The Board on Physics and Astronomy is the Academies' principal forum for issues connected with the fields of physics and astronomy.

Astro 2010 Decadal Survey is Beginning--Nominations for Committee and Panel Membership Needed The Board on Physics and Astronomy and the Space Studies Board are renewing their call for nominations of candidates for survey committee and panel members from the community. To make your contribution to that process, please use the survey suggestions web form. You may also submit suggestions via e-mail to astro2010@nas.edu. If you use email, please include a few sentences about the candidate’s background and what the person would bring to the survey. Please submit your suggestions for committee and panel members as soon as possible, the cut off dates are as follows: Chair of the survey committee — appointment process is underway Survey Committee membership — September 2, 2008 Sub-panel membership — October 15, 2008 *These cut off dates are subject to change as the appointment process progresses. Please check back here for updates. Appointment of the survey committee will follow after a chair is in place. The survey committee will work out the panel structure at its first meeting. Panel chairs as well as committee and panel members will be drawn from the pool of nominations.

September 2008 After a period of dormancy during the writing of the AMO 2010 report, Controlling the Quantum World, the Committee on Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Sciences is now being reestablished and the NRC is currently considering the appointment of members! Suggestions for membership can be sent to bpa@nas.edu before September 19, 2008. The deadline for membership nominations for the upcoming Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey Committee has been extended to September 2, 2008. Please use the web form to submit your nominations. Survey Suggestion web form August 2008 The Committee on Understanding the Impact of Selling the U.S. Helium Reserve (UISHR) held its second committee meeting on August 20-22, 2008 at the Keck Center of The National Academies in Washington, DC. The summer 2008 newsletter, Issues in Physics and Astronomy, has been released! July 2008 On July 29, the Committee to Review U.S. ITER Science Participation Planning Process (CRISPPP) completed the prepublication version of its final report, “A Review of the DOE Plan for U.S. Fusion Community Participation in the ITER Program,” which is available for free download at the National Academies Press website. Nominations for chair of the upcoming Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey closed on July 9, 2008. The Research at the Intersection of the Physical and Life Sciences (RIPLS) Committee held its fourth meeting on July 29-31, 2008 at the University of California at Berkeley, in Berkeley, CA. PAST NEWS... The Summer 2008 edition of the BPA newsletter has been released!				Board Membership
				Science & Technology Policy Graduate Fellowship at the BPA
				BPA Strategy
				BPA Newsletter
				BPA Meeting Schedule and Agendas:
				April 23-24, 2010		November 6-7, 2010
				April 24-25, 2009		November 7-8, 2009
				April 25-26, 2008		November 1-2, 2008
				April 27-28, 2007		November 3-4, 2007
				April 21-22, 2006		November 4-5, 2006
				April 29-30, 2005		November 6-7, 2005
				Study Committees Home pages for BPA study committees.
				Reports Publications of the BPA and its committees
				Upcoming meetings:
				Solid State Sciences			October 23-24, 2008
				BPA			November 1-2, 2008
				Helium			November 3-5, 2008
				2008 Reports
				A Review of the DOE Plan for U.S. Fusion Community Participation in the ITER Program (July 2008, prepublication version)
				Inspired by Biology: From Molecules to Materials to Machines (June 2008)
				2007 Reports:
				Handbook of Frequency Allocations and Spectrum Protection for Scientific Uses (March 2007)
				Scientific Opportunities with a Rare-Isotope Facility in the United States (April 2007)
				Controlling the Quantum World: The Science of Atoms, Molecules, and Photons (May 2007)
				The National Science Foundation's Materials Research Science and Engineering Center Program: Looking Back, Moving Forward (October 2007)
				Plasma Science: Advancing Knowledge in the National Interest (December 2007)
				Condensed-Matter and Materials Physics: The Science of the World Around Us (December 2007)
				NASA's Beyond Einstein Program: An Architecture for Implementation (December 2007)
				Past BPA Reports
				American Physical Society
				American Astronomical Society
				Office of Science and Technology Policy
				National Science Foundation
				Department of Energy
				DOE Office of Science
				National Aeronautics and Space Administration