All pieces by July 1 Submit by August 1 Written in plain text or simple latex Executive Summary (Geoff, Tracy) e2e & CASA (Jeremy*, Bryan, Cornelia) - algorithm development (broad bandwidth, (develpoment document SSR? - can we find it) - looks pretty spectacular, we want to see it actually work, and want to see connections with other radio facilities. - encourage use in synthesis schools. - need to make sure NRAO staff are using casa on a regular basis, not just able to help others. Also identify outside people to help with beta-testing. - speed and documentation may need more resources. eg needs to be faster than miriad or people won't switch. Need cookbooks/threads. - what are options for physical location of casa code and evla data? In general, people don't want to have to travel to Socorro simply to reduce their data! Ship dvds? Analyze remotely? - e2e efforts look good and we look forward to seeing results at next year's meeting. We're willing to help test features in voogle. Geoff has volunteered to coordinate this. -we want more info next year on evla transition/archive. Future of NRAO (Geoff*, Rachel, Mary, Paul) I. Response to the Senior Review - Jim has shown significant effort in exploring funding options for VLBA - It's great that NRAO is looking for external funding, but there are user implications. (Does the UC want to have a role in this?) - Other organizations fill this role; can NRAO consider having a grants development person? II. SKA/"SKA" - encourage them to continue at level of Ken + Jim + engineer or more as funding allows. - Definitely opportunity to get CDL involved after EVLA/ALMA devlopment levels off/finished. - Would like to see UC/community involved in long-term plan for CDL. Workshops/meeting/calls for ideas, etc. eg Chicago meetings. Better publicity needed. III. CDL-Techincal -blue sky development should be expanded IV. New Initiatives/Outside Funding Sources Scientific Affairs (Snez*,Cornelia, Ingrid, Fabian) I. Postdoc Program II. Diversity of Staff User Support (Evan*,Bryan, ) I. User Grants - consensus statement ($6 M needed to be added to the NSF budget to support a user grant program) - tied to the success of ALMA - contact ANASAC (Jonathan Williams) about their statement regarding User Grants (and any interesting discussions that committee had) - concern that EVLA users will be at a disadvantage; NRAO needs to hear that users of EVLA will want support for their programs also II. Communication - we like the newsletter. - web page important but send atomized emails alerting users to important changes. - operator email should send warnings to evla users about changes needed to observe files during transition -- there should not be many error-filled observe files! III. Staffing/Support? NRAO appears to be understaffed in many of its critical needs. Some perceived contradiction between NSF Senior Review recommendations for trimming costs (staff) and the need for user support & development for new instrumentation - UC would benefit from knowing more about NRAO's plan for moving from a single-telescope model to a "One Observatory" model. -Jy postdocs should remain independent (bias towards instrumentalists or local if desired) -increase NRAO postdoc program Scheduling & Time Allocation (Fabian*, Evan, Tracy, Bryan) I. Proposal Deadline Changes - face to face meeting with the VLA Scheduling Committee now includes several outside members this year, which the committee applauds! We encourage NRAO to think about bringing in some of its referees as TAC members. This may take more thought as to where and how many times the science and technical aspects get reviewed. We encourage them to experiment. We want to stay in the loop. - some institutional memory in the LPRC (3-year terms) is advisable. Might be better to have broader expertise, ie not matched to the proposals. - reminding referees of the seriousness of their duty might be a good idea. - the majority of the UC would be willing and support a transition to a 6 month cycle for all NRAO telescopes (one dissenter who thinks the current system isn't broken) -tools available for rapid response be made available to the community II. Large Proposals - excellent job. Says Geoff. - Starbucks model? 200 hours is in the right ballpark, but the cutoff could go higher. Should it vary across instruments? no consensus. Maybe give it time in this mode and then re-evaluate. - knowing the stats of proposals (and accepted) wrt telescopes, lenght, LSTs) would help. ALMA (Fabian*) - alma will rock. - issues of proposed staff hiring? - we didn't hear enough about the alma science center. And what exactly is the Array science centre (just renaming AOC?) and its interaction with the alma SC? -encourage integration of techniques and facilities across the observatory EVLA (Cornelia*, Tracy, Rachel, Fabian) - Dale's rapid response algorithm needs to be publically available. I. VLA to EVLA transition - bad data in some modes during transition; not clear that they're making progress in fixing these problems. - retiring modcomps is a good thing. - we want to hear SAGE outcomes. - put Jim's slides on new capabilities on SAGE webpage so everyone can start planning. II. III. mention algorithm development IV. ASC - Array Science Center GBT (Ingrid*, Jeremy, Fabian, Paul and Dan) I. Dynamic Scheduling - UC would like to know the June committee's recommendations; UC would also like to know the results from the month-long test in the fall so that the UC can have some input on the final decision of whether this new model will be used full-time in the future -phrase concerns concisely and send along quickly -how much efficiency will this introduce? - general praise for fixing receiver problems - track fixes sound good; we'll look forward to next year. - need more staff for user support. WE could insert text about lack of adjustment of capital costs? - our user experience is that GBT is understaffed rather than overstaffed. (VLA calibration support isn't that great, either) Basic things like Tcal/Tsys measurements could/should be updated more frequently, and archival measurements kept accessible on the web. VLBA (Geoff*) Maintaining high recording rate and expanding capacity for that (ie disks) is highest priority - need dedicated vlba software engineer - and vlba chief scientist (Jim++) - encourage new investment and science - support calibrator surveys CDL (Bryan*) EPO (Mary*, Tracy) -looking forward to new web page -newsletter Committee Business (Geoff*) I. Not a huge presence of "millimeter" users on the committee II. Longer exec session at the beginning? or a telecon beforehand? III. more interaction during the year? we're open to more interaction initiated with NRAO; willing to consult; object to how MOU GLAST was handled IV. Having the date set early in the year! (write in the preferred date of next year's meeting in the report) V. COncern about a large fraction of UC members having been employed by NRAO in the past; continue having at least 3 people who are not radio astronomers - There was no discussion of RFI at this meeting -- that's a problem.