Taking Our Show on the Road

Community engagement is an important part of the NOAO mission. We want you to know what we are doing, and we want to know what you think we should be doing. While we broadcast messages about our program through Currents and the NOAO Newsletter, sometimes there is no substitute for face-to-face discussion. A town hall meeting at the AAS is one effective approach, but AAS meetings are busy, and the time available for discussion on any one topic is quite limited.

Another approach would be for someone from NOAO to visit your group, department, or regional meeting to talk about the NOAO program and hear your thoughts.

If you are interested in such a visit, please let us know. We are flexible about the format. We can fit into a regular colloquium slot, or we can set up something more elaborate -- a display booth, a coffee-hour Q&A session, or another format that better fits your interests.

Perhaps you would like to discuss new instruments for NOAO facilities? Or perhaps you have an opinion about how we can optimize the community's use of the Gemini telescopes? Or perhaps you are interested in getting an update on the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and how you will be able to use the data from this powerful facility. We would be glad to describe any or all aspects of the current NOAO program and hear your thoughts on what the next steps should be.

If you would like to set up a visit from an NOAO scientist, who can present the NOAO program, hear your thoughts, answer your questions, and carry back your message, please contact Laurie Phillips in the NOAO Director's office (lphillips@noao.edu, 520-318-8283). We look forward to hearing from you!