The meeting was called to order at 1730 by the Commission F chair, Dr. Ed Westwater.

A round of applause was given to the past chairman, Dr. Wolf Vogel, for his efforts over the past three years. A second round of applause was given to Commission F vice chair Dr. Kenn Anderson for his past work as Commission F secretary over the past six years. It was noted that Kenn left the Commission F membership database in excellent condition.

1. The 1999 Commission F business meeting minutes were circulated to members by e-mail prior to the 2000 business meeting. Approval of these minutes was moved, seconded, and accepted.

2. Rich Paulus, USNC Commission F Membership chair, presented the current Commission F nominee slate consisting of four individuals:

A brief discussion of the qualifications of each candidate followed. Gary Brown moved to accept entire slate, and Ed Westwater seconded. The Commission members unanimously approved the slate.

A discussion of the need for URL advertisements on URSI publications was led by Steve Sekelsky. It was noted that the web site has been visited 278 times since April 1, 1998.

Suggested changes to web page were solicited by Steve Sekelsky through his e-mail address on the web page. Steve Sekelsky also indicated that major web page changes would perhaps require commission approval. It was indicated that a link to the International URSI Commission F web page be added

4. Recent NRSM statistics were discussed: In 1999, 40 out of 325 total papers were from Commission F. In 2000, the current attendance statistics suggested this ratio to be 48 out of 334 for Commission F.

Ed Westwater encouraged Commission F faculty members to encourage their students to submit papers to the USNC URSI Student Paper Prize competition. Al Gasiewski indicated that it provides an excellent means to start the graduate-level publication process.

The 2002 General Assembly, to be held in Maastricht, the Netherlands, was discussed. It was suggested by Ed Westwater that the 2005 GA be proposed to be held in the US, and he solicited the interest of the Commission F members who might be willing to spearhead such a proposal. It was noted that the GA would require the services of a ~1500 person conference center. Both Colorado and the eastern US coast were discussed as possible venues. It was also noted that the GA requires coordination of both the technical program and the GA business meetings. Kenn Anderson moved that Commission F support the notion of USNC forwarding a proposal to host the GA in the US in 2005; this motion was seconded, then approved by the Commission.

A point of contact from Commission F was solicited for attending the Salt Lake City AP/URSI TPC meeting on February 26, 2000. Kenn Anderson, Steve Frasier, and Ed Westwater volunteered.

Support for organizing Commission F sessions at the Boston meeting in 2001was solicited. It was moved by Ross Stone that Commission F participate in the meeting through a special session on remote sensing, seconded, then approved.

The possibility was discussed of hosting the North American Radio Science meeting in Columbus, Ohio in 2003, along with the Mexican and Canadian URSI national commissions. It was noted that the Canadians have been host to a number of major meetings in the 1990’s and could likely use a break. Kenn Anderson moved that Commission F support that the 2003 meeting in Columbus become the North American Radio Science Meeting, seconded, and approved.

6. Nominations for candidates for URSI members-at-large were discussed. It was noted that Ross Stone and Amalia Barrios would be rotated off at the end of 2000. It was also noted that Amalia served only one year of a two-year term. Amalia was thus nominated as a candidate for a complete two-year term, seconded, then approved. Members Dan Dockery and Steve Fraiser were also nominated for a second Commission F slot. It was decided by vote that Steve Fraiser would also be nominated by Commission F to be USNC URSI as a members-at-large.

The opportunity to be an URSI correspondent and receive the "Radio Scientist" was offered to Commission F members. It was noted that all attendees of the URSI GA would automatically become correspondents.

The possible change in status of the Booker Award to an International URSI Gold Medal award was discussed. It was noted that if internationalized, the award would likely change from specifically a Young Scientist award to a more broader category of award. It was moved that Commission F support internationalization of the Booker award, seconded, the non-unanimously approved.

7. The hosting of the 2001 NRSM at an alternate location (other than Boulder) was discussed. It was noted that Susan Avery has organized the meeting very successfully for several past years, but that she would be inclined to see the organization rotate. Julius Goldhirsh indicated that it is a tradition to have the meeting in Boulder, and encouraged the Commission to explore the organization of the meeting in Boulder by another scientific group. Organization by the CU EE department was suggested. The Commission was nearly unanimously satisfied with retaining the meeting in Boulder. The Commission felt that even a minor increase in fees (by about $30-40) to hire a professional organizer would be satisfactory to retain the meeting in Boulder. The Commission also supported moving the abstract deadline up to early August for 2001 in order to retain Julie Mckie’s help in organizing the conference.

As a means of increasing the attractiveness of the NRSM, Commission F tutorials were suggested. Al Gasiewski indicated that these would satisfy a need for continuing education, and could be financially self-sustaining. Other suggestions to improve the attractiveness of the meeting were solicited.

Topics for the 2001 NRSM were solicited. Sessions on "Microwave Polarimetry," "Radiometric Imaging," and "GPS Remote Sensing" were discussed as possible session topics.

8. The meeting was closed at 1850 by the Commission F chair, Ed Westwater.

Marian Klein

Steve Reising

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