3
Ad Hoc Study Committees: Activities and Membership

When a sponsor requests that the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine conduct a study, an ad hoc committee is established for that purpose. The committee terminates when the study is completed. These study committees are subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Section 15, because they provide advice and recommendations to the federal government. The Space Studies Board (SSB) and/or one of its standing committees provide oversight for ad hoc study committee activities. Seven ad hoc study committees and five panels and were active during 2016; their activities and membership are summarized below. The SSB collaborated on one study with the Board on Physics and Astronomy (BPA) and one study with the following boards of the Division on Earth and Life Studies: the Board on Atmospheric Science and Climate (BASC), Polar Research Board (PRB), the Board on Earth Science and Resources (BESR), the Ocean Studies Board (OSB), and the Water Science and Technology Board (WSTB).

Committee formation was initiated in 2016 for the following three ad hoc committees: the Committee on a Midterm Assessment of Implementation of the Decadal Survey on Life and Physical Sciences Research at NASA, the Committee on the Review of Planetary Protection Policy Development Processes, and the Committee on the Review of Progress Toward Implementing the Decadal Survey Vision and Voyages for Planetary Sciences.

ACHIEVING SCIENCE GOALS WITH CUBESATS

The ad hoc Committee on Achieving Science Goals with CubeSats, which began meeting in June 2015, sent several members to attend a forum on Performing High-Quality Science on CubeSats hosted by the International Space Science Institute in Bern, Switzerland, on January 19-20, 2016. A draft of the committee’s report, Achieving Science with CubeSats: Thinking Inside the Box, entered review in March and was released in prepublication form in May. Committee Chair Thomas H. Zurbuchen and Vice Chair Bhavya Lal held briefings for multiple federal agencies and congressional committee staff and presented the report at several conferences. The report can be downloaded at http://www.nap.edu/cubesats.

Membership^*

Thomas H. Zurbuchen, University of Michigan (chair)

Bhavya Lal, IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute (vice chair)

Julie Castillo-Rogez, California Institute of Technology

Andrew Clegg, Google, Inc.

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^* All terms ended on June 30, 2016.

Paulo C. Lozano, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Malcolm Macdonald, University of Strathclyde

Robyn Millan, Dartmouth College

Charles D. Norton, California Institute of Technology

William H. Swartz, Johns Hopkins University

Alan Title, Lockheed Martin

Thomas Woods, University of Colorado

Edward L. Wright, University of California, Los Angeles

A. Thomas Young, Lockheed Martin (retired)

Staff

Abigail A. Sheffer, Program Officer, SSB (study director)

Katie Daud, Research Associate, SSB

Dionna Wise, Program Coordinator, SSB

ASSESSMENT OF THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION’S 2015 GEOSPACE PORTFOLIO REVIEW

The ad hoc Committee on the Assessment of the National Science Foundation’s 2015 Geospace Portfolio Review was formed to conduct a study evaluating a publicly available report of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Geospace Section Portfolio Review Committee (PRC), Investments in Critical Capabilities for Geospace Science 2016 to 2025 (hereafter, “ICCGS”). Following the release of the ICCGS, the committee held its first meeting on May 13-14, 2016, at the National Academy of Sciences building in Washington, D.C. The committee heard from members of the PRC for an overview briefing and discussions about community input, integrative science, CubeSats, solar science, and facilities. The committee also heard from Therese Moretto Jorgensen, the Geospace Section head.

At its second meeting, on July 18-19, 2016, in Washington, D.C., the committee had follow-up discussions with the PRC chair, heard perspectives on the review from the director of the Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences, and was briefed on the recently released report of the National Academies regarding the science potential for CubeSats. The committee also heard from selected members of the geospace science community with experience and perspective relevant to geospace facilities and programs.

The committee held its third and final meeting on August 21-22, in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, to prepare a draft of its report. The committee also held several teleconferences throughout the study to discuss its task. More information about this project is available at http://sites.nationalacademies.org/SSB/CurrentProjects/SSB_169109.

A prepublication version of the committee’s report, Assessment of the National Science Foundation’s 2015 Geospace Portfolio Review, was released on January 31, 2017, and is available at https://www.nap.edu/catalog/24666/assessment-of-the-national-science-foundations-2015-geospace-portfolio-review.

Membership^*

Timothy S. Bastian, National Radio Astronomy Observatory (chair)

Susan K. Avery, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (vice chair)

Marcel Agüeros, Columbia University

Peter M. Banks, Visual Communications, Inc., and Liberty Plugins, Inc.

George Gloeckler, University of Maryland

J. Todd Hoeksema, Stanford University

Justin C. Kasper, University of Michigan

Kristina A. Lynch, Dartmouth College

Terrance G. Onsager, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

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^* All terms began on January 4, 2016, unless otherwise noted.

Aaron Ridley, University of Michigan

Nathan A. Schwadron, University of New Hampshire

Maria Spasojevic,^† Stanford University

Abigail A. Sheffer, Program Officer (study director)

Charles Harris, Research Associate (through August 2016)

Anesia Wilks, Senior Program Assistant

DECADAL SURVEY FOR EARTH SCIENCE AND APPLICATIONS FROM SPACE

Beginning in 2015, the SSB, in collaboration with other Earth science related boards (BASC, PRB, BESR, OSB, and WSTB), organized the 2017-2027 decadal survey for Earth science and applications from space (ESAS 2017) to generate consensus recommendations from the environmental monitoring and Earth science and applications community on an integrated and sustainable approach to the conduct of the U.S. government’s civilian space-based Earth-system science programs.

Sponsored by NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the survey will produce a report by late 2017, that will

• Assess progress in addressing the major scientific and application challenges outlined in the 2007 survey;
• Develop a prioritized list of top-level science and application objectives to guide space-based Earth observations over the survey interval;
• Identify gaps and opportunities in the programs of record at NASA, NOAA, and USGS in pursuit of the top-level science and application challenges—including space-based opportunities that provide both sustained and experimental observations; and
• Recommend—considering science priorities, implementation costs, new technologies and platforms, interagency partnerships, international partners, and in situ and other complementary programs—approaches to facilitate the development of a robust, resilient, and appropriately balanced U.S. program of Earth observations from space.

Like the 2007 inaugural decadal survey (http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11820), ESAS 2017 will help shape science priorities and guide agency investments into the next decade. The survey is supported by several study panels and working groups.

ESAS started off 2016 with a town hall on January 13 at the 96th annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society, followed by a town hall on February 22 at the Ocean Sciences Meeting. Also in the first quarter, a second request for information (RFI) was released, nominations for the survey study panels were being finalized, and plans were under way for the joint meeting of the steering committee and the study panels.

During the second quarter, ESAS 2017 appointments to the survey’s five study panels were finalized, and a joint meeting of the survey steering committee and all of the study panels was held on June 2-5 at the Beckman Center in Irvine, California. Numerous teleconferences by the steering committee and the panels also took place. In total, nearly 100 members of the community are participating on one or more of the survey’s committees or panels.

ESAS 2017 was very active during the third quarter. In addition to numerous teleconferences among and between the steering committee and panels, each of the survey’s five panels held their second of three planned meetings. At these meetings, the panels assessed challenges and opportunities for the disciplines under their purview as well as connections to major themes in Earth system science. They also continued to review community responses to the survey’s two RFIs; held briefings by members of the panel, agency officials, and others; and began work on their report-back assignments to the steering committee. Recognizing the importance of exploring the interdisciplinary science that might not be captured by the panels, representatives from the steering committee and the panels also met in September for a 1.5-day “Integrating Themes” workshop. The workshop provided a forum to view panel activities with an eye towards their contributions in addressing key challenges in Earth system science. As the quarter ended, the survey steering committee was preparing for its November meeting.

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^† Term began on June 15, 2016.

During the fourth quarter, ESAS 2017 had numerous teleconferences among and between the steering committee and panels. In addition, the steering committee met in person on November 7-10 in Irvine, California, with participation from representatives from each of the committee’s five supporting study panels. On December 13, the survey co-chairs presented an update to the community in a town hall at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. As the quarter ended, preparations were underway for a similar town hall to be held at on January 24, 2017, at the 97th Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society in Seattle. In addition, preparations were under way for the next steering committee meeting (January 18-20, 2017) and the third and final meeting of the five study panels, which will meet jointly from February 15-18, 2017, in Irvine, California.

Links on the survey website, http://www.nas.edu/esas2017, describe survey activities during the quarter in more detail; also posted on the website are survey newsletters to the community.

Membership

Waleed Abdalati, University of Colorado, Boulder (co-chair)

Antonio J. Busalacchi Jr.,^* University of Maryland, College Park (co-chair)

William B. Gail, Global Weather Corporation (co-chair^†)

Steven J. Battel, Battel Engineering, Inc.

Stacey Boland, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Robert D. Braun, University of Colorado

Shuyi S. Chen, University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences

William E. Dietrich, University of California, Berkeley

Scott C. Doney, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Christopher B. Field, Stanford University

Helen A. Fricker, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Sarah T. Gille, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Dennis L. Hartmann, University of Washington

Daniel J. Jacob, Harvard University

Anthony C. Janetos, Boston University

Everette Joseph, University of Albany, State University of New York

Molly K. Macauley,^‡ Resources for the Future

Joyce E. Penner, University of Michigan

Soroosh Sorooshian, University of California, Irvine

Graeme L. Stephens, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

Byron D. Tapley, University of Texas, Austin

W. Stanley Wilson, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Staff

Arthur A. Charo, Senior Program Officer, SSB (study director)

Lauren Everett, Program Officer, BASC/PRB

Charlie Harris, Research Associate, SSB (through August)

Marchel Holle, Research Associate, SSB (from October)

Andrea Rebholz,^§ Program Coordinator, ASEB

Panel on Weather and Air Quality: Minutes to Subseasonal

Steven A. Ackerman, University of Wisconsin, Madison (co-chair)

Nancy L. Baker, Naval Research Laboratory (co-chair)

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^* Resigned May 5, 2016, following the announcement of his appointment as president of UCAR.

^† As of June 1, 2016.

^‡ Deceased July 8, 2016.

^§ Staff from other Boards who are shared with the SSB.

Philip E. Ardanuy, INNOVIM, LLC

Elizabeth A. Barnes, Colorado State University

Stanley G. Benjamin, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Mark A. Bourassa, Florida State University

Bryan N. Duncan, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Charles E. Kolb, Aerodyne Research, Inc.

Ying-Hwa Kuo, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

W. Paul Menzel, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Maria A. Pirone, Harris Corporation

Armistead G. Russell, Georgia Institute of Technology

Julie O. Thomas, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego

Duane E. Waliser, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

Xubin Zeng, University of Arizona

Sandra Graham, Senior Program Officer, SSB

Andrea Rebholz, Program Associate, ASEB

Panel on Climate Variability and Change: Seasonal to Centennial

Carol Anne Clayson, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (co-chair)

Venkatachalam Ramaswamy, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (co-chair)

Arlyn E. Andrews, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory

Enrique Curchitser, Rutgers University

Lee-Lueng Fu, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Guido Grosse, Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine

Randal D. Koster, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Sonia Kreidenweis, Colorado State University

Emilio F. Moran, Michigan State University

Cora E. Randall, University of Colorado

Philip J. Rasch, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Eric J. Rignot, University of California, Irvine

Christopher Ruf, University of Michigan

Ross J. Salawitch, University of Maryland

Amy K. Snover, University of Washington

Julienne C. Stroeve, University of Colorado, Boulder

Bruce A. Wielicki, NASA Langley Research Center

Gary W. Yohe, Wesleyan University

Lauren Everett, Program Officer, BASC/PRB

Erin Markovich, Senior Program Assistant, BASC

Panel on Earth Surface and Interior: Dynamics and Hazards

Douglas W. Burbank, University of California, Santa Barbara (co-chair)

David T. Sandwell, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (co-chair)

Robin E. Bell, Columbia University

Emily E. Brodsky, University of California, Santa Cruz

Donald P. Chambers, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg

Lucy Flesch, Purdue University

George E. Hilley, Stanford University

Kristine M. Larson, University of Colorado, Boulder

Stefan Maus, University of Colorado, Boulder

Michael S. Ramsey, University of Pittsburgh

Jeanne Sauber, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Khalid A. Soofi, ConocoPhillips

Howard A. Zebker, Stanford University

Anne Linn, Scholar, BESR

Eric Edkin, Senior Program Assistant, BESR

Panel on Global Hydrological Cycles and Water Resources

Ana P. Barros, Duke University (co-chair)

Jeff Dozier, University of California, Santa Barbara (co-chair)

Newsha Ajami, Stanford University

John D. Bolten, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Dara Entekhabi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Graham E. Fogg, University of California, Davis

Efi Foufoula-Georgiou, University of California, Irvine

David C. Goodrich, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Terri S. Hogue, Colorado School of Mines

Jeffrey S. Kargel, University of Arizona

Christian D. Kummerow, Colorado State University

Venkat Lakshmi, University of South Carolina

Andrea Rinaldo, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne

Edwin Welles, Deltares

Eric F. Wood, Princeton University

Ed Dunne, Program Officer, WSTB

Tamara Dawson, Program Coordinator, Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology

Panel on Marine and Terrestrial Ecosystems and Natural Resource Management

Compton J. Tucker, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (co-chair)

James A. Yoder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (co-chair)

Gregory P. Asner, Carnegie Institution for Science

Francisco Chavez, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

Inez Y. Fung, University of California, Berkeley

Scott Goetz, Woods Hole Research Center

Patrick N. Halpin, Duke University

Eric Hochberg, Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences

Christian J. Johannsen, Purdue University

Raphael M. Kudela, University of California, Santa Cruz

Gregory W. McCarty, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Linda O. Mearns, National Center for Atmospheric Research

Lesley E. Ott, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Mary Jane Perry, University of Maine

David A. Siegel, University of California, Santa Barbara

David L. Skole, Michigan State University

Susan L. Ustin, University of California, Davis

Cara Wilson, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Constance Karras, Associate Program Officer, OSB

Payton Kulina, Senior Program Assistant, Policy and Global Affairs

LARGE STRATEGIC NASA SCIENCE MISSIONS: SCIENCE VALUE AND ROLE IN A BALANCED PORTFOLIO

The ad hoc Committee on Large Strategic NASA Science Missions: Science Value and Role in a Balanced Portfolio was formed to examine the role of large, strategic missions within a balanced program across NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) space and Earth sciences programs. The committee was initiated in March and named in June.

At its first meeting, on October 5-6, 2016, at the Keck Center in Washington, D.C., the committee heard from the new associate administrator for SMD, Thomas Zurbuchen; the NASA division directors; and former Associate Administrator John Grunsfeld. Among the issues that the committee discussed were the definition of large strategic missions and how they are being conducted within NASA.

The committee held its second meeting December 7-10, 2016, at the Beckman Center in Irvine, California, to hear from representatives of the decadal surveys as well as leaders of several flagship-class science missions. Among the issues that the committee discussed were the definition of large strategic missions and how they are being conducted within NASA.

The committee held its third meeting on February 15-17, 2017, at the Keck Center where it heard once again from Dr. Zurbuchen and the NASA division directors. The committee spent much of the meeting drafting their final report in order to prepare it for review. The committee plans to deliver its report to NASA in summer 2017. Additional information about this project can be found at http://sites.nationalacademies.org/SSB/CurrentProjects/SSB_173492.

Membership^*

Ralph L. McNutt, Jr., Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory (co-chair)

Kathryn C. Thornton, University of Virginia (co-chair)

David A. Bearden, The Aerospace Corporation

Joel N. Bregman, University of Michigan

Anny Cazenave, International Space Sciences Institute, Bern, Switzerland

Anne R. Douglass, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Victoria E. Hamilton, Southwest Research Institute

Marc L. Imhoff, University of Maryland

Charles D. Norton, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

Carol S. Paty, Georgia Institute of Technology

Marc D. Rayman, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

William S. Smith, ScienceWorks International

Edward L. Wright, University of California, Los Angeles

Gary P. Zank, University of Alabama, Huntsville

Staff

Dwayne A. Day,^† Senior Program Officer, ASEB (study director)

Mia Brown, Research Associate, SSB (from December)

Katie Daud, Research Associate, SSB (through December)

Anesia Wilks, Senior Program Assistant, SSB

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^* All terms began on June 30, 2016.

^† Staff from other Boards who are shared with the SSB.

NASA SCIENCE MISSION EXTENSIONS: SCIENTIFIC VALUE, POLICIES, AND REVIEW PROCESS

The ad hoc Committee on NASA Science Mission Extensions was formed to conduct an assessment of the scientific value of extended missions in the overall program of NASA’s SMD and provide recommended guidelines for future NASA decision-making about such mission extensions.

The committee held its first in-person meeting on February 1-2, 2016, at the Keck Center in Washington, D.C., its second meeting March 2-4, 2016, at the Beckman Center in Irvine, California, and its third meeting April 18-20 at the National Academy of Sciences Building in Washington, D.C.

At the first meeting, the committee heard perspectives on mission extensions from the various stakeholders (NASA SMD, NOAA, and congressional staff). During the second meeting, the committee heard from people involved both in proposing mission extensions and those involved in the senior review process for four NASA science divisions. At the third meeting, the committee heard about several unusual examples of mission extensions, such as the Opportunity rover, which was designed to last 90 days but has been operational on Mars for over 12 years. The committee was interested in ways that extended missions might reduce costs. The committee heard from several mission teams that the largest cost reductions occur when transitioning from prime to extended phase, and further cost reductions after that can create additional challenges, particularly as spacecraft age and mission teams mature. The committee’s report, Extending Science: NASA’s Space Science Mission Extensions and the Senior Review Process, entered review in June and a prepublication version was publicly released in early September, with the final report printed in December.

Co-chairs Vicky Hamilton and Harvey Tananbaum briefed the report to NASA officials and congressional staff and also presented to the NASA Advisory Council’s Science Committee. The report recommended that the 2-year cadence for conducting senior reviews of extended missions should be increased to every 3 years to increase efficiency. The draft House and Senate NASA authorization bills included this language, but were not passed in 2016; they were passed and signed into law in 2017. The report provides numerous examples of major scientific discoveries made in the extended phase of many missions across all of NASA’s space science disciplines. More information about this project can be found at http://sites.nationalacademies.org/SSB/CurrentProjects/SSB_169078.

Membership^*

Victoria E. Hamilton, Southwest Research Institute (co-chair)

Harvey D. Tananbaum, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (co-chair)

Alice Bowman, John Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory

John R. Casani, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (retired)

James H. Clemmons, The Aerospace Corporation

Neil Gehrels,^† NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center

Fiona A. Harrison, California Institute of Technology

Michael D. King, University of Colorado, Boulder

Margaret G. Kivelson, University of California, Los Angeles

Ramon E. Lopez, University of Texas, Arlington

Amy Mainzer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Alfred S. McEwen, University of Arizona

Deborah G. Vane, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Staff

Dwayne Day,^‡ Senior Program Officer, ASEB (study director)

Katie Daud, Research Associate, SSB

Anesia Wilks, Senior Program Assistant, SSB

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^* All terms ended on June 30, 2016.

^† Deceased on February 6, 2017.

^‡ Staff from other Boards who are shared with the SSB.

REVIEW OF NASA’S PLANETARY SCIENCE DIVISION’S RESTRUCTURED RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS PROGRAMS

The ad hoc Committee on the Review of NASA’s Planetary Science Division’s Restructured Research and Analysis Programs was formed to examine the program elements of NASA’s Planetary Science Division (PSD) Research and Analysis (R&A) programs, as they currently exist following restructuring, for their consistency with past advice from the National Academies. The committee met three times in 2016: May 12-13 (National Academy of Sciences building, Washington, D.C.), August 16-18 (Keck Center, Washington, D.C.), and September 21-23 (Jonsson Center, Woods Hole, Massachusetts).

The committee’s first meeting was devoted to hearing input from NASA and the members of the planetary science community. NASA’s James Green, Johnathan Rall, and Max Bernstein provided the committee with context regarding its charge, the status of the R&A restructuring, and an overview of the R&A programs. Report briefings on the National Academies’ An Enabling Foundation for NASA’s Earth and Space Science Missions and the Planetary Science Subcommittee’s Assessment of the NASA Planetary Science Division’s Mission-Enabling Activities were provided by Lennard A. Fisk (University of Michigan) and Mark Sykes (Planetary Science Institute), respectively. The committee also received perspective from the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (Clive Neal, University of Notre Dame), the Small Bodies Assessment Group (Nancy Chabot, Applied Physics Laboratory), the Outer Planets Assessment Group (Alfred McEwen, University of Arizona), the Curation and Analysis Planning Team for Extraterrestrial Materials (Andrew Westphal, University of California, Berkeley), the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (Jeffrey Johnson, Applied Physics Laboratory), the Venus Exploration Analysis Group (Robert Grimm, Southwest Research Institute), and the Mapping and Planetary Spatial Infrastructure Team (Jani Radebaugh, Brigham Young University).

The committee’s second meeting was primarily devoted to hearing input from the various NASA science centers. The chief scientists, or their representatives, from the Ames Research Center (Michael Bicay), Goddard Space Flight Center (Colleen Hartman), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Christophe Sotin), Johnson Space Center (Eileen Stansbery), and Marshall Space Flight Center (Jim Spann) gave brief presentations in response to a series of questions posed to them by the committee. The presentations from the NASA centers were supplemented by additional input from Small Bodies Assessment Group and Outer Planets Assessment Group, together with presentations from NASA chief scientist and the out-going chair of the Planetary Science Subcommittee of the NASA Advisory Council.

Although most of the committee’s third and final meeting was devoted to discussion, deliberation, and drafting of sections of its report, the committee did receive input on a keyword analysis activity undertaken by NASA at the committee’s request.

A complete draft of the committee’s report was assembled in October-November and sent to external reviewers for comment in late November. Following the review process, it is anticipated that the revised report will be approved for delivery to NASA and subsequent public release during the first quarter of 2017. More information about the committee can be found at http://sites.nationalacademies.org/SSB/CurrentProjects/SSB_169563.

Membership^*

Stephen J. Mackwell, Universities Space Research Association (chair)

Michael F. A’Hearn, University of Maryland, College

Joseph K. Alexander, Alexander Space Policy Consultants

Joseph A. Burns, Cornell University

Larry W. Esposito, University of Colorado, Boulder

G. Scott Hubbard, Stanford University

Torrence V. Johnson, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Makenzie Lystrup, Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation

Juan Perez-Mercader, Harvard University

John D. Rummel, SETI Institute

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^* All terms began on April 26, 2016.

Staff

David Smith, Senior Program Officer (study director)

Mia Brown, Research Associate, SSB (from December)

Katie Daud, Research Associate, SSB (through December)

Dionna Wise, Program Coordinator

REVIEW OF PROGRESS TOWARD THE DECADAL SURVEY VISION IN NEW WORLDS, NEW HORIZONS IN ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS

The ad hoc Committee for the Review of Progress Toward the Decadal Survey Vision in New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics was formed, in collaboration with the BPA, to review the responses of NASA’s Astrophysics Division (APD), NSF’s Astronomical Sciences Division (AST), and Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Cosmic Frontiers program to previous National Academies advice, primarily the 2010 decadal survey New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics. The committee’s first two meetings took place in 2015.

In 2016, the committee held a splinter session at the American Astronomical Society meeting on January 5, 2016, to gather community input. The committee’s third meeting was held on January 11-13, 2016, in Washington, D.C. At this meeting, the committee spoke with NASA APD, NSF AST, and DOE High Energy Physics, and spent most of the meeting in closed session. The fourth and final meeting of the committee, held on February 26-27, 2016, allowed the committee to have further discussions with NASA, NSF, and DOE and to work on its report in closed session.

The committee’s report, New Worlds, New Horizons: A Midterm Assessment, was submitted for external peer review in April and publicly released in August. Following the release of the report, Chair Jacqueline Hewitt held briefings for multiple federal agencies and congressional committee staff. For more information on the project, visit http://sites.nationalacademies.org/SSB/CurrentProjects/SSB_161177.

Membership^*

Jacqueline N. Hewitt, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (chair)

Adam S. Burrows, Princeton University

Neil J. Cornish, Montana State University

Andrew W. Howard, University Hawaii, Manoa

Bruce Macintosh, Stanford University

Richard F. Mushotzky, University of Maryland

Angela V. Olinto, University of Chicago

Steven M. Ritz, University of California, Santa Cruz

Alexey Vikhlinin, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

David H. Weinberg, Ohio State University

Rainer Weiss, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Eric M. Wilcots, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Edward L. Wright, University of California, Los Angeles

A. Thomas Young, Lockheed Martin (retired)

Staff

David B. Lang, Senior Program Officer, BPA (study director)

Katie Daud, Research Associate, SSB

Dionna Wise, Program Coordinator, SSB

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^* All terms ended on October 31, 2016.