SMD Community Town Hall Meetings

On December 4, 2024, at 3 PM Eastern Time, NASA’s Planetary Science Division (PSD) Research and Analysis (R&A) Programs will host a webinar to discuss the review of the divisions No Due Date (NoDD) experiment.

ROSES-23 completed the third full year of the No Due Date experiment in select Planetary Science Division Programs. We have conducted a review of this program to inform the future use of NoDD. This townhall is our opportunity to share this information with the Planetary Science Community. We will review the metrics that were established when NoDD was implemented, the results of the review in meeting these metrics, and our plan for utilization of NoDD in ROSES-25 (e.g., continue, discontinue, or expand).

In advance of and during the webinar, questions may be submitted and upvoted on at: 
https://nasa.cnf.io/sessions/kzqs/#!/dashboard

Join link:
https://nasaevents.webex.com/nasaevents/j.php?MTID=m370126ce694dbbb7054173ea2de7bf5e

Webinar number:
2820 963 2742

Webinar password:
U2CwhUm5Ei8 (82294865 when dialing from a phone or video system)

Join by phone
+1-415-527-5035 United States Toll
+1-312-500-3163 United States Toll (Chicago)

Access code: 282 096 32742

Questions regarding this Planetary Town Hall Meeting may be directed to Kathleen Vander Kaaden at kathleen.e.vanderkaaden@nasa.gov

NASA’s Astrophysics Division (APD) hosted a virtual community Town Hall on Wednesday, October 23, 2024. Astrophysics Division Director Dr. Mark Clampin provided an update on current Astrophysics Division activities of interest to the community and answered questions submitted through the IO tool.

If you have any questions about the virtual town hall meeting, please contact David Morris at david.c.morris@nasa.gov.

NASA’s Heliophysics Division hosted a virtual Town Hall on October 23, 2024, to discuss Division updates, upcoming launches, mission milestones, Senior Review updates, and Solar Maximum. These discussion topics were selected based on current NASA activities and recent community input.

In addition, a question-and-answer session was held using upvoted questions from the community using the IO link shared before the meeting. This Town Hall had over 260 community participants and over 1,640 upvotes on questions leading up to the event. 

HPD Town Hall Slides – October 23, 2024
Watch the October 23, 2024 HPD Town Hall (YouTube)

On October 15, 2024, at 3 PM Eastern Time, NASA’s Planetary Science Division (PSD) hosted a webinar to discuss changes made to select upcoming Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science (ROSES)-24 programs and anticipated program changes for ROSES-25. 

The following topics were included in this discussion: 1) General overview for broad scale changes, 2) Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) including requirements for ROSES-24 and implementation of Dual Anonymous Peer Review (DAPR), 3) Merging of Emerging Worlds (EW), Solar System Workings (SSW), Solar System Observations (SSO) into a single program for ROSES-25, 4) Changes to Astrobiology Programs including scope modification of Habitable Worlds (HW), Exobiology (Exo), and Exoplanet Research Programs (XRP). 

Questions regarding this announcement may be directed to Kathleen Vander Kaaden at kathleen.e.vanderkaaden@nasa.gov.

NOTICE: A link to the slides from Dr. Kathleen Vander Kaaden’s 10/15 Planetary Science Research Programs Town Hall may be found at https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/planetary-science-presentations/

An informational webinar about the NASA Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Pilot was held on Tuesday, August 6, 2024. The focus of the webinar was: (1) provide an overview of the NASA I-Corps Pilot, (2) describe the proposal process and requirements, and (3) allow for webinar attendees to submit questions. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions to the NASA I-Corps Pilot Point of Contact and the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps Program Director, Dr. Ruth Shuman.

See www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/nasa-innovation-corps-pilot/ for general information about the NASA I-Corps Pilot.

Questions regarding the webinar, or the NASA I-Corps Pilot, may be directed to Maggie Yancey at margaret.a.yancey@nasa.gov. Additionally, to request other reasonable accommodations for the webinar, please email Maggie Yancey.

NASA anticipates that future webinars will occur in December 2024 and February 2025. In each case, connect information will be posted under other documents on the NSPIRES page for ROSES-24 F.16  Innovation Corps Pilot.

The Science Mission Directorate held a virtual community townhall on Thursday, June 20, 2023 to discuss two ROSES-2024 program elements: F.8 Supplements for Open-Source Science (SOSS) and F.14 High Priority Open-Source Science (HPOSS). Both program elements are open for ROSES-2024 with no fixed due date, and submitted proposals will be evaluated on a rolling basis. The F.8 and F.14 opportunities for ROSES-2024 will be open until March 28, 2025. 

Questions regarding this townhall or the program elements may be directed to HQ-SMD-CSDO-ROSES@mail.nasa.gov.

Town Hall Slides - June 20, 2024

Watch the June 20, 2024 Town Hall (YouTube)

NASA’s Heliophysics Division hosted a virtual Town Hall on June 18, 2024, to discuss Division updates, Heliophysics budget, Heliophysics System Observatory (HSO), and Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC) and Dynamical Neutral Atmosphere-Ionosphere Coupling (DYNAMIC). These discussion topics were selected based on current NASA activities and recent community input.

In addition, a question-and-answer session was held using upvoted questions from the community using the IO link shared before the meeting. This Town Hall had over 200 community participants and over 220 upvotes on questions leading up to the event. 

HPD Town Hall Slides – June 18, 2024

Watch the June 18, 2024 HPD Town Hall (YouTube)

NASA hosted a virtual Town Hall to provide parties interested in A.25 Earth Surface and Interior (ESI) with information about Dual Anonymous Peer Review (DAPR). Visit https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/dual-anonymous-peer-review/ for an overview of the Science Mission Directorate’s DAPR processes.

This is the first time that the ESI program proposals will be evaluated using DAPR, and this session provided information about the process and guidance to proposers for how best to anonymize their proposals. 

The proposal due date of June 21, 2024, remains unchanged. Questions may be directed to Benjamin R. Phillips at ben.phillips@nasa.gov

NASA’s Planetary Science Division (PSD) hosted a webinar to discuss the Planetary Research Program, including upcoming changes, some data on programs to date, and plans to reduce the barrier to proposing for the planetary research community. 

A focus of this Town Hall was to discuss requirements for proposals submitted under the Dual Anonymous Peer Review (DAPR) process, which will be the default for all proposals submitted to the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) under ROSES-2025 (with rare exceptions). In DAPR, not only are proposers unaware of the identity of reviewers, but the reviewers do not have explicit knowledge of the proposing teams and institutions during the scientific evaluation of the proposal. This portion of the Town Hall will discuss the motivation for DAPR and how SMD has used it to date, the process of DAPR reviews, and tips on how to be compliant with DAPR submissions.   

Additionally, we discussed some analytics for our Planetary Research programs and potential future ways of soliciting proposals for Planetary Research, with the goal of increasing accessibility and decreasing unnecessary barriers for proposing to Planetary Research programs.  

For more information on dual-anonymous peer review, please visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/dual-anonymous-peer-review

NASA Headquarters Science Mission Directorate (SMD) hosted a virtual town hall on Monday, April 15, 2024. This event discussed the agency’s response to the 2023 Mars Sample Return (MSR) Independent Review Board report available at https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-sample-return/nasa-releases-independent-reviews-mars-sample-return-report/. 

Watch the April 15, 2024 SMD Community Town Hall (YouTube)

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate held a Budget Town Hall meeting with Associate Administrator for Science Nicky Fox and her leadership team at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, March 13, 2024.

SMD Budget Town Hall Slides - March 13, 2024

Watch the March 13, 2024 SMD Budget Town Hall (YouTube)

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Inclusion Plan Community of Practice held a webinar to discuss requirements for and evaluation of Inclusion Plans in ROSES-2024. Inclusion, defined as the full participation, belonging, and contribution of organizations and individuals, is a core NASA value and SMD has been piloting the addition of Inclusion Plans for some program elements in Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES). At their core, Inclusion Plans are designed to raise awareness of barriers to creating and sustaining positive, inclusive working environments and to get proposers actively thinking about ways to foster diverse and inclusive practices for their research and mission teams.

Starting in ROSES-2023, Inclusion Plan requirements were standardized for all participating program elements. Beginning in ROSES-2024, the evaluation processes for these plans has also been standardized. The webinar (1) discussed the motivation and goals of Inclusion Plans, (2) described Inclusion Plan requirements and how they differ from previous years, and (3) discussed how Inclusion Plans will be evaluated.

For more resources for Inclusion Plans, please visit: https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/inclusion

Watch the February 20, 2024 Inclusion Plan Requirements Town Hall

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate held their quarterly community town hall meeting with Associate Administrator for Science Nicky Fox and her leadership team at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, January 31, 2024.

Watch the January 31, 2024 SMD Quarterly Town Hall Meeting (YouTube)

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate held the quarterly community town hall meeting with Associate Administrator for Science Nicky Fox and her leadership team.

Watch the October 19, 2023 Quarterly SMD Community Town Hall (YouTube)

The Heliophysics Town Hall consisted of Division presentations on a focused set of topics and an open question and answer session. The discussion topics were selected based on current NASA activities and recent community input. They include but are not limited to Division Staffing, Open Science at NASA, State of the Heliophysics System Observatory (including Senior Review outcomes), and the Heliophysics Big Year and Eclipse activities.

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate held the quarterly community town hall meeting with Associate Administrator for Science Nicky Fox and her leadership team. Members of SMD, the science community, academia, the media, and the public were invited to participate.

SMD Community Town Hall Slides - July 27, 2023

Watch the July 27, 2023 Quarterly SMD Community Town Hall (YouTube)

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate will held a follow-on community town hall question and answer session focused on the FY24 budget with Associate Administrator for Science Nicky Fox and her leadership team at 1:00 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, Members of SMD, the science community, academia, the media, and the public are invited to participate.

Watch the April 6, 2023 Follow-on SMD Budget Community Town Hall - Question and Answer Session (YouTube)

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate held a community town hall meeting focused on the FY24 budget with Associate Administrator for Science Nicky Fox and her leadership team.

SMD Budget Community Town Hall Slides - March 23, 2023

Watch on the March 23, 2023 Budget Community Town Hall (YouTube)

The Heliophysics Town Hall started with a division update from Dr. Nicola Fox. It included discussions on current activities of interest to the community and an open question and answer session. The update and discussions include but are not limited to Heliophysics budget, GDC selections, the Heliophysics Big Year, and a Research and Analysis (R&A) update.

Heliophysics Division Town Hall Slides - March 6, 2023

Watch the March 6, 2023 Town Hall (YouTube)

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate held a community town hall meeting with Acting Associate Administrator for Science Sandra Connelly and her leadership team to discuss NASA’s science program accomplishments and upcoming activities in the new year.

SMD Quarterly Community Town Hall - January 18, 2023

Watch the January 18, 2023 SMD Quarterly Community Town Hall (YouTube)

SMD hosted a community town hall to discuss the findings and recommendations of a report by the Psyche mission independent review board. The board, initiated by NASA and JPL in July 2022, examined the causes of the Psyche mission missing its planned launch opportunity this year.

Full Report: Psyche Independent Review Board Report and NASA Response

Watch the Psyche Mission Town Hall (YouTube)

The Heliophysics Town Hall started with a division update from Dr. Nicola Fox. It included discussions on current activities of interest to the community and an open question and answer session. The update and discussions include but are not limited to the Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC) mission, including the GDC Independent Review Board report, which will soon be posted here, the Dynamical Neutral Atmosphere-Ionosphere Coupling mission, and a Research and Analysis update.

Heliophysics Division Town Hall Slides - October 24, 2022

Watch the October 24, 2022 Town Hall (YouTube)

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate will hold a community town hall on the NASA Science Career Path Tool at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Thursday, October 20. This town hall will be focused on the Science Career Path Tool, an interactive online tool that features five distinct science career tracks and summarizes the common roles across the NASA science workforce. The tool can assist scientists, managers, students, and prospective employees to NASA in their awareness of career opportunities, help plan and navigate careers, and determine training and development needs to better prepare them for different roles.

Science Community Town Hall Slides - October 20, 2022

Watch the October 20, 2022 Town Hall (YouTube)

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate held a community town hall meeting with Associate Administrator for Science Thomas H. Zurbuchen and his leadership team on Thursday, October 6 to discuss updates to NASA’s science program and share the current status of NASA activities. Members of SMD, the science community, academia, the media, and the public were invited to participate.

SMD Community Town Hall Slides - October 6, 2022

Watch the October 6, 2022 Town Hall (YouTube)

Two virtual town hall meetings on the implementation of dual-anonymous peer review for A.32 ICESat2 occurred on June 15 and September 12. The information below has also been added to A.32 ICESat2 as Section 6.1. New text is in bold. The NOI and proposal due dates remain unchanged. See https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/dual-anonymous-peer-review for general information about DAPR.

The first ICESat2 town hall was held on Wednesday June 15 at 12 pm Eastern Time, and the second on Monday September 12 at 3pm Eastern Time. A recording of one of the town halls and slides will be provided online prior to the proposal deadline.

The town halls: (1) discussed the motivation for switching to dual-anonymous peer review, (2) explained how dual-anonymous peer reviews work, and (3) described how to write proposals that are compatible with dual-anonymous peer review. Attendees had the opportunity to anonymously ask questions to the panelists. Attendance at the town hall was anonymous and your name wasn't visible to other attendees. The Q&A portal is: https://nasa.cnf.io/sessions/hyb3/.

NASA’s Planetary Science Division (PSD) held a virtual community townhall Thursday, August 18^th, 2022, from 2 to 4 p.m. (Eastern). This townhall was a forum for Dr. Lori Glaze, PSD Director, to provide the agency’s initial public response to the NASEM Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023–2032. Public questions were addressed at the end of the presentation.

The townhall slides and recording are posted here and at: https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/documents.

Initial (90-day) response to the 2023–2032 Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey Public Town Hall Slides

Watch the August 18, 2022 Town Hall (YouTube)

The Science Mission Directorate held a community town hall meeting with Associate Administrator for Science Thomas H. Zurbuchen and his leadership team to discuss updates to NASA’s science program and share current status of NASA activities.

Download the presentation here.
Watch the August 17, 2022 Town Hall (YouTube)

As NASA’s Earth Science Division (ESD) moves into the implementation of the Decadal Survey recommendations with development of the Earth System Observatory, ESD leadership will regularly update the community on these activities, the current Program of Record, and other Earth science news in a series of ESD Community Forums. This meeting was virtual-only via WebEx. For more information please visit https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/esd-community-forum.

The Science Mission Directorate held a community town hall meeting with Associate Administrator for Science Thomas H. Zurbuchen and his leadership team to discuss updates to NASA’s science program and share current status of NASA activities.

SMD Community Town Hall Slides - April 19, 2022

Watch the April 19, 2022 Town Hall (YouTube)

Though not SMD town hall meetings, we thought you might be interested in the meetings of Space Studies Board committees of the National Academies. All meetings were virtual. For more information, see https://www.nationalacademies.org/ssb/space-studies-board.

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate held a community town hall meeting with Associate Administrator for Science Thomas Zurbuchen and the leadership team to discuss updates to NASA’s science program and the current status of NASA activities.

SMD Community Town Hall Slides - February 8, 2022

Watch the February 8, 2022 Town Hall (YouTube)

Many Astrophysics Division activities originally scheduled for the now cancelled AAS239 meeting will occur virtually. See https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/events-at-aas239.

The annual briefing for the NASA Heliophysics Living With a Star (LWS) program that would normally be held during the Fall AGU meeting took place as a Webex session on January 19, 2022.

The agenda for the Town Hall is:

The NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) has released SPD-41: Scientific Information policy for the Science Mission Directorate along with a Request for Information (RFI) about changes and implementation of this policy. To help provide further information about the policy and answer questions from the community, NASA SMD hosted a townhall on January 26, 2022.

The Q&A portal is: https://nasa.cnf.io/sessions/n7tz/

As NASA's Earth Science Division (ESD) moves into the implementation of the Decadal Survey recommendations with development of the Earth System Observatory, ESD leadership will regularly update the community on these activities, the current Program of Record, and other Earth science news in a series of ESD Community Forums. For more information see https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/esd-community-forum.

NASA's Science Mission Directorate held a community town hall meeting with Associate Administrator for Science Thomas H. Zurbuchen and his leadership team to discuss updates to NASA's science program and share the current status of NASA activities.

SMD Community Town Hall Slides - October 18, 2021

Watch the October 18, 2021 Quarterly Town Hall (YouTube)

Previous Town Hall Meetings