Call for Membership in the TMT International Science Development Teams

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) Observatory has issued a call for membership in its International Science Development Teams (ISDTs). The ISDTs provide scientific input and feedback to the project, stimulate planning for future TMT science programs, and serve to build connections within and between the international TMT partnership.

ISDT membership is open to all PhD scientists, both from the current TMT partners and from the astronomical community at large. In particular, the NSF has established a cooperative agreement with the TMT to explore future NSF partnership in the observatory (see http://ast.noao.edu/system/us-tmt-liaison). The ISDTs are one way in which members of the US community who are unaffiliated with the current US TMT partners (the University of California and Caltech) can become involved in TMT-related scientific activities and influence the future direction of the observatory.

Eight ISDTs focus on different scientific topics:

• Fundamental physics and cosmology
• Early universe, galaxy formation, and the intergalactic medium
• Supermassive black holes
• Milky Way and nearby galaxies
• Formation of stars and planets
• Exoplanets
• Our solar system
• Time-domain science

Membership applications are due on 17 January 2014.

You can find detailed instructions and more information about the ISDTs, and about the TMT in general, at the TMT ISDT website.