Membership Development and Chapters Committee

Membership: During the early 1990’s and during the decade of the 1980’s, membership levels in the Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society (measured at the beginning of the each year) hovered closely about 3000. From 1997 on, the level of the membership gradually decreased but a surge in membership occurred in the 2002 period when Dr. Peter Clout and the Communications Committee initiated a well-designed membership booth for recruiting use at NPSS conferences. The improved booth attracted new members. The surge is apparent in Figure 1 where recent yearly January data is plotted. Membership in IEEE reached a plateau in 2002 and since that time, membership as a whole has decreased, falling 11.9% from its 2002 level to the January 2005 level. of 353,680 members. There was a fall-off of 3.8% in this year’s IEEE membership compared to the previous January. The NPSS January fall-off of 3.9% compared to the previous January therefore was not unusual.
The plots in Figure 2 illustrate the effects of the termination runs by IEEE for those members who did not renew their membership. This year, NPSS lost 347 members in the drop-off compared to the level in January 2005. Thus, 347 people will be needed to join our society during this year to bring us back to last January’s level. We are likely, however, to persuade only about 300 to do so giving us a 3% loss for the year. The drop-off in IEEE membership in February was 75,000 members. Considerable expense is involved in recruiting that same number to replace the lost people, keeping the IEEE membership constant.

Figure 1. Annual Trends in Recent NPSS Population (January data). The surge in membership is likely a result of Dr. Clout’s new booth.

Figure 2. Monthly trends in NPSS membership. The fall-off in February occurs with the termination run by IEEE for lapsed members

In 2002, the average NPSS population over the year (taking into account the drop-off) was 3061. In 2004 that same average fell to 2773 or a loss in membership of 9.4%. The 2004 membership consisted of 2521 higher grade members, 208 students and 44 affiliate members.
Can anything be done to stem this attrition in NPSS membership? Four factors may be considered:

• Develop better slide presentations to be used at NPSS conferences and workshops extolling the value of IEEE/NPSS membership and illustrating its benefits to IEEE members and to nonmembers alike.
  
• Induce IEEE members at conferences who are not members of NPSS (about one half of the IEEE members attending our conferences fall into this category) to add NPSS to their membership. At $16 per year, this is not particularly expensive.
  
• Create inducements for an IEEE member to join NPSS if not already a member. Answer the question “I am a member of IEEE, what additional benefit will I receive if I also join the NPSS society?” At the present, the wide availability of XPLORE at academic and at commercial institutions has reduced that important value in NPSS membership.
  
• Increase our rate of nomination of NPSS members to higher grade levels. Society membership is an important factor in getting this done.

Chapters: About half of the NPSS chapters are struggling in their efforts to hold regular meetings, reaching the minimum of two meetings per year to remain current and viable. During this year, I have had the opportunity to meet with representatives of several chapters who have attended NPSS conferences and have encouraged them in their efforts to remain alive and active. I had productive discussions with leaders of the French, German, Italian and some U.S. chapters to learn of their needs and problems. In the next Newsletter, I will outline some of their answers to my questions and may find some suggested solutions.
Vernon G. Price may be contacted at 22151 Berkeley Ct., Los Altos CA 94024-7452, USA; Phone +1 408 737-0778: Fax: +1 408 737-1922: E-mail: v.price@ieee.org.