Message from the NUFO Steering Committee
Since the NUFO Steering Committee was elected in June 2008, we’ve held monthly telephone conference and met at Argonne National Laboratory in November 2008. The following information summarizes what we’ve done, as well as plans for the rest of this year.
NUFO Membership
The Steering Committee invited additional user facilities to join the organization. The five new institutions listed below are now formal members of NUFO. In addition, discussions are underway with the user organization of the Large Hadron Collider, which does not reside in the US, but fits the mission of NUFO.
- National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC)
- National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
- National Optical Astronomy Observatory
- National Solar Observatory
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO)
NUFO Meetings
Steering Committee Meeting: The Steering Committee met at Argonne National Laboratory on November 10, 2008. Included on the agenda were meetings with senior management of Argonne and the Advanced Photon Source (APS) and with the APS User Organization Representative, Larry Lurio. The Committee discussed issues affecting user facilities across the country, which included industrial connections, funding, intellectual property concerns, and access policies; the importance of NUFO to justify the impact of user facilities on the country in DC; and goals and priorities that NUFO should consider during 2009. It is from those discussions that the concept to hold an Industrial Usage Workshop and a User Facility Exhibition in DC stemmed (see below for further details).
2009 NUFO Annual Meeting and Industrial Workshop: The dates for the 2009 NUFO Annual Meeting have been expanded to accommodate an Industrial Usage Workshop sponsored by NUFO in conjunction with our Annual Meeting. The meeting and workshop will be held at Argonne National Laboratory on June 10-12, 2009. Please plan to join us. Pat Dehmer, Deputy Director for Science Programs at the Office of Science, has been invited to give the keynote.
Al Ekkebus (ORNL), Jun Wang (NSLS Industrial Program Coordinator), Kris Larsen (American Physical Society), Jianming Bai (ORNL), and Yan Gao (GE Global Research) will work with the NUFO Steering Committee members in organizing these events. Planning for these events is underway; more details will be provided shortly.
User Facility Exhibition in DC: NUFO is also planning a user facility exhibition to be held in Washington, DC in the fall, 2009. Rene Bellweid (Wayne State U.), Brant Johnson (BNL), Kris Larsen (American Physical Society), Kevin Pitts (U. of Illinois @ Urbana), Katherine Kantardjieff (California State U. @ Fullerton), and Susan White-DePace (BNL) are on the organizing committee for this event.
NUFO Web Page
The NUFO web pages are continually being enhanced. They serve as tools for the NUFO membership and provide considerable information: membership and facilities listings with links; facility fact sheets; links to scientific accomplishments at user facilities; information about the Task Force on American Innovation; and information on outreach guidelines, initiatives, and representatives. Please review these pages at http://www.nufo.org and send any comments, suggestions, or corrections you might have to info@nufo.org.
Funding for meeting software database and interface software for tracking meetings has been provided by Fermi Research Association (FRA). This software is currently being tested and will be added to the NUFO Outreach web page.
National User Statistics
Statistical information was requested from all NUFO facilities. Data on user institutions, states, and number of users represented at each user facility have been compiled and we will notify you when they are posted on the web page. A few institutions did not respond to our requests; if you are one of them, the Steering Committee encourages you to provide data as quickly as possible.
Outreach Update
An important component of NUFO’s mission is to provide a unified message at the national level on issues of resources for science, economic competitiveness, and education for the next-generation scientific workforce. The Steering Committee asked each User Representative to supply a list of scientists willing to work with NUFO on outreach efforts. This list is available to all outreach candidates via a password protected page on the NUFO web page. Log-ins and passwords are being distributed. Outreach information can be found at: http://www.nufo.org/outreach. If you would like to join this list of volunteers, please send your name to info@nufo.org.
One-page Flyers
One-page facility flyers have been collected for a majority of the user facilities and are available at: http://www.nufo.org/factsheets.aspx. These can be used by individuals involved in outreach efforts. If your facility has not submitted a one-page flyer, please feel free to submit one to info@nufo.org.
A one-page flyer for NUFO is currently being finalized and will be distributed to the membership and added to the web page when completed.
NUFO Correspondence
NUFO, as a member of the Task Force, signed letters to the House and Senate in support of a Continuing Resolution. On behalf of NUFO, the Steering Committee sent a letter to President-elect Obama requesting the appointment of a science advisor at a cabinet level and urging Obama to provide increased and stable funding to national user facilities and their researchers. These letters can be found at: http://www.nufo.org/outreach/activities.aspx.
Task Force on the Future of American Innovation
Since NUFO became a member of the Task Force, it has participated in its weekly telephone conferences that provide timely and insightful information on what is happening in Washington. More information on the Task Force can be found at: http://www.futureofinnovation.org.
Questions
Please send all inquires to info@nufo.org.