RAC IV Meeting/Teleconference Minutes
Date: Tuesday, 5 January 2016
Time: 1030-1130 PT
Where: Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego, CA
Room: Conference Parlor 705
Dial in #: 1-866-740-1260
Phone Access #: 2643848
Participants: Jayant Ramakrishnan, George Hindman, Joan Marquez, Steve McDougle, James Sergeant, Alan Sisson, James Walker, Douglas Yazell (on phone); George Ayers, Gar Bering, Shirley Brandt, Malay Parker, Chris Jessee (in person); John Rose (guest)
John Rose is the VP elect for Public Policy. CVD is March 16. Sections, please send someone to CVD. Travel stipends are still available. North Texas has done a great job with setting up local activities. The Public Policy committee can always help set these up. The committee is resvamping to be more in line with the new governance structure. Working groups will be set up and webinars will be held.
1. Welcome and Introduction Jayant Ramakrishnan
2. Approval of minutes 11/20/2015 – Minutes were approved as submitted.
3. Latest from National Chris Jessee, 703-264-7517
· Annual report still needed from Holloman-Alamogordo
· Audit and budgets needed from Holloman-Alamogordo and Southwest Texas
· Update on Student Paper Conference
· Continue planning events for Engineers Week -2/21-2/27
· Sandy Magnus will be visiting many sections to explain and promote the new governance structure.
4. Director Report Jayant Ramakrishnan, 281/283-9390, 281/627-1946 (Cell)
Information on the new governance structure was presented to many at SciTech. The Board will be smaller. AIAA needs a turnout of 15% of members for the election. It is very important to vote.
On December 3, the Ethiopian Space Agency was in Houston along with members of the royal family. The White Sands section hosted a presentation on the Chilean rescue. The student paper conference will be held at the University of Texas, Arlington on April 1-2. Better coordination is needed between the North Texas section and the planners for the SPC. The section will be supporting the conference. The region needs to plan a business meeting to take place during the SPC. Mirza is working on the planning. James and Tom are in the process of setting up the Paypal account and the site is open for registration. North Texas has their presentations from October available on audio. AIAA is beginning to accept nominations for Associate Fellow for 2016. They are due by April 15. Three distinguished service awards were received by members of the region. There was a good showing for the Associate Fellows dinner and Region IV has a candidate for the Engineer of the Year award. A special service citation has been approved for P.A. Cox and will be sent to San Antonio.
5. Deputy Director Reports
· Public Policy Tom Moore, 210/522-5949
· Education Mirza Faizan, 469/648-8085
· Finance James Walker, , 210/522-2051
· Honors and Awards Shirley Brandt, 713/542-9085
· Membership Svetlana Hanson, 281/404-7217
· STEM K-12 Outreach Gar Bering, 713/743-3543
Alan Sisson did not know that Sandy was in Houston on the day of the Ethiopian Space Agency meeting. Gar gave out the information but it was too late. We need to publicize Sandy’s visits. A Mars Rover Competition will be on January 30 and is available for anyone throughout the country. A dinner will be held that evening with speaker Todd Barber, from JPL. He will be talking about the Mars Curiosity Rover.
· Technical Sarah Shull, 281/244-6441
· Young Professionals Ryan Weisman, 505/846-5058
· International Douglas Yazell, 281/488-8280
There have been three dinner meetings in Houston so far this year. For the first one they hosted a Congressman Brian Babin, the second was about climate change and public policy. The third was the visit from the Ethiopian Space Society; Charlie Bolden, Buzz Aldrin and others were there. The sister section in Toulouse, France has told their 30 members about the AIAA websites.
6. Section Status – Chairs
· Albuquerque
o Section Chair: Joel Mozer 505/853-0059
Millay Morgan reported for Albuquerque. The section received $350 Cat III funds which will be used for repairs to the trailer for to transporting the flight simulator.
· Holloman/Alamogordo
o Section Chair: George Ayers 575-679-2670
They have recruited judges for the first Lego league competition. They are trying to recruit from the AFB and the local community. Jayant thanked George Ayers for stepping up to the plate.
· Houston
o Section Chair: Alan Sisson 281/235-2075
Gar reported on the Mars Rover Competition and the evening dinner. On Friday, January 29 there will be an innovation workshop.
· North Texas
o Section Chair: James Sergeant 817/777-9076
The section participated in an event jointly with other societies. The speaker was Dr. Ralph Nutter from APL and the topics of his talk were helicopters, the F35 and simulators. They had good student participation from U of OK and U of TX-Arlington. The presentation was live streamed. The section also hosted a holiday mixer for students and professionals and the students could make presentations.
· Oklahoma
o Section Chair: Fred Striz 405/250-1873
· Southwest Texas
o Section Chair: Joan Labay-Marquez 210-283-6429
They are working on a student scholarship, Destination Imagine. On January 22 they will be meeting with AESS, a new society. Chris Jessee is planning on visiting with section officers on January 29. They are also trying to set up “Bring a Girl to Engineering Day”.
· White Sands Space Harbor
o Section Chair: Stephen McDougle 575/524-5196
The section held a meeting with a presentation about the Chilean mine rescue. It is the five-year anniversary of the event. Seventy were in attendance including NASA folks. The movie about the rescue has just come out. Four people expressed interest in the section and hopefully will become new members.
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7. New Business- Jayant is sorry to have missed San Diego. At the next teleconference he will provide an update on RSAC and the Board. He thanks everyone for all their support.
8. Next teleconference
Date: Thursday, February 18, 2016
Time: 2:00 CT; 3:00 ET
Dial in #: 1-866-740-1260
Phone Access #: 2643848