Astrophysics in the Next Decade ─ The James Webb Space Telescope and Concurrent Facilities

Proceedings of the Astrophysics in the Next Decade : JWST and Concurrent Facilities conference.This professional conference is the "must-attend" meeting to discuss the astrophysics to be enabled by JWST and concurrent facilities during the next decade. This meeting is designed to be of interest and value to the broad astronomical community, who will be preparing science investigations for these facilities.This meeting, which is hosted by STScI and NASA/GSFC and sponsored by Northrop Grumman, will engage the broad science community in a discussion of science enabled by JWST and concurrent orbital and ground-based facilities. It will describe and stimulate work on the theoretical foundations for astrophysics in the next decade. During 2008, we will produce a reviewed and edited book containing a compilation of the talks and synopses of the discussion periods. We plan that this book will be written in a graduate level pedagogical fashion to yield a reference text of lasting value for astronomers who will be developing investigations for the JWST and other concurrent facilites. Scientific Organising Committee:Crystal Brogan, NRAODale Cruikshank, NASA/ARCEwine van Dishoeck, Univ. LeidenAlan Dressler (chair), Carnegie Obs.Richard Ellis, CaltechRob Kennicutt, Cambridge Univ.Rolf Kudritzki, Univ. HawaiiAvi Loeb, HarvardJohn Mather, NASA/HQYvonne Pendleton, NASA/HQMassimo Stiavelli, (JWST SWG liason) STScIPeter Stockman, (LOC liason) STScILeonardo Testi, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (Arceti)Xander Tielens, NASA/ARCMeg Urry, YaleJeff Valenti, STScI

Thronson’s current responsibilities include identification, assessment, and advocacy for advanced human/robotic programs at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in coordination with other NASA Centers, industry, and the scientific community. Previously, while working at NASA Headquarters, he was responsible for selection and development of advanced technologies that will significantly enhance future science missions such as large astronomical observatories in space and robotic missions to Mars, other planets, and the Moon. He has also served as the program scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the Spitzer Space Telescope (SIRTF), the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), among other missions. Over the past few years, he has served as senior scientist on a variety of long-range planning activities and led three NASA HQ teams that developed science and technology priorities for President George Bush’s Vision for Space Exploration. He received his Ph.D. in astrophysics in 1978 from the University of Chicago and has been a faculty member and on the senior staff of the Universities of Arizona and Wyoming, and the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh. He has published more than 100 research papers and co-edited 12 books. Stiavelli obtained his PhD at the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa in 1986. He has been a postdoctoral researcher at Rutgers University and a fellow at the European Southern Observatory in Garching. He has held positions at the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa (1992-1995), at the European Space Agency in Baltimore (1995-2000), and at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore (since 2000). He is a member of the American Astronomical Society, of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and of the International Astronomical Union. He has served and chaired several NASA committees and is a member of the Science Working Group of the James Webb Space Telescope. He has authored or coauthored 83 papers on professional journals and 146 technical reports and other publications. Tielens is a senior scientist at NASA Ames Research Center and a professor of astrophysics at the Kapteyn Institute in the Netherlands. Prior to this, he was associated with the astronomy department of the University of California in Berkeley and the Dutch Space Agency, SRON. He is the project scientist of HIFI the heterodyne instrument that will fly on the Herschel Space Observatory and the coordinator of the 'Molecular Universe' an interdisciplinary network on interstellar chemistry. He has published extensively on various aspects of the physics and chemistry of the interstellar medium of galaxies.