We have scheduled a 1-day meeting for Friday, 13 May 2005 at the University of Tennessee. The primary purposes of the meeting (see agenda) are to:

(1)  to let you know how the national effort (www.NEONInc.org) and the regional consortium activities (www.COREONEON.org) are progressing,

(2) to learn a little more about ongoing large-scale monitoring activities in our region that we may have missed in our meeting last summer,

(3) to develop ideas on key regional issues that NEON might address.

(4) to discuss the content and implications of the Latest NEON Design Consortium Committee Reports, and

(5) to discuss plans for development of a regional NEON observatory.

Support for travel

We have received a small grant from COREO, and matching funds from the University of Tennessee, to help defray some of the travel costs for a limited number of participants who have to fly or drive more than about 4 hours.  We can cover portions of airfare and hotel stays for those folks, to a maximum of $400.  People interested in taking advantage of this opportunity should contact Jake Weltzin (jweltzin@utk.edu) as soon as possible.  Requests for travel support will be considered as they are received, but because of limited funds, we’ll need to keep track of the cumulative expected reimbursement and may not be able to honor all requests.  We have arranged a block of rooms (at the Radisson Summit Hill Knoxville) for Thursday and Friday nights at a discount rate ($70 + tax); please coordinate with Jake.

Particulars

Please let Jake know by May 9 if you will be attending the meeting so we can arrange for refreshments, etc. Please feel free to forward this email on to anyone who might be interested.  If you are not on this distribution list and want to be added, please let me know.