Annual Report to Planetary Science Institute on the 2014 Activity of Robert M. Nelson, Senior Scientist Most of this activity is related to work performed as a member of the Cassini Spacecraft Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer Team under a NASA selected proposal entitled: A Cassini Investigation of the Surface Morphology, Composition, and Thermal Processes of Saturnian and Galilean Satellites and an Asteroid using the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer. 1) Titan Surface Working Group, Orlando, FL, Jan 26-29, 2014 2) Cassini Project Science Group, Pasadena, CA, Feb 10-14, 2014 3) Lunar and Planetary Science meeting, Houston, TX, Mar 17-21,2014 4) VIMS Science Team Meeting, Cambridge, Mass, May 26-29, 2014 5) Cassini Project Science Group, Noordwijk, Netherlands, Jun, 23-27, 2014 6) Planetary Science Institute Retreat, Tucson, AZ, Aug 19-21, 2014 7) VIMS Science Team meeting, Tucson, AZ, Oct 1-3,2014 8) Titan Surface Working Group, Ithaca, NY, Oct 6-9, 2014 9) Cassini Project Science Group, Pasadena CA, Oct 20-24, 2014 10) American Astronomical Society, Division for Planetary Science Meeting, Tucson, AZ, Oct. 9-14, 2014 11) American Geophysical Union meeting San Francisco, Dec 15-19, 2014 Session Chair, American Geophysical Union Meeting The Rite of Spring: The Changing Seasons on Titan Intense scrutiny by the Cassini Saturn Orbiter, combined with extensive ground based observing campaigns, has established Titan’s seasonal weather pattern over more than a third of a Saturn orbital period. Many of the changes seen in the atmosphere are associated with changes on the surface. These changes are the product of atmospheric processes such as evaporation, rainfall and/or infiltration and fluvial activity most probably in combination with dynamic processes ongoing in Titan’s interior. The relative contribution of each of these processes to Titan’s state at a given point in time is gradually being understood. The session will present recent spacecraft and ground-based results and test the veracity of the current models. Session conveners Robert M. Nelson, Planetary Science Institute, Cassini VIMS team Rosaly Lopes, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Cassini Radar team Invited Paper. American Geophysical Union Meeting An Improved Instrument for Angular Scattering Measurements of Candidate Planetary Surface Regolith Materials at Extremely Small Phase Angles: Relevance to the Outer Solar System Robert M. Nelson1,2, Mark D Boryta2, Bruce W Hapke3, Ken Manatt4, Desiree Olivia Kroner2 and William D Smythe2,4, (1)Planetary Science Institute, Pasadena, CA, United States, (2)Mt San Antonio College, Walnut, CA, United States, (3)University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States, (4)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States The reflection variation and the polarization change with phase angle of radiation scattered from particulate materials has been studied for a century in efforts to understand the nature of clouds, aerosols, planetary ring systems and planetary regolith materials. The increase in reflectance as phase angle decreases, the ‘Opposition Effect’, has been well documented in astronomical observations and laboratory studies. Variations in linear polarization near small phase angles have also been well studied (e.g. Shkuratov et al.,2002, Rosenbush et al. 2015). While the phenomena have been well documented, a generally accepted physical explanation is still lacking despite many excellent theoretical modeling efforts. We have undertaken a reductionist approach in deconstructing the process. We have fabricated a goniometer which permits us to present samples with discrete wavelengths of monochromatic light that is linearly polarized in and perpendicular to the scattering plane. We also can illuminate our samples with both right handed and left handed circular polarization senses. Silicon Avalanche Photodiodes record the reflected radiation from the sample after it has passed through linear and circular polarizing analyzers(Kroner et al.). This reductionist approach permits us to measure the reflectance and polarization phase curves and the change in linear and circular polarization ratio (LPR and CPR) with phase angle between 0.056 and 17 degrees. LPR and CPR are found to be important indicators of the amount of multiple scattering in the medium (Hapke, 1990, Nelson et al, 1998, 2000;Hapke, 2012). This approach provides a way to distinguish between suggested models and to gain greater insight into the process of the scattering of electromagnetic radiation in a variety of media. This work was supported by NASA’s Cassini Science Program Hapke, B. (1990), Icarus, 88, 407-217. Hapke, B. (2012). Theory of Reflectance and Emittance Spectroscopy, Cambridge U. Press, New York. Kroner et al, this meeting. Nelson et al, 1998, Icarus, 131, 223-230. Nelson et al, 2000, Icarus, 147, 535-558. PSI Annual Report Addendum Robert M. Nelson, Senior Scientist, Planetary Science Institute Introduction An important part of the NASA research investigation is education of today’s students, the next generation of researchers. In addition to my work with students in the Goniometric Photopolarimeter Laboratory that I have moved to Mount San Antonio College, I also have been involved in educating students about their moral and ethical responsibilities to society. In that context, working with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, four college campuses, two churches and one radio station I organized the ‘Courage and Resistance Tour’ of Southern California Campuses featuring Professor of Religion and Ethics at Temple University John Raines, his wife, the early child development expert Bonnie Raines, also of Temple University, and the journalist Betty Medsger, formally of the Washington Post. In 1971, Professor Raines, and his wife Bonnie, along with six others burglarized the Media Pennsylvania office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They removed all the files in the office and turned them over to journalist Medsger of the Washington Post. The files revealed vast illegal wrongdoing by the FBI including its nefarious COINTEL program, which included the FBT’s attempt to blackmail Martin Luther King Jr. to commit suicide. The perpetrators of the FBI office robbery at Media PA were never apprehended. They only made their identities public last year. The story behind the events is reported in Medsger’s 2014 recent book, ‘The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s secret FBI.’ During the last year I organized the Southern California Courage and Resistance Tour, involving John and Bonnie Raines, and also Betty Medsger. The tour appeared at four campuses in Southern California. The appearances also offered the showing of the soon to be released film ‘1971’ which portrays the burglary and its background. The tour permitted students of the current generation to interact with students of five decades past to discuss moral and ethical questions of when it is acceptable to break the law. The relevance to the Edward Snowden case today is obvious. Announcement of Opportunity to Participate in the Courage and Resistance Tour Solicitation for participation in the tour follows: To Southern California Academic Colleagues: Announcement of Opportunity to Participate in the “Lessons in Courage and Resistance Tour” : Academic Seminars on the History of Illegal Surveillance into the Private Lives of Citizens by United States Intelligence Agencies. On behalf of the Southern California American Civil Liberties Union I would like to solicit your interest in organizing a speaking event at your academic institution next January on the important topic of government surveillance into the private lives of its citizens. The project involves the journalist Betty Medsger, formerly of the Washington Post. She recently authored “The Burglary: the Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI,” a book about the 1971 break in to the Media PA FBI office. The Media documents revealed for the first time the FBI’s COINTEL program, where the FBI was infiltrating peace and civil rights organizations to undermine their work. This included spying on Martin Luther King, Jr. The perpetrators of the burglary were never apprehended and their identities remained unknown until last year. A review of Medsger’s book is found at http://www.pasadenaweekly.com/cms/story/detail/agents_of_change/13177/ Early next year, the ACLU is offering an opportunity to host Betty Medsger and two of the “burglars” in the 1971 Media PA break-in (one who is a professor of religion at Temple University; the other developed the child care program at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia). In addition, the tour will include Johanna Hamilton who made the film ‘1971’. The film was released earlier this year and dramatizes the Media PA events. The trailer for the film is found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2Kgo7NNXWs. The ACLU will be hosting all four speakers in Southern California the last week of January 2015 The tour calls attention to the great similarity of the Media PA events of four decades ago and Edward Snowden’s revelations of today. Both instances involved individuals breaking the law in order to advance a higher level social purpose—exposing illegal surveillance of US citizens by their own government. The principal target audience for the tour is today’s current student population, who perhaps may be familiar with Edward Snowden’s revelations but have had little or no exposure to the similar activities of the past. The point is to expose students to the important