This award funds the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) to support the participation of fourteen U.S. students and early-career researchers at the ?Millimeter and Sub-millimeter Astronomy at High Angular Resolution? meeting, to be held in June 2009 in Taipei, Taiwan. This meeting, organized under the leadership of Dr. Paul Ho, Director, Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA), will provide a venue for fostering communication and collaboration between U.S. scientists and Academia Sinica staff in millimeter-wave astronomy and, in particular, for the soon-to-be commissioned Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA).
The June meeting aims to cover a range of scientific and technical topics related to millimeter-wave astronomy, with an eye towards key science to be done with ALMA, on which ASIAA is a partner. Specific topics to be covered include the solar system, galactic low-mass and high-mass star formation, outflows/Jets, proto-planetary disks/debris disks, evolved stars, nearby galaxies, galactic center, AGNs and ultra luminous galaxies, high-redshift galaxies, astrochemistry, and instrumentation. Such a rich discussion of contemporary scientific topics provides a unique opportunity for the exploration of new ideas and scientific collaborations. Concrete strategies for mentoring students and early career researchers in millimeter-wave astronomy, and timescales for the implementation of these strategies will be a major part of the concluding discussions.
