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The IEEE NPSS AdCom
met in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday, July 24, following the annual
meeting of NSREC. Once again we owe thanks to Anne Meadows for facilitating
our meeting arrangements.
As Peter Clout mentioned in the last issue, reports of AdCom activity
aren't in general thrilling reading to those who don't participate,
but AdCom does play a very necessary role in keeping our Society
alive and vital, and ensuring that our conferences and publications
thrive. Hence, we do report to you this body's actions and, if you
are involved in a conference or a committee, perhaps you'll come
to the broader view of how many technical areas we really do embrace,
and will join in AdCom activities and learn more about the whole
Society's operations.
At this meeting we were privileged to be joined for the day by Stan
Schriber who will be PAC chair in 2007, Ilan Ben-Zvi who is involved
with PAC and is becoming more interested in NPSS activities, and
Uwe Bratzler, who has been very active in the increase of attendance
at, in particular, the NSS/MIC meetings for the last several years.
One item of business that is of general interest to our readership
is that of the all-member survey. Due to a concatenation of errors,
the return address envelopes had a long out-of-date address, for
which we are sincerely apologetic. A new survey will be sent early
next year. We regret any inconvenience this has caused, and hope
that you will all take the time to respond again.
Once again, Ed Lampo, our treasurer, exhorted us to get conferences
closed quickly. Late closings cost us money. And, once again, we
are having to absorb more IEEE costs, this year to the tune of about
$94K. There is nothing we can do about this request for funds. Hal
Flescher, our Finance chair, who is also Division IV director, and
former TAB treasurer, explained once again the realities of the
IEEE financial situation, including the reality that sale of paper
products, long a major income stream, is drying up as electronic
publications become more widely accepted. This drop in paper sales
has occurred more rapidly than projected and has exacerbated the
IEEE financial picture. This also has an impact on things like getting
publications out in a timely way. There is no flexibility at all
in the publications department, which is no longer robust. In addition,
of the pages submitted for publication, about 20% come in at the
end of the year, creating extra pressures in an already taxed system.
Other changes in the publications area include dropping the bundled
package of Biomedical journals which lost about $300K last year.
The Transactions on Medical Imaging (TMI), which was part of the
bundle, tops the journals in its field with a record number of "hits,"
and is a consistent success financially. There are increasing issues
of open access to publications. We need to provide what people need
professionally. We also need involvement with the New Technology
Directions Committee which has been revitalized as well as with
the New Technology Directions Committee Biotechnology Consortium.
It was noted that the Electromedicine conference that spun off 5-6
years ago has involvement by some of our pulsed power constituents,
and it was pointed out that the Naval Research Lab has had a biotechnology
group for about 15 years. Jane Lehr will look into the biotech activities.
President Bill Moses opened his report by asking for a moment of
silence in tribute to and remembrance of Ed Hoffman, elected President
through 2004, who passed away on July 1. Remembrances of Ed appear
earlier in this issue. His loss is a tremendous one that will be
felt for some time to come in a number of circles beyond NPSS. Bill
has however, assumed the mantle of the presidency and Ed would,
I'm sure, be proud of him.
Bill reported that he will act "in the role of President"
through the end of the year. Since there will be an election for
a new Vice President/President-elect this fall, the position of
Vice President will remain empty until the end of the calendar year.
Peter Winokur will continue in the role of immediate past president
for the two years of Bill's term as President. Bill remarked that
we are thin in a number of places. Ed Hoffman's untimely loss means
that we have also lost the MIC editor, and our NPS editor, John
Valentine, has resigned. We need editors for about 50% of all TNS
papers. Another area where help is needed is membership, where Vernon
Price has functioned without backup for many years. The Treasurer
also needs backup; while he does have the start of a plan to provide
some aid, more is undoubtedly needed. The Secretary has no backup
either, and is most grateful to Peter Clout for stepping in at the
last meeting to write the Minutes and to provide a Secretary's Report
for the last Newsletter.
To address some of these issues, we need effective, engaged committees
to address particular problems. Bill has appointed Charles Neumeyer
of PPPL, our new Fusion AdCom member, to head a committee to look
at membership, chapters and distinguished lecturer issues. Other
focused committees will be forthcoming
TAB, comprised of Society presidents and Division Directors, has
hired new auditors, and they are changing conference book-keeping.
The major issues are the long delays in conference closings and
the movement of funds from one conference to another. The IEEE Board,
including TAB, RAB, EAB and IEEE-USA directors, would like to develop
an exhibit for Epcot Center. The total cost is projected at about
$9 million of which $3 million would come from IEEE and the rest
from other sources. TAB is 75% against this, with the feeling that
this might be interesting, but is fiscally irresponsible. The issue
is not to be reconsidered until the $6 million from external sources
has been identified. This is not a "once in a lifetime"
opportunity as there is a continual rollover in Epcot exhibits.
This will also be a continuing financial drain, rather than a potential
source of income, and would be a big hit financially on the societies.
TAB has also accepted the NPSS motion to purchase computer and video
equipment, and this has engendered interest among other Society
presidents. It is also anticipated that there may be some changes
in membership grades, and the question, "What should a member
be?" is being examined. The list of "eligible institutions"
used to guide membership decisions may be dropped or changed. This
has caused problems for many years in the admittance to membership
and grade advancement of foreign members, where the group handling
memberships is not knowledgeable about foreign institutions and
universities.
OFAC, the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign
Assets Control. has now exempted IEEE publications from restrictions
on circulation to trade-restricted countries. However, big issues
still remain concerning visas for visiting scientists. The difficulties
in getting visas to attend US conferences are having a negative
impact on attendance, and may well have an impact on such things
as siting of international projects. IEEE BOD and TAB need to continue
to work on this critical issue.
Hal Flescher reported, wearing his Division IV Director's hat, that
the reason NPSS has been asked for more money is that each of IEEE's
operating units, TAB in our case, has to operate in the black TAB
is still in the red by about $1.5 million. Since this is the third
year of the distribution algorithm, the hit on us is less than it
might have been. There are five societies with serious financial
problems and five others that are also operating in the red. The
operating unit has to break even, so healthy societies are being
taxed. Other operating units with reserves should also be taxed.
There is activity to disallow deficit budgets.
Technical Committee Reports
Christian Boulin reported for the Computer Applications in Nuclear
and Plasma Sciences committee. The books for Montreal are closing.
The 2005 Real Time conference will be held in Stockholm, Sweden
in June, with Richard Jacobsson as the chairman. Patrick Le Dû
will serve as "coach" as he was the successful chair of
the Beaune RT conference, and has had extended experience with the
changes in finance rules since the change to the Euro through chairing
the 1990 NSS/MIC in Lyon. The budget is being given careful attention.
There is also a new European International Medical Organization,
with membership from CERN and EMBL, among others. There is discussion
of working more closely with IEEE as well as discussions with the
EU Director of Research. There is particular interest in large instrumentation
conferences, such as NSS/MIC. There will be a new Commissioner after
the elections, which occur in November.
Phil Heitzenroeder reported that the CD for the 20th Symposium on
Fusion Engineering (SFE) is ready for distribution and the papers
are ready for the publisher and should be delivered in early August.
The conference is closing. Nermin Uckan of ORNL will chair the 21st
SFE. IEEE Conference Services are doing a hotel search and the web
site is ready to go live once the site is selected. Brochures will
be delivered at the APS Division of Plasma Physics and TOFE meetings
this fall. IEEE did not want to buy paper copies of the 20th SFE
Conference Record, and the Standing Committee is happy with a CD
only. An electronic copy of the Conference Record will go to Book
Broker who will provide either paper or electronic copies on request.
Papers can also be posted on a password-protected web site.
The 22nd SFE will collocate with PPST in Albuquerque in 2007. Both
the Pulsed Power and Plasma Sciences and Applications technical
committees have agreed to this. In 2009, for the 23rd SFE, they
will collocate with ICOPS in San Diego.
In other fusion news, the ITER U.S. Project Office was sited at
Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, with Oak Ridge National Lab as the
co-host. The ITER site location remains an issue. France and Japan
continue as contenders. Once the decision is made, there is expected
to be an upturn in both R&D and in industrial involvement.
Grant Gullberg reported on behalf of the Nuclear and Medical Imaging
Sciences chair that there were 16.1% paper rejections for the 2004
MIC in Rome, from a total of 659 abstract submittals. At the 2005
conference in Puerto Rico, they are planning to hold morning and
evening sessions and to include more oral presentations, an interesting
change in format. They need an editor and associate editors for
the 2004 MIC papers, and for future years. Anyone interested should
contact Magnus Dahlbom (mdahlbom@mednet.ucla.edu).
Patrick O'Shea reported on behalf of the Particle Accelerator committee
that the 2005 PAC budget issues were settled. PAC is the largest
NPSS-sponsored conference, started in 1965. In 1993 it became a
cosponsored conference with APS Division of Particles and Beams.
The governance involves NPSS, APS DPB and the PAC Organizing Committee.
In recent years, communications among the three bodies have been
less than ideal. Stan Schriber, PAC07 chair, and Ilan Ben-Zvi of
BNL attended this AdCom meeting,and Gerry Dugan of APS-DPB called
in to discuss PAC-related issues. The happy outcome is that there
really isn't as much disagreement as seemed on the surface. It is
amazing how a good conversation can help to clear the air. It is
certainly clear that communication channels, now open, must be kept
open and strengthened.
The Plasma Science and Applications Committee members reported that
they met on June 27th, in conjunction with the 2004 ICOPS. ICOPS
had 632 abstracts submitted, and 485 attendees. The organizing committee
had budgeted based on 400 attendees, and expected 450. Overall attendance
was up 25%, as was student attendance. The 2005 ICOPS will be in
Monterey with Bob Cauble as Chair. There will be a short course
on Z-pinch physics on the weekend between ICOPS and the contiguous
Pulsed Power conference. The budget is still under development.
Future Meetings: 2006 - Traverse City, MI; 2007 - Joint with Pulsed
Power - Albuquerque, NM; 2008 - Karlsruhe, Germany; 2009 - San Diego
proposed. ICOPS 2003, held in Korea, is near closing.
The Coalition for Plasma Science has asked PSAC for judges for a
plasma science fair project at the INTEL International Science and
Engineering Fair. They are considering a Plasma Science award to
be given there.They have also asked the APS Division of Plasma Physics.
Contact Gerry Rogoff for details (CPS@plasmacoalition.org).
Pulsed Power Science and Technology (Bob Reinovsky) reported that
2005 plans are on target. John Maenchen is chair and is working
with Bob Cauble as the conferences will be held consecutively in
Monterey. The 2009 conference will be chaired by David Stoudt of
NSWC and will most likely be held on the east coast for the first
time in many years.
There will be a Megagauss Conference in Santa Fe from November 6-10,
2006 and NPSS is a cosponsor. Bishop's Lodge is the proposed venue,
and contracts will be approved by IEEE.
Pulsed Power has been talking with the Power Modulator Conference
about joining the NPSS umbrella, but it now seems that the IEEE
Dielectrics and Insulation Society may be a preferred home. With
AdCom approval, they may be offered technical co-sponsorship of
their future conferences, and still keep open the idea of an NPSS
home for them. The Beams conference will not meet in the U.S. again
until 2010 and it is unlikely that any major effort will be made
to bring them into NPSS before then.
Ron Schrimpf reported that NSREC 2003 should be closed. The 2004
conference budgeted for 453 people and had 456 paid technical attendees!
Talk about close - or a good crystal ball. With short courses, the
total attendance was 560, and the budget should be on target. The
2005 conference will be held in Seattle. The budget has been submitted
for approval. Future conferences: 2006 - Sawgrass, Florida (near
Jacksonville); 2007 - Honolulu; 2008 - TBD - Paul Dodd will be the
chair.
The Radiation Instrumentation committee reported that plans for
the Rome NSS/MIC conference are well in hand. There are, to date,
50 exhibitors, with space for 52, in a wireless service exhibition
hall. Considerable student travel grant funds have been obtained,
and based on the number of abstracts received, there may well be
record attendance. Plans for 2005 are well in hand and, as noted
above, there may be a change in meeting format. A new firm will
handle commercial exhibits. Steve Derenzo will continue to manage
the short courses. Hotel check-in will be possible at the airport,
in combination with transportation to the hotel. The 2006 conference
will be held in San Diego with Graham Smith as general chair. The
2007 site selection committee has been active and has narrowed to
five sites. A decision should be announced in Rome.
The Conference Information and Promotion Committee (CIP) of the
Transnational Committee now has about 50 members and is very active
in distributing posters, e-mail and other information at other conferences
and through the CERN Courier and IEEE Spectrum. They are working
with Ron Keyser to integrate their mailing list with the exhibitor
mailing list and hope to get information out earlier, and to extend
coverage. They deserve a large vote of thanks for an excellent job,
especially in regard to NSS/MIC.
Functional Committees
Igor Alexeff reported that all Society awards were granted this
year. Ken Prestwich is the recipient of the Merit Award (see the
report and citation in the Awards section); Ed Lampo, our treasurer,
is the recipient of the Richard F. Shea Award (see Awards), and
Robert Reed is the recipient of the Early Achievement award. Graduate
Scholarship awards went to Hao D. Xiong of Vanderbilt University
(see Awards), Vitaly Gorayshko of the Ukraine, Magesh Thyagarajan
of the University of Wisconsin, and Sriram Parameswaran (see Awards)
of the University of Tennessee. Congratulations to all!
Vernon Price, chair of Membership and Chapters noted that IEEE membership
rose about 1%, with growth primarily from Europe and Asia. Many
new members are students. Only about two-thirds of members pay full
dues. The balance are students, recent graduates, unemployed, retirees,
or those earning minimum income, many of whom are from economically
disadvantaged areas. Membership in Societies is dropping with only
about 41% of IEEE members having a Society affiliation. Those who
do belong to societies often belong to more than one. Our membership
has dropped 4.5% over the last year. It is time to find out why.
A change in student applications for membership may help increase
their numbers.
Gerry Rogoff, our Coalition for Plasma Science liaison, explained
CPS to new AdCom members as a group formed to communicate information
about plasmas and plasma science to nontechnical people including
K-12 teachers and students, Congress members, Congressional staff
and others. They hold luncheons in the Congressional office buildings
and also have posters and two-page write-ups on various plasma applications.
They are sponsored by us and by a number of university and industrial
groups. They have an informative web site (http://www.plasmacoalition.org).
Check it out to learn more, and let your kids' teachers know about
it, too.
Peter Winokur discussed the survey which will be redone next year.
See the note above. This year only three AdCom members (NMIS, Transnational
and PSAC) will be replaced since the Nuclear Instruments and Detectors
Standards Committee has become the Functional Standards Committee
and will no longer have an elected seat on AdCom.
Paul Dressendorfer, Publications Editor-in-Chief noted, in addition
to the staff needs mentioned above, that the IEEE staff editor has
resigned and a replacement is being sought. Paul Kinahan has been
helping with MIC and other medical imaging papers, but a regular
editor is needed. Other publication issues include the expense of
IEL and the addition to the publications suite of IEEE Enterprise
which offers a more limited number of downloads per year for fees
ranging from $5K to $18K, depending on access needs. The algorithm
for the distribution of income from IEL is changing and will be
based on the number of hits by institutional subscribers. We expect
our income to be about the same as it has been. So far IEL total
annual downloads run to about 44 million a year. Grant Gullberg
will carry on the work Ed Hoffman had started to get our journals
into the medical indices, especially Indicus Medicus.
There remains a problem with the structure of TNS editing. Editors
for about 50% of the papers have been lost. Bill Moses has asked
Steve Gold to chair a committee to look at these issues. They should
report in Rome, and the committee will probably be reappointed for
2005. As with our other positions, we need a training program for
new editors both to spread the work load, and to have some back-up
in an emergency, as well as leaders for the future.
Peter Clout has had our NPSS brochure revised with a letter by Bill
Moses as the introduction. Enough copies have been printed to carry
us to the end of the year. A complete revision is scheduled for
early 2005. For anyone needing brochures, posters, or our IEEE NPSS
membership booth, contact Peter at clout@vista-control.com.
The Standards Committee, headed by Ron Keyser, is working on increasing
its membership. There are 16 voting members to date. There are ten
of our standards to be reaffirmed, including the germanium detector
standard. There is a new Radiation Effects standard in process,
with James Ziegler helping. Mike Unterweger, our co-liaison to the
IEEE Standards Board, reports that IEEE is going 100% electronic
and that people who work on standards who don't use computers won't
be able to vote.
Erik Heijne, our Sensors Council liaison, sent a report that attendance
at the Council's AdCom is poor. They have had a problem with timely
publication and have a backlog of papers. Their conference is successful
but the focus is on the science rather than the application of sensors.
As a member of the council NPSS sees 1/27th of any profit or loss
on their conference and transactions.
Hal Flescher, this time sporting his RADECS liaison chapeau, reported
that plans for the RADECS workshop in Spain are moving forward.
Here papers are scrutinized less rigorously and tend to be short
updates. The abstracts for papers in 2006 will be given more typical
reviews. This conference will be chaired by George Stassinopoulos
of NASA who will be assisted in hosting the conference by a group
of Greek universities.
NPSS Business: Motions
- The NPS FinCom shall have the power to authorize up to $10K
for advancing funding for future NPS conferences prior to the
full budgeting process for that conference. The conference shall
treat this within their budget as an advance to the conference.
This motion was passed.
- The travel allowance for the Editor-in-chief of TNS and the
Editor-in-chief of TPS will be $3000 per year, effective immediately.
This motion was tabled.
- The NPSS AdCom authorizes the AdCom President to donate, if
approved, $5000 to the UCLA Edward J. Hoffman Graduate Student
Fellowship Fund.
This was carried unanimously. In addition, Ed's widow,
Carolyn Hoffman, has been invited to attend the NSS/MIC and AdCom
meetings in Rome, as the Society's guest.
- It was moved that a stipend of $6000 be provided to the University
of Washington to support the editorial work of Paul Kinahan
This motion carried.
The next meeting of AdCom will be on Saturday, October 23, 2004
at the Ergife Palace Hotel, Rome, Italy.
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