First  Announcement


       Future Directions in High Resolution Astronomy:
      A Celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the VLBA

                      June 8 - 12, 2003
                  Socorro, New Mexico, USA

          www.aoc.nrao.edu/events/VLBA10th



In August 2003, the VLBA will mark the tenth anniversary of
its opening ceremony.  In commemoration of this event, we
are planning an international scientific meeting, to be held 
June 8 - 12, 2003, in Socorro, NM, USA, on the contributions
of the VLBA, and VLBI in general, to astronomical and other
scientific disciplines, and on the future of high resolution
observations in astronomy.  The meeting will be sponsored by
NRAO and New Mexico Tech.  Because of its proximity in time
to the IAU General Assembly, we have not sought IAU
sponsorship.

Our overall goal is to review the exciting progress of VLBI
science and technology, and where the future lies.  We will
survey the current state of scientific progress in the broad
scope of astronomical, astrophysical, and geophysical fields
to which VLBI observations have contributed.  We also wish
to discuss future frontiers for VLBI, and for other high
resolution telescopes operating across the electromagnetic
spectrum.  Finally, we will consider the technological
developments that will be necessary to support these future
directions.

The meeting will include invited reviews, and contributed
talks and posters, on the major scientific topics listed
below.  The organizers hope to emphasize both invited and
contributed talks from younger members of the community.
Anyone interested in participating is encouraged to pre-
register at the meeting website.


SCIENTIFIC TOPICS

  AGN jets
  Super-massive black holes, accretion disks, and H2O masers
  OH megamasers, starbursts and normal galaxies
  Micro-quasars and compact stellar systems
  Supernovae and pulsars
  Masers: star formation and evolved stars
  Interstellar medium & propagation effects
  Gravitational lenses
  Astrometry & geodesy
  Extragalactic distance scale
  Future VLBI instrumentation
  High angular resolution telescopes across the EM spectrum
  Future science at high angular resolution


SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

  J. Attridge (Haystack Obs.)
  J. Cordes (Cornell Univ.) 
  P. Diamond (Jodrell Bank Obs.) 
  J. Eilek (New Mexico Tech) 
  A. Fey (USNO) 
  D. Gabuzda (Univ. College Cork) 
  M. Garrett (JIVE) 
  L. Greenhill (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) 
  H. Hirabayashi (ISAS) 
  K-Y. Lo (NRAO) 
  A. Marscher (Boston Univ.) 
  K. Menten (MPIfR) 
  M. Reid (Chair) (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) 
  J. Romney (NRAO)
  A. Whitney (Haystack Obs.)


IMPORTANT DATES

    9 August 2002  First Announcement
 14 February 2003  Second Announcement
    14 March 2003  Abstract deadline for contributed talks and posters
    15 April 2003  Payment deadline for early registration
      16 May 2003  Deadline for motel reservations
      23 May 2003  Third and final mailing to registered participants
      8 June 2003  VLBA/VLA tours
      9 June 2003  First day of scientific sessions
     12 June 2003  Last day of conference


WEBSITE

The meeting website can be found at URL:

  www.aoc.nrao.edu/events/VLBA10th

Pre-registration is now available at the site.



Mark Reid       SOC Chair, Harvard-Smithsonian CfA 
Jon Romney      LOC Chair, National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Jim Ulvestad    National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Jean Eilek      New Mexico Tech