224 – Ελληνική Αστρονομική Εταιρεία

OCTOBER 2016 – TOPICS

Short News
NASA’s Distinguished Public Service Medal for Academician Dr. Stamatios Krimigis
The Next Hellenic Astronomical Conference
IKY Postdoctoral Scholarships
Postdoctoral Positions Abroad
Master Theses at MAUCA on the METEOR Project
Upcoming Astronomy Meetings in Greece
About this Newsletter

1. Short News

The new Director General (DG) of the European Space Agency (ESA), Prof. Jan Woerner, paid a brief visit to the Hellenic Ministry of Education, Research, and Religious Affairs on September 8, 2016. ESA’s DG participated to a meeting with the Deputy Minister for Research and Innovation, Costas Fotakis, and the General Secretary for Research and Tecnology, Thomas Maloutas, and then addressed an invited audience with a presentation entitled “Driving Space 4.0: Promoting Sustainable Development”. In the subsequent discussion, the ESA DG expressed his sympathy for Greece’s struggle to remain an eligible ESA member and reaffirmed ESA’s position for expansion and collaboration will all member states, in view of the ESA Ministerial Council Meeting in December 2016.

2. NASA’s Distinguished Public Service Medal for Academician Dr. Stamatios Krimigis

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) presented its highest award for a non-Government individual, the Distinguished Public Service Medal, to Academician Dr. Stamatios “Tom” Krimigis, for his celebrated, storied professional career that largely shaped the course of the US robotic space exploration. The ceremony took place on June 28, 2016, at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.

A Member of the Academy of Athens and Emeritus Head of the Space Department at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) in Laurel, Maryland, USA, Dr. Krimigis is the only scientist worldwide who has led or participated to space missions destined to all eight planets of the solar system, plus Pluto. Dr. Krimigis also served as principal investigator in five NASA missions, including Cassini and the historic Voyager spacecraft.

Said APL Director Ralph Semmel in a press release available here: “We are incredibly proud of Tom and this well-deserved recognition … Tom is a pioneer and visionary leader whose innovations helped inspire the creation of NASA’s Discovery and New Frontier programs. His contributions over more than four decades have significantly expanded our view of the solar system and knowledge of the universe”.

The Hellenic Astronomical Society is no less proud of Dr. Krimigis being one of its most distinguished members.

3. The Next Hellenic Astronomical Conference

The Council of the Hel.A.S., at its latest meeting of September 15, 2016, unanimously approved the selection of Heraklion, Crete as the location of its thirteenth (13th) Astronomical Conference. The meeting dates are July 2 – 6, 2017. The conference’s local organization will be managed by the University of Crete, while the meeting venue will be determined and announced in due time.

4. IKY Postdoctoral Scholarships

The Greek State Scholarship Foundation, IKY, announces two hundred and eighty-nine (289) postdoctoral research positions in three (3) scientific fields, for a maximum duration of twenty four (24) consecutive months. The deadline for applications is October 6, 2016. For more information, interested candidates can look here.

5. Postdoctoral Positions Abroad

The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research invites applications for PhD and Postdoctoral positions in solar and stellar physics, in the framework of its SOLVe project. The project is based on an ERC starting grant led by Alexander Shapiro and will utilize state-of-the-art MHD and radiative transfer codes to extend physics-based models of solar brightness variations from the Sun to other stars. The deadline for applications is November 15, 2016. For more information, interested candidates should contact Alexander Shapiro (shapiroa(at)mps.mpg.de) or Johannes Stecker (stecker(at)mps.mpg.de).

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) invites applications for a Postdoctoral position in space physics. The position will begin as early as November 1, 2016, and will involve system-wide evaluation and description of plasma flow and energetic particle inputs to the ionosphere and thermosphere at meso-scale (~50 km and 500 km) using multiple data sources. Questions on the position and application should be directed to Prof. Larry Lyons (larry(at)atmos.ucla.edu) cc’d to Dr. Toshi Nishimura (toshi(at)atmos.ucla.edu).

6. Master Theses at MAUCA on the METEOR Project

The Master of Astrophysics Universite Cote d’Azur (MAUCA), France, invites student applications for joint master theses in the framework of the METEOR project (the METEOR book is available here). The METEOR project involves planetology, stellar and galactic physics, extragalactic cosmology and relativity, signal / image processing, numerical simulations, astronomical optics and instrumentation. For observational work, students will operate two 1-meter telescopes at Observatoire de Cote d’Azur to study several celestial objects and derive various astrophysical parameters.

For more information about following one or more semesters at MAUCA, in the Erasmus+ Programme, students are invited to contact David Mary (david.mary(at)unice.fr).

7. Upcoming Astronomy Meetings in Greece

The ISM-SPP Olympian School of Astrophysics
Paralia Katerinis, October 3-7, 2016
Space Radiation Modeling and Data Analysis Workshop
Sykia (Peloponnese), October 5-7, 2016
13th Hellenic Astronomical Conference
Heraklion, Crete, July 2-6, 2017

8. About this Newsletter

This Newsletter was sent to all members of Hel.A.S. who have e-mail access. The next edition of the Newsletter will be mailed around November 1st, 2016. Please send your announcements (e.g. appointments/departures, job openings, research opportunities, awards, conferences in Greece) or comments before October 26, 2016. If you do not wish to receive future issues of this Newsletter or the e-mail address to which it was sent is not your preferred one, please inform the Secretary of Hel.A.S. at secretary@helas.gr.