CUC, 29 June 2004 Belinda Wilkes, Assistant Director

CXC Response to Jan 2004 CUC Report

• 1,2: relate to peer review (Belinda)• 3: high-risk science category: will discuss and

consider for Cycle 7• 4: Metrics: regular (Paul G.) and joint (Belinda)• 5: Software commonality: contacted ADEC and

added scripting languages to fall agenda to open discussions

• 6: Bakeout: (Paul P.)• 7: Calibration: Summary document will be kept

current, prioritised plan (Larry)

CUC, 29 June 2004 Belinda Wilkes, Assistant Director

CXC Response to Jan 2004 CUC Report

8: PSF: Memo summarizing PSF status (linked to Agenda, Diab)

9: CAL priorities accounting for staff reductions (Larry)

10: LETG/HRC-S wavelength scale – Work continues on non-linear, empirical λ-scale

adjustment– Re-assment of priorities will be made following

completion 11: Presentations:

– E&PO (Kathy)– Chandra/XMM-Newton X-calibration (Herman)– Constrained Observations (Pat)

CUC, 29 June 2004 Belinda Wilkes, Assistant Director

Joint Time Programs

CUC, 29 June 2004 Belinda Wilkes, Assistant Director

Joint Programs: Approval Statistics

Cycles 5+6, All 5 facilitiesCycles 3+4 (3 and 2 facilities)

HST Only: Cycles 3-6

Cycle 6: 91 joint, 11 requested 2/3 facilities

NOAO % jumps due to large projects

CUC, 29 June 2004 Belinda Wilkes, Assistant Director

Joint Programs: Publications

Papers and Citations

Chandra Exp. Time Distribution

CUC, 29 June 2004 Belinda Wilkes, Assistant Director

CXC User Interactions

Website: information, documentation, software etc. Helpdesk search, submission, answer questions USINT: observation planning Electronic Bulletins and Announcements: as needed,

approximately monthly Newsletter: annual (electronic and hardcopy) AAS Exhibit: twice a year Workshops:

– CIAO : 5 to date, ~25 people per workshop– Calibration: annual since 2002, ~80 (30% external)

Electronic announcements of data readiness Archive access and download

CUC, 29 June 2004 Belinda Wilkes, Assistant Director

Helpdesk Operation

CDO IT Specialists serve as “hotseat” every 3rd week: acknowledges, answers/assigns/requests expert input for each ticket

CIAO IT Specialist handles detailed CIAO questions CXC scientists serve as experts, but do not general

communicate directly with the Users Commercial software keeps track of ticket status,

allows sophisticated searches and handles email response

User interface via web/email, encourages search first, ask later!

CUC, 29 June 2004 Belinda Wilkes, Assistant Director

Topic Distribution of Helpdesk Tickets

CUC, 29 June 2004 Belinda Wilkes, Assistant Director

Helpdesk Performance Statistics

CUC, 29 June 2004 Belinda Wilkes, Assistant Director

Observation Planning (Uplink): USINT

Procedures – posted on web page– All Observers/PIs contacted to confirm observational

parameters– Self-checking by GTOs and CXC staff for Cycle 5 worked

well, will expand to GOs in Cycle6/7 (development needed)– Allowed changes are made at CXC and confirmed with

Observer/PI– Restricted changes (e.g. instrument, coordinates, constraints)

must be justified and approved by CDO. CDO review includes check for conflicts with other Chandra programs

– Person-load: 10 FTEs (16 CXC scientists):> 10 hours/week for 1st 2 months> 10 hours/month for rest of year

– Interactions include (no metrics): verification, minor pointing/offsets, active CCDs, splitting exposures, updated constraints/preferences, ACIS-I↔ACIS-S

CUC, 29 June 2004 Belinda Wilkes, Assistant Director

Other Interactions

Visitors: Not many official visitors here to reduce/analyze data (1 in 2003)

Collaborative visits: many people pass through to collaborate with individual CXC staff members, give lunch talks, spend research leave here etc..

Contact Scientists: no requests for a long time Chandra Users (chandra-users): closed Majordomo list;

is used but rate much slower than early in the mission

CUC, 29 June 2004 Belinda Wilkes, Assistant Director

Workshops for Chandra Observers

Calibration: held annually in October – 2002, 2003: 85 attendees (30% external)

CIAO: held as needed– 25 participants per workshop– 2 days of presentations and hands-on experience with CIAO– Ratio expert/beginner is increasing, now run parallel sessions– 1 per year: 5 to date:

> 2001: January, April, November

> 2002: May

> 2003: October (w/CAL workshop)

Science Workshops: planning to hold 1 or 2 workshops per year to promote awareness of Chandra accomplishments and prospects in certain areas: Galaxies Viewed with Chandra 7-9 July 2004

CUC, 29 June 2004 Belinda Wilkes, Assistant Director

Cycle 6 Peer Review: 15-17 June 2004

New for this cycle:– “Boss”– Location: Hilton Logan Airport– Reviewers Website: update and track status, travel requirements

etc., accessed by all SAO departments– Registration/reception Monday evening (14th June)– Internet connection throughout review floor– Reports website at review (will expand to use throughout

process)– BPP (Big Project Panel) reading period, 17th June am.– Collection and shredding of hardcopy and CDRoms at review– Re-organisation of Galaxies into: Populations; Diffuse emission– Internal LAN allowed CDO to access panel room spreadsheets– Conflict file: 1 per proposal, plus help file provided

CUC, 29 June 2004 Belinda Wilkes, Assistant Director

Cycle 6 Review: 15-17 June 2004

112 reviewers in 13 topical panels, 3 pundits + 13 panel chairs in BPP (and all came!)

17% women, **% non-US, including 2 Japanese Proposal Statistics:

– 789 proposals (203 non-US) for 2614 targets, 110Msec: 6.5 oversubscription