And They’re Off! Louisville Hosts Annual ARM Science Team Meeting

 
Published: 22 April 2009

Known for the Kentucky Derby, Louisville Slugger bats, and bluegrass music, Louisville made headlines during the ARM Science Team meeting for another reason—for the first time in school history, their women's college basketball team (celebrated here at a downtown pep rally) made it to the Final Four. They went on to compete in the national championship game.

Beginning March 30 and ending April 3, the 19th Annual ARM Science Team Meeting drew 242 attendees with 156 posters to Louisville, Kentucky, for a week-long meeting. This annual meeting provides the opportunity for both researchers and infrastructure staff to discuss progress and plans in all areas of the program with colleagues from around the world.

Monday morning was devoted to an orientation for new program participants, while the afternoon provided time for the working groups to convene and finalize their input for the new ARM science plan. On Monday evening, meeting participants enjoyed a slide show and cake celebrating the 20th anniversary of the ARM Program. Kicking off the opening plenary session on Tuesday, several programmatic items were shared:

  • Kiran Alapaty, ARM Science Program Director, announced 23 awards and 7 new principal investigators from the Fiscal Year 2009 call for science proposals and recognized outgoing working group leaders Steve Klein, Beat Schmid, and Eugene Clothiaux.
  • Wanda Ferrell, ARM Program Director, recognized the 15 years of dedication to the ARM Program by recently-retired Rosemary Ross and presented a plaque to Mark Miller and another one to Kim Nitschke and the ARM Mobile Facility team for their successful deployment in China.
  • Warren Wiscombe, ARM Chief Scientist, encouraged participants to check the ARM News Center regularly for the latest program news and highlighted several upcoming field campaigns of interest to the ARM community.

Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at the annual meeting are reserved for poster presentations. This provides an opportunity for participants to interact and learn more about ARM research.The remainder of the morning plenary sessions were devoted to summaries of progress in each working group area, finishing up with a “retrospective/prospective” of AMF deployments. Afternoon breakout sessions throughout the week focused on research progress and plans related to high-profile field campaigns, plus a special session devoted to a summary of plans for ARM capital purchases from supplemental funds allocated through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Finally, poster sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings featured research and infrastructure accomplishments, with 13 posters receiving Chief Scientists awards for poster design and five posters receiving gold, silver (3-way tie) and bronze “People’s Choice” awards.