Australian Institute of Physics (SA branch) http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/aip-sa 2001 AGM Minutes Minutes of the 2001 Annual General meeting, held at 6:15pm on Thursday 22nd November, 2001 in the meeting room of the Public Schools' Club (at 207 East Terrace, Adelaide). PRESENT: Dr Peter Bouwknegt Ms Susan Cockshell Dr Derek Leinweber Dr Olivia Samardzic Dr Judith Pollard Dr Peter Veitch Mr Dean Dowling Ms Kathryn Hanton Mr John Pockett Dr Alex Kalloniatis Dr Boris Blankleider Mr Maurie Hooper Ms Penny Hale Mr David Ridout Dr Karl Bartusek Dr Rod Crewther Mr Doug Sweet Mr John Hisco Ms Susan Gunner Mr Ken Smith Dr Michael Brunger Dr Shane Canney Dr Laurence Campbell Prof. John Prescott Mr David French APOLOGIES: Dr David Leibing A/prof Robin Store Dr Michael Ford Prof Peter Teubner VISITORS: Ms Odetta Gwizda Mrs Alice Sweet Mrs. Prescott WELCOME: Members were welcomed by the Chair, Dr Peter Bouwknegt. MINUTES OF THE 2000 AGM: These were accepted by consensus. There was no business arising from the minutes. Chair's Report: Peter Bouwknegt gave credit to the 2001 committee, noting that valuable members have been lost, particularly David Wiltshire. Also, due to being too busy with PhD work, Stewart Wright had left the science policy subcommittee and Waseem Kamleh his work on the web page. Peter thanked the committee in general, noting that as activities had been based on the work of previous committees, their members should also be thanked, particularly Derek Leinweber. This year Peter himself, Peter Veitch and Alex Kalloniatis were new to the committee, so they had to rely on help from other members. The SA branch is considered to be the more, or most, active branch so there is a reputation to live up to. Peter listed the subcommittees of the branch as Education, Science Policy, Meetings, Awards, Display case, Members' benefits and Web page. He identified meetings as one of the more important activities of the branch. He gave the total for this year as 3 members' lectures, 3 public lectures, a student night and a brunch, with details: - In March, Hervey Bagot (from a company that makes bells) gave a members' lecture on bells, including history and acoustics. - In April, Noble prizewinner Prof Veltman gave a public lecture on particle physics. (This was an example of where we have been lucky to have free lectures by high-profile speakers who were passing through.) - In May, the Women-in-Physics lecturer Dr Gabriella Gonzales gave a well-attended public lecture on Gravitational Waves. (This was a National Science Week event so extra funding was obtained.) - In July, Margaret Wertheim, who was in Adelaide for the Festival of Ideas, attended a brunch with members and discussed various issues pertinent to Science. - Also in July, at the AIP student night, 3 postgraduate students talked about their PhD work. They were Chris Klinger from Flinders University, Zhen Gong from the Uni. of SA and James Zanotti from Adelaide University. (Peter noted that it is important to bring students into the AIP and to increase communication between students.) - In August, Todd Maddern gave a members' lecture on Antarctica. This was a fun lecture, with slides, which attracted a different audience. - In September, the joint meeting with the Astronomical Society of SA was addressed by Prof Matthew Bailes. The joint meeting is always well received. - In October, Prof. Roy Chisholm gave a public lecture in a joint event with the Australian Mathematical Society. We were lucky to arrange this as he was here for an exhibition. The branch also sponsored student events at Adelaide and Flinders universities. These were respectively a lunch and a dinner, with speakers Jayson Priest and Dr Peter Szekeres. Peter thanked Alex Kalloniatis for organising the year's meetings. Peter reported on the activities of the Education subcommittee, illustrated by transparencies for which he thanked Olivia Samardzic. He described the subcommittee as very active, with its activities including teacher training (which has been going for several years), an exam wrap-up, a Space School (going for 5 years) and a Quiz night. He gave details of these as: - Two sessions of teacher training, with 80 teachers attending in March and 30 in June, in collaboration with SASTA. These consist of a workshop and a session on applications, including talks on subjects in the year-12 Physics syllabus. - The exam wrap-up is a joint activity with SASTA in which the year-12 exam, answers and marking are discussed. - The Space School is a 3-day event for year-10 students. It was well received by enthusiastic students and gets high profile people, such as Andy Thomas. It includes tours of DSTO, Adelaide Uni. and Flinders Uni. and is self-funded through sponsorship. - The Quiz night was held for the third year in a row. Nine teams, with eighty students, took part, although the same school wins each year. New activities for next year are an astronomy session by Mike Roach and activities for primary schools. Peter addressed the activities of the Science policy subcommittee. The AIP is involved with FASTS, which includes 30 societies representing 60000 professionals. FASTS is involved in lobbying politicians, and organises the "Science Meets Parliament" day, which was attended by himself and Olivia. Peter reported this as an "eye-opener", noting that politicians think in terms of value for money and we need to use their language. Unfortunately education and science was in the background in the election campaign. Some parties realise the importance of education and science. Peter identified lobbying politicians as one of the most important AIP activities. Peter reported that awards had been presented as in previous years. These included the Bragg certificates and Bronze Bragg medal, the Silver Bragg medals and the Claire Corani award. An Oliphant award, chosen by SASTA and supplied by the AIP, was presented at the ceremony by the Awards Convenor, Boris Blankleider. On "Members' benefits and recruitment", Peter noted that we are always short of members. This year all 3rd-year Uni. students were signed up for free. Many dissappear at the end of the year, so we need to get feedback on what they saw for their membership. A new activity is a display case outside the Kerr Grant lecture theatre at Adelaide University. This year Samantha Carter put varying displays in the case, generally related to current meetings. An ongoing activity is the Web page, where we are relying on Stewart Wright's work and adding bits as needed. The page needs major refurbishment. It includes the posting of job clippings, on which we get feedback when it is not present. In conclusion, Peter noted that the financial situation is sound this year, but there is always a lack of money and time. We need to get feedback on what we do and don't do. Usually it is the same people at members' lectures, so do these serve members generally? The audience was invited for feedback, yielding: - Dean Dowling said he would like to hear someone speak on Mach's principle. Peter suggested that he contact the convenor of the Meetings subcommittee. - Derek Leinweber suggested dropping members' lectures. They were different this year, but still not well attended. John Pocket said he would not like to see them go. Peter Bouwknegt asked if the level is OK, with John Pocket responding that it is. Peter noted that our lectures are better attended than in other states, and closed by inviting suggestions for other activities. He then introduced the new treasurer Dr Shane Canney, noting that Shane faced difficulty from the start as the books were lost. TREASURER'S REPORT: Shane reported that he took over as treasurer 6-8 weeks ago. The lost books create some difficulties, but he does have details of income and expenditure. He reported that the main income is from the federal body, with sponsorship for public lectures and education activities reducing net expenses. In the previous two years income has been constant, so we will need to reduce expenditure. (Olivia queried education subcommittee income. Shane explained that the figures were only to 1st September.) Shane detailed the expenditure, noting that most if it was for lectures and that more was spent on students. Spending on education had increased, but this was offset by donations. The bottom line is that the branch has $4320.82, which leaves us in good stead, but we need to maintain the ratio of income to expenditure. Dr Judith Pollard queried the inclusion of $1100 to Adelaide Institute of Tafe in "meeting expenses". Derek suggested that money collected from diners was not included here, so Peter Bouwknegt suggested that it should be $200-$300. Alex noted that the reimbursement for Matthew Bailes is not included. Peter noted that we were lucky with low costs for public lectures this year. DISCUSSION: Olivia, noting that the AGM attendance is getting smaller every year, suggested that we need a way to get more people. Peter Bouwknegt suggested a survey of students to make it more attractive to them, noting that there is a subsidy for the dinner. Alex suggested that declining interest is a problem for any type of society, with the only exception being the Astronomical Society of SA. He reported that, at the joint meeting, he found that the subscription for associate members of the AIP is a disincentive. John Hisco reported that the ASSA has 500 members, but noted that it is people doing a hobby. He also reported that it does not pay for speakers and its membership is $49/year. Peter Bouwknegt suggested that as the AIP is a professional society with few members, it cannot reduce fees. He noted that the hire of lecture theatres is a problem and the battle on this is continuing. ELECTION OF THE 2002 COMMITTEE: The nomination list for the 2002 committee was displayed, being: Chair: Dr Peter Bouwknegt University of Adelaide Vice-chair: Dr Peter Veitch University of Adelaide Treasurer: Dr Shane Canney Defence Science and Technology Organisation Secretary: Dr Laurence Campbell Adelaide and Flinders Universities Mr David French Flinders University of South Australia Dr Derek Leinweber University of Adelaide Dr Olivia Samardzic Defence Science and Technology Organisation Dr Boris Blankleider Flinders University of South Australia Dr Michael Ford Flinders University of South Australia Dr Alex Kalloniatis University of Adelaide Ms Susan Cockshell Annesley College Ms Penny Hale Flinders University of South Australia Student coordinator: Ms Samantha Carter University of Adelaide The secretary suggested that, as there were no contested positions and as a committee of 13 was not enough, the proposed committee should be elected. This was accepted without objection. The Chair, Peter Bouwknegt, declared the meeting closed at 7:12pm. Laurence Campbell, 27th November 2002