Working Group Leader:
Susan Millar smillar@ssec.wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 265-2770 (phone mail at 608 265-5943)
Space Science and Engineering Center
UW-Madison
Madison, WI 53706

Charge to the Workshop and the E&O Working Group
Faced with proposals for several large neutrino detectors, including two proposals to the NSF and one to the DOE for major facilities, the National Science Foundation included a statement in its fiscal year 2003 budget request that President Bush submitted to the Congress. Based on that statement, the NSF is organizing the NeSS Workshop. The overall charge to the Workshop is to assess the science opportunities for both IceCube and for an Underground Laboratory in the U.S.

In parallel, the National Research Council (NRC) is conducting a review of the same subject (see http://www.nationalacademies.org/bpa/projects/neutrino/). The first meeting of the NRC committee was an information-gathering meeting, held on June 24 and 25. A second information-gathering meeting will be held in later this month, July 25 and 26. A third meeting to draft a report will be held September 30 and October 1, nine days after the end of the workshop. The draft report will be refereed for release in November.

The NeSS Workshop should build upon and summarize all of the recent workshops on the subject and provide the information needed to develop an integrated program in neutrino, low background and geo-science investigations requiring subterranean depth. The results of the Workshop, provided in a report delivered to the NRC Committee on September 29, 2002, will feed into the study produced by this committee. This process will provide information on the context of existing and planned investigations worldwide, as well as guidance for governments and agencies to develop coordinated and effective plans for these investigations in the future.

The E&O Working Group is charged with the task of assessing and envisioning the E&O opportunities associated with these science opportunities, and producing the E&O portion of the report due to the National Research Council Committee that is conducting the parallel review of neutrino and subterranean science. We have a major challenge to develop on a very short timeline an NeSS Workshop report that will be useful for the NRC committee.

Goals of the Parallel Sessions on Education and Outreach
The goals of the Education and Outreach Working Group are to (1) assess and develop an integrated description of E&O activities associated with the science of the proposed IceCube project and the proposals for a National Underground Laboratory that already are underway, and (2) develop an integrated vision and description of how these activities will expanded and improved in the future.

Strategies for Achieving These Goals

· Engage an E&O Liaisons organizing committee, comprising individuals recommended by the Working Group Leaders of the seven science-focused groups. These individuals are listed here.

· Work with the E&O Liaisons to identify and invite to the E&O Working Group key individuals who already are engaged in significant E&O efforts associated with neutrino and subterranean science, and who have the perspectives and energy to make these efforts ever more effective in the future.

· Collect all relevant documents already developed (for example, for the Oct. 2001 meeting at Lead, ND, the IceCube Education Resource Center Advisory Board meeting in January 2002, etc.)

· Devote the initial parallel session (Sept. 19, 2 - 5:30 p.m.) to informal presentations by leaders in diverse types of E&O activity, including:

o K-12 Teacher Professional Development
o K-12 curriculum materials development
o Undergraduate education
o Graduate student professional development
o Scientists presenting to the public
o Resources for museums, the media, community organizations, etc.

· Devote the second and third parallel sessions (Sept. 20, 8:30 am.-1:30 p.m. & Sept 21, 8:00 - 9:00 a.m.) to organizing the NeSS E&O document and then drafting integrated descriptions and vision/plans.

ACTION ITEMS FOR PARTICIPANTS (This section was REVISED as of August 23)

1. Review the E&O Working Group Participant List:
· The first group consists of the" E&O Liaisons" who are interacting with their NeSS Working Group on behalf of the E&O Working Group.
· The second group consists of the "Registered E&O Working Group Participants." This group is already-registered subset of those whom the E&O Liaisons suggest as participants.
· The third group consists of people suggested as participants who are not yet committed to attending (in some cases because I have not yet found time to recruit them).
Please let your E&O Liaison or me know of other individuals that should be added to this list and invited.

2. If you are a either an "E&O Liaison" or a "Registered E&O Participant," please submit to me by email no later than COB (close of business) on September 2:
Þ a "self-introduction" document and
Þ any relevant E&O documents that you have.
I know this will take a bit of your time, but is important for the success of our group for the following reasons:
· We have very little time to work together.
· Groups comprised of folks who do not know each other need time to get context on one another in order to function effectively.
· Pre-reading about one another's backgrounds, activities, and interests will help us to get us up to speed fast enough to be effective while at NeSS.

An example of a "self-introduction" can be found here.
Examples of "Relevant NeSS E&O documents" can be found here.

3. If you would like to make an informal 10- to 15-minute presentation during our first parallel session, send me an email smillar@ssec.wisc.edu no later than COB on Sept. 2. Your email should briefly describe the topic you want to present. I will work with the E&O Liaisons to choose a set of presenters who will provide the full group the broadest range of information about relevant activity already underway.

4. Between now and your departure for NESS, think about and come ready to discuss the following slightly modified versions of questions Janet Conrad formulated after we talked by phone:

How can our experiments build in ideas for education and outreach from day 1 of the proposal?

Related to this main question:
" Is it reasonable for a facility to require some aspect of education/outreach to appear in all proposals -- no matter what the size of the experiment?

" What constitutes a reasonable effort toward education and outreach?

" What support (infrastructure, local experts, funds, etc.) does the facility need to provide experiments so that they can meet their E&O goals?

" How do we make common resources available across experiments/facilities so that money is well used and productive?

" What specific examples/plans for each of the different experiments can be identified?

5. Between Sept. 3 and your departure for NeSS:
" Read all the entries under "self introductions"
" Read the revised agenda for the E&O Parallel Sessions
" Review/scan all the entries under "relevant E&O documents"
(All items will be posted on this E&O Working Group website shortly after I receive them, so some material is available before Sept. 3.)

6. Attend as much as you can.
Different people have asked about how much of the parallel session time amount of time I expect they will devote to the E&O Working Group. My answer varies:

If your primary reason for attending NeSS 2002 is to participate in the E&O Working Group, I expect you to attend all our parallel sessions - I will be relying heavily on you to help us produce an excellent final Workshop product.

If you are a leader of/very active member of one of the science Working Groups, I expect you to attend at least the following two E&O events:
" Thursday afternoon session during which the E&O Liaisons report back E&O suggestions they are seeking from the science Working Groups. This report back will take place about 20 minutes after the coffee break (time to be posted soon).
" Friday evening E&O session - 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. A key reason I have scheduled this extra session is to make it possible for us to hear from folks who are very actively involved with the other Working Groups.
We will much appreciate your participation in any other E&O session activities as well. Your participation in the E&O group is very important if we are going to give life to Rita Colwell's phrase "integrate research and education." I will provide a final parallel session schedule close to the time of the Workshop to help you plan which times to attend the E&O sessions.

7. Help with the writing/editing.

8. Email or call me with your ideas and suggestions between now and the Workshop.

Thanks!
Susan
smillar@ssec.wisc.edu; phone (608 265-2770)