Minutes of the Ohio Section of the American Physical Society - (approved)

Executive Committee

Kent State University, 20 April 2001

The Executive Committee of the Ohio Section of the American Physical Society met on Friday, April 20, 2001 in room 228 of the Liquid Crystal Institute on the Kent State University campus. The meeting was called to order by Chair Bahram Roughani at 10:07 a.m. In attendance were Gordon Aubrecht, Robert Brown, Kim Coplin, Bruce Craver, Mike Crescimanno, Klaus Fritsch, Bob Hengehold, Graciela Lacueva, Scott Lee, Roger Rollins, Bahram Roughani, Brad Trees, Ron Winters, Paul Wolf, Perry Yaney, and Warren Young.

1. Bahram welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2. Approval of the Minutes of the Fall 2000 Meeting

Two corrections were noted to the minutes of the Fall 2000 meeting. Under Treasurer's Report, it was noted that national charges $150 per page. Under Membership Committee Report, the correct nonmember registration is $45. With these corrections, the minutes were unanimously approved.

8. Nominations Committee Report - Ron Winters

Ron reported there are two people willing to serve as OS/APS vice-chair. Paul Wolf will be vice-chair for the 2001-2002 year, and the other individual is tentatively slated to run for vice-chair the following year.

Ron also reported that getting electronic election procedures in place has proven to be more difficult than expected, although APS continually assures us it will be easy. Ron will continue to oversee this switch to on-line elections.

4. Secretary's Report - Bruce Craver and Kim Coplin

Bruce had been contacted by Karen McFarland of APS regarding two items. The first is that the dates for the Fall meeting overlap with the Nuclear Physics meeting in Hawaii. The committee agreed this should not be an issue for the OS/APS meeting. The second item was that a contact person is needed for the Fall 2001 meeting. Brad agreed to serve as the contact and it was also noted that meeting registrations will go to Brad.

5. Treasurer's Report - Brad Trees and Klaus Fritsch

The treasurer's report was distributed and discussed. Brad reported the balance in the Ohio Section account. He also remarked that the section is in good shape financially noting this is the largest balance we have had in recent years. Brad also stated that OS/APS had received $958 from APS. These funds were for the Fall 1999 Centennial meeting. Brad also pointed out that the treasurer's report showed $4652 received in dues. According to national, OS/APS has 1177 members and dues are $4 per person. The report also contains charts and tables detailing OS/APS meeting expenses and financial resources. In addition, Brad distributed a chart showing page charges vs abstract fees collected. Based on this data, Brad suggested that no change in abstract fees is necessary at this time.

The question was raised whether it is possible to post OS/APS meeting pages from the APS Supplemental Bulletins on the OS/APS Web site. Kim will contact Vinaya at APS and will follow up on this issue. The committee was also reminded that the section will pay $6000 (instead of the usual $3000) for the Fall 2001 meeting at Columbus State.

6. Final Chair's Report, Fall 1999, University of Toledo - Scott Lee

The final report for the Fall 1999 meeting was distributed. The registered attendance at the meeting was 200. Other details pertaining to the meeting are in the report. Scott also volunteered to continue to serve the Ohio Section, perhaps on the nominating committee, noting that he has completed his official duties on the Executive Committee.

7. Forthcoming Meetings Reports

Fall 2001 - Columbus State - Gordon Aubrecht

The meeting will be held Oct. 19-20 at Columbus State. Gordon, Brad, and Ron had volunteered to organize the meeting since Denison was not able to host as planned. Gordon noted that holding the meeting at COSI was not feasible; however, Columbus State has been very helpful. Jean Claude Ba from Columbus State is working on local details. Speakers for the meeting will be Robert Lopez from RPI and Wolfgang Christian from Davidson on Friday and Mano Singham from CWRU and David Vernier from Vernier Software on Saturday. The meeting will also have the usual contributed paper sessions and a possible COSI visit on Saturday afternoon. Ron is working on finding an after dinner speaker.

Spring 2002 - Youngstown State University - Mike Crescimanno

The meeting dates will be April 12-13 and the topic is Photon Induced Processes. Other meeting details are contained in the report that was distributed. Mike also asked for advice on meeting finances.

Fall 2002 - The Ohio State University - Gordon Aubrecht for Steve Pinsky

Gordon reported that rooms have been reserved for the meeting. Bruce asked for clarification regarding setting meeting dates. It was noted that official correspondence from OS/APS to APS should go through Bruce (secretary or associate secretary).

Spring 2003 (now Fall 2004)- Ohio University - Roger Rollins

Roger said that the year 2004 will be the 200th anniversary of Ohio University and there is a new building set to open in the Fall 2003 to help celebrate this event. With that in mind, he asked if Ohio University could host a later meeting so that this building could be used. The topic of the meeting will be Astrophysics or Nanotechnology. After discussion, it was decided that Ohio University will host the Fall 2004 meeting. Bob Brown stated that Case Western could host either the Spring 2003 or Fall 2003 meeting. Suggestions for another meeting host should be sent to Bob. Revised schedule is below.

Spring 2003 CWRU or ??

Fall 2003 CWRU or ??

Spring 2004 Oakland University

Fall 2004 Ohio University

3. Local Chairs' Report - Satyendra Kumar

Satyen noted there are 140 registered for the meeting and 80 abstracts have been submitted for poster and talks. Kent State contributed $7000 for the meeting. Satyen noted that have speakers form NIH and NSF and there should be ideas presented about physicists getting funding from biological agencies. Graciela reminded Satyen she needs a list of meeting attendees and a designation about whether or not they are APS members. Bob B. commented he is excited about meeting noting KSU has chosen an interesting topic. There were questions regarding the afternoon contributed sessions, and Mike C. asked about scheduling and timing for the Youngstown meeting. Several who had hosted previous meetings volunteered to discuss this with Mike. Bob Hengehold agreed to contact Bob Boughton at Bowling Green to ask that Hints for Hosts be updated to include a suggested meeting schedule and format. Bahram also said that the chair of the Ohio Section should send a thank you letter to the local hosts with a copy to the department chair noting the hosting a meeting is often a thankless task. Ron briefly outlined a proposal regarding Ohio Section meeting schedule and structure that Ron and Kim will present to the Executive Committee before the Fall 2001 meeting.

9. Honors and Awards - Bob Hengehold

Bob mentioned several candidates for the Maxwell Award and commented that APS Fellows from Ohio or with an Ohio connection are ideal candidates for the Fowler Award. Bob also informed the Executive Committee that nationally 12% of APS members are Fellows; however, in Ohio that number is 7% compared to Florida and Arizona which both have fellowship numbers around 12%. Bob also distributed a list of Fellows to Executive Committee members and he commented that the Ohio Section cannot name Fellows but we can suggest potential Fellows.

Bob Hengehold moved that "The Ohio Section establish a committee of four Fellows (Ron, Roger, Gordon, Bob B.) to look at ways to increase the number of APS Fellows from Ohio".

Ron seconded the motion and it was unanimously approved.

10. Membership Committee - Graciela Lacueva

Graciela reported that according to APS, the membership of the Ohio Section numbers 1177 which is at 2.83% of national membership. Graciela also reminded Bob B. that as chair of OS/APS he should send an email to invite individuals to join the Ohio Section when they join APS or renew their membership.

Bahram distributed tables showing information regarding section membership. He pointed out that for the Ohio Section 50.7% of OS/APS members are from the designated section area.

11. New Registration Fee Proposal and Student Recruiting - Bahram Roughani

Bahram distributed a copy of a proposal to change OS/APS meeting registration fees and to attract new student members to OS/APS. The goal of the proposal is to increase the number of OS/APS members. The proposal has two parts: 1) increase the difference between meeting registration fees for members and non-members hoping this may motivate non-members to join APS 2) provide support for a second year of membership for a student in APS. Funds from the increased registration fee can be used toward extra year of student APS membership.

Brad noted there is a potential problem in getting the extra registration fee money from local hosts to OS/APS. Roger suggested local chairs may spend the extra money, and to guarantee extra money