4
Workshops, Symposia, Meetings of Experts,
and Other Special Projects
In 2014, the Space Studies Board (SSB) convened one workshop, in collaboration with the Board on Science Education, and held one forum and one meeting of experts. These activities do not result in the provision of advice and, therefore, are not governed by the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Section 15.
CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES-NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES FORUM FOR NEW LEADERS IN SPACE SCIENCE
The SSB continued its engagement with space scientists affiliated with the National Space Science Center (NSSC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and other Chinese institutions by holding a “Forum for New Leaders in Space Science.” The forum series is designed to provide opportunities for a highly select group of young space scientists from China and the United States to discuss their research activities in an intimate and collegial environment at meetings held in China and the United States.
The goals of the forum are threefold:
- To identify and highlight the research achievements of the best and brightest young scientists currently working at the frontiers of their respective disciplines;
- To build informal bridges between the space-science communities in China and the United States; and
- To enhance the diffusion of insights gained from participation in the forums to the larger space-science communities in China and the United States.
A solicitation for participation in the forum was issued jointly by the SSB and the CAS in December 2013. By the time applications closed on January 13, 2014, completed applications had been received from 19 individuals based in China and 22 based in the United States. A program committee appointed by the CAS and the SSB assessed potential participants on the basis of the scientific merit demonstrated in their application materials. Each half of the selection committee—SSB and CAS—independently ranked all 41 candidates and each half nominated 8 primary candidates from the United States and 8 from China for a total of 16 participants. The significant agreement between the initial CAS and SSB lists led to rapid convergence on a consensus list of participants.
The inaugural forum was held in two sessions: the first on May 8-9, 2014, at the historic Jade Garden Hotel in central Beijing, and the second on November 3-4, 2014, at the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center of the National Academies in Irvine, California. For both sessions, the Chinese delegation was led by Wu Ji, Director General of NSSC; the U.S. delegation was led by the Chair of the SSB, which was Charlie Kennel for the first session and David Spergel for the second. The scientific scope of the first forum was limited to the general areas of space astronomy
and solar and space physics. Both sessions included focused presentations by the young scientists interspersed with topical presentations by senior scientists and group discussions.
The next and second forum is scheduled to take place in Shanghai on October 9-10, 2015, and at the Beckman Center in Irvine, California, in May 2016.
New Leaders in Space Science—2014
Tao An,*,† CAS Shanghai Astronomical Observatory
Michael Busch,† SETI Institute
Yongwei Dong,* CAS Institute of High Energy Physics
Justin Kasper,*, † University of Michigan
Hui Li,* CAS National Space Science Center
Ying Liu,*, † CAS National Space Science Center
Vyacheslav Lukin,*, † Naval Research Laboratory
James McAteer,*, † New Mexico State University
Binbin Ni,*, † Wuhan University
Kunio Sayanagi,*, † Hampton University
Meng Su,*, † Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Yingna Su,*, † CAS Purple Mountain Observatory
Ruslan Vaulin,* Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Paul Withers,*, † Boston University
Shuhong Yang,*, † CAS National Astronomical Observatories
Chen Zhang,* CAS National Astronomical Observatories
Liang Zhao,*, † University of Michigan
Staff
David Smith, Senior Program Officer, SSB
Anesia Wilks, Senior Program Assistant, SSB
The SSB and the Board on Science Education organized a joint workshop “Sharing the Adventure with the Student,” held on December 2-3, 2014, at the National Academy of Science Building in Washington, D.C., which focused on the contribution of NASA’s SMD to K-12 science education. The ad hoc organizing committee—the Committee on Sharing the Adventure with the Student: Exploring the Intersections of NASA Space Science and Education: A Workshop—held its planning meeting on September 12 at the Keck Center of the National Academies in Washington, D.C. The committee heard from three presenters: Kristen Erickson discussed NASA SMD’s education efforts, Joan Ferrini-Mundy from NSF presented the strategic plan for the Committee on STEM Education (CoSTEM), and Andrea Jones from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center presented on the Lunar Workshops for Educators. The remainder of the meeting was in closed session and devoted to workshop planning.
The workshop served as a venue for dialog between space and Earth scientists, engineers, education specialists ranging from high school principals to education researchers and state science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education leaders, professional development providers, and informal science education institutions, among others. John Mather, National Academy of Sciences member, Nobel Prize winner, and senior project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope, gave the opening keynote presentation. The workshop encouraged active participation from all 120 attendees during interactive panel discussions, a poster session, and audience breakout groups to discuss future enabling actions. A report of the workshop will be released in the spring of 2015.
_______________
* Participated in the May session.
† Participated in the November session.
Planning Committee Membership
Philip R. Christensen, Arizona State University (co-chair)
Brett D. Moulding, Utah Partnership for Effective Science Teaching and Learning (co-chair)
Albert Byers, National Science Teachers Association
Heidi B. Hammel, Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
Wesley L. Harris, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Charles F. Kennel, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
James Manning, Independent Consultant
Richard A. McCray, University of California, Berkeley
Mitchell Nathan, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Patricia H. Reiff, Rice University
Theresa Schwerin, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies
Staff
Abigail Sheffer,1 Associate Program Officer, SSB
Katie Daud, Research Associate, SSB
Anesia Wilks, Senior Program Assistant, SSB
Heidi A. Schweingruber, Director, Board on Science Education
Michael A. Feder, Senior Program Officer, Board on Science Education
As a result of a request from NASA’s planetary protection officer, SSB staff organized a meeting of selected experts and government officials to provide the former with a candid critique of the findings relating to the contamination of martian samples by terrestrial organic materials contained in an interim report prepared by the Mars 2020 Organic Contamination Panel (OCP). The OCP was established by NASA’s Mars Program Office to assess the potential contamination of samples collected on Mars with organic material inadvertently introduced into the martian environment by the Mars 2020 rover mission. At the meeting of experts held at the Beckman Center in Irvine, California, on May 28-29, 2014, members of the OCP presented their interim findings. The members of the SSB-convened group were acting in their own capacities as experts in relevant scientific and technical disciplines, and no NRC-endorsed product resulted from this activity. One or more follow-on meetings are anticipated to be held in 2015.
Staff
David Smith, Senior Program Officer, SSB
Carmela J. Chamberlain, Administrative Coordinator, SSB
_______________
1 Promoted to Program Officer in 2015.
