The current chairman of FALC, Roberto Petronzio (left), with the Fermilab Director Pier Oddone.

On Friday, 4 November, the Funding Agencies for the Linear Collider (FALC) met at Fermilab. At the meeting, representatives from funding agencies and governments around the world discussed the various issues involved with funding an International Linear Collider.

"We want to be prepared to respond to the needs of the ILC", said Roberto Petronzio, President of INFN and the newly appointed chair of FALC. "At this meeting we wanted to better clarify the roles between the various actors in the game. It was particularly useful to clarify the relationship with ICFA."

Meeting attendees agreed that when an ILC organizing committee holds a meeting, representatives from ICFA or ILCSC and FALC or FALC Resource Group should always be included. "There should essentially be no meetings without a representative from the ICFA/ILCSC or FALC/RG board, keeping us in close contact", Petronzio said.

GDE Director Barry Barish addressed the members of FALC, establishing a dialogue about funding the ILC. "The project poses financial issues, and coordinating the project between many different countries will be a challenge", Petronzio said. "Everyone wants to overcome this challenge, and this is the real value for the ILC and other future projects, which will all face this problem again. Barry put the problems on the table that we have to solve, and we have to help in a timely manner."

As the FALC chair, Petronzio views his main role as stimulating discussion between representatives from funding agencies, governments and the ILC scientific community. "It is like a marriage. We must make decisions by consensus and not by majority," he said. "The ILC has a future with a funding problem that has to be solved. I wouldn't lead such a committee if I didn't think it would have a future."

--Elizabeth Clements