Status: version to be signed in January 2008

Parties
The CHARA, ISI, MRO, NPOI, PTI, NOAO. Hereafter referred to as “the parties”.

Scope

• The “United States Interferometry Consortium” started on February 1, 2007.
• The initial goal was to initiate coordination between the different optical interferometers in the US.
• The scope of the present Charter between the parties of the Consortium is to define a structure that will facilitate communications and allow for a transparent decision making process.

Article 1
Definition of the “United States Interferometry Consortium”

• USIC is an association of US based optical interferometers willing to collaborate on the exploitation and development of long baseline interferometry in optical/infrared astronomy within the United States;
• The goals and strategy of USIC are defined by the USIC board.

Article 2
USIC has as primary mission to:
1. Clarify and improve on the role of optical interferometry in the next Decadal Survey.
USIC has as secondary mission to:
2. Work with other organizations and institutions to develop funding opportunities to provide open access to the US optical interferometry observatories;
3. Define a role for current interferometers in the process of developing the next generation interferometer;
4. Collaboration on technical and scientific aspects to support the US based optical interferometers.

Article 3 – Governance of USIC
USIC shall be governed by a Board composed of the parties who have signed this Charter.

Article 4 – Membership of USIC
USIC is open to all interested parties who have agreed to this Charter.

Article 5 – Membership of the Board
The Board shall be formed by
1. Up to two representatives for each party;
2. Up to two representatives of organizations or institutions which contribute to the mission of the platform;
3. Any other person being nominated unanimously by the Board.

Article 6 – Responsibilities of the Board
The responsibilities of the Board will be:
1. To define the general goals and strategy of USIC activities;
2. To initiate activities consistent with the mission statements;
3. To monitor long-term progress within these activities.

Article 7 – Chair of the Board
The Board shall select a chair through a process that obeys the following rules:
1. The chair is elected among the Board voting members;
2. The chair is elected for a duration of 1 years;
3. Any individual can only once be chair for a maximum duration of two consecutive years, after which s/he is not eligible for the next two year period.

Article 8 – Responsibilities of the Chair of the Board
The responsibilities of the chair of the Board shall be:
1 .To organize meetings of the Board;
2. To chair meetings of the Board;
3. To represent the goals and strategy of USIC at official occasions.
The chair of the Board may appoint an ad-hoc secretary, if desired.

Agreed by: the parties on January 9, 2008, at Austin, TX

Representatives of the Parties to the Platform are

CHARA
H. McAlister
T. ten Brummelaar
ISI
C. Townes
MRO
M. Creech-Eakman
E.J. Bakker
NPOI
J.T. Armstrong
D. Hutter
PTI
R. Akeson
A. Boden
NOAO
S. Ridgway

As of June 12th 2008 The following members have been added:

LBTI
Phil Hinz

Keck I
Sam Ragland

As of 2009, A. Boden has left USIC and R. Akeson now represents the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute.