NPSS Secretary
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| Alberta Larsen NPSS Secretary |
The Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society’s Administrative Committee met on Saturday, 21 July 2001 in Vancouver, BC at the Westin Bayshore Hotel in conjunction with the NSREC meeting. We were delighted to have Division IV Director Peter Staecker and NSREC Chair Marty Shaneyfelt join us. The meeting was arranged a bit differently than usual, with almost all functional committee and liaison reports omitted from oral presentation to leave abundant time to discuss financial changes within IEEE and the impact on NPSS for the next couple of years.
Ed Lampo presented the Treasurer’s Report. Getting conferences closed in a timely way – there are well-defined rules and procedures – will help us avoid fines. In 2001, even with the stiff allocation to IEEE to support central activities and the poor stock market performance, we will still see a small increase in our own funds. The budget for 2002 has an even larger IEEE tax. It will take extraordinary measures to pay that tax and still end up with some growth in society funds. One belt-tightening measure will be to reduce travel funds for elected AdCom members and Technical Committee chairmen; another will be to ask greater returns from conferences.
Ed Lampo continued the discussion of finances in the afternoon session. This focused on the projected $28.2 million shortfall the IEEE projects for 2001. Part of this stems from refusal to increase dues over the last several years when stock market returns were high, and averaged about 9% a year until 2000 when the return, budgeted at 9%, dropped to ~1%. This did not support the deficit budget on which IEEE has been operating since 1996. Because of these big deficits, belt tightening is now required and revenue streams have to be expanded, as noted above and in Peter Winokur’s report. Some actions will be the slowing of IEEE staff salary increases – an action to bring these in line with competition – increased dues, increased journal subscription costs, and a balanced budget that does not have reliance on the stock market. A financial model and a tax on society intellectual property to develop an endowment fund, are being discussed but models have not yet been accepted There was also a discussion of an IEEE tax on conferences. This has been deferred. Our own basic membership dues will have to be increased to cover basic operating costs. IEEE infrastructure costs, after being clearly identified, will have to be allocated to users. The organization and the systems are very complex and solutions are slow in coming, but imperative. In the interim, NPSS has to make sure no conferences lose money, and if possible, increase their revenues, increase revenues from publications, and cut expenses. Conferences need to be better than ever to attract more attendees. Moreover, we are tightening our belts in various other ways, principally related to AdCom travel and NPSS member recruitment efforts.
Our president, Peter Winokur, presented what he called IEEE Finances 101 to try to help us understand some of the financial aspects of IEEE – where money is, where it goes, where the income streams are. In essence, IEEE is a $250 million/year business that needs about $120 million in revenues to perform successfully. Most of the reserve resources, ~95%, are held in the societies. NPSS has about $2.7 million in reserves. In 2000, IEEE had about $20 million in losses and used $12 million from the general fund plus the tax on each society to break even. They have not run on a balanced budget and many of the initiatives, while of some value (at least some of them – we’ll forget the Millennium Medals and the vast amount wasted in ad agency fees to develop a branding scheme and new logo, among others), have not been paid for from a balanced budget. The projected deficit for 2001 will be about $28 million and there is no General Fund reserve to help balance the books, so the tax on each society will be higher. In 2002, a balanced budget has been requested from each central part of IEEE – RAB, TAB, EAB, IEEE-USA. The way societies do business with IEEE also has to be rethought. A “pay by the drink” model seems the most likely route. IEEE now needs to find ways to reduce expenses and increase income. All entities need to agree and to move forward.
Peter reported on other issues from TAB including our failure to gain permission to launch a new journal, and comments on the Integrated Electronic Library (IEL) that has big appeal to industrial customers. They will launch single article sales, too.
Several new chapters have been formed, including one in central Italy. We welcome them with pleasure.
Peter Staecker, Division IV Director reported on the meeting of the Board of Directors held in Beijing. Key issues were a history of IEEE core functions, a decision to raise dues, the Challenge Budget, and the location of future board meetings. Dan Senese is exploring the history of the increased growth of core function costs. A detailed description was given of direct and indirect core costs and the number of dollars required or raised by each. The next step will be to define cost centers consistent with requirements. To do a good job they need a multiyear restatement of financial history. Budget standards and more understandable budget formats must be developed.
There has not been an IEEE dues increase in many years. The dues will increase for 2002. The timing is not ideal with the economic downturn, but is essential to contribute $3 million toward the much larger budget deficit predicted. The politics are fierce and some entities such as RAB are unwilling to tighten their belts. Therefore, Regions 1-6 will also have an added assessment, principally because of RAB spending.
A Challenge Budget has been mandated that impacts us. It is important that we meet budgets and make every effort to minimize expenditures and maximize income. One motion to contain costs, to hold Operating Unit (including Board) meetings near IEEE headquarters to contain costs, was defeated by one vote. Meeting in Beijing, for example, cost about $150K more than a local meeting would have. Parenthetically, many of you may remember the past discussions of extravagant Board meetings held in luxurious locations and the effort then to restrict these to contain costs. If the societies have to tighten belts to support IEEE operating units, it seems that those operating units, part of this whole body, should also see fit to tighten their belts and make a reasonable contribution, not ask for special assessments to keep them fat!
It seems certain that finances will continue to be a critical IEEE-wide issue for the next several years.
The Technical Committee reports followed. Christian Boulin (CANPS chair) reported on the June Real Time conference held in Valencia with Antonio Ferrer of the University of Valencia as chair. It was a very good, well-run conference, but more and earlier publicity would have helped to increase the attendance. There was much value in developing Spanish government contacts. A CANPS TC meeting will be held in San Diego in November in conjunction with NSS/MIC. The site and chair for the 2003 conference will be selected, and the possibility of having the RTC become an NSS satellite will be evaluated. The field has changed a great deal and more work is done in industry. Peter Winokur noted that we have to have better QC for offshore conferences and learn from them because each is a new experience.
Richard Foley reported that the 1999 Symposium of Fusion Engineering has finally closed, with a healthy return to NPSS. The 2001 conference in Atlantic City is on target, despite the late start date. The web site is up, and the program will contain 170 to 200 papers. The number of exhibitors is down, possibly because of the uncertainty in fusion budgets and the lack of major construction projects other than NIF. The 2001 conference has been working with IEEE Conference Services. There seems to be considerable misunderstanding of the value, if any, of working with them, since they seem at first blush, to take vigorously but to give very little in return. It has been requested that this be clarified before the next AdCom meeting and a report given. Negotiations are in process with the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley for the 2003 meeting.
In Bill Bugg’s absence, Mike Unterweger reported on the Nuclear Instrumentation and Detectors activity. Work is proceeding on a wideband standard. It has been suggested by Lou Costrell that a basic standard be developed that will then be expanded systematically to become as inclusive as industry desires.
Joel Karp, chair of the Nuclear and Medical Imaging Sciences TC reported that the web site for the 2001 MIC was slow to go live but is now active. There was increased abstract submittal yet again and the conference has been increased to four days, putting some pressure on the single-session philosophy of past MIC conferences, and space pressure on the combined NSS/MIC. Some problems are nice to have!
TMI is still looking for an editor-in-chief. Mike Vannier’s term ends on December 31, 2001. A decision to discuss and evaluate the candidate list has been postponed and the road to filling this critical position seems unclear.
Bruce Brown of Fermilab has taken over the chairmanship of the Particle Accelerator Science and Technology committee from Matt Allen. Bruce reported on the highly successful PAC01 held in Chicago where there were about 1200 attendees. About 1100 papers will be included in the conference record. The commercial exhibit was very good, too. PAC03 will be held in Portland, Oregon with Bob Siemann of SLAC as chairman. The program committee chair has also been selected. The new NPSS booth was used together with the new brochure. Bruce, Peter Clout and Alan Todd kept an eye on it, and were available to answer questions. Our goal is to increase NPSS visibility and participation in this conference, originally founded by IEEE NPSS back in the ‘60s.
The NPSS PAST activity at the 2001 Snowmass Workshop on the Future of Particle Physics, a move to increase NPSS visibility at this very large accelerator physics meeting, was successful The presentations on cutting edge technology were excellent or better. Attendance was spotty – high at some sessions, low at others - but as a first, this was very successful and well worth doing at the next Snowmass meeting, most probably in 2006.
Mark Rader and Edl Schamiloglu reported that the joint ICOPS/Pulsed Power conference held in Las Vegas was very successful, with almost 1200 attendees, 800 abstracts and two minicourses. There are no plans at present to host another joint conference, but discussions are ongoing, with 2005 as a possibility. Pulsed Power is not willing to meet outside the US at present, so 2003 is not a possibility due to the ICOPS Korean conference. Mark Rader reported on other Plasma Science items. ICOPS is scheduled for Banff in 2002, Korea in 2003, Baltimore in 2004, Monterey in 2005 and Wisconsin in 2006. Mark raised the issue of honoraria for short courses. This issue was discussed at a number of previous AdCom meetings. Most TCs offer only a modest honorarium or a certificate of appreciation or an appropriate small gift. We will ask IEEE for guidance. Peter Staecker noted that people can be paid and that there are organizations that run short courses for considerable profit that compensate the tutors very well. Your secretary sensed that this route is not the consensus and direction for our NPSS conference short courses, although no vote was taken.
In Peter Turchi’s absence, Edl Schamiloglu reported on the activities of the Pulsed Power TC. The 2003 Pulsed Power conference will be held in Dallas, TX with Mike Giesselmann of Texas Tech University as Chairman. The 2005 conference has tentatively been set for Albuquerque, but there is still discussion of the possibility of another joint conference with ICOPS or with the megagauss conference.
Our host, Marty Shaneyfelt, chair of the 2001 NSREC reported on the conference, NSREC’s first outside the US. The Westin Bayshore was an outstanding conference facility, the largest in Vancouver, with a superb staff. The US has again decreed Canada as foreign travel, but with enough planning, this is manageable, even for US national lab attendees. There was some problem with getting visas approved for Russian attendees, so the number of Russians was down a bit. A customs broker was used to handle the exhibit and that worked really well, although there were six fewer exhibitors than at the previous meeting. This is more probably due to the downturn in the economy than to dealing with Canadian customs, and the exhibitors in Vancouver all plan to be at the next NSREC. Attendance was down slightly but there should still be a return to NPSS. Of the 94 papers presented 52 were oral, 35 posters, and 7 late posters. There were 28 Data Workshop papers. The Short Course had 293 attendees. Of the 413 conference attendees, 74% were from the US. The next largest delegations were from France and Italy respectively.
Dale Platteter, chair of the Radiation Effects TC, reported on other NSREC conferences. The 2000 conference in Reno closed with a very small return to NPSS. Future conferences include:
Janet Barth of NASA Goddard is newly elected to the Radiation Effects Steering Group. Two Phelps Travel Awards were granted, one to James Felix of Vanderbilt University and the other to Shiming Zhang of Auburn University. The 2001 Radiation Effects award was presented to Andrew Holmes-Siedle of REM Oxford.
Next year a new CD-ROM will be issued containing all NSREC short courses through 2002. This will be reissued on a 4-year cycle.
The 2000 NSS/MIC conference held in Lyon is close to closing and Patrick Le Dû of CEA Saclay has offered to write a guide for management of European conferences. The NSS/MIC organization, especially Uwe Br@tzler of CERN has been working hard to keep the European attendance at NSS/MIC high for 2001 and the outlying years. A conference in Italy is in the planning stages for 2004. That will be decided at a meeting of the site selection committee to be held in Italy. Erik Heijne, chair of the Transnational TC, chairs this committee.
Glenn Knoll, Chair of the Radiation Instrumentation TC responsible for the NSS meeting, also reported that two new NSS awards proposed and approved at the March AdCom meeting had been approved by TAB. An RITC Awards Committee is being formed, and will seek awardees.
Tony Lavietes reported on the 2001 NSS/MIC to be held in San Diego November 4-10, for which he is general chairman. He discussed the difficulties in getting the new server up and hence, the late launch of the web site and late abstract submittal – the old cascade problem – and the potential space crunch due to the large number of abstracts and short courses. In total over 700 abstracts have been received, with MIC now edging out NSS for the majority, and 9 short courses are planned. SNPS will also have 3 full sessions. The companions’ program has been fixed, the room block has been increased to ensure adequate space, and the amount of meeting space in the hotel will be increased if at all possible. The Compton Detector workshop will also be held in parallel with NSS/MIC.
Future NSS/MIC Conferences:
Erik Heijne reported on the activities of the Transnational Committee. As present there are 11 members. This will be expanded to 20, with 5 new members appointed each year for a 4-year term. They are planning to write Bylaws to govern the committee’s actions. At present their concerns are assisting in chapter formation and operation; working on off-site conferences, with the 2004 NSS/MIC a principal interest; helping with Society award applications to get more transnational recognition; and, delivering views of international members to AdCom.
Erik also reported on the meeting, held in Munich, of the Sensors Council. They are now limiting Council membership to one person per society. Their new journal is out. There have been requests from other organizations (ACS, IEE) to share the management of the new journal. IEEE has said no. There are plans for a Sensors Conference. It may conflict with a conference on transducers. The Sensors Council predicts that within 6 years it will return start-up funds to the member societies.
Steve Gitomer, the Editor-in-Chief of NPSS Publications, reported that there is a new IEEE Press book edited by two of our members, Edl Schamiloglu and Bob Barker. The book is High Power Microwave Sources and Technology. Congratulations!
Steve also discussed at length some of our problems with journal publication including timeliness, quality control, and electronic review and submittal of manuscripts. This is particularly pertinent since the large problems with the 2000 NSREC papers published in a special issue of TNS are only now being resolved, and have led to the substantial but necessary expense of going to fully edited proceedings. It has been necessary to reprint part III of the December 2000 TNS because of the large error rate. All authors have to be contacted and manuscripts corrected before the reissue can happen. As it was, initial publication was very late. Steve reports that timeliness is improving. TNS has routine electronic submission of manuscripts. TPS will catch up, probably by October. There is a major issue of quality control, especially for volumes using a lot of color printing and for the medical imaging papers. Cost is a big issue. Page charges will be required in certain cases and volunteer page charges recommended in others. We still struggle with the perception that papers from conferences are not of the same quality as contributed papers. In fact, the review standards for conference papers are rigorous and the rejection rate extremely high, and the resulting paper quality is at least as good as the quality of the contributed papers.
Peter Clout, chair of the new Communications Committee, reported that the new NPSS brochure is out and was distributed at several conferences. It will be mailed to all members of NPSS in the autumn. Conference chairmen should contact Peter (clout@vista-control.com) with a request for brochures to distribute in all NPSS-affiliated conference packets or bags. The new membership booth, with a good description of NPSS activities, as well as graphics, was used at four conferences and the Snowmass meeting and is being well received. It certainly gives us better visibility and a professional image. The Committee’s next task is to improve the web site.
Our Awards chair, Ron Jaszczak, urges each TC to identify potential candidates for society awards since they know their communities best. Standards for awards applications will be improved in future. Send ideas for award (Merit, Shea, Early Achievement) recipients to Ron at rjj@dec3.mc.duke.edu.
Vernon Price, chair of the memberships/Chapters/Distinguished Lecturers committee, discussed chapters and chapter formation. He is actively engaged in developing chapters in Moscow, Israel, and Australia, in addition to the Benelux and central Italian chapters initiated this year. Membership recruiting still remains slow and foreign memberships are still hindered by the lack of recognition by IEEE of certain international universities, so it is necessary and important that NPSS members review the list of accredited or accepted universities on the IEEE web site and make sure information is received about universities that are not listed. The rate of nonrenewal of memberships is high, of order 60%. What can be done to change this? Should we put significant effort into this issue?
Action items: It was moved and passed that for future conferences, the Transactions containing the conference papers will not be given to nonsubscriber (non-NPSS) conference attendees. This was amended to say that this would be true for conferences that did not also include a conference record. If the Conference Record was not provided, the Transactions containing conference papers would be provided.
Two motions to provide, each by a different method, vouchers to be used to pay for NPSS membership with conference packets were defeated unanimously.
A motion to have the president form a committee to explore reducing the number of AdCom meetings from 3 to 2 was amended to form a committee to explore the frequency of AdCom meetings. The motion carried and a committee appointed.
A motion to allow a limited-time free access to XPLORE was defeated.
The issue was raised of IEEE NPSS membership for at least one author of any paper presented at an NPSS conference. Many other societies require this. Discussion has been deferred to the AdCom retreat early in 2002.
Peter Winokur, in the President’s report, discusses the failed attempt to launch a new NPSS journal. This will continue to be examined and further action is to be expected. The largest concern is making sure NMIS papers are listed in the Indicus Medicus and other medical abstracts listings. The issue of taking the journal outside IEEE or partnering with a non-IEEE entity was discussed, but with little enthusiasm. This is possible.
The next AdCom meeting will be held on Saturday, November 10, 2001 in San Diego, in conjunction with the 2001 NSS/MIC conference.
Respectfully submitted,
Albe Larsen, Secretary
Albe Larsen, the NPSS Secretary, can be reached at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, P.O. Box 4939, Stanford, CA 94309; Phone: +1 650 926-2748; Fax: +1 650 926-5124; E-mail: amlarsen@slac.stanford.edu