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The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), currently under construction in northern Chile, will be a superb new instrument for studies of the dense interstellar medium within the Milky Way, and in other galaxies from the Local Group to the epoch of reionization. The first opportunity for North American scientists to propose for their (~1/3) share of ALMA time will come at an "early science" deadline in early 2011, with subsequent proposal calls offering ever more powerful performance as the observatory moves towards the end of the construction phase. I will discuss ALMA's scientific drivers and technical capabilities, current plans for how users will propose for, obtain, and analyze ALMA data, and key commissioning milestones that will occur on the path to early science and full operations. My talk will be informed by my experience working as a visiting scientist with the ALMA project in Chile during the last three and a half months. |