Northeastern Section of the ACS
Monthly Board Meeting
Written Reports
Holiday Inn, Brookline MA
2/22/11
Members and guests in Attendance: J. Billo, K. Browne, M. Burgess, M. Chen, J. Driscoll, D. Eustace, E. Olivares, M. Filosa, P. Gordon, D. Harris, M. Hoffman, E.A. Hopkins, N. Jackson, A. Jewell, L. Johnson, J. Larese, M. Levine, D. Lewis, R. Lichter, J. Maclachlan, D. Phillips, J. Phillips, J. Piper, M. Schwartz, L. Shao, M. Simon, A. Singer, M. Singer, S. Strah-Pleynet, M. Strem, S. Su, R. Tanner and V. Walworth.
The meeting was called to order at 4:40pm with P. Gordon as the Chair
The minutes from Jan 2011 were reviewed. It was requested to add the IYC artwork/graphics to the minutes. The minutes were approved as amended.
Chair: P. Gordon
Ø Science Coaches program – actively working with one of the two identified programs.
Chair Elect: R. Tanner
Ø I attended the ACS Leadership Institute in Fort Worth, Texas at the end of January. I attended the Local Section Track meetings, and attended two leadership courses – Engaging and Motivating Volunteers and Leading Change. The emphasis for these programs is promoting local section activities, encouraging membership participation in section activities, and promoting community outreach programs. The most valuable aspect of the Institute is the networking opportunity with the various section and national ACS leaders.
Ø I met with H.N. Cheng who was one of the facilitator’s for the ACS Leadership Course, Leading Change to discuss the use of Webinars for Section meetings. One version of the Webinar format is to have a regular meeting with a face-to-face and an on-line version simultaneously. The New York Section is working on this version and I will be talking with Tim Weatherall who is the contact person for the NY Section for the Webinars. Possibly our Section could try this for the January 2012 meeting.
Ø The October 2011 meeting will be on Tuesday, October 11th as agreed at the last Section meeting. The speaker will be Dr. William Carroll, Past President (2005) of the ACS, and the Vice President of Industry Issues, Occidental Chemical Corporation, Dallas, TX.
Ø PayPal was set up for the April Symposium as a trial run. Unfortunately, the Symposium has been postponed to a future date. However, there were some successful registrations using PayPal before it was postponed. The trial run, however so short, was successful. I have talked with Ken Drew about setting up PayPal for NESACS starting with the NESACS September meeting.
Ø Began looking into the possibility to present NESAS monthly meetings on the internet as Webinars. Currently the NY section is offering Webinars to its membership. They have observed no decrease in meeting attendance. There is a fee for the Webinar. Typically $600. per year. There is the possibility to have live questions and answers. The Webinar would then be available for future viewing. The NY section charges Web attendees a $15 registration fee in advance and $30 the week of the meeting.
o Question – Has the NY section tried to run a Board meeting electronically
§ They have not to date.
Secretary: M. Singer
Ø No written report
Treasurer: J. Piper
Ø See Treasurer’s report appended at the end of this report.
Archivist: T. Frigo
Ø I met with Michael Singer and Myron Simon on Jan 28 to discuss taking over the archivist activities. We met at Regis College in the library basement where the archives are stored. The basement is a relatively uncontrolled area, with free access with no questioning by the librarian or any other personnel on the premises. M. Simon said we received permission some time ago to store the archives in the library from a former trustee of the university. There was some discussion between Regis and M. Simon about a year ago about the need to move the documents out of the defined space to allow for building improvements. Budgetary considerations since then have postponed the reconstruction for an undefined period, allowing further ACS use of the facility.
Ø The archives consist of a roughly 10’ x 20’ space with 6 steel cabinets filled with the following documents:
o Old NUCLEUS copy from the first to current issue filed according to year. There were 2-5 copies of the NUCLEUS per year. Some of the copies were leather bound, some were unbound. More recent copies are hole-punch bound.
o Filed Annual reports
o Filed Trustee and Meeting Minutes
o Filed photographs, some labeled, some not, dating to the earliest years of the society.
o Extra copies of the NUCLEUS stored on shelves organized by year, 20-30 copies per year.
o Other miscellaneous documents not yet classified.
Ø As archivist I would like to:
o Establish contact with Regis to define the relationship with ACS.
o Establish archival policy in general through board approval, specifically:
§ What should be stored, including how many of each document should be stored.
§ What can be stored electronically for incoming documents
§ What can be transferred to electronic storage for old documents
§ Can an electronic archive be established?
§ Can old documents be uploaded to electronic storage for easy access, moving files to boxed storage with limited access
o Sort and clean archival area according to the established policy.
Ø I will propose a plan for board review for the next meeting.
Trustees: M. Strem
Ø The end of 2010 saw a $300K increase in the net value of the Trust from the start of 2010.
Ø See Trustee’s report appended at the end of this report.
Councilors:
Councilor reporting
Ø No written report
Standing Committees
Budget Committee: J. Piper
Ø See proposed 2011 budget appended at the end of this report.
Ø The presented budget has a planned $3K deficit. This is a lower proposal in terms of approving a deficit budget than in prior years.
Ø Lat year the section did end slightly in the black, despite a proposed deficit budget.
Ø Motion by M. Hoffman to accept the budget as presented. Second by R. Tanner.
o Motion passed by voice vote.
Local Arrangements: M. Burgess
Ø Tonight’s speaker is ACS President Nancy Jackson.
Ø Everything is ready for tonight’s meeting.
Education: M. Schwartz
Ø Norris/Richards Summer Scholars
o The announcement soliciting applications for the 2011 Norris/Richards Summer Scholars has gone to The Nucleus, the webmaster, and will be emailed to as many chemistry departments within the section as we can manage. (Anyone with even a partial list of email information for chemistry departments, please contact Anna Singer.) Two of the 2010 Summer Scholar reports have appeared in The Nucleus.
Ø Theodore William Richards Award for Excellence in Teaching Secondary School Chemistry
o A call for nominations has gone out. Nominations are due April 15, 2011. The award will be presented in May 2011 at “Education Night”.
Ø Philip L. Levins Prize
o A call for nominations will be published in an upcoming issue of The Nucleus. Nominations are due March 1, 2011. The prize will be presented in May 2011 at “Education Night”.
Ø Undergraduate Day
o We have pretty much given up on having Undergraduate Day this spring due to a lack of anyone willing/able to run it. I will try again next year!
Ø NSCRC
o Will be held on Saturday, April 30th, at Northeastern University. YCC is organizing.
Ø Education Night (May)
o Will be held at Tufts University (same location as the Norris Award dinner).
o We will have a panel discussion on the topic of alternative energy sources (in keeping with the 2nd Quarter IYC topic) with panelists from both academia and industry.
Board of Publications: V. Walworth
Ø The Board of Publications has rotated its leadership roles
o Chair: M. Mahaney
o Secretary: V. Walworth
o Web Coordinator: M. Levine
Ø Still exploring options and logistics for an electronic Nucleus.
Nucleus Editor: M. Filosa
Ø March issue is out – contains the 2nd Summer Scholars article.
Ø The April Nucleus is in progress – will contain the 3rd Summer Scholars article.
o Will include some information regarding going Green for future issues of the Nucleus.
Ø The goal is to have the e-copy of the Nucleus as an opt-in program. Details on logistics are still being worked out.
Ø Web based advertising continues to be explored. Initial feedback from current advertisers in the Nucleus is positive about e-advertisements.
Ø The Nucleus will continue to be posted on the website. Currently the Nucleus is posted on the website the same day as the mailing day.
o Suggestion – Spruce up the e-mail Nucleus announcement with a Cover Shot or other eye-catching graphics rather than an all text and all hyperlink code mailing.
Ø The Webmaster is tracking how many people ‘click’ on the Nucleus.
o Question – Can the e-copy of the Nucleus be “more dynamic” with active links embedded within the document?
§ Yes – it can be done – for a cost.
Ø Jim Phillips has agreed to be the AV Coordinator for the Board of Publications.
Web Report: M. Levine
Ø We regularly update and maintain the website. It has been updated to include a section devoted to "Webinars."
Ø We are in preliminary discussions to revamp and simplify the website. We will be sending out a questionnaire to all board members asking for their input as we undergo this renovation.
Constitution & By-laws: C. Costello
Ø No written report
Membership: M. Chen
Ø On January 26, the second batch of 59 new member’s list (33 new members and 26 transfers from other sections to our Northeastern Section) arrived from Nucleus Business Office. 130 “Welcome New Member” letters was sent on 30th of January to invite them to our February 22nd monthly Dinner meeting to hear Dr. Nancy Jackson, President of ACS 2011 at the Holiday Inn, Brookline, MA
o Discussion – Is there any way to know if new section members have been active within the ACS at a National or Local Level? This could be a good Local Section volunteer source.
o Need new ways to reach out to the New Members in addition to the New Member Welcome letter.
Nominations: J. McKew
Ø The following slate of candidates are presented for the 2011 NESACS Election
Feb 2011 Minutes.doc 4 of 18
Chair-ElectJennifer Maclachlan
Liming Shao
Secretary
Michael Singer
Trustee
Michael Strem
John Neumeyer
Councilor/Alternate
Mort Hoffman
Doris Lewis
Mike Filosa
Kathi Brown
Christine Jaworek-Lopes
Larry Scott
Katherine Lee
Jennifer Larese
Andrew Scholte
John Podobinski
Marietta Schwartz
Michaeline Chen
Raj Rajur
Sonia Strah-Pleynet
Mary Burgess
Director-at-Large
Ralph Scannell
John Burke
Jenny Li
Nominating Committee
Michael Hewitt
Mindy Levine
Esselen Award Committee
Steve Buchwald
Gurmit Grewal
Richards Medal
Rosina Geoirgiadis
Sheila Hauck
Christopher Cummins
Feb 2011 Minutes.doc 18 of 18
Ø The Slate of candidates was approved by voice vote.
Ø The Slate of candidates will be presented to the membership at tonight’s meeting.
Professional Relations: M. Chorghade
Ø No report
Special Committees
Continuing Education: A. Viola
Ø No report
Fundraising: OPEN
Ø No report
Government Relations: D. Lewis
Ø I participated in a CCPA conference call on December 22 on the topic of the 2010 midterms and implication for the ACS agenda. I will be happy to share this information with any interested board members.
Ø I am forwarding the message below from Katherine Verona, who is now heading the grassroots legislative effort for ACS. Please consider contacting your congressional representatives and urging your colleagues to do so also. The administration strongly supports science research funding even in this difficult fiscal environment, but it will be under strong attack as will almost every portion of the federal budget.
Please write to your federal legislators urging them not to make significant cuts to federal agencies that support basic research and science education when considering the FY 2011 Continuing Resolution that is now pending before Congress.
Last year ACS supported the administration’s requests for science and technology programs and research. Due to multiple factors, the FY 2011 budget was not passed while Congress was in session last year. In an effort to prevent a government shutdown, lawmakers adopted a concurrent resolution to continue funding for 2011. This resolution is set to expire in three weeks, and legislators have announced that they will draft another resolution to fund the federal government for the seven months remaining in the fiscal year. This new bill has proposed significant cuts totaling $100 billion from President Obama’s FY 2011 budget request.
Details as to which programs would be cut are still being decided. The early list of cuts includes a possible $1.1 billion reduction in the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, $1 billion from the National Institutes of Health and $186 million from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, according to reports released by lawmakers and the House Leadership. House appropriators are also aiming for $139 million in cuts from the National Science Foundation.
All of these reductions would be made against Obama’s FY 2011 budget request, which means that several of the initiatives that ACS supported in the past would be cut.
It is therefore vital that ACS membership engage their legislators in Congress in an effort to avoid significant and disruptive cuts to basic scientific research and science education. Your letters can help ensure that the new bill includes predictable and sustained support for science, technology, and innovation in a year when the budget will be exceptionally tight.
We also ask you to specifically tailor and mention any connection you may have to some of these programs to emphasize that constituents and Americans across the country will be affected by their removal
Esselen Award: A. Obermeyer
Ø The Esselen Award Committee has selected Dr. Arthur Nozik as the 2011 Awardee. Dr. Nozik is Senior Research Fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado and Professor Adjoint in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder. He is being recognized for his breakthrough research on quantum dots that can tremendously increase the efficiency of photovoltaic cells for solar energy utilization.