Minutes of the USNC URSI Commission F Business Meeting

National Radio Science Meeting

University of Colorado, Boulder, CO

10 January 2002
  1. The meeting was called to order at 1705 MST by the USNC Commission F chair, Dr. Ed Westwater.
  1. The 2001 Commission F business meeting minutes were circulated to members by e-mail prior to the 2002 business meeting. Approval of these minutes was moved, seconded, and accepted.
  1. Old Business
    1. Ed Westwater provided statistics for the Commission F papers presented at the Boulder USNC Radio Science meeting for 2000-2002 (copied in the attached table).
    2. Ed Westwater discussed the outcome of the 7th Microwave Specialist Meeting, held in Boulder, CO November 5-9, 2001. This meeting combined the 8th International URSI Commission F Symposium on Microwave Remote Sensing of the Earth, Oceans, Ice, and Atmosphere and the 7th Specialist Meeting on Microwave Radiometry. The meeting was co-chaired by Dr. Westwater and Dr. Jothiram Vivekanandan off NCAR. It was deemed to be very successful, with 150 attendees from 20 countries. A total of 51 papers were submitted for publication in a follow-on special issue of Radio Science.
    3. Steve Sekelsky, USNC Commission F webmaster, discussed the USNC Commission F web pages. He reported that 1281 hits were received on the main USNC Commission F page in 2001. He reminded the members that meeting updates and other pertinent information should be forwarded to him for inclusion on the pages. The web site is located under the main USNC URSI web page at http://www-usnc-ursi.org .
    4. Al Gasiewski, USNC Commission F secretary, discussed the USNC Commission F membership data base. Al reported that although the data base was well maintained, there was incomplete information from several members who have had no apparent interaction with USNC Commision F in years. A motion was made by Julius Goldhirsch to forward an e-mail to all listed members to inquire whether or not they would want to continue to be a member of Commission F. The message would indicate that a response (yes/no) was necessary. Follow-up messages and calls would insure that all listed members were queried. It would be reminded that in the e-mail that support for attending the GA is contingent on attending at least one business meeting each triennium.
    5. Al Gasiewski provided an update on the 2002 USNC student paper competition. Nine entries were received, all from authors who were students at the time of submission. The papers were subject to rigorous peer review, after which three were selected by the USNC Commission chairs for the final oral competition. Al suggested that provision of partial support of student’s travel expenses for attending the Radio Science meeting for those students who submitted acceptable student papers would be helpful in attracting more young members to URSI.
  1. New Business
    1. Rich Paulus, USNC Commission F membership chair, presented the sole nominee for membership in USNC Commission F:

      2. Nominee

      Sponsor

      Dr. Marian Klein

      Dr. Ed Westwater

      A brief discussion of the qualifications of the candidate followed. Wolf Vogel moved to accept Dr. Klein’s nomination, which was seconded, then approved. It was asked if U.S. citizenship was a necessary precursor to USNC membership. Ed Westwater indicated that only intent to become a U.S. citizen was necessary for USNC membership, which is the case for Dr. Klein.

    2. Ed Westwater proposed to hold an approved USNC Commission F business meeting at IGARSS 2002 in Toronto in order that attending members can satisfy Commission F business meeting attendance requirements. Ed indicated that holding this meeting would also serve to draw IGARSS attendees closer to URSI activities. Kenn Anderson suggested that meeting should be mostly informational, with serious business conducted at the January Radio Science meeting. Ed suggested that Al Gasiewski (who would be attending the Toronto IGARSS) chair this meeting. It was also suggested by Steve Clifford that the first item on the agenda should be whether the IGARSS USNC Commission F business meeting should be continued. It was agreed that an agenda would be drafted by Al Gasiewski and forwarded to Ed Westwater for approval prior to the meeting.
    3. Elections. Ed Westwater discussed the normal succession process for officers within USNC URSI Commission F, from secretary to vice chair, then chair. Al Gasiewski indicated that he would have a time conflict in ~2005-2006 resulting from concurrent commitments to the IEEE GRSS regarding his role in organizing IGARSS 2006. As a means of eliminating overlap between Al’s term as USNC Commission F chair with the period during which he would be heavily involved with an IGARSS, it was moved by Ed Westwater that the secretary in the next USNC election be promoted immediately into the position of chair for the 2005-2008 triennium, with Al Gasiwski’s term as vice chair extended for two consecutive 3-year terms. The motion was seconded, then approved.

      4. Candidates who had been nominated for USNC Commission F secretary were forwarded for consideration by Ed Westwater. These candidates included Steve Reising and Roger Lang. A third candidate, Valery Zavorotny was nominated by Steve Clifford, but declined. Qualifications of both of the candidates were discussed. A non-secret ballot was held, and Roger Lang elected as secretary.

      Nominations for USNC Commission F member-at-large were accepted. Steve Reising was nominated by Kenn Anderson, and seconded. Steve was unanimously approved as the Commission F nominee for USNC URSI member at large.

    4. 2002 Maastricht General Assembly: The issue of abstract length for the 2002 GA as presented at the USNC Executive Committee meeting was briefly discussed. Ed Westwater subsequently queried the Commission members on who would need assistance from the National Academy of Science to attend the GA. The deadline for support requests was set to be January 31.
    5. Other related meetings, including IGARSS 2002 (to be held in Toronto June 24-28, 2002), PIERS (to be held July 1-5, 2002 in Cambridge, Massachusetts), were briefly discussed.
    6. The future of the January Radio Science meeting was discussed. Three options, including eliminating the January meeting, retaining it but holding it at another site, and continuing to hold it in Boulder were considered. Several means of lowering the meeting costs in Boulder were discussed. It was moved by Julius Goldhirsch that Commission F express support that USNC URSI continue to hold the meeting in Boulder. The motion was seconded, and approved.
    7. Ideas for encouraging greater student participation in URSI activities were discussed. Several ideas, including student membership and partial travel support for student paper participants, were discussed.
    8. A solicitation for help with the proposal and preparations for a 2005 URSI General Assembly in Denver, Colorado was made. Susan Avery will be making a bid for the 2005 Denver GA in August 2002 during the Maastricht GA.
    9. The need for computer projectors was discussed. The general consensus was that securing the use of computer projectors should be the responsibility of session organizers, and USNC should not invest in the purchase of such equipment.
    10. A proposal for USNC sponsorship of a Combined APS Wireless Pacific Rim Meeting in Hawaii in September 2003, being organized by Magdy Iskander, was discussed. The meeting will have NSF funding. Other possible conflicting meetings were discussed, including the 2003 Radio Science meeting in Columbus and the 2003 International Microwave Symposium. Kenn Anderson moved that the USNC Commission F chair contact the proposed organizer (Dr. Iskander) to request that USNC Commission F be a sponsor in name only. The motion was seconded and approved.
    11. A solicitation was made for Commisison F special sessions to be organized for the 2003 Radio Science meeting. Kenn Anderson moved that the USNC Commisison F chair contact the Canadian Commission F chair to coordinate the organization of special sessions. The motion was seconded and approved.
    12. A motion was made by Julius Goldhirsch to extend a round of applause to Ed Westwater for his efforts during the past three years as USNC URSI Commission F chair. The motion was seconded and approved. Al Gasiewski added that Ed and J. Vivekenandan both did an outstanding job as co-chairs in organizing the recent Microwave Specialist Meeting.
    13. Kenn Anderson moved to adjourn the meeting at 1850 MST. The motion was seconded and approved.

 

Submitted by: Albin J. Gasiewski

Secretary, USNC URSI Commission F

Attachments: USNC Commission F 2002 business meeting attendees

USNC Commission F representation

 

Attendees

USNC URSI Commission F

Business Meeting

10 January 2002

Anderson

Kenn

Avery

Susan

Brown

Gary

Clifford

Steve

Dockery

Dan

Gasiewski

Al

Goldhirsh

Julius

Klein

Marian

Lataitis

Rich

Lang

Roger

Long

Maurice

Paulus

Rich

Piepmeier

Jeffrey

Reising

Steve

Rogers

Ted

Sekelsky

Steve

Smith

Ernie

Sletten

Mark

Stone

Ross

Toporkov

Jakov

Vivekanandan

Jothiram

Vogel

Wolf

Westwater

Ed

Zavorotny

Valery

Guests

Kochhar

Anil

Roman-Nieves

Jorge

Saatchi

Sassen

Torrrico

Saul

West

James

Commission F Representation

at the

USNC URSI National Radio Science Meetings

Year

# Sessions

Total/Joint

# Papers/

Total Papers

1993

3

27

1994

5

42

1995

7

63
 

3 (joint)

5

1996

6

58
 

3 (joint)

5

1997

6

58
 

1 (joint)

17

1998

5

41
 

1 (joint)

6

1999

5

40/325
 

2 (joint)

19/325

2000

5

48/334
 

2 (joint)

17/334

2001

5

49/346
 

4 (joint)

32/346

2002

5

34/305
 

2 (joint)

18/305

 

2001 NRSM Session Organizers:

Kenn Anderson

Bryan Butler

Albin Gasiewski

Alex Maradudin

Michael Newkirk

Simon Radford

Steve Reising

Kamal Sarabandi

Valerian Tatarski

Jacob VanZyl

Ed Westwater

Valery Zavorotny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2002 NRSM Session Organizers:

Kenn Anderson

Dan Dockery

Albin Gasiewski

Julius Goldhirsch

Roger Lang

Jeff Piepmeier

Steve Sekelsky

Ed Westwater

Valery Zavorotny