Article
Segments News Items
02.24.2012
TMT Permit Challenge Hearings Concluded
The TMT Hawaii Conservation District Use Permit contested case hearings were completed on September 30, 2011. Project Manager Gary Sanders and TMT Board Member and astronomer Mike Bolte were among the witnesses who provided written and oral testimony during the seven days of hearings over a six-week period. It ended with closing arguments from the University of Hawaii legal team and from the six parties who have petitioned for revocation of the permit.
All parties have provided their Statement of Fact and Conclusions of Law, and the Hearing Officer will review these and provide his recommendations to the State of Hawaii Bureau of Land and National Resources (BLNR). The BLNR will take up the recommendations at a public meeting, likely to be early in 2012.
TMT Scientists Honored
On December 19, 2011 the Franklin Institute announced that TMT Project Scientist Jerry Nelson will be awarded the 2012 Franklin Institute Award in Electrical Engineering. Some of the most influential names in science and technology over the two centuries have been Franklin Institute Award laureates. The list includes Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, Jacques Cousteau, Marie and Pierre Curie, Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Orville Wright, Stephen Hawking, and Francis Crick and James Watson. Many awardees have also been recipients of the Nobel Prize.
Nelson, along with other winners, will travel to Philadelphia in April 2012 for a weeklong series of events and activities aimed at familiarizing students and the community with the laureates’ remarkable accomplishments.
Masanori Iye, the director of the TMT project office at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), received two accolades recently. He was been awarded the prestigious 2010 Toray Science and Technology Prize. The prize recipients were announced in 2010, but the earthquake and tsunami disaster that struck Japan in March 2011 postponed the ceremony.
On November 15, 2011, Dr. Masanori Iye was honored again with the Medal with Purple Ribbon. This honor was given to him not only for his excellence in leading cutting-edge research in astronomy but also for his numerous contributions to the academic world during his lengthy career.
High School Robotics Team Honors TMT’s Sandra Dawson
The Waiakea High School robotics club has honored Sandra Dawson, the Thirty Meter Telescope Manager for Hawaii Community Relations, by giving her a medal that the team had won in a recent robotics contest.
Waiakea was awarded the Engineering Inspiration Award at the FIRST (For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) regional contest held in Oahu in March 2011 for the team’s community outreach and success.
In turn, Waiakea thought it appropriate to pass the medal on to Dawson, who has coordinated TMT’s funding for Waiakea’s robotics program, as well as other student robotics clubs on the Big Island.
The award was bestowed upon Dawson at an April 2011 TMT mahalo reception for Hawaii Island supporters.
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Meeting, Honolulu 2011 and TMT
As an emerging partnership of Asia Pacific teams in India, China, Japan, Canada and California, TMT participated in the events surrounding the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Meeting in Honolulu, November 7-13, 2011.
The photo shows some of the members of the TMT international collaboration including Suijian Xue of the National Astronomical Observatory of China, Nick Kaiser (our neighbor from the Institute of Astronomy exhibit), Sandra Dawson, Ray Carlberg representing the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy (ACURA), TMT Project Manager Gary Sanders, Director Michael Bolte of the University of California Observatories, Mrs. Dilling Yang, Mrs. Judy Yudoff , University of California President Mark Yudoff, and TMT Board Chair and University of California Santa Barbara Chancellor Henry Yang.
Before APEC, TMT also presented to three Chinese media groups. TMT had an exhibit at the Hawaii Convention Center during the summit meetings. Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie also recognized TMT and astronomy in Hawaii at a reception held parallel to APEC. US Senator Daniel Inouye addressed the reception and reiterated his support for TMT.
