fast Radio Bursts under the microscope with ASKAP"

DiFX Developers Workshop Day 2 (Thursday)

Topics to cover

• Code hosting

DiFX Developers Workshop Day 3 (Friday)

VLBA Pie Town Tour

Workshop wrap-up

Venue

The 15th DiFX Users and Developers meeting will be held at the Pete V. Domenici Science Operations Center (DSOC) in Socorro, NM.  For information on how to get to the DSOC, please see the NRAO Socorro Directions and Maps page.

Lodging

In-person participants have the option to stay at the NRAO Guest House for the duration of the meeting.  The Guest house is within easy walking distance of the DSOC (see the NMT Campus map) and has a kitchen and laundry facilities.  Guest House reservations can be made when submitting an NRAO Visitor Registration.

For more information on the NRAO Guest House, see the Staying in Socorro page.

Participants who do not wish to stay at the Guest House are welcome to make their own lodging arrangements for any hotel of their choice.  However, the organizers have not reserved rooms at any of the local hotels and no special rates have been negotiated. 

All visitors to the DSOC must complete the NRAO Visitor Registration. 

For those attending the 15th DiFX Users and Developers Meeting, please select "NRAO/AUI Official Visitor".  Provide all the required information.  In the "Purpose of Visit" section, you can enter any of the LOC members as the "NRAO-NM Host".  LOC information is provided below.

For those interested in staying at the NRAO Guest House, be sure to provide the necessary details  in the "Travel and Lodging" section.

All in-person meeting participants must complete the NRAO Visitor Registration by September 04, 2023.

LOC members:

The following is a list of the registered participants and their affiliation:

In-person attendees

• John Barrett (MIT Haystack)
• Jay Blanchard (NRAO)
• Walter Brisken (NRAO)
• Geoff Crew (MIT Haystack Observatory)
• Adam Deller (Swinburne University of Technology)
• Paul Demorest (NRAO)
• Michael Dutka (USNO)
• Adriana Escobar (NRAO)
• Wael Farah (SETI Institute)
• Heman Gharibnejad (USNO)
• Eric Greisen (NRAO)
• Jakob Gruber (BEV)
• Andrew Hoffmaster (USNO)
• Lucas Hunt (NRAO)
• Jongsoo Kim (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)
• Peter Kotze (NRAO)
• Justin Linford (NRAO)
• Lei Liu (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory)
• Lisa Mauger (JPL)
• Emmanuel Momjian (NRAO)
• Jim Ogle (NRAO)
• Cormac Reynolds (CSIRO)
• Helge Rottman (MPIfR)
• Frank Schinzel (NRAO)
• Joe Skeens (UT-Austin)
• Anthony Sowinski (NRAO)
• Chenoa Tremblay (SETI Institute)
• Steven Tremblay (NRAO)
• Lilia Tremou (NRAO)
• Catarina Ubach (NRAO)
• Mark Wainright (NRAO)
• Montana Williams (NMT/NRAO)
• Wei Yu (CfA)
• Yun Yu (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory)

Virtual attendees

• Salama Al-Ali (SAASST)
• Anoud Alzaabi (SAASST)
• Simone Bernhart (Reichert GmbH, BKG, MPIfR)
• Zhong Chen (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory)
• Yoon Kyung Choi (Reichert GmbH, BKG, MPIfR)
• Shaoguang Guo (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory)
• Sara Hardin (USNO)
• Fanie van den Heever (SARAO)
• Pengfei Jiang (Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory)
• Wu Jiang (SHAO)
• Mark Kettenis (JIVE)
• GuangHui Li (Urumqi, CAS)
• Marisa Nickola (SARAO/HartRAO)
• Arzoo Noorani (Sharjah Academy for Astronomy Space Sciences and Technology)
• Omar Yeste Ojeda (NRAO)
• Wendy Peters (NRL)
• Violet Pfeiffer (MIT Haystack)
• Jack Radcliffe (University of Pretoria)
• Venkatessh Ramakrishnan (Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO)
• Pedro Salas (Green Bank Observatory)
• Matthew Schiller (NRAO)
• Matteo Stagni (INAF)
• Haruka Ueshiba (Geospatial Information Authority of Japan)
• Jan Wagner (MPIfR)
• Jun Yang (Onsala Space Observatory)
• Weimin Zheng (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory)

All meeting participants, both in-person and virtual, are expected to behave professionally and to treat all other participants, all NRAO staff, and other visitors with courtesy and respect.

NRAO Code of Conduct

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is committed to providing a safe and welcoming environment and has adopted a Code of Conduct that includes prohibitions against discrimination and harassment of any kind, including sexual harassment. 

Please review the full NRAO Code of Conduct prior to attending the meeting.

Any participant who feels that they have been made to feel unwelcome, or have been threatened, please report the incident to a member of the organizing committee (on site, contact information below), or to hr@nrao.edu.

LOC members: