yet more on NASA conference funding

NASA is putting together a memo giving guidance on conference funding and travel under the 2009 fiscal year budget.
University scientists may be allowed to travel on NASA funds, when all is clear.

This is from SARA:

"The good news is that that folks who have grants (i.e., those at universities) and post-doctoral fellows and other student fellowships will almost certainly be exempt. "

We can hope, since the intent of the law would seem to be such.
The letter of the law is unclear on this, to my non-lawyer reading, and could well be interpreted to cap conference travel on NASA funds by scientists who have NASA grants. Certainly some grant officers are asking people to at least get permission before spending any '09 funds on conference travel.

What is very clear, is that NASA will not sponsor any conference in whole or part in '09. What funding they are permitted to spend will go on civil servant travel to meetings, and that will be much reduced. As written, the rationalization needed and paperwork associated with any NASA funding of conference travel is such that is it effectively impossible to get the proposal through. I doubt any program manager will try unless it is a time critical conference.
Oh, and no call for conference support in ROSES '09 round, given declared Congressional intent.

Civil servant conference travel is clearly capped at a level that is less than 1/3 of '08 level of attendance.
It is possible, but unclear, that the restriction covers indirect NASA employees like JPL and APL staff, and possibly also STSCI and IPAC and SAO etc.
Ouch.

We'll get definitive guidance eventually. In the meantime travel will probably be overcut and some excess fund floating around in late summer '09.

No word from AAS on this, don't know if it is below their radar or they are holding their breath and hoping it will all work out ok.
AAS meeting in january could be badly impacted.