2001 Nov 13

Dear Colleagues:

I have received a number of recent e-mails inquiring about the next Washington Area Astronomers Meeting. I regret to report that the 21-year series of Washington Area Astronomers Meetings has come to an end.

This series of professional meetings, held on at least a yearly basis, provided the many astronomers and astrophysicists in the Washington-Baltimore area with an opportunity to hear and discuss recent research results that spanned specialty and wavelength boundaries. The meetings were organized by an Executive Committee with representatives from the University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, Goddard Space Flight Center, Naval Research Lab, U.S. Naval Observatory, Space Telescope Science Institute, Applied Physics Lab, George Mason University, and Universities Space Research Association. The committee also had a member representing the many other institutions in the area with small numbers of astronomers on their staff (e.g., DTM, NASA HQ, Catholic U., etc.)

Although the meetings developed a dedicated following of astronomers, attendance in recent years has been consistently below previous attendance figures and our expectations. In recent years, the Executive Committee tried various meeting format changes, without much success. In May, the committee reluctantly decided to bring the series of meetings to an end. The committee also decided at its final meeting that the remaining funds in the committee's bank account should go to furthering the progress of astronomy in developing countries. Part of the funds went to Don Wentzel, who is the IAU Chair for Teaching for Astronomy Development, for the purchase of a small telescope for variable star observations at the University of Zambia. The remainder went to the AAS fund for support of astronomy in developing countries, which is used when specific opportunities for such support arise.

The final Executive Committee for the Washington Area Astronomers Meetings was:

• David Holdridge, Universities Space Research Association
• Stanley Hunter, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• George Kaplan, U.S. Naval Observatory
• Patricia Knezek, Space Telescope Science Institute
• Mukul Kundu, University of Maryland
• David Neufeld, The Johns Hopkins University
• Leonid Ozernoy, George Mason University
• David Rust, JHU Applied Physics Laboratory
• Gerald Share, Naval Research Laboratory
• Eric Smith, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• John Trasco, University of Maryland

It should be noted that Mukul Kundu, John Trasco, and Dave Rust have served on the committee the entire 21 years; John took care of most of the administrative tasks during that time. Other people who have served many years include Dean Ahmad, Carl Fichtel, John Graham, Dick Henry, Ken Johnston, Jim Kurfess, Jaylee Mead, Nancy Roman, and Gart Westerhout, a distinguished group indeed. For the members of the Executive Committee, past and present, organizing these meetings has been entirely a labor of love on behalf of the local astronomical community. Anyone who has done any meeting organizing knows that the work involved for even a simple one-day meeting is non-trivial. These people deserve our thanks.

Finally, I'd like to thank all of you who either gave a paper or attended one of the WAA meetings. Those of us who participated regularly always enjoyed the meetings, with the opportunities they provided for keeping up with our local colleagues and learning something new about aspects of astronomy that are outside our own field. I agree with those who say that events of this kind should have a place in our professional lives, but it seems that for many people, the work load and pace of their day-to-day responsibilities makes it difficult to set aside the time for such meetings, given the competition they face.

I've very much enjoyed serving as the chair of the Executive Committee for the last 8 years and look forward to seeing you at colloquia and other events in the area. By the way, the part of the home page of the Washington Area Astronomers web site that provided links to all the astronomy colloquia series and meetings in our area is now being maintained on the USNO Astrometry Department web site at http://ad.usno.navy.mil/astro_events_dc/. I am always interested in receiving updates and additional listings for that page.

George Kaplan
U.S. Naval Observatory