Early Science with the LSST
Date
The first meeting in this series will be November 14 – 17, 2024.
Location
Westward Look Resort, Tucson, Arizona
Lead Program Director
Administrative Contact
Sponsors
Heising-Simons Foundation
Research Corporation for Science Advancement
Additional Support
The Brinson Foundation
Leinweber Foundation
Theme
Scientists have been preparing for more than a decade to analyze data from the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), which is expected to be carried out by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory starting in late 2024. This open-access dataset will be higher in volume, velocity, and complexity than any previous astrophysics experiment and could spark an extraordinary era of discovery into fundamental questions about the Universe, but capability gaps could severely limit the science that can be done. This Scialog series aims to mitigate two impediments to realizing the full scientific potential of LSST: the lack of seed funding to ignite early LSST discoveries with these data, and the critical need to create the cross-disciplinary connections required to tackle the biggest questions LSST is poised to address. This Scialog will facilitate connections between approximately 50 early career observational astronomers, cosmologists, theoretical physicists and astrophysicists, computational modelers, data scientists, and software engineers, with the goal of catalyzing collaborative projects that will advance the early science needed to make the most of a dataset enabled by one of the most powerful observational machines ever built.
Facilitators
Approximately 10 senior scientists will serve as Facilitators to frame the large questions under consideration, guide discussions, and evaluate proposals. Confirmed Facilitators include:
- Fred Adams, University of Michigan
- Eric Bellm, University of Washington and LSST
- Rebecca Bernstein, Giant Magellan Telescope
- Lars Bildsten, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics
- Jackie Faherty, American Museum of Natural History
- Xiaohui Fan, University of Arizona
- David Hogg, New York University and Flatiron Institute
- Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, University of California, Santa Barbara
- Jeno Sokoloski, Columbia University and LSST Discovery Alliance
- Beth Willman, LSST Discovery Alliance
Fellows
Approximately 50 early career faculty will be invited to participate as Fellows, with early career spanning the time from the first year on the faculty through recently post-tenure.
- To nominate yourself: Submit a Scialog Fellow Application here. Log in or create a new account, then go to My Applications and start a New Application. The “Scialog Fellow Application – 2024” application will be visible.
- To nominate another early career scientist: Contact the program director or ask your colleague to self-nominate using the steps above.