Future Prospects and Developments at NRAO and in the US Radio Community

In the next five years the ALMA and EVLA construction projects, which have dominated activities at NRAO for more than a decade, will come to end and the focus will shift to bringing these new facilities into full science operation. Likewise, the capabilities of our existing instruments will be extended through a number of funded development programs. The VLBA will see a significant increase in continuum sensitivity through improvements in its recording and correlation bandwidth, while the GBT will reach its potential as a high frequency telescope with a first generation of wide-bandwidth and rapid imaging instruments.

What lies beyond? What are the science imperatives in the next decade, and how can NRAO instruments and expertise be utilized to best effect? What new technologies should we be exploring and developing?

With the planning begun on the next decadal survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics, it is now time to bring together scientists and research engineers from NRAO and the community to help establish future development priorities.

As a first step, we are planning a staff retreat in Socorro, NM. The dates of the meeting are April 10th and 11th. This announcement is an open call for "blue sky" proposals with a focus on upgrades of existing NRAO telescopes, development for planned or future instruments in which NRAO staff can make significant contributions, or significant new science and technology exploration initiatives. This includes hardware, software, legacy surveys, collaborative initiatives, or anything you see as necessary to take NRAO to the "Frontiers of Astrophysics" that were discussed in our NRAO 50th Anniversary Science Symposium, and beyond.

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.