[meteorite-list] Fwd: Postponement of the 8th International Mars Conference to 2014

From: Carl Agee <agee_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2013 10:28:23 -0600
Message-ID: <CADYrzhoxzp+nMzZPbLpg6ztgdamPNBstLf_r+Yurai2LuNv7vQ_at_mail.gmail.com>

As the "Sequestration" starts to propagate...

Carl Agee

--
Carl B. Agee
Director and Curator, Institute of Meteoritics
Professor, Earth and Planetary Sciences
MSC03 2050
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131-1126
Tel: (505) 750-7172
Fax: (505) 277-3577
Email: agee at unm.edu
http://meteorite.unm.edu/people/carl_agee/
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Pulliam, Joyce N (6050) <joyce.n.pulliam at jpl.nasa.gov>
Date: Tue, Mar 26, 2013 at 9:40 AM
Subject: Postponement of the 8th International Mars Conference to 2014
To:
Postponement of the 8th International Mars Conference to 2014
________________________________
The impacts of sequestration on the Federal budget have led to new travel
policies that severely constrain the participation of NASA center employees,
including JPL, and other government employees (e.g., the U. S. Geological
Survey) in scientific conferences, including the planned 8th International
Mars Conference set for July 15-19 on the Caltech campus.  The current
fiscal environment is sufficiently restrictive that we, the organizers of
the conference, have decided to delay the meeting for one year, holding it
instead in June/July of 2014. We sought advice from the MEPAG Executive
Committee, which unanimously concurred with our decision.
We were preparing for a general mailing last Monday when NASA Headquarters
asked us to hold off and consider whether the conference could be hosted
electronically.  This was a reasonable request, given recent success for
several meetings held via electronic media.  However, after consideration,
we felt that this would not work for the 8th International Conference on
Mars.  This series of Mars conferences have at opportune times provided
comprehensive looks at our state of knowledge regarding Mars.  They are, by
design (e.g., broad participation, no parallel sessions, and yes a captive
audience in an academic setting) meant to foster cross-disciplinary
discussion, integration and innovation.
Although it was our strong preference to hold the conference this year, the
meeting in 2014 will include even more results from Mars, including
Curiosity?s further exploration of Gale Crater, as the rover will then be
well into the second year of its primary science mission.  We have no doubt
that Mars will remain in the news in the coming year, given the ongoing
orbital and surface exploration of the planet, and there could be several
focused workshops or conferences in that time; each needs to decide if an
electronic forum is appropriate.  In the meantime, we will work with NASA
over the coming year to obtain its approval for extensive participation by
its researchers, which is vital to the overall success of a conference that
is of the scale of its predecessors.    We look forward to a full conference
in June/July 2014 and hope to see you there.
Dan McCleese / Dave Beaty / Rich Zurek
8th International Mars Conference conveners

Received on Tue 26 Mar 2013 12:28:23 PM PDT