AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS - SA branch minutes, June 2001 Minutes of the committee meeting held at 6pm on Tuesday 5th June 2001 in the tea room of the Dept. of Physics and Mathematical Physics at Adelaide University. PRESENT: Bouwknegt, Blankleider, Campbell, Carter, Cockshell, French, Kalloniatis, Samardzic and Veitch. APOLOGIES: Canney, Ford and Leinweber. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING: Bouwknegt noted that all actions had been carried out. CHAIR'S REPORT: Bouwknegt reported that he had talked to "Facilities" about venue payment and has sent a letter asking for guidelines about this. He talked to Roger Clay about the ASSA and established that they were booked for free as the Institute of Astronomy. French noted that no charge had been made to the AIP for the Kerr Grant. Peter Veitch reported that he had rung up about the bill, but it had been delayed, so effectively there had been no charges yet. Bouwknegt reported that he sent letters to the national branch on three issues, with the responses detailed: - Bragg Medal guidelines: the National branch is willing to change them, but cannot act until the annual executive meeting next February, when we can expect our problem to be addressed. - Using national reserves for publicity and recruitment: no answer has been received. - Our budget proposal: a reply is forthcoming, which may give us access to state reserves. The National treasurer may be willing to give more to active states. Bouwknegt noted that documentation for the branch committee is available on the "executive" web page. He promised to remind members of the username and password if necessary. TABLED DOCUMENTS: Bouwknegt tabled the Science Policy committee minutes for May, and a document entitled "Physics in a New Era" (being from the Science Policy Committee of the USA), noting that the latter is on the web page. He suggested that Canney should read these. He tabled the SASTA newsletter and a letter from Jason Smith, President of the Flinders Physics Students' Society. The society is planning a student night towards the end of July and for this they want a speaker for 30 minutes, plus someone to talk about the AIP for 5 minutes. They are requesting an AIP contribution of $60 for a supper, and also for free AIP membership for members of their committee. It was decided to put $60 towards activities of the Flinders Club, with Campbell to remind French to write the cheque and Bouwknegt to inform the club of this. Bouwknegt noted that the free membership is not possible as the branch would have to pay for it. Bouwknegt noted that all documents sent as emails will go in the "Executive" area of the web page. TREASURER'S REPORT: French distributed copies of the expenditure list and reported that the current balance is $5950, which is the same as the underlying reserve of two years ago. He raised the issue of the advertisement for the Claire Corani lecture by Adelaide University in the Advertiser, which did not reference the AIP. Campbell is to ask Mike Ford if he has a copy of the advertisement and Bouwknegt is to compose a letter about it. Bouwknegt undertook to consult with Veitch about the costs of the public lectures and to write letters seeking reimbursement from the Faculty of Science and National Science Week, and also from the Universities for their promised sponsorship of the Science Quiz. French reported that the total amount of money for the TAFE bill has been sent. French undertook to ask the National Treasurer about the issue of the GST on sponsorship. NOMINATIONS: In response to a request from Kalloniatis, the function of the accreditation committee was described. Members agreed that John Pattison from the University of South Australia should be nominated, on the basis of information that he had submitted by email. Campbell reported that Robin Storer from Flinders had agreed to be nominated and French added that Peter Teubner (also from Flinders) had also agreed. Blankleider dismissed both of these and suggested that he would approach Iraj Afnan to see if he would be willing. Bouwknegt agreed that Blankleider should do this and said that he would approach Tony Thomas and Rod Crewther at Adelaide Uni. A nomination for the BOAS medal was canvassed, without success. Campbell reported that heads of departments had been contacted about the Gold Bragg medal and that he was following this up with individual approaches. He noted that the issue of whether the Northern Territory University should be included in the SA nomination (due to problems of how the selection committed would operate in this case) had not been resolved, but that it was unlikely to be a problem this year as the only NTU candidate was unlikely to be examined in time. Bouwknegt suggested that the issue should be considered when it arises. Blankleider asked some questions about reapplication and the time interval appropriate for this year's Gold Bragg award. Campbell suggested that Blankleider, as awards convener, should ask these of the national secretary. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS: STUDENT ACTIVITIES Carter asked about the $250 for SPACED. Bouwknegt noted that it had been approved, but that he was waiting for a firm proposal to be sent to him. Carter said that this was in a previous letter. Bouwknegt proposed that the committee approve a payment of $250 for SPACED and there was consensus among those present for this. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS: MEETINGS and PUBLICITY: Kalloniatis reported that the "meetings" committee had held a meeting on May 9th and that he had forwarded "minutes" of this to everyone. He reviewed the programme for May-Nov: - The "Student night", including presentation of the Silver Bragg medals, on July 31st. - A public lecture by Roy Chisholm sometime during October. - A "Physics in Antarctica" night, in October but with a 2-week space from the public lecture. He reported that there had been a proposal for a talk in June, but this had been abandoned due to students having exams. There was discussion of the talk/meal with Margaret Wertheim, with the decision that it be held at lunchtime on July 15th., subject to Margaret's agreement. Bouwknegt said that it should go ahead if more than 12 people agree to come, and that it be advertised to all AIP members. In response to Carter, he said that members of the AIAA should be invited only if there were insufficient numbers from WIP, the AIP and SPACED. Campbell reported that Flinders and the Uni. SA had nominated their speakers for the Student night, and that the Uni. SA had no nomination for the Silver Bragg while Flinders had made one. He had received no response from Adelaide University about the Student night. Kalloniatis noted that the joint meeting with the ASSA will be on the first Wednesday in either August or September, and that he was relying on the ASSA to nominate a speaker. Cockshell suggested a joint Physics/Biology meeting (probably next year) and undertook to send details to Kalloniatis. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS: EDUCATION: Samardzic reported on the teacher training session held on the previous Friday. She said that she does "public relations" for the AIP at the beginning and that the teachers say that the AIP does a good job. She noted that the list of applications is running out. She reported that the Science Quiz went well, being attended by 9 teams, and thanks to help from sponsors, including SPACED and National Science week, it should cover costs. She said that the Space School will be held over July 18-20th, with a meeting about it next Tuesday. She noted that public schools don't distribute information quickly, and that the senior is often not the best person to contact. French tabled an application for a student travel grant by Flinders PhD student Heather Mackenzie-Ross. Campbell disqualified himself from making a recommendation due to having some input to her paper. Blankleider indicated that he had no knowledge of her. French said that she was Mike Ford's student and Bouwknegt approved the grant. Bouwknegt noted that we should be able to apply for extra money for such grants, suggesting a target of 6 and that Campbell advertise them in the newsletter. He asked Campbell to inform Heather Mackenzie-Ross that her grant had been approved. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS: MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS AND RECRUITMENT: Kalloniatis noted that Waseem Kamleh had been chair but had left, and that Leinweber is now the convener. A reminder was made that Carter had expressed interest in being involved. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS: SCIENCE POLICY COMMITTEE: Samardzic reported on behalf of Canney. He has drafted a letter to the National AIP about problems in the Universities, but has realised that it contained too many references to one institution. He had been told that he could not take part in the teleconference as he had nothing important to say. (Bouwknegt said that this is not quite correct, and that he will send the minutes of the meeting after he receives them.) No budget is required for the subcommittee. Bouwknegt asked that the subcommittee hold a meeting soon. Samardzic undertook to let Canney know this. Blankleider said he would reconsider his input to the letter. It was agreed that this discussion be left to the subcommittee. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS: WEB PAGE Bouwknegt reported that he and Campbell have been updating it and can continue to do so unless someone else can be found. Samardzic suggested paying someone in SPACED to do it, given the quality of their web page. Bouwknegt noted that the display case now clearly looks like an AIP display, but is half-empty. ANY OTHER BUSINESS: Bouwknegt paid tribute to Wiltshire's work on the committee, including his recent work on the budget submission. Samardzic reported some details of the costing for a video camera and undertook to email these to the committee. Bouwknegt asked if there is a demand for the videos which will be produced. Blankleider supported the purchase, giving an example of a situation in which he could make use of the videos. Bouwknegt circulated a page for members to give details of their home phone numbers, to go on to the "Executive" area of the web page. DATE OF NEXT MEETING: This was set for Tuesday July 24th. 2001 L Campbell, 12-6-01 ACTION SUMMARY: BLANKLEIDER - To reconsider his input to the Science Policy letter. - To ask Iraj Afnan if he is willing to be nominated for the accreditation committee. - To refer questions about the Gold Bragg award to the national secretary. BOUWKNEGT - To remind members of the username and password for the "Executive" area of the web page, if necessary. - To reply to the request from the Flinders Physics society. - To write a letter to Adelaide University about the advertisement for the Claire Corani lecture. - To consult with Veitch about the costs of the public lectures and to write to the Faculty of Science and National Science week seeking reimbursement. - To write to the Universities seeking their promised sponsorship for the Science Quiz. - To ask Tony Thomas and Rod Crewther about nomination for the accreditation committee. - To distribute minutes of the Science Policy committee when they become available. CAMPBELL - To remind French to write a cheque for $60 for the Flinders Physics society. - To ask Ford if he has a copy of the advertisement by Adelaide University for the Claire Corani lecture. - To send out a newsletter about the Margaret Wertheim event. - To advertise student travel grants in the newsletter. - To inform Heather Mackenzie-Ross that her student travel grant has been approved. CANNEY - To read the Science Policy committee minutes and the document "Physics in a New Era". - To hold a meeting of the Science Policy subcommittee soon. COCKSHELL - To send to Kalloniatis details of a possible joint Physics/Biology meeting. FRENCH - To ask the national treasurer about GST on sponsorships. - To give SPACED a grant of $250. SAMARDZIC - To finalise details of the talk/meal with Margaret Wertheim, together with Wiltshire. - To circulate details of the cost of the candidate video cameras. - To ask Canney to hold a meeting of the science policy subcommittee. WILTSHIRE - To finalise details of the talk/meal with Margaret Wertheim, together with Samardzic.