This award provides partial support for the international meeting "Essential Cosmology for the Next Generation" to be held in Playa del Carmen, Mexico from 11-15 January 2010. It is sponsored jointly by the Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics (BCCP) and the Mexican Advanced Institute for Cosmology (IAC), an organization bringing together 45 researchers at 18 academic institutions. The meeting will combine mini-courses with plenary talks and contributed papers. The organizers expect about 100 attendees, with roughly 90 junior participants (students and postdocs). Two-thirds of the participants are expected to be from Mexico, with the rest from the US. NSF funding will cover half of the travel, lodging and registration costs for 30 US junior participants.
The collaboration with IAC will expose US students and postdocs to international aspects of research. Proceedings will be webcast and archived for later viewing, allowing a broader audience. A public talk for the local community is planned during the meeting.
