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From page 488... ... , to the mysterious fast/blue optical transients like AT2018cow, to tidal disruption events and AGN variability that may be linked to neutrino emission (COEP-D) and black hole accretion physics (COEP-4) Read the entire page →
From page 489... ... M.4.5 Additional Programmatic Guidance The RMS panel views CMB-S4 as a powerful, cosmology-focused experiment that would address Astro2020 priority science questions at a level that no other concepts can. In support of the project's longterm success, the RMS panel offers the following two suggestions for its implementation. Read the entire page →
From page 490... ... In particular, based on the Astro2020 high-priority science questions, the RMS panel has identified four areas in which outstanding scientific opportunities exist for new mid-scale RMS facilities. These areas are discussed in detail below, with reference to the specific white papers that inspired them, although because each still requires navigating a complex path to a successfully competed MSRI-2 (up to $70 million) Read the entire page →
From page 491... ... A second key area of mid-scale opportunity is high-resolution imaging of jets driven by supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies. The current state of the art in terms of resolution is provided by the EHT, an experiment that has regularly combined a number of telescopes around the world (including ALMA) Read the entire page →
From page 492... ... Weintroub et al., 2019, "Studying Black Holes on Horizon Scales with VLBI Ground Arrays," white paper submitted to Astro2020: Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics, https://arxiv.org/abs/1909.01411. Read the entire page →
From page 493... ... The RMS panel notes that insights on observational systematics gained from the current generation of EoR experiments -- for example, related to beam characterization and coupling between neighboring antennas -- would also inform the design of possible future HI intensity mapping experiments targeting lower redshifts, such as the Packed Ultra-wideband Mapping Array (PUMA) that was presented to Astro2020 in conceptual form. Read the entire page →
From page 494... ... RMS facilities. From the Astro2020 science panel reports, it is clear that pulsar timing capabilities are critical for tackling a number of high-priority science questions: the mass and spin distributions for neutron stars and black holes (COEP-1) Read the entire page →
From page 495... ... . For both single-dish and array observatories, the RMS panel suggests that ability and willingness to accommodate the deployment of user-contributed instrumentation (encompassing both hardware and software) Read the entire page →
From page 496... ... Temporal separation includes the exploration of coordinated dynamical sharing of the spectrum between various users. In addition, the RMS panel encourages agencies to provide adequate funding to all current and future RMS facilities for the development of RFI protection and mitigation strategies, including specially designed hardware and sophisticated software tools to excise RFI without indiscriminately deleting signals from real astronomical sources (e.g., temporally varying fast radio bursts and other transients) Read the entire page →
From page 497... ... To make sure that telescope sites are ultimately returned to their original conditions, projects need to understand and budget for all decommissioning activities before receiving construction funding. To help ensure that RMS facilities' impacts are as positive for their immediate communities as for society at large, the panel suggests that agencies provide funding for meaningful stakeholder engagement at all phases of the project life cycle. Read the entire page →
From page 498... ... Near daily coverage of astronomical discoveries in the popular media -- images of black holes, discoveries of potentially habitable worlds -- reveals the field's effective communication with the public. The number of students pursuing degrees in physics and astronomy continues to grow, and the field is becoming more representative of U.S. Read the entire page →
From page 499... ... Equitable access, multimodal expertise, responsible stewardship, and accountability are four values that are defined and discussed in Section N.5. These values are reflected in the founding documents of the federal agencies that support astronomy and are reflected in best practices reported in the literature, white papers and public town halls for the decadal survey, the expertise of the panel, and numerous National Academies reports and consensus studies. Read the entire page →
From page 500... ... 7. Partnering with Indigenous Communities: Align the values of the Profession with those of Indigenous and other local communities impacted by the Profession to cultivate and sustain healthy partnerships for the benefit of both. Read the entire page →
From page 501... ... Pold and R Ivie, 2019, Workforce Survey of 2018 US AAS Members Summary of Results, Statistical Research Center of the American Institute of Physics, https://aas.org/sites/default/files/2019-10/AAS-Members-Workforce-Survey-final.pdf, accessed August 26, 2020. Read the entire page →
From page 502... ... 7 This section was informed by data collected by the Astro2020 Panel on an Enabling Foundation for Research. 8 See Heising-Simons Foundation, "51 Pegasi b Fellowship in Planetary Astronomy," https://www.hsfoundation.org/programs/ science/51-pegasi-b-fellowship, accessed August 20, 2020. Read the entire page →
From page 503... ... Pold, "Astronomy Degree Recipients One Year After Degree," AIP, https://www.aip.org/statistics/reports/ astronomy-degree-recipients-one-year-after-degree, accessed August 26, 2020. Comparisons to other fields can be found at AIP Physics Trends, 2020, "What Do New Bachelors Earn? Read the entire page →
From page 504... ... FIGURE N.2 The numbers of astronomy degrees earned by African American and Hispanic American students. Left: Bachelor's degrees. Read the entire page →
From page 505... ... This underrepresentation was identified as a problem as far back as the 1980 decadal survey.25 Representation of these groups is slightly better in physics departments, although they are not uniformly distributed among the nation's colleges and universities. Indeed, as of 2016 there was only one astronomy department that had representation of both African American and Hispanic American faculty, and roughly two-thirds of astronomy departments had representation of neither.26 Gender representation among astronomy faculty has improved over the past decade. Read the entire page →
From page 506... ... , and community engagement (from unidirectionally broader impacts to mutually beneficial community partnerships) Read the entire page →
From page 507... ... org/topics/culture#:~:text=jpg,make%20their%20social%20environments%20meaningful, accessed August 18, 2020. Read the entire page →
From page 508... ... accountability, which are further described below -- will enable the Profession to foster engagement, increase opportunities for equitable participation in the field, and lay the foundation for lasting scientific excellence in a more diverse nation.39,40,41,42 For example, the Profession's inherently hierarchical structure, based on assumed individual superiority of innate scientific capacity, perpetuates in part by casting the structure of opportunity as a "scientific meritocracy." Meritocracies are well known to reproduce structural inequities by defining merit using metrics that favor historically privileged groups and disadvantage those with different or emerging forms of leadership and expertise.43 The Profession demonstrates commitment to scientific rigor in its pursuit of understanding the universe by conceptualizing and launching successful missions, as prioritized in this and previous decadal surveys. However, the Profession has not prioritized equitable access to the resources available from federal sponsoring agencies in pursuit of that understanding, as evidenced by the large gap between the demographic profile of the Profession and the U.S. Read the entire page →
From page 509... ... By this definition, true scientific excellence is not possible without equitable participation.53 There is no better time to take stock of the Profession than in a drastically changing world. The impacts of the "COVID era"54 have not been experienced in recent history: millions of deaths worldwide, widespread shelter-in-place, and a severe recession. Read the entire page →
From page 510... ... multimodal expertise, (3) responsible stewardship, and (4) Read the entire page →
From page 511... ... Cultivating equitable access allows the Profession to fully contribute to the agencies' value of equitable participation by anyone in the United States. Multimodal expertise is the multiple ways of prioritizing, assessing,62 and evaluating knowledge, including the science and research objectives of the field. Read the entire page →
From page 512... ... Lewis, 2020, "Plenary Lecture: The Stewardship of Maunakea's Legacy from the Perspective of the Hawaiian and Astronomical Communities," January 7, https://astrobites.org/2020/01/07/astrobites-at-aas-235-day-2. 80 Restorative Justice Network, "Homepage," http://restorativejustice.org, accessed August 18, 2020. Read the entire page →
From page 513... ... N.6.1.1 Current Practices in the Collection of Demographic Data The panel requested data on astronomy-related programs from NASA, NSF, DOE, and management organizations for major astronomical facilities. Demographics of staff, contractors, review panels, proposers, awardees of grants and fellowships, and proposal success rates were also requested. Read the entire page →
From page 514... ... 85 NSPIRES, "NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System," NASA Research and Education Support Services, https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external, accessed August 18, 2020. 86 Department of Energy Office of Science, "SC Portfolio Analysis and Management System (PAMS) Read the entire page →
From page 515... ... A shared interagency agreement on data collected will ensure that categories and formats are consistent across agencies, follow OMB standards, and allow for benchmarking progress. 90 National Institutes of Health, "NIH Data Book," NIH RePORT, https://report.nih.gov/nihdatabook, accessed August 18, 2020. Read the entire page →
From page 516... ... 101 Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee, "Charter," https://www.nsf.gov/mps/ast/aaac/charter.pdf, accessed August 24, 2020. 102 Ideally, these events would take place at different locations that are representative of the broad array of contexts in which professional astronomy is done, which could be a way to support equitable participation. Read the entire page →
From page 517... ... 106 The AIP National Task Force to Elevate African American Representation in Physics and Astronomy (TEAM-UP) , 2019, The Time Is Now: Systemic Changes to Increase African Americans with Bachelor's Degrees in Physics and Astronomy, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD, https://www.aip.org/sites/default/files/aipcorp/files/teamup-full-report.pdf. Read the entire page →
From page 518... ... giving student stipends to faculty teams within Ph.D. departments charged with reviewing and updating training and mentoring practice, such as NIH's Institutional Predoctoral Training Grants T32110 and NSF's Research Traineeship Program;111 (b) Read the entire page →
From page 519... ... have clear mentoring and advising plans for students and postdoctoral fellows; (5) have demonstrated a plan for increasing accessibility for facilities, with open and equitable access to data, software, and training sets; and (6) Read the entire page →
From page 520... ... -- Programmatics: $0.25 million/year/agency office for consultant work to change proposal and annual reporting processes.116 N.6.2.4 Increase Funding and Recognition for the People Who Lead the Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement of Individuals from Historically Underrepresented Groups For those who lead the recruitment, retention, and advancement of individuals from historically underrepresented groups, many of whom are members of historically marginalized groups themselves, this important work can take time and energy that compromises their professional well-being and career. 117,118,119 Grants supporting this work (e.g., NSF Scholarships in STEM Program [S-STEM] Read the entire page →
From page 521... ... The Profession currently relies on hierarchical leadership structures that oversee teams to achieve collective research goals.121 Leaders also oversee the processes that distribute resources, evaluate performance, and recognize scientific excellence. How leaders are cultivated, and how they are encouraged to lead, will determine the advancement of the Profession and the individuals within it. Read the entire page →
From page 522... ... 131 Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics & Native Americans in Science, "Leadership Programs," https://www.sacnas. org/what-we-do/leadership-programs, accessed August 24, 2020. Read the entire page →
From page 523... ... 136 Office of Personnel Management, "Direct Hiring Authority," https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/ direct-hire-authority, accessed August 24, 2020. 137 Annual; estimates are based on National Science Foundation, 2019, Faculty Development in the Space Sciences, NSF 19-558, Alexandria, VA, https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2019/nsf19558/nsf19558.htm. Read the entire page →
From page 524... ... This establishes the work of promoting equity-advancing values as a core mission of the Profession and a responsibility of its leaders.146 oal 3, Suggestion 2: The panel suggests that the Profession sustain and empower leaders with multi G modal expertise, including leaders from historically underrepresented groups, by recognizing their lead ership in encouraging equity-advancing values in promotion evaluation and service assignments. This responsibility lies not only with those who select leaders, but also with their peers and those being led. Read the entire page →
From page 525... ... . Estimate based on data from 2015–2016, "where 78 percent of full-time students at public 4-year colleges and universities had need remaining after grant aid, averaging $14,400." See College Board, Trends in Student Aid 2019, https://research.collegeboard.org/pdf/trends-student-aid-2019-full-report.pdf, accessed August 24, 2020. Read the entire page →
From page 526... ... economic prosperity and innovation by limiting the degree to which minoritized populations can obtain and maintain jobs in the Profession and further a deeper understanding of the universe. Since 2018, the National Academies have released four consensus reports that have taken a systemic approach in addressing key issues in higher education and academic research: Graduate STEM Education for the 21st Century; Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM; and Minority Serving Institutions: America's Underutilized Resource for Strengthening the STEM Workforce.153 Each of the committees created reports that situated the issue of sexual harassment and discrimination within the broader culture of higher education, as the committees perceived that incentive and reward systems are critical drivers of behavior in academia. Read the entire page →
From page 527... ... These include, for example: the experiences of women of color, women with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ women, as well as those involving women in all intersectional identities. oal 4, Suggestion 1: Recognize identity-based discrimination and harassment as equally deleterious G as research misconduct in terms of its effects on the integrity of research.167 Method, impact, and programmatics and cost to achieve this suggestion: • NSF, NASA, and DOE -- Method: The panel suggests that agencies adopt scientific integrity policies that specifically address identity-based harassment with the same severity as any other research or scientific 159 E Read the entire page →
From page 528... ... • Professional Societies -- Method: The panel suggests that professional societies seek to eliminate harassment and discrimination in their activities, particularly conferences and scientific publication, and throughout the Profession by providing resources and setting high community-based standards of conduct.171 -- Impact: Would lower the tolerance for harassment and discrimination within the Profession, and promote grassroots changes in behavior. -- Programmatics: No-cost. Read the entire page →
From page 529... ... Could be implemented in 1–2 years. • NSF, NASA, and DOE, and Institutions -- Method: Because lack of access is a form of discrimination, the panel suggests that institutions consider developing accessibility plans to identify the current state of facilities and plans for increasing access. Read the entire page →
From page 530... ... shows that there are specific instructional practices that consistently achieve better student course outcomes and retention than traditional lectures.180 Collectively known as "interactive engagement," these methods include student-centered instruction and discovery-based learning practices such as peer instruction.181 Sociology and psychology research further demonstrates the importance of student belonging and the impact of stereotype threat, and provides proven classroom methods that improve student performance.182 The low rates at which these methods are applied in STEM courses reduces the 176 SEA Change, "See Change with STEMM Equity Achievement," American Association for the Advancement of Science, https:// seachange.aaas.org, accessed August 24, 2020. 177 Science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) Read the entire page →
From page 531... ... 189 Association of American Universities, "Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative," https://www.aau.edu/education-communityimpact/undergraduate-education/undergraduate-stem-education-initiative, accessed August 24, 2020. 190 American Association of Colleges and Universities, "Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) Read the entire page →
From page 532... ... 192 CalPolyPomona, "Cal-Bridge Summer (CAMPARE) ," https://www.cpp.edu/calbridge/summer-research/index.shtml, accessed August 24, 2020. Read the entire page →
From page 533... ... php? page=Inclusive_Astronomy_The_Nashville_Recommendations, accessed August 24, 2020. Read the entire page →
From page 534... ... Pold, 2019, Astronomy Degree Recipients One Year After Degree, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD, https://www.aip.org/statistics/reports/astronomy-degree-recipients-one-year-after-degree, accessed August 26, 2020. 210 Joint Task Force on Undergraduate Physics Programs: P Read the entire page →
From page 535... ... PI basis, NSF Broader Impacts programming is an agency-led directive to members of the Profession to engage with communities. 216 EBIO programs frequently have stated goals but are rarely held accountable to those goals; consequently, the impact of this programming is insufficiently evaluated. Read the entire page →
From page 536... ... For example, "Astro 2020 State of the Profession White Paper: EPO Vision, Needs, and Opportunities Through Citizen Science" and "Astro 2020 Infrastructure Activity White Paper: Citizen Science as a Core Component of Research Infrastructure" by Laura Trouille (2020) , which make use of GalaxyZoo, https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/zookeeper/galaxy-zoo, accessed August 24, 2020. Read the entire page →
From page 537... ... Can be implemented in 1–2 years. • Research Facilities, Including Large Ground-Based Facilities and Space-Based Missions -- Method: The panel suggests that strategic planning for partnership programs (e.g., all EBIO efforts) Read the entire page →
From page 538... ... Ironically, even as we search for habitable worlds, the Profession's large carbon footprint is decreasing the habitability of our own planet.229 226 AAS could partner with the IAU to make resources available to support international scholars -- for example, through the USNCIAU committee, https://aas.org/comms/usnc-iau-committee, accessed November 13, 2020. 227 Pan-African School for Emerging Astronomers, https://www.astrowestafrica.org/about, accessed August 24, 2020. Read the entire page →

From page 488...

... , to the mysterious fast/blue optical transients like AT2018cow, to tidal disruption events and AGN variability that may be linked to neutrino emission (COEP-D) and black hole accretion physics (COEP-4)