Spitzer Documentation & Tools
SSC Advisory Panels and Reports

The Spitzer Science Center (SSC) Advisory Panels:

SSC Oversight Committee (SSCOC)
Formed in 1998 and formally chartered to provide independent advice to the Spitzer Science Center, this group provided a high-level assessment of the strategic policies implemented by the SSC. The Oversight Committee met semi-annually.

The SSCOC is an independent advisory group consisting of three Caltech professorial faculty and six external representatives of the astronomical community. The Caltech Division Chair for Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy (PMA) and the NASA Spitzer Program Scientist jointly make the appointments to the committee.

The SSCOC provided an independent assessment of the SSC via reports to:

  1. the PMA (Physics/Math/Astronomy) Division Chair,
  2. the Director of JPL's Physics and Astronomy Directorate, and
  3. the NASA Spitzer Program Scientist.

The SSCOC also provided copies of its reports to the SSC Director, the NASA Spitzer Program Executive, the Spitzer Project Manager, and the Spitzer Project Scientist.

SSCOC Charter
The SSCOC has the charge to oversee the Spitzer Science Center (SSC) in the following matters:

  • Assess the performance of the SSC in discharging its responsibilities in preparing and conducting Spitzer operations on behalf of the entire astronomical community.
  • Evaluate the SSC's management structure and policies to determine if they are responsive to the needs of the Spitzer community and NASA. In addition, the Caltech members will provide oversight that these policies are consistent with Caltech academic functions and resources.
  • Address issues regarding the discharge of responsibilities that Caltech has toward the SSC to ensure that it is fulfilling its institutional obligations to the Spitzer Project and to NASA.
  • Assess the quality of the scientific staff and the scientific environment at the SSC. These are essential to ensuring the scientific legacy of Spitzer.

SSCOC Members
SSCOC members have included:

  • L. Allen
  • G. Blake
  • M. Brown
  • J. Cohen
  • D. Deming
  • A. Dey
  • G. Djorgovski
  • M. Donahue
  • R. Ellis
  • A. Goodman
  • F. Harrison
  • M. Hauser (chair)
  • L. Hillenbrand
  • D. Hogg
  • E. Kirby
  • H. Knutson
  • N. Lewis
  • C. Lisse (chair)
  • G. Melnick
  • M. Mountain
  • L. Mundy
  • T. Readhead
  • N. Scoville
  • S. Seager
  • M. Shull
  • C. Steidel
  • S. Strom
  • C. Telesco
  • A. Tokunaga
  • L. Trafton

Spitzer Science Users Panel (SUP)
Also formed in 1998 and formally chartered to provide independent advice to the Spitzer Science Center, this group provided the SSC with independent external advice on tactical and technical matters pertaining to matters affecting the Spitzer user community. The SUP met semi-annually.

The Spitzer Science Users Panel (SUP) provided independent external advice to the Spitzer Science Center. Before launch, the SUP commented on the philosophy, approach and details of planned user interfaces, both programmatic (e.g., Calls for Proposals, data awards process), and technical (e.g., software tools, available functionality of observing modes, plans for data products and calibration, archive access and data analysis tools). After launch in August 2003, the SUP assessed the quality of services offered by the SSC to users, again in terms of programmatic and technical interfaces.

At all times through Spitzer's development and operations phases, the SUP served as advocates for the user community in context of SSC planning and priority setting. Moreover, the panel commented to the SSC on policies affecting users, including science utilization policies, Spitzer data analysis awards administration, and SSC science staffing and scientific culture.

The Spitzer SUP provided reports to the SSC Director's Office, with copies provided to the Spitzer Program Scientist at NASA HQ, the Project Scientist, and to the Chair of the SSC Oversight Committee (SSCOC).

SUP Reports
The SUP Reports archived below were submitted by the Panel Chair to the SSC following in-person meetings held at the SSC. [Meetings that took place via teleconference focused primarily on Project status reports.] The contents of these Reports reflect the development state of the SSC and the Project at the time of the meeting. Some of the material facts contained in these Reports may have been superseded since the time the Report was filed.

SUP 1 - 1998 Nov 2-3 Report (PDF, 70 KB)
SUP 2 - 1999 May 10-11Report (PDF, 79 KB)
SUP 3 telecon - no report
SUP 4 - 2000 Mar 16-17Report (PDF, 66 KB)
SUP 5 telecon - no report
SUP 6 - 2000 Nov 13-14Report (PDF, 73 KB)
SUP 7 telecon - no report
SUP 8 - 2001 May 14-15Report (PDF, 34 KB)
SUP 9 - 2001 Nov 1-2Report (PDF, 37 KB) - SSC Response (PDF, 938 KB)
SUP 10 - 2002 May 1-2Report (PDF, 15 KB) - SSC Response (PDF, 293 KB)
SUP 11 - 2002 Nov 4-5Report (PDF, 10 KB) - SSC Response (PDF, 296 KB)
SUP 12 telecon - no report
SUP 13 - 2004 Mar 30-31Report (PDF, 19 KB) - SSC Response (PDF, 2.5 MB)
SUP 14 - 2004 Sep 28-29Report (PDF, 30 KB) - SSC Response (PDF, 348 KB)
SUP 15 - 2005 Mar 31-Apr 1Report (PDF, 37 KB) - SSC Response (PDF, 195 KB)
SUP 16 - 2006 Oct 20-21Report (PDF, 14 KB) - SSC Response (PDF, 965 KB)
SUP 17 - 2006 May 2-3Report (PDF, 31 KB) - SSC Response (PDF, 834 KB)
SUP 18 - 2006 Nov 29-30Report (PDF, 38 KB) - SSC Response (PDF, 472 KB)
SUP 19 - 2007 Mar 4-5Report (PDF, 31 KB) - SSC Response (PDF, 171 KB)
SUP 20 - 2007 Sep 19-20Report (PDF, 33 KB)
SUP 21 telecon - no report
SUP 22 - 2008 Nov 13-14Report (PDF, 33 KB) - SSC Response (PDF, 652 KB)
SUP 23 - 2009 Sep 22-23Report (PDF, 34 KB) - SSC Response (PDF, 1.57 MB)
SUP 24 - 2010 Jun 1-2
SUP 25 - 2010 Oct 29Report (PDF, 29 KB)
SUP 26 - 2011 May 9-10Report (PDF, 48 KB)
SUP 27 - 2011 Sep 23telecon - no report
SUP 28 - 2012 May 24-25
SUP 29 - 2012 Oct 10telecon - no report
SUP 30 - 2013 May 22-23Report (PDF, 72 KB)
SUP 31 - 2013 Oct 30telecon - no report
SUP 32 - 2014 Jul 17-18
SUP 33 - 2015 Jan 21telecon - no report
SUP 34 - 2015 Oct 7-8
SUP 35 - 2016 Jul 13telecon - no report
SUP 36 - 2016 Feb 10
SUP 37 - 2017 Aug 30telecon - no report
SUP 38 - 2018 Jun 28-29 Report (PDF, 265 KB)

SUP Members
Members, including the Chair, serve 2-4 year terms on the committee. The terms are staggered so as to ensure both continuity and renewal.

These mission-specific representatives were Advisors to the SUP:

  • Aneta Siemiginowska (Chandra X-ray Observatory/Chandra X-ray Observatory Science Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory)
  • Brad Whitmore (Hubble Space Telescope/Space Telescope Science Institute)

The SUP has included the following members:

  • M. A'Hearn (Nov 98 - May 01)
  • P. Barmby (Mar 04 - Mar 07)
  • M. Brodwin (2012-2020)
  • N. Calvet (Mar 05 - Sept 07)
  • D. Calzetti (May 01 - Sep 04) (Legacy Team)
  • J. Carpenter (2007-2012)
  • C. Cesarsky (Nov 98 - Nov 01) (ISO advisor)
  • D. Clemens (May 01 - Sep 04) (Legacy Team)
  • D. Dragomir (2017-2020)
  • J. Emery (2015-2020)
  • J. Frogel (Nov 98 - May 01)
  • J. Gallagher
  • R. Gehrz (Nov 98 - Nov 01)
  • J. Gizis (2007-2012)
  • J. Graham (Sept 04 - Mar 07)
  • M. Greenhouse (Nov 98 - May 02)
  • D. Hines (Oct 05 - Apr 08)
  • B. Jannuzi (Nov 98 - Mar 04)
  • G. Knapp
  • H. Knutson (2011-2012)
  • A. Kraus (2012-2020)
  • R. Kron (Mar 04 - Nov 06)
  • G. Lagache
  • N. Lewis (2012-2017)
  • C. Lisse (Mar 05 - Apr 08)
  • K. Long (Nov 98 - Sep 04) (STScI advisor)
  • M. Marley (2008 - 2013)
  • S. Malhotra (2014-2020)
  • S. Metchev (2014-2020)
  • L. Mundy (Mar 05) (Legacy Team)
  • K. Noll (May 01 - Sep 04)
  • A. Quillen (2008 - 2010)
  • M. Rieke (May 02 - Oct 05) (GTO)
  • T. Roellig (2007 - 2013)
  • JD Smith (2008 - 2013)
  • S. Strom (Nov 98 - Mar 04) (Chair)
  • M. Skrutskie (2002-2020) (Chair)
  • E. Sturm (Sept 04 - Mar 07)
  • D. Weedman (Nov 98 - Dec 03) (GTO)
  • M. Werner (1998-2020), ex officio
  • B. Wilkes (Nov 98 - Mar 04) (CXC advisor)
  • C. Woodward (Nov 98 - May 02)

Spitzer Science Working Group (SWG)
In existence since the mid-1980s, this group provided advice to the Project Office at JPL on all matters pertaining to Spitzer, ranging from technical design considerations to the science utilization of the Observatory. The SWG was very active prior to launch but, given the smooth performance of Spitzer following launch, it has not been necessary to convene an SWG meeting. The SWG is chaired by Michael W. Werner (JPL), the Spitzer Project Scientist.

The SWG members - with the instrument co-I's included - make up the Spitzer GTOs.

SWG - 1984 (JPG)
SWG - 2002 (JPG)
SWG - 2020 (JPG)

Members include:

  • Project Scientist: Michael W. Werner (JPL)
  • Deputy Project Scientist: Charles Lawrence (JPL)
  • Instrument Principal Investigators:
    • Giovanni G. Fazio (SAO and Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
    • James R. Houck (Cornell University)
    • George Rieke (University of Arizona)
  • Interdisciplinary Scientists
    • Dale P. Cruikshank (NASA-ARC)
    • Michael Jura (UCLA)
    • Edward L. (Ned) Wright (UCLA)
  • Facility Scientists
    • Frank Low (University of Arizona)
    • Thomas L. Roellig (NASA-ARC)
  • Other SWG Members
    • Robert D. Gehrz (University of Minnesota), CTF Chair/CTA Facility Scientist
    • Marcia J. Rieke (University of Arizona), Education/Outreach Coordinator
    • Thomas Soifer (ex-officio, SSC Director)
    • The Program Scientist from NASA HQ is an ex-officio memeber. Over the years, a number of people have held this position.