Travel: Support Participation in International Scientific Meetings by U.S. Astronomers

This award to the American Astronomical Society will fund U.S. astronomers to travel to international scientific conferences to present their research and to engage with their international colleagues. It will provide to selected individuals round-trip, economy-class airfare on U.S. flag carriers to conferences held in international locations through the American Astronomical Society’s International Travel Grant Program. The program favors earlier career astronomers, such as graduate students and those having recently received their Ph.D., those from smaller, less-endowed institutions, and astronomers playing important roles in international conferences, such as invited or plenary speakers. The fundamental goal of the program is to place U.S. scientists at international scientific conferences to present their research, learn from others at the conference, and network with international scientists. The program also helps shine a spotlight on U.S. research accomplishments and on the dynamic research environment that the U.S. provides for the astronomical sciences, and could serve as a recruitment tool for international scientists to undertake research partnerships with American scientists or even to consider relocating to the U.S. to pursue their research career. The experience of international travel will also benefit the individual researchers, allowing them to grow and perfect their presentation style, while directly sharing their research results with others in the astronomy community and with the public, where available and appropriate. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.