Beckman Center
University of California, Irvine
Friday,
September 15 -- Science Meeting
Saturday, September 16 --
Strategic Planning Meeting
The annual
meeting of the Keck
Observatory user
community will be held at UC Irvine this year. We hope to have
resounding
participation from the Caltech, UC, UH, NASA, TSIP,
and WMKO members of our scientific partnership. Recent
results from the Keck I and Keck II telescopes on
Mauna Kea will be showcased. The meeting is also a forum for obtaining
status reports on current and planned instrumentation, and for
discussing
initiatives and opportunities that are still far afield. An observatory
strategic planning discussion will occur on the day after the science
meeting.
The meeting will also be a great opportunity for Keck users to meet the
new Director of the W. M. Keck
Observatory, Dr. Taft Armandroff. Dr. Armandroff will
present his first "State of the Observatory" address on September 15.
Organizing committee:
- Aaron Barth (UC Irvine)
- Lynne Hillenbrand (Caltech)
- Tom Greene (NASA)
- Mike Liu (Hawaii)
- Gabriela Canalizo (UC Riverside)
- Bob Goodrich (Keck Observatory)
Registration
Please register if you are planning
to attend either or both days of
the meeting.
Registration helps us with logistical planning and ensures that you
will have access to meals and parking. Even if you are not
planning to give a talk or present a poster, you must register if you want to attend
the meeting. Travel and lodging
arrangments are the responsibility of individual participants; see
information below. There is no registration fee.
Registration deadlines:
- Friday, August 4 for those requesting to give a talk
- Friday, September 1 for general registration including poster
presenters
If you've previously filled out the
registration form but need to
change your registration information, just fill out the form again and
add a comment that you're entering a re-submission.
Registration
form.
List of registered
participants.
Format
Science Meeting:
The science meeting will be a full
day meeting consisting of short
talks and posters. Talks will be selected from the proposed
titles/abstracts.
Anyone may present a poster.
The meeting will take place in the Beckman Center auditorium.
- Talks
- Posters
- The poster session will be in the Beckman Center Atrium, just
outside the auditorium.
- Posters will be up all day with viewing opportunities during
coffee breaks and lunch.
- Feel free to distribute handouts or preprints at your poster
to advertise your work.
- Poster presenters may volunteer to give a "one viewgraph,
one minute, no-questions" (strictly enforced) summary of their poster
paper during the oral session.
- Poster size: the poster boards are 4 feet x 4 feet.
Pins will be provided.
- List of Posters
Strategic
Planning Discussion:
The primary goal of the Strategic
Planning session is to provide a
forum for the astronomical community of WMKO users to give feedback to
the Science Steering Committee and Observatory Directors on many issues
ranging from new science drivers to performance of existing
facilities. Significant time is given to open discussion.
The strategic planning meeting will
be held in the Huntington Room at the Beckman Center.
Meeting Logistics:
- A/V equipment: An LCD projector and transparency projector
will be available.
- For efficiency, we will collect talks in advance onto a Windows
and Mac laptop (one of each). Power Point, Keynote, or Acrobat
format will be supported.
- Meals and refreshments:
- Breakfast and lunch will
be provided at the Beckman Center on
both Friday and Saturday.
- There will be morning and afternoon coffee breaks/poster
viewing sessions.
- Internet access: The Beckman Center has a wireless network
for visitor use.
- Beckman
Center information
Travel Information and Directions:
Information
for people flying to
southern California:
- Best option:
Orange County's John Wayne Airport
(SNA) is the closest and most convenient airport, and is only a 5
minute drive from UCI. John Wayne has direct
flights to/from
the Bay Area airports, Kona, Honolulu, Dallas,
Chicago, Denver, and several other cities. Hotels are
located right across the street from the airport on MacArthur
Blvd. We
strongly
recommend flying into SNA rather than LAX.
- Other options:
- Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is about 45 miles away
from UCI, but the traffic on the 405 freeway between
LAX and Irvine can be extremely heavy during peak hours, even on
weekends, and the trip could take 2 hours or more during rush
hour. Also, there is a major
construction project going on at LAX and one of the four runways is now
closed, so the airport will probably be even more congested than usual
and you should expect flight delays.
- Long Beach Airport (LGB) is about 25 miles away from UCI, also
along the 405 freeway.
Getting to
the Beckman Center:
Driving
directions to the Beckman Center are posted on a separate page now-
please print out and bring with you.
If you're driving to the meeting on friday morning from Los Angeles or
Pasadena, please plan to get on the road early! The trip could
potentially take 2 hours or more during rush hour. Breakfast will
be served starting at 8:15 on friday, and the conference program begins
at 8:55. On saturday, breakfast starts at 8:00 and the meeting
begins at 8:45.
For people attending the NGAO
meeting on Sept. 14 at UC Irvine, here
are directions to the meeting location
in Frederick Reines Hall. Please note that the NGAO meeting
is not at the same location as the Keck Science Meeting.
Parking:
- Free parking is available in the lot just outside the Beckman
Center. Don't use the UCI campus lots, since they are not
free and they are not very close to the conference center.
Lodging:
We have arranged special rates
at two hotels close to John Wayne
Airport. The
Atrium is a bit cheaper and includes free parking, free internet
access, and a shuttle service to/from UCI, while the Hilton has
spiffier rooms but charges extra for internet access and parking.
Both hotels have a shuttle
service that runs from the airport to
the hotel, so when you arrive you can call the hotel for
a ride. The hotels are just across the street from the airport,
so you can easily walk from the terminals to the hotels too.
Important
note: For both
hotels, the only way to get the special rate is to call the hotel
directly at the number below, and tell them that you are with the
KECK-UCI group. If you try to book online you will not get the
special rate.
- The Atrium Hotel
- Phone: 800-854-3012.
- Address: 18700 MacArthur Blvd. Irvine, CA 92612.
- Rate: $94/night + tax. Includes breakfast, parking,
shuttle service, and high-speed internet access.
- Rooms must be booked before Sept. 11 to get this rate.
- There is an Enterprise Car Rental office in the hotel lobby.
- The
Hilton Irvine/Orange County Airport
- Phone: 949-833-9999
- Address: 18800 MacArthur Blvd., Irvine, California,
92612.
- Rate: $99/night + tax. Extras: Parking
is $5/day, wireless internet is $9.95/day.
- Rooms must be booked by Aug. 31 to get this rate.
- 100% non-smoking hotel.
Restaurants
and attractions in Irvine
and Orange County:
- Restaurants in and around Irvine
- The Taste of Newport
food festival is being held this weekend at Fashion Island mall, a
short drive from UC Irvine. Admission is $25 and this does not
include the price of food. Live entertainment at this year's
festival (included in the price of admission) includes Smashmouth, the
Go-Go's, and Kenny Loggins.
- Orange County entertainment:
Support for the Keck Science
Meeting 2006 has been provided by the Keck
Observatory and by the
Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics of the University of
California.
Last Revised: September 18 2006
