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Ast COV Reports, Please See Report of the 2014 Committee of Visitors for the Division of Astronomical Sciences of the National Science Foundation December 17-19, 2014 Committee Membership Katelyn Allers, Bucknell University Nancy Brickhouse, Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. for Astrophysics Mike Briley, Appalachian State University Robert Brown, Cornell University (retired) 1 Lynn Cominsky, Vice Chair, Sonoma State University Kelle Cruz, City University of New York, Hunter College Kelly Holley-Bockelmann Vanderbilt University Mark Krumholz, University of California at Santa Cruz Charles McGruder, Western Kentucky University Windsor Morgan, Dickinson College Tim Paglione City University of New York, York College Lawrence Ramsey, Chair, The Pennsylvania State University Lou Strolger, Space Telescope Science Institute Hugh Van Horn, University of Rochester (retired) William Zajc, Columbia University 1 Deceased 20 December 2014 i Report of the 2014 MPS/AST Committee of Visitors Table of Contents Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ 1 1 Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................... 3 1.1 Organization and Management of AST ................................................................................ 3 1.2 Research Grants Programs and Proposal Review Processes ................................................. 4 1.3 Facilities Management .......................................................................................................... 6 1.4 Other Issues ........................................................................................................................... 7 2 Committee of Visitors (COV) Review Process ........................................................................... 9 3 AST Responses to Previous Recommendations ........................................................................ 10 3.1 AST Responses to the 2011 COV Recommendations ........................................................ 11 3.2 2010 Decadal Survey, New Worlds, New Horizons (NWNH) ............................................ 13 3.3 2011 Portfolio Review (2011 PR) ....................................................................................... 13 4 Organization and Management of AST ..................................................................................... 14 4.1 Staffing ................................................................................................................................ 14 4.2 Planning and Implementation.............................................................................................. 15 5 Research Grants Programs & Proposal Review Processes ........................................................ 15 5.1 Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Grants (AAG)....................................................... 16 5.1.1 Proposal Processing ...................................................................................................... 17 5.1.2 Broader Impacts ............................................................................................................ 18 5.1.3 Broadening Participation .............................................................................................. 18 5.1.4 Extragalactic Astronomy & Astronomy (EXC) ........................................................... 19 5.1.5 Galactic Astronomy (GAL) .......................................................................................... 20 5.1.7 Stellar Astronomy& Astrophysics (SAA) .................................................................... 21 5.1.8 Planetary Astronomy (PLA) ......................................................................................... 21 5.2 Advanced Technology Instrumentation (ATI) .................................................................... 22 5.3 Major Instrumentation (MRI) ............................................................................................. 23 5.4 Education and Special Programs (ESP) .............................................................................. 24 5.4.1 CAREER ...................................................................................................................... 24 5.4.2 Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship (AAPF) .................................. 24 5.4.3. Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) ...................................................... 24 5.4.4. Partnerships in Astronomy and Astrophysics Research and Education (PAARE) ..... 25 1 Report of the 2014 MPS/AST Committee of Visitors 5.4.5. Unsolicited Proposals .................................................................................................. 25 5.5. MPS- and NSF-wide Initiatives ...................................................................................... 25 6 Mid-Scale Innovations Programs (MSIP) .................................................................................. 26 7 Facilities Management ............................................................................................................... 27 7.1 Arecibo Observatory ........................................................................................................... 28 7.2 Gemini Observatory ............................................................................................................ 28 7.3 National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) ........................................................... 29 7.4 National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) .............................................................. 30 7.5 Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) ................................................. 31 7.6 National Solar Observatory (NSO) ..................................................................................... 32 8 Major Research Equipment and Facility Construction (MREFC) Projects ............................... 33 8.1 Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) ....................................................................... 33 8.2 Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) .......................................................................... 34 9 Electromagnetic Spectrum Management (ESM) ....................................................................... 35 10 Other Issues .............................................................................................................................. 36 10.1 US Competitiveness in Ground-based Optical/Infrared (OIR) Astronomy ...................... 36 10.2 Operation of Large New Projects ...................................................................................... 37 10.3 Building a Solar Community............................................................................................. 38 10.4 US Competitiveness in Computational Astrophysics ....................................................... 38 10.5 Professional Development Opportunities for Junior Research Astronomers.................... 40 10.6 Use of Reviews in Young Faculty Dossiers ...................................................................... 41 CORE QUESTIONS and REPORT TEMPLATE ........................................................................ 42 FY 2015 REPORT TEMPLATE .................................................................................................. 43 COV Membership ......................................................................................................................... 44 INTEGRITY AND EFFICIENCY OF THE PROGRAM’S PROCESSES AND MANAGEMENT .......................................................................................................................... 45 OTHER TOPICS .......................................................................................................................... 54 2 Report of the 2014 MPS/AST Committee of Visitors 1 Executive Summary The Committee of Visitors met with the Director and staff of the Astronomy Division (AST) during 17-19 December, 2014. The report below summarizes our key findings and recommendations in the following areas: 1) the organization and management of AST; 2) the integrity and efficiency of the processes related to AST proposal reviews; 3) the management of a wide variety of astronomical facilities; 4) the management processes for the electromagnetic spectrum frequency allocations; 5) the management of two new Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) projects; and 6) other areas that need improvement. This Executive Summary provides an overview of our key commendations and recommendations. Additional detail and discussion is provided in the sections that follow. 1.1 Organization and Management of AST The 2015 COV commends Division Director James Ulvestad and the entire AST staff for their outstanding efforts during the last four years since the last COV review in 2011. During this period, this outstanding team has succeeded in starting two new MREFC projects (Large Synoptic Survey Telescope [LSST] and Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope [DKIST]), has instituted procedures and managed mandated recompetitions for cooperative agreements for three major research facilities (National Optical Astronomy Observatory [NOAO], National Radio Astronomy Observatory [NRAO] and Gemini), has responded to a series of recommendations for portfolio rebalance by instituting the Mid-Scale Innovation Program (MSIP), and has handled a 25% increase
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