Among the most important Gemini related activities of the past 3 months was the Gemini Science Committee (GSC) meeting held in Durham, UK, July 10 - 11 2001. All member countries were represented by their national scientists plus additions from the major partners. Many of the executives of Gemini were also present. The full list of attendees follows: Bob Joseph (University of Hawaii) in the Chair, Taft Armandroff (US), Guillermo Bosch (AR), Malcolm Bremmer (UK), Luis Campusano (CH), Laird Close (US), Warrick Couch (AU), Mario Mateo (US), Larry Ramsey (US), Harvey Richer (CA), Pat Roche (UK), David Schade (CA), Bob Schommer (US), Ray Sharples (UK), Thaisa Storchi Bergmann (BR), Charles Woodward (US). Gemini Observatory personnel who attended included Matt Mountain (Gemini Director) and Jean-Rene Roy (Gemini Associate Director), Francois Rigaut, Doug Simons, and Kathy Roth. Other guests included Dennis Crabtree (CA), Roger Davies (UK), Simon Morris (UK), Magnus Paterson (UK), and David Robertson (UK).

The GSC is the scientific advisory committee to the Director of the Gemini Observatory. Since this was the first GSC meeting in 13 months, there were numerous issues to discuss considering how far along the telescopes and instrumentation have come in the past year. The committee report was wide reaching and commented on issues as it saw them. Below I indicate the main areas where the committee provided advice to the director.

1. The Status of the Observatory:
The committee felt that Gemini must rapidly bring its scientific potential to fruition. The GSC recommended that Gemini marshall all possible resources to bring the telescopes' performance and reliability up to specification in the near future. Particular emphasis was given to properly commissioning the facility instruments and getting the telescopes functioning reliably. Much of what the committee recommended was already in progress. In the past few months Gemini has come a long way in fulfilling this resolution of the GSC. In particular, the GMOS commissioning has been enormously successful and NIRI is awaiting its final flexure tests on the telescope (see below). In response to the suggestions of the GSC, Gemini has delayed the commisioning of PHOENIX and CIRPASS, both visitor instruments, to 2002A and has decided to lower the science time on both telescopes so that they could concentrate on commissioning the facility instruments and the telescopes.

2. High-Level Software:
It was the impression of the GSC that the telescopes are being operated largely with engineering software systems and it is likely that this is inefficient, and places an additional burden on staff during operations. The GSC requested that the Observatory report on the status of the Systems, Instrument, Telescope Control, and Observing Tool software at the next GSC meeting.

3. The Near-Infrared Imager (NIRI):
The committee was briefed on the status of NIRI, its continuing flexure problems, and the proposed mechanical fix to this flexure using a commercial bearing design. The GSC noted that the NIRI flexure problems prevented NIRI from being used for approved science programs in semester 2001A on Gemini North. This loss of NIRI observing disappointed the user communities over the entire partnership. In addition, NIRI use in semester 2001B is potentially endangered by this problem. The GSC assigned very high priority to carrying out the NIRI flexure repair plan as quickly as possible. This plan has been underway for almost the past 6 months and as this report is being written the first cold flexure tests with NIRI on Gemini North are about to begin. Let's hope the fix works!

4. The Bench High Resolution Spectrograph - bHROS:
The recent reconfiguration of HROS to bHROS with a fiber fed R=150,000 spectroscopic capability leaves a serious gap in the science capabilities of the Gemini telescopes. The loss of visible spectroscopic capability in the R ~ 50,000 range impacts a large range of science from chemical abundance studies in the Galaxy and nearby galaxies to quasar absorption line work. The GSC applauded Brazil's interest in providing an R=34,000 camera for bHROS. The GSC has formed a Working Group in high-resolution spectroscopy to address the science case for a R=34,000 camera in such a fiber fed instrument, as well as other high resolution science issues.

5. Guaranteed Time for Instrument Builders:
The GSC noted that late delivery of functional instrumentation to Gemini has been a major problem for the Observatory. Currently, there is very little incentive to an instrument team, beside their reputation, to deliver instrumentation on time, or even early. Doug Simons suggested a plan to the GSC that would give approximately 30 nights of telescope time to a team that delivers early by 6 months or more, 15 nights of telescope time to a team that delivers on schedule, and 7 nights of telescope time to a team that delivers late by 6 months or more. The GSC agreed that such a plan would provide much stronger incentive for on-time delivery of fully integrated packages that meet all performance specifications, and that such motivation is genuinely needed.

6. Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO):
The GSC expressed excitement about the scientific capabilities MCAO could make possible. The wide field, deep imaging/photometry as well as MOS capabilities hold great promise. The current document, "The Science Case for the MCAO System on Gemini South", is an excellent start; it is by the far the best document on this subject in existence today. However, the GSC recognized the need for more significant details to be addressed before the science case can be finalized and the "top-level technical requirements" defined. The GSC intends to assist in the development and evolution of this document. However, it suggested that the Observatory make public the current draft MCAO science case as soon as reasonable. The GSC does have significant concerns about the technical feasibility of the MCAO instrument. Because of the significant technical risks associated with the final MCAO system, the GSC strongly endorsed a phased approach.