The American Astronomical Society (AAS) will administer a three-year international travel grant program that will support the participation of U.S. astronomers at international scientific meetings. Astronomy is a fully international endeavor, and the attendance of U.S. astronomers at scientific meetings worldwide is critical to their continued activity in the field. The AAS will receive applications for travel support, appoint a committee to review applications and make award decisions, and distribute travel funds. The program makes particular effort to provide travel funds for early career astronomers and those from smaller or less-endowed institutions. During 2009, the year of the 27th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the program will accommodate a larger number of grants, considered separately from normal scientific meetings, to enable a strong U.S. presence.
Scientists communicate both through authoring scientific papers, which appear in scholarly journals and through personal interaction at scientific conferences. Conferences allow scientists to present their research to a wider audience than just their colleagues at their home research institution or university. Because science is very international, with active research being done in all areas of science in nearly every significant country on the planet, many meetings are held overseas. However, costs can be prohibitive for travel. The NSF has a special program that helps support some of the costs of travel for scientists to attend international conferences. Because it is important that US researchers interact with scientists overseas, especially early-career scientists, the American Astronomical Society has applied to this program for many years to help ensure that US astronomers are well represented at international conferences. Every third year, the world's astronomers gather at the International Astronomical Union General Assembly. We support the costs of airfare for some US astronomers (roughly 100-150) to attend this important conference and we also support roughly 50 other travellers for other scientific meetings during each of the three years of the program. By covering the airfare costs and requiring the US scientists to cover the other costs, the AAS, through this grant from the NSF, enable astronomers to attend and participate in international conferences. For the award in question, we supported 269 travellers, nearly all of whom were early-career astronomers for whom attending such conferences is particularly important.
