At long last, we are very happy to announce that JPL and UCLA have agreed upon a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) “to enable collaboration in the planetary sciences between UCLA and JPL to promote the stature, visibility, and excellence of the field … by facilitating interactions among scientists and students at both institutions.” There will be a joint signing of the document on May 27th, 2015 at UCLA by UCLA’s Senior Dean Joe Rudnick and JPL’s Chief Scientist Dan McCleese.
To signify this occasion, we are celebrating with a collaborative science workshop from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 27th, 2015, at UCLA, which will be capped at 3:00 p.m. by the signing ceremony. This first collaborative meeting under the auspices of the MOU will be of broad planetary scientific scope. This collaborative workshop will include posters and presentations and discussion about planets, exoplanets, small bodies, space physics, and related areas, particularly as pertinent to broadening partnerships between researchers and students at the two institutions.