Space Telescope Science Institute
Speaker Information and Requirements

Invited Speakers and Moderators

The Science Organizing Committee (SOC) has recommended a list of approximately 20 talks covering a broad range of astronomical subjects, from the early universe to the outer regions of our solar system. The SOC will select and invite experts to speak at the meeting and will also select a moderator for the discussions to follow each talk. Each invited speaker will have approximately 40 minutes to cover the topic.

A 20-minute discussion period will follow each talk in which the invited moderator will help frame questions to either the speaker or the audience. The moderate is responsible for guiding the public discussion of the preceding talk. While there will be opportunities for the moderator to express an alternative viewpoint to that expressed by the speaker, the moderator should encourage public participation through a series of open-ended questions.

We will ask the speaker and moderator to coordinate their preparations in advance to optimize the interest and involvement of all the participants.

Talk Content

We recommend that the talks focus on science rather than facilities. The speaker may wish to briefly summarize the current status of the field, and then focus on the likely near-term progress, highlighting the questions that the new facilities will address. We also encourage speakers to discuss theoretical and astrophysical challenges (new models, physical processes, computations, lab data, etc). Whenever possible, speakers should describe the contributions from each of the new facilities, identifying where one could be superior to others and where they are complementary. The LOC will provide convenient links to performance characteristics of Webb and concurrent facilities.

Abstracts

We will request that the speakers provide a brief abstract of their talk, suitable for posting the web site, approximately one month before the meeting.

Subsequent Publication

We will request that invited speakers submit a written paper to the proceedings editor on or before the end of November 2007. We request that the content of each paper be written at the graduate student level to serve as a reference for non-experts, as we intend the proceedings to be of high value through remainder of the JWST mission development phase (2013). The speaker may utilize co-authors to develop the presentation and complete the manuscript. The proceedings editor will provide information regarding the electronic publication format.

We will request that the invited moderators summarize the discussion and important points made in writing by the end of October 2007 (to influence the speakers� manuscripts). We intend to record the discussion sessions for the convenience of the moderators. The proceedings editor and the speakers will review the corresponding moderators� summaries. The proceedings editor may request that the moderators review the corresponding speakers� manuscripts.