ATUC Meeting
Agenda
at the ATNF Headquarters in Epping, Sydney
- October 26/27, 2000, starting at 10:30am -
AGENDA FOR THE ATUC MEETING ON OCTOBER 26/27, 2000.
MEETING TO BE HELD AT THE ATNF IN EPPING, SYDNEY
- Welcome & Introduction (Anne Green, 10min.)
- Director's Report (Ron Ekers, 30min.)
- Future Development Plans (John Brooks, 20min.)
- Observatory reports
*** Lunch Break (12:30-13:30) *** - mm-Programs (Ray Norris, 10min.)
- Mopra upgrade report -- mm representative on ATAC
- SEST agreement
- mm-Workshop: queue scheduling, atmospheric seeing monitor
- Service Observing (Ray Norris, 10min.)
- Public Outreach Program (Jessica Chapman, 10min.)
- Overview May Brainstorming Session
- Graduate Student Program (Lister Staveley-Smith, 10min.)
- Update on the SKA --- LOFAR (Peter Hall, 15min.)
- Interference Mitigation (Bob Sault, 10min.)
*** Afternoon Tea 15:00-15:30 *** - VLBI Progress report (Tasso Tzioumis, 10min.)
- Wideband continuum correlator (Warwick Wilson, 10min.)
- Pulsar project --- new backend (Simon Johnston, 10min.)
- ATCA collaboration in VISTA project (Lawrence Cram, deferred to next meeting)
- IT Out-sourcing implications (Neil Killeen, 10min.)
*** Session Ends 17:00 ***
Open Session: Thursday, 26th of October
(starting at 10:30am - ATNF, Lecture Theatre, teleconf. phone: x4610)
Closed Session: Friday, 27th of October
(starting at 9:30am - ATNF, Lecture Theatre)
- Apologies
- Additional agenda items
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE DIRECTOR'S RESPONSE:
- 1A(i) What is ATUC's response to the ATNF Graduate Student Program?
- 1A(ii) Are the outcomes from the May Brainstorming Session satisfactory/sufficient?
- 5) A request to the ATNF for the Seti@Home II proposal has been repeated. Is ATUC prepared to recommend it now?
- 8) Is it reasonable to allow immediate open access to observations of the calibration sources with a project, with results made into an archive of calibration characteristics?
AGENDA ITEMS:
- What can be done to improve availability of accommodation for postgraduate students at ATNF, Epping?
- What is ATUC's view of ATNF support for page charges and (possibly) observing for Australian University users? What guidelines would be needed? Possible issues are: Quotas per person or per institution? Fixed amounts? A minimum amount of ATNF data presented? Would the publication rate increase? What budget would be affected?
- The Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are an ongoing requirement for ATNF management. Can ATUC produce a more structured response for the KPI concerning the ATNF response to ATUC recommendations?
- What solutions can ATUC suggest to facilitate the faster provision of the Parkes schedules each observing period?
- What feedback can ATUC give in devising a survey to rank usage and importance of the different Parkes receivers in order to assist future maintenance and development schedules?
- Is a mm-Workshop now timely to discuss the options for queue scheduling and any attitudinal/organisational changes which might be required?
- What is ATUC's view on an automatic satellite trigger for GRB events? What is the impact on scheduled observations, given that the next generation satellite, HETE II, will be much more sensitive? How will the trigger be set? Should the option be extended for other transients? Is disruption by NAPA projects validated by science outcomes ?
- What is ATUC's view on the concept of Service Observing? Who would be most interested in either requesting or carrying out the work?
- Science priority for new/revisited proposals (no particular order here):
- Is the CSIRO directive to increase external contracts having a negative impact on the timetables for National Facility projects? In particular, are there delays because of manpower constraints?
- What feedback can ATUC give for the AIPS++ Workshop held in April this year?
- The government's directive to out-source IT in CSIRO is strongly affecting the ATNF. Can ATUC clarify concerns about the impact on operations and science capabilities?
- Report to Director
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