Science with the
Atacama Large Millimeter Array

The meeting Science with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array will take place on 6-8 October 1999 at the Carnegie Institution of Washington at 16th and P Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. under sponsorship of Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). This historic neo-classical auditorium is across the street from the AUI offices, just a few blocks from the White House and DuPont Circle.

This announcement is addressed to all of those who have registered, who are on one of the organizing committees, who have been invited to present a paper at the conference, or who have requested to be kept informed of the conference progress.

Accommodations
***THE ROOMS AT THE OMNI SHOREHAM WILL BE RELEASED IN ONE WEEK ON 10 SEPT. PLEASE RESERVE A ROOM IF YOU INTEND TO DO SO; THE AUI RATE IS ABOUT 2/3 THE NORMAL RATE.****

You may contact the hotel at:

Omni Shoreham Hotel

2500 Calvert Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20008

Telephone:(202)234-0700

Reservation Facsimile: (202) 756-5145

Guest Facsimile: (202) 265-7972

The hotel for the conference is the Omni Shoreham Hotel, located off Connecticut Avenue in Rock Creek Park. This is situated about 1.3 miles from the Carnegie Institution. You can either walk, or take the Metro subway one stop from Woodley Park to Dupont Circle followed by a short walk, or ride a bus. Parking near the conference center is extremely limited, while parking at the hotel is available for guests at $14 per day.

A special rate, 2/3 the normal rate, has been negotiated by AUI with the hotel. When reserving a room, please be sure to mention that you want a room within the Associated Universities, Inc. block. They may not know the name of the conference; AUI is the magic word. The number of rooms at this special rate is limited in number and subject to availability. BE SURE TO RESERVE A ROOM BEFORE 10 September 1999! Washington is very popular during October and rooms can be difficult to find.

A map is available at the meeting WWW site. The hotel is denoted by the flagged address; the conference site by the orange number '1.'

Registration
If you have not yet registered, please do so. You may do this over the Web at the site.

Over 150 persons have registered for the meeting at this time. We are planning for a meeting of 150-200 people. The auditorium will hold 400 people; the banquet is planned to seat 200. Note that for security reasons, entry to the building is through a side entrance on the right of the building as one faces it, not via the columned portico on 16th Street,

Conference posters have been distributed; contact cwhite@nrao.edu if you would like one.

The registration fee is now $95. You may register at the URL http://www.alma.nrao.edu/science/register.html. Please do so if you have not already. The list of participants is updated weekly and is available for review at: http://www.alma.nrao.edu/science/registration/participant_list.html.

On Thursday evening, 7 October, there will be a banquet at the Omni Shoreham hotel. Although AUI is underwriting much of the cost of this banquet, there is a $40 charge for attendance to defray the costs. You may pay this with your registration fee. Guests wishing to attend the banquet should be indicated and the fee adjusted accordingly. A reception including hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar precedes the banquet, which will be a sit-down dinner including wine.

Information on payment of fees may be found at: http://www.alma.nrao.edu/payment.html You may pay by bankcard, check, or wire transfer.

Meeting Format
The meeting will consist of invited talks on the main topics, which comprise a hefty portion of the science which ALMA will address:

• Investigation of galaxies near the time of their formation at very high redshift;
• Detection and study of planets around nearby stars;
• Study of star formation by, for example, high-resolution submillimeter observations of protostars, protoplanetary disks, and outflows; and
• Study of the origin, distribution and evolution of the elements and their isotopes

Posters will be displayed on boards in the reception hall outside the auditorium and remain up for the duration of the meeting, 8:00 am, 7 October through 7:00 pm, 8 October. Coffee and snacks will be provided in this area in the mornings and the afternoons. A list of poster paper titles is available at: http://www.alma.nrao.edu/science/poster_sessions.html which is also updated regularly.

The schedule for the meeting is posted at: http://www.alma.nrao.edu/science/proceedings/schedule.html

Abstracts and Proceedings
Please provide an abstract for your poster. These will be available on-line and referenced at the ADS astronomy electronic literature service. LaTeX style forms are available at the WWW site; a booklet of posters will be made available at the meeting.

for publication in the booklet. The booklet which will be made available to participants at the Conference and electronically on the Web site of the Conference about one week in advance. A copy of the Conference Abstracts will be provided to the Astrophysics Data System (ADS). These will have to be prepared in LaTeX following instructions that are on the WWW.

PASP has accepted our proposal to publish the Proceedings. This will include ten pages for invited articles and four pages for poster contributions. The deadline for submitting manuscripts is 21 December 1999. To help the editors with the preparation of the Object index, it is asked that the authors provide separately the list of individual astronomical sources discussed in their paper.

In order for these proceedings to appear as soon as possible to reflect the current status of the field, the deadline for reception of all electronic files will be :

In order to keep the registration fee low, we have not included a copy of the book in the registration fee. We will, however, take orders for the Proceedings.

The cost per volume is $46.80 for each participant, plus $6.00 shipping/handling for US or foreign SURFACE MAIL; or $9.00 Canada/Mexico AIR MAIL; or $15.00 Foreign AIR MAIL. Please note that volumes mailed SURFACE MAIL take 2 to 8 weeks to arrive, depending on destination. Typically, volumes are mailed out approximately 70 days after we receive the camera-ready hard copy. Further, the cost of the book to each participant is the same regardless of the number of pages contained therein. If a person is a nonparticipant and is not a member of the ASP, the cost of the book is $52.00.

Social Events
Congressmen are probably still in their home districts for the August recess. Please give them a call or visit.

Members of Congress, their staffers, and constituents will be invited to a reception in the House Science Committee Room at the U. S. Capitol from 5:30 to 7:30 pm on 6 October. Owing to the size of the room, this will be by INVITATION ONLY. Invitations will be mailed shortly. If you would like to introduce your representative in Congress to the ALMA project, please invite your representative and accompany him/her to the reception. Please let us know that you have done this so that we may issue an appropriate invitation. A list of Representatives on relevant committees may be found at: http://www.alma.nrao.edu/science/congress.html The Representatives and/or their staff are, of course, most welcome at the meeting.

A press conference will be held at the Carnegie Institution on the morning of 7 October to introduce the ALMA project to the media. The subjects to be covered are under development.

A reception and banquet for meeting participants will be held at the Omni-Shoreham Hotel on the evening of 7 October.

Getting to Washington
Washington D.C. is served by three major airports.

1. Dulles International Airport to the west handles many international flights, with road connections to the city. You may take a van into town.

2. National Airport lies just across the Potomac from the Mall, with convenient Metro access to the city. Metro information is available at http://www.wmata.com/ The hotel is nearest the Woodley Park/National Zoo stop on the Red Line, about 25 minutes from National Airport; change from the yellow line at Gallery Place.

3. Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport lies to the north, and has convenient rail access to the city. BWI is served by Icelandic Airways and by Southwest Airlines, along with most major airlines, and frequently boasts the most reasonably priced fares. From BWI, take the Penn Line of MARC south to Washington, where you can travel to Union Station for a connection to METRO, the Washington subway system. The Red line stops at Union Station and runs to the Woodley Park stop near the hotel. The MARC trains run generally every 40 minutes or so; the schedule is at: http://www.mtamaryland.com/marc/marc_sch_penn_s.htm MARC does not operate on weekends or on Colmbus Day (11 Oct). There are van shuttle services to the city also.

Amtrak runs trains into Union Station.