UAHuntsville, Marshall to host space science town hall meeting

(From release) Scientists from across the southeastern United States will have an opportunity to engage a key national science committee about its recommendations regarding future space science during a town hall meeting to be held next week in Huntsville.

The University of Alabama in Huntsville and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center are partnering with the American Astronomical Society (AAS) to host an Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey Town Hall meeting. The meeting is scheduled Sept. 14 on the campus of UAHuntsville, and will include a presentation of the recently released survey recommendations by a Decadal Committee member, followed by an opportunity for questions and discussion.

The town hall meeting is one of 11 gatherings across the United States and the only one in the southeastern United States that will allow scientists an opportunity to participate in discussions related to federal funding priorities for space science research during the next decade. These meetings are designed to foster community understanding of the recommendations of the Astro2010 Decadal Survey report entitled, "New Worlds, New Horizons,” according to AAS officials.

This event will be held in the Shelby Center for Science and Technology, attracting the participation of scientists from colleges and universities, government agencies and corporations in Huntsville in addition to the rest of Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida. The session begins at 1 p.m. in Room 107 and will be followed by a community reception at 3:00 p.m. in the lobby of the Shelby Center. “New Worlds, New Horizons” is the latest in a series of surveys that are produced every 10 years by the National Research Council (NRC) of The National Academy of Sciences.

The 2010 Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Review Committee surveyed the field of space- and ground-based astronomy and astrophysics, recommending priorities for the most important scientific activities of the decade 2010-2020. The principal goals of the study were to carry out an assessment of activities in astronomy and astrophysics, including both new and previously identified concepts, and to provide its report “New Worlds, New Horizons” to NASA, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Congressional committees with jurisdiction over those agencies, the scientific community and the public.

Steve Battel, a member of the survey committee and president of Battel Engineering, will be making the presentation.