I only yesterday became aware of the Bush administration initiative to consider the consolidation of NSF and NASA funding for astronomy under a single (NASA?) organization. Though this news had been circulated through the astronomical community by email, I had missed that bulletin from the AAS, and only read of it in the current Chronicle of Higer Education. I am writing to you because Kevin Marvel at the AAS told me that you are part of the group at the NRC coordinating the assembly of this panel.

As you determine the panel membership, I hope that one or more faculty from predominently undergraduate colleges will be included on the panel, along with, of course, representatives from major universities, national observatories, NASA centers, etc. I think it is important to have a diversity of viewpoints on the impact of fedreral research money on our discipline. Faculty from undergraduate colleges are often overlooked in high-level review panels, yet we represent a viewpoint that is different from ones at primarily research institutions, and the students we introduce to astronomy through our teaching and research represent a disproportionately large percentage of the nation's future astronomers.