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Minutes of Executive Council Meeting
October 17, 2013
West Palm Beach, FL
Date: Thursday, October 17, 2013
Time: 3:45 PM to 6:00 PM
Location: West Palm Beach Marriott, West Palm Beach, Florida
I. CALL TO ORDER
Attending: Kevin Nelson, President; Howard Dickson, President Elect; Jay Maisler, Past, President; George Snyder, Venues Director; Kathy Thomas, Secretary; Rodney Nickell (Nominating Committee Member and representing Kurt Geber, FCHPS Newsletter Editor); and CarolAnn Inbornone.
Guests: Mike Phillips and John Williamson, State of Florida, Bureau of Radiation Control
Absent: Les Hines, Treasurer; Tom Jacobson, Board Member; Rhonda Holtzclaw, Board Member; and Kurt Geber, Board Member
The meeting was called to order at 3:45pm by Kevin Nelson, President.
II. APPROVAL OF SPRING 2013 MEETING MINUTES
The minutes from the spring executive council meeting at the Hilton Conference Center Hotel, Gainesville, Florida on April 11, 2013 were reviewed. Kevin Nelson stated that he noted in the minutes of the April 2013 minutes that the treasurer report showed for the period of August 2012 through April 2013 showed March 2013 through October 2013. Kevin asked Kathy Thomas to check with Les Hines and see if that is indeed the time period covered in the treasurer’s report. Kathy Thomas stated that the copy of the treasurer’s report that Kevin was referring to was the most recent report she received from Les Hines, Treasurer, on 10/15/2013 and does cover the March 2013 through October 2013 time frame. Kevin asked if the expenses and income from the Spring 2013 meeting were included in this report. Howard Dickson, President Elect, motioned to approve the minutes, and Jay Maisler, Past-President, seconded the motion. The Spring 2013 minutes were approved unanimously by the Executive Council.
ACTION ITEM: Kathy Thomas found out from Les Hines that the expenses and income from the Spring 2013 meeting were included in the October 2013 Treasurer’s report. Kathy Thomas will send a final copy of the Spring 2013 minutes to Jason Timm to place on the FCHPS web site.
III. OLD BUSINESS
A. Awards
Kevin Nelson stated that the FCHPS can submit a name or names of members who are nominated for awards to the national HPS. The Chapter volunteer award is presented at the chapter meeting by the HPS President-Elect during his or her chapter visit. The national HPS President Elect, Barbara Hamrick, was not able to attend this fall meeting and hopefully will be able to attend the FCHPS spring meeting.
Jay Maisler nominated George Snyder for the chapter volunteer award. Kevin stated that if George had already received the award, then other possible nominees include Kurt Geber, FCHPS newsletter editor, nominated by Jay Maisler, and Jason Timm, nominated by the board for his work as the FCHPS web site manager.
Kevin Nelson stated that he and George Snyder are working on the paperwork for the nomination of Mr. Josh Mocherman, Riverview High School, Sarasota, Florida, for the HPS Geoffrey G. Eichholz Outstanding Science Teacher Award at the 2014 national HPS meeting. Kevin stated that Mr. Mocherman was unable to attend the 2013 meeting in Wisconsin. Howard Dickson stated that Dr. Wesley Bolch was nominated for the national HPS Distinguished Scientific Achievement (DSA) Award and was not selected. Howard stated that Dr. Bolch’s nomination would have been strengthened by additional strong support on his behalf from national HP members in addition to the medical physics community support. The board discussed the nomination of Debbie Gilley as a Fellow of the national HPS. Kevin Nelson stated that he would talk to Debbie Gilley about her possible nomination as a HPS Fellow.
ACTION ITEM: Kevin Nelson and George Snyder will work on nominating Mr. Josh Mocherman as the 2014 HPS Geoffrey G. Eichholz Outstanding Science Teacher Award at the national meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, in July 2014. George has a letter from Josh’s principal at the high school where he teaches. Kevin Nelson will check with Dr. Bolch and make sure he is agreeable to be nominated for the DSA award and Howard Dickson volunteered to find the previous nomination package submitted for Dr. Bolch and to update the package for the national DSA award. Kevin and Howard will also determine which people to ask for additional support for Dr. Bolch’s nomination. Kevin Nelson will ask Debbie Gilley to send him her CV for her nomination package as a HPS Fellow. Kevin Nelson stated that he would ask for additional nominations at the business meeting on Friday, October 18, 2013.
B. Science Fair Awards (FCHPS and National HPS)
Howard Dickson stated that the deadline for the National Student Science Award is May 2014. The FCHPS science fair project must be a radiation or radioactivity-related project at the middle and/or high school level. The FCHPS project nominations are reviewed by Drs. Wesley Bolch and David Hintenlang and they will select the winner of the FCHPS award. The FCHPS award is $200 to the student and $200 to the student’s school. The national HPS award is $500 to the student. Jay Maisler stated that he would contact the chairperson of the Science Teacher Workshop and that he had a teleconference planned with the ANS and will follow-up with Dr. Wesley Bolch.
C. Speaker Gifts
CarolAnn Inbornone stated that she has received the new shipment of speaker gifts and that she has brought the speaker gifts to give out at the spring meeting tomorrow for the four speakers sponsored by FCHPS. The gift is a pen/laser pointer/USB drive combination device. CarolAnn is also planning to give out a gift bag with candy to all the invited speakers. CarolAnn stated that she will give the gifts to Howard to give out at the meeting tomorrow.
ACTION ITEM: CarolAnn has volunteered to continue ordering and stocking the speaker gift items.
D. Science Teacher Workshop
Jay Maisler stated that he has been contacted by the student chapter of HPS/AAPM at the University of Florida plans to offer another science teacher workshop at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Jay stated that he will meet with Dr. Wesley Bolch about this topic at a meeting on November 19, 2013.
ACTION ITEM: Jay Maisler will continue to work with the students and Dr. Wes Bolch, University of Florida, on the science teacher workshop.
IV. NEW BUSINESS
A. New Members
There were four applications for membership to FCHPS submitted by Paul Norman, State of Florida BRC sponsored by Reno Fabii; Tara Yvette Forrest, RT (R), Administrator, State of Florida BRC in Jacksonville, sponsored by Paul Pavlick; Randy Clayton, inspector, State of Florida BRC in Orlando, sponsored by Mark Seidensticker; and Clark Connelly, State of Florida BRC in Orlando, sponsored by Mark Seidensticker. The applications were reviewed by the board. Kevin Nelson asked for a motion to approve the new member applications and Howard Dickson moved for approval and Jay Maisler seconded the motion. The board unanimously approved the four applications. Howard Dickson signed all the forms. Kevin Nelson stated that the FCHPS is always looking for new opportunities to expand membership such as sending out emails about meeting announcements to past members as well as current members. Another idea would be to survey members about where and why members attend meetings perhaps utilizing an online survey tool. Jay Maisler asked about comparing the FCHPS member listing to the list of national HPS members who live in Florida. Kathy Thomas stated that she had compared the list and almost all of the members listed in the online national HPS membership file are already members of FCHPS.
Kevin stated that the attendance at the fall meeting was influenced by the government shutdown, the location in an affluent area of West Palm Beach, and the focus of the meeting topics. Jay Maisler stated that registration fees, time away from work and meeting location all influence the members’ decision on whether or not to attend a meeting. Jay stated that he organized the meeting at St. Lucie power plant and that there was only one person from Crystal River and no HPs from the Turkey Point facility. Rodney Nickell asked about having a meeting at Indian River College and Howard Dickson stated that Natalia Chekhovskaya-Kearney has left her role and that he was not able to establish contact anyone at Indian River College interested in participating in this Fall 2013 meeting. Howard stated that the large geographical area of Florida is a challenge, however, chapters such as the North Central chapter, covers 5 states and so it may be helpful to find out how they organize meetings and conduct membership campaign activities. Rodney Nickell stated that Gainesville, Florida is a central location and there have been successful meetings there and Jay Maisler stated that Orlando is one of the most central locations especially to draw the HPs from central and south Florida. Mike Phillips, BRC, stated that he and James Futch have worked closely with Brenda Rante of training section of the Indian River State College. They will be putting on a program in Tallahassee for the Leon County Sheriff’s Office to cover radiation safety topics for law enforcement and police officers. BRC recommends a targeted training opportunity covering population monitoring, emergency response, and radioisotope detectors training for fish and wildlife personnel. Kevin Nelson stated that the challenge would be how to incorporate that type of training into the FCHPS meeting schedule and venues. Mike Phillips recommended inviting someone like Dave Binder, who works for the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, in Washington, D.C. and lives in Tallahassee, Florida, to come as a speaker at the meeting.
ACTION ITEM: Kathy Thomas stated that she would add the new FCHPS members to the email member list.
James Futch and Mike Phillips will look into the BRC facilitating training from the federal offices and the BRC office, including Artez Lester, with the Florida DOT in reference to the radiation safety program for the vehicles that have radiation detection systems on board. Kevin Nelson and Kathy Thomas will work on a membership survey to poll the membership about agenda topics, registration cost and fees, and meeting venues including geographical location as well as hotel versus institutional revenue neutral locations. Kathy Thomas has the email list of present and past members. Kevin encouraged the board to let him know of any ideas to increase membership.
B. Vendor/Affiliate Membership Campaign
Kevin stated that there are six vendors that will help support the Fall meeting tomorrow: F&J Speciality Products, Canberra Inc., Premier Sales Associates, Inc., Landauer, DEQ Technical Sales, and Ecology Services. Kevin recommended a more aggressive vendor campaign especially at the joint meetings with FLAAPM for vendors who have products of interest to both health and medical physicists introducing the leadership of the chapter and the mission of the FCHPS. Kevin recommended contacting all the vendors at the joint meeting tomorrow, both the HPS and AAPM vendors before the next joint meeting next fall. Kevin stated that Mirion has hired a new sales person, Mr. Kevin McDonough, RT, who works out of Longwood, Florida. Jay Maisler encouraged the board members to also recruit vendors that provide products or services used in their respective workplaces.
C. Fall 2013 Meeting Agenda
Howard stated that Jay Maisler will talk on the status of the nuclear power plant construction in the US, Josh Mocherman, the physics high school teacher from Riverview High School in Sarasota, Florida, will talk about teaching nuclear science as a high school elective, and two of the UF students, Elliott Stepusin and David Borrego will talk on their organ dose research projects under the direction of Dr. Wes Bolch. Howard stated that Debbie Gilley will talk about her experiences and the activities of the International Radiation Protection (IAEA) the past two years. George Snyder asked Kevin Nelson to make the announcement at the beginning of the meeting tomorrow that if anyone has a radiological technologist (RT) license that they can earn CEU credit if they give their license number to George after the meeting. Howard has arranged for Certified HPs to earn CEU credit and those medical HPs who need the medical error CEU credit can get a certificate from Joe Howley, FLAAPM secretary, for their State of Florida physic licenses. Kevin thanked Howard for putting together a great meeting.
D. Status of UF HP Student Program
Kevin Nelson discussed the status of the University of Florida graduate student program. Kevin stated that the UF students did not receive travel grants to attend the national HPS meeting this past summer in Wisconsin. Kevin stated that UF is no longer an affiliated health physics program in the HPS. Kevin stated that Dr. Wesley Bolch asked the FCHPS to contribute funds to pay for housing for the UF students at HPS meetings. Howard also talked to Dr. Bolch and stated that there is no longer a degree program in Health Physics anymore at UF. Howard and Kevin stated their conclusion was that the FCHPS should not financially support the room and board for UF graduate students because they are not Health Physics degree students. Dr. Bolch stated that UF Health Physics program has been closed because they have not been able to find the funding to support Health Physics research. Jay Maisler stated that there are NRC and DOD research grants, however, he had not see UF
on the list of institutions receiving these grants. Kevin Nelson stated that Dr. Bolch is working on a NIH grant in medical physics and dosimetry and that Mayo Clinic Jacksonville will be a participating institution for that
grant application. Jay Maisler stated that USF has an Industrial Hygiene program that has some radiation physics/health physics course work and that Adam Weaver, USF RSO, could provide additional information about the USF program. Kevin Nelson proposed that FCHPS support waiving registration and meal fees for UF students when the meeting is being held in Gainesville, Florida, and that FCHPS not provide monetary support to UF students for meetings in other cities. Howard stated that there are no Florida colleges or universities on the national HPS list of Health Physics graduate programs.
ACTION ITEM: Jay Maisler will check with Adam Weaver, RSO, USF, about the Health Physics program at USF. Jay Maisler will also find out about the FCHPS support of the Science Teacher Workshop held in Gainesville with significant participation of the UF graduate medical physics students.