December 18, 2015 – AURA’s Workforce and Diversity Committee (WDC) met in Tucson last week, to further the important work this committee has been doing since its inception in 2008. Each AURA Center, including the LSST Project Office, is represented on the WDC through their Diversity Advocate (DA); the WDC is the only AURA governance committee with members who are AURA employees. This committee supports a partnership between the DAs, Human Resources representatives, and external experts to realize AURA’s vision of a modern organization:a fully diverse staff (in all dimensions) who feel genuinely empowered to bring their diverse perspectives into the ongoing creation of ideas and approaches.
The focus of the WDC has evolved to identify workplace issues and propose workable solutions to enhance AURA’s diversity in all its dimensions, and to support the Centers in their focus on STEM workforce development. While the WDC met in Tucson in December 2015, LSST Project Office staff (Victor Krabbendam, Daniel Calabrese, and Beth Willman) discussed issues of workplace culture with the WDC, including LSST's endeavor to provide a trusted structure for reporting workplace issues through the appointment of ombudspeople. To follow-up on these discussions, and the August 2015 workplace culture plenary session, the LSST management team will be holding a half-day retreat on LSST workplace culture after the February Joint Technical Meeting (February 22-24).
Image caption:
AURA WDC Members in Tucson, December 2015. In the sleigh (L-R): L. Hunter (Chair, UCSC), S. Smith (Howard Univ.), D. Norman (NOAO), Y. Monsanto (AURA/Chile), A. Hogan (Independent Contractor). Back row (L-R): C. Liu (CUNY), S. Bruff (STScI HR), S. Jacoby (LSST), N. Reich (AURA), C. Yamasaki (Gemini), J. Malley (Univ of Michigan), M. Giampapa (NSO), N. Barker (AURA HR), M. Mutchler (STScI)
Financial support for Rubin Observatory comes from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Cooperative Support Agreement No. 1202910, the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515, and private funding raised by the LSST Corporation. The NSF-funded Rubin Observatory Project Office for construction was established as an operating center under management of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA). The DOE-funded effort to build the the Rubin Observatory LSST Camera (LSSTCam) is managed by the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC).
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an
independent federal agency created by Congress
in 1950 to promote the progress of science. NSF supports basic research and people to create knowledge that transforms the future.
NSF and DOE will continue to support Rubin Observatory in its Operations phase. They will also provide support for scientific research with LSST data.
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