By Aparna Venkatesan
As a reminder, Astro2020: Decadal Survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics has some deadlines coming up very soon! The science white papers were due March 11, and the Notice of Intent for the APC (activity, project, of state of the profession consideration) category is due March 20.
Please see the National Academy of Sciences site for Astro2020:
http://sites.nationalacademies.org/SSB/CurrentProjects/SSB_185159
The NOI form for the APC white papers is here:
https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4829893/Astro2020-NOI-form
NOIs can be targeted and brief. To the best of our knowledge, white papers will be accepted in July without a submitted NOI, but submitting an NOI will help the decadal survey committees and working groups gauge and plan for the topics and anticipated volume of submissions.
Full APC papers can be 5-10 pages long and have a tentative due date of July 1. The NAS site states that the exact format will be announced soon.
We encourage our community members to strongly consider having their voices and priorities for the next decade heard through white paper submissions, especially our junior, female and/or underrepresented minority professionals and those served by AAS diversity committees. Please do suggest actionable recommendations in the white paper(s) you submit, as this would be most useful for funding agencies and institutions.
For slides with an overview of the nature and process of the decadal survey from Dara Norman, please see here.
And last - please take the CSWA survey on our community needs in the 2020s (https://goo.gl/forms/YEgYoTP4fKVtrSkx1). This will help the CSWA develop one or more white papers for Astro2020 and create a new strategic plan for the 2020s for CSWA.