In strongly recommending the establishment of university instrumentation laboratories, the LRPP comments: University groups would be an ideal way of establishing closer connections with NRC and CSA in creating widely-based expertise in the art of building front-line instruments for ground and space-based observatories...They would act as critical training grounds for talented young astronomers interested in designing and building instrumentation.''
Dedicated Astronomical Instrumention Specialists would give us the capability to engage closely in developing innovative instrumentation for the ground and space-based facilities in which Canada is about to invest in a major way (§ 2.1). This is seen as essential to maintaining a leadership role in designing and building the ambitious new international facilities, and our Astronomical Instrumention Specialists are intended to target such major observatories as Gemini, ALMA, and NGST. These are on a much more ambitious scale than our recent instrumentation efforts for DDO and related telescopes and require the focussed efforts of such specialists. Innovative instrumentation is also the vehicle to the planned collaborative major investment in a private facility (§ 2.5.5).
Another key driver for these positions is our graduate students, who are not being trained with first hand experience in this field at present in spite of the very high demand and jobs waiting for Ph.D. graduates. Our staffing plan is therefore in full accord with national priorities and also with the planned scope of the major DDIAA initiative (§ 2.7). We feel confident that we can attract strong workers in this field and with that the associated graduate students. These faculty would contribute unique talent to the upper year major and specialist programs, and in the graduate core curriculum.