This award provides support for the 8th Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves. This biennial series is the major international forum for scientific interchange in the developing field of gravitational wave science. The meeting will be on July 21-16, 2009 on the campus of Columbia University in the City of New York. The Amaldi meetings are held under the auspices of the Gravitational Wave International Committee (GWIC), which oversees the scientific program for the meeting. The full range of gravitational wave science will be represented from research and development of ground and space based detectors to pulsar timing, including results from data collected recently. Significant emphasis will be placed on the connection between gravitational wave science and other fields of observational astrophysics and astronomy. Additionally, progress in modeling gravitational waves from astrophysical sources will be highlighted in order to forge a stronger connection between experimental advances, numerical simulation, and astrophysics theory. In addition, the organizers will welcome interested students from local schools and universities and reach out to the general public via a widely advertised public lecture. Participation of US and international students at the conference will be strongly encouraged.
