sci25020 — Announcement
The User Committee for Gemini — Call for Community Input!
June 2, 2025
The Users’ Committee for Gemini Observatory (UCG) is a group of volunteers representing each of the International Gemini Observatory partner nations. It consists of a Chair and (at least) one representative from each of the partners. The UCG normally meets each year to receive updates from Gemini leadership, covering all areas including Science Operations, Engineering, Software Development, Education and Public Outreach, and others.
The UCG is tasked with collecting feedback from Gemini users in the respective partner countries and acts as a liaison between users and Gemini leadership. During the UCG meetings, detailed presentations are given by Gemini staff to update the UCG on recent developments, strategic science planning and community engagement activities and to present status reports on instrumentation upgrades.
During these sessions, the UCG will actively engage with Gemini staff in the context of feedback and priorities laid out by their respective user communities. As such, input from our user communities to the UCG is essential in ensuring that the priorities of the user community and those of Gemini leadership are as aligned as possible. These collaborative efforts between our user communities, the UCG, and Gemini leadership are a key part of Gemini’s strategic future and will help to keep the Gemini Observatory at the forefront of astronomical discovery for years to come.
The 2025 iteration of the UCG meeting is planned for September 2025. Therefore, the UCG, along with Gemini’s community and science leadership, is now actively looking for feedback from our communities to include in the upcoming discussions.
Feedback can be sent at any time to your national representative (see below), Matt Taylor (current UCG Chair), Elena Sabbi (Gemini Chief Scientist), or any UCG member you wish. Additionally, we are planning surveys to be sent out to each of the international user communities to actively solicit targeted input. Please watch out for these surveys in the coming weeks. We look forward to hearing from you!
Current Members of the UCG:
Matthew Taylor (UCG Chair, University of Calgary)
matthew.taylor2@ucalgary.ca
Siyi Xu (ex-officio, UCG coordinator)
siyi.xu@noirlab.edu
Victoria Reynaldi (AR, Instituto de Astrofísica de La Plata)
vreynaldi@fcaglp.unlp.edu.ar
Ana Chies Santos (BR, Universidade Federal do Rio grande do Sul)
ana.chies@ufrgs.br
Ronan Kerr (CA, University of Toronto)
ronan.kerr@utoronto.ca
Lorenzo Monaco (CL, Universidad Andres Bello)
lorenzo.monaco@unab.cl
Minjin Kim (KO, Kyungpook National University)
mkimastro@gmail.com
David Jones (UH, University of Hawai‘i)
dojones@hawaii.edu
Jennifer Burt (US, Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
Henry Hsieh (US, Planetary Science Institute)
hhsieh@psi.edu
Charles Schambeau (US, University of Central Florida)
charles.schambeau@ucf.edu
Vinicius Placco (ex-officio, US NGO)
vinicius.placco@noirlab.edu
Elena Sabbi (ex-officio, Gemini Chief Scientist)
elena.sabbi@noirlab.edu
About the Announcement
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