The EIIP is pleased to host a 'live chat' presentation and interactive Q&A session on July 26, 2006, starting at 12:00 Noon Eastern time (please convert to your local time). Our topic will be Space Weather and Critical Infrastructure, and will introduce basic concepts and potential impacts on communications, the electric grid, and other vulnerable infrastructure. These topics and others were discussed at the recent Space Weather Week, an annual conference that brings industry, academia, and government agencies together in a lively dialog about space weather.

Our special guests will be William Murtagh and Joseph Kunches, who work closely with private industry, national and international agencies, emergency managers, and government officials, so that property damage and operational impacts of space weather are minimized through appropriate response and adequate preparedness plans.

Bill Murtagh (left) is a Space Weather Forecaster at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Space Environment Center (SEC) in Boulder Colorado. Bill also serves as the SEC Customer Focus Representative, and is chief of the SEC forecaster training program. Joe Kunches (right) is the Chief of the Forecast and Analysis Branch at the SEC. He also serves as the Secretary of the International Space Environment Service (ISES), a consortium of eleven nations plus the European Space Agency, chartered to

share data and products worldwide among the member nations and organizations.

Please join us in the EIIP Virtual Forum http://www.emforum.org on Wednesday

July 26. See the Background Page for additional biographical information and related links. If this will be your first time to participate, please review the instructions and check your connection at least a day in advance by clicking on the Chat Login link at the top left of the EIIP Virtual Forum homepage.

This educational opportunity is brought to you by the Emergency Information Infrastructure Partnership (EIIP).