I’m traveling once again, so this will be brief:
Several of us went down to NSF on Wednesday to go over some of the final details of the Langseth Business Systems Review (BSR). It was a good set of meetings, and we left feeling confident about the upcoming panel review of our response to the BSR, scheduled for early September. While this has been a “task and a half,” it should leave us in a good position to maintain the Langseth as a crucial part of the academic fleet.
The meetings also gave us the opportunity to announce to NSF Helene Carton’s role as Chief Scientist in Marine Ops, acting in support of the Langseth facility. Helene will be working on many of the science issues associated with operating a seismic vessel, including source signatures and array design, and taking up some of John Diebold’s last research. Many thanks to Helene for stepping up to this critically important position.
Mike Steckler went down to NSF on Thursday, having been invited by the NSF Director to participate in a high-level briefing and press event, highlighting NSF research that supports capacity building in developing countries. Mike’s project in Bangladesh, in which he is co-PI with Nano Seeber, Won-Young Kim and Humayun Akhter of Dhaka University(who is visiting Lamont at the moment), is the only NSF project being highlighted, quite an honor. The new NSF program is joint with US-AID and is entitled: Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER). This is being leveraged off a successful NSF PIRE grant awarded to Mike, Nano and Won-Young last year. In attendance at the briefing, in addition to Subra Suresh, were the President’s Science Advisor, John Holdren, and the Director of USAID, Rajiv Shah. A hearty well-done to all involved.
I missed another anniversary. It’s Arnold Gordon’s 50th at Lamont. When Mike Purdy briefed me on outstanding matters when I took over as interim director, the most important item was telling me the secret location of a bottle of Arnold Gordon’s gin. We’ll find an appropriate time to hold a martini party.
Finally, Bernie Gallagher is up and around, and apparently is being a pest. Good news all around!
Art