PLASMA SCIENCE AND APPLICATIONS TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

Every 10 years, the Plasma Science and Applications Committee (PSAC) is required to evaluate the effectiveness of its Constitution and Bylaws. The purpose of this evaluation is “to study the rules of governance required by the activities of the Committee at that time, and to consider writing a new Constitution and Bylaws appropriate to the existing and anticipated needs of the Committee.” This evaluation was conducted in 2004 by a 7-member committee consisting of present and past elected members of the PSAC Executive Committee. As a result of the review, a number of changes were proposed to both the Constitution and the Bylaws, and submitted for approval.
The revised Constitution and Bylaws were approved by the PSAC Executive Committee on November 14, 2004, and by the NPSS Administrative Committee on March 12, 2005. They will go into effect unless 20 members of the Plasma Science and Applications Committee object in writing to the NPSS President (Bill Moses, wwmoses@lbl.gov) within 90 days of the mailing date of this Newsletter. While the entire revised Constitution and Bylaws are printed below, the most significant changes are listed here:

• The PSAC Vice-Chairperson position is now a two-year position (previously it was one year).
  
• The Vice-Chairperson is the Chairperson-elect. The succession is now two years as Vice-Chairperson, two years as Chairperson, and two years as Most Recent Past Chairperson. (Previously, the Vice-Chairperson and Chairperson were separately elected and there was no direct succession)
  
• The Chairperson can designate the Vice-Chairperson or Most Recent Past Chairperson to represent PSAC, and vote, at NPSS AdCom meetings.
  
• Voting proxies for Executive Committee members have been eliminated.
  
• The definition of membership in PSAC has been changed to remove the requirement for a subscription to the IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science.
  
• The process for selection of the PSAC Award recipient has been clarified.
  
• The responsibilities and authority of the Chairperson of an ICOPS have been clarified, and additional details related to the logistics of ICOPS planning and guidelines have been added.
  
• The areas of technical interest have been updated.

This report was prepared by Christine Coverdale who can be reached at Sandia National Laboratories, MS 1159, PO Box 5800, Albuquerque, NM 87185-1159, Phone: +1 505 845 8340; Fax: +1 505 845 7244; E-mail:cacover@sandia.gov.
Daniel Jobe is the Chair of the Particle Accelerator Science and Technology Technical Committee. He can be reached at K-Tech Corp., 1300 Eubank Blvd., SE, Albuquerque, NM 87123-3336; Phone: +1 505 845 7572; Fax: +1 5-5 284 0184; E-mail: djobe@sandia.gov.