AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS - SA branch minutes, March 2002 Minutes of the committee meeting held at 6pm on Tuesday 5th. March 2002 in the tea room of the Dept. of Physics and Mathematical Physics at the University of Adelaide. PRESENT: Campbell, Ford, Samardzic, Canney, Kalloniatis, Bouwknegt, Hale, Carter, Blankleider, Leinweber and Cockshell. APOLOGIES: French, Veitch. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING: Bouwknegt said that there were some corrections which he would send to Campbell by email. BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES: Bouwknegt asked Samardzic about the information on the video camera. Samardzic said that she had sent it, and undertook to send it again. CHAIR'S REPORT: Bouwknegt referred to the summary of the last council meeting, which he had sent to members earlier in the day by email. He reported that the council spent most of the two days of the meeting on strategic planning. Initiatives include: - Some financial reserves are to be employed to outsource some jobs, such as posters, publicity materials and the web page. - Allocation of money to branches will change to be based on requirements, with more being given if credible bids are made. - The number of membership grades are to be reduced, with graduate membership eliminated and students to become associates. (The cost for students is not clear, but free membership will still be offered to 3rd-year students.) - Accreditation: Flinders is to be reconsidered next year. It is possible for departments to consult beforehand about what is required. Rod Crewther is the SA representative on the accreditation committee. The guidelines for accreditation are to be reviewed. - The SA branch is to be given $2000 to pay someone to perform the job-clipping service. In future Prof. Prescott will hand the adverts to the branch for scanning prior to their despatch to Melbourne. (Leinweber offered to donate a suitable scanner to the operation.) - The national president, John O'Connor, is prepared to make a recruitment tour to the state branches. It is up to the state branches as to what he should do. He would be available for a full day with the branch and suggests meeting with Heads of Departments. Bouwknegt suggested a recruitment talk to students, attending a branch committee meeting and something informal. Other things, such as a meeting with DSTO, are not intended but it's up to the state branch to decide. (Bouwknegt and Ford reported that he is a good speaker.) Bouwknegt suggested that the visit be part of a national trip to reduce travel costs. He said he would discuss the issue with Kalloniatis, as a "Meetings" issue. TABLED DOCUMENTS: Bouwknegt tabled the pamphlet for the National Congress. Numbers for this are not known (as registration has not opened yet), but it is suspected that they will be low due to the high registration fee of $600. Bouwknegt said that supporting students is desirable, but that it should be done at a national level. This would be possible given that there is a plan to spend national reserves, which are high (~$30000) in the case of NSW and Victoria. However, this may not be possible before the next council meeting. Campbell reported that he had heard that in the past the state branch reserves had been used to support student attendance at the AIP congress, even though use of these funds for other student travel had been refused. Bouwknegt replied that this is no longer an issue, as in the future use of the funds will be easier, but warned that no money will be forthcoming until the branch's financial statements are sent to the national branch. TREASURER'S REPORT: Canney reported that the signatories for cheques have been changed and are now himself, Samardzic and Campbell. He has changed the address for the Treasurer so that invoices go to him rather than French. He referred to a statement, of which several copies were tabled. The bottom line is that (after several payments for February which are not included) the branch has about $4000. Leinweber objected to the amount which has been paid to TAFE for the 2000 AGM dinner. Bouwknegt ruled that discussion of this be shelved until he could discuss it with French. Canney noted some subtle changes in the categories for spending, with "lecture expenses" changed to "public lectures", and other lecturer expenses included in "meetings". Canney reported that the branch has about $4000, which does not include any new money from the national branch for this year. Bouwknegt said this will not be forthcoming until we put in a budget, and also the financial statements. Canney said that he has a "soft" copy of the records which he has sent to the national branch. Bouwknegt raised the questions of what we should do this year and how much we need. The allocation is to be based on the budget which we submit. He suggested it would be better to spend AIP money rather than waste members' time on seeking sponsorship, although this could still be done if the spending is not approved. As we have been spending $7500 per year in recent years, this is what we should ask for. However, if there are additional initiatives then we should add them to the list. He noted that the larger branches receive more than this, but are not reaching more members. Leinweber noted that spending in the previous year was down due to a reduction in the number of student scholarships. Bouwknegt said that he will start by making a budget proposal, but subcommittees should make specific proposals. This needs to be done by the beginning of April. The video camera should come out of reserves. Samardzic reported that the education subcommittee has some new initiatives which are unfunded, and undertook to send a figure and description to Bouwknegt. SUBCOMMITTEES: Bouwknegt invited Hale to choose a subcommittee to work with. He confirmed that everyone else is willing to continue with the same responsibilities as last year. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS: AWARDS: Blankleider confirmed that he had received a request from someone who wishes to financially support the Oliphant Awards through the branch. He undertook to review the request and pass it on to the committee if necessary. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS: WEB PAGE: Bouwknegt explained that currently he and Campbell are updating the web page, but any major change requires someone else who has time to do it. He noted that the national branch is to set up something better. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS: RECRUITMENT: Bouwknegt promised that lecturers at Adelaide would hand out free-membership forms to 3rd-year students. Campbell suggested that the forms should contain some statement that it is free, otherwise the national office would bill the students. Ford asked if the free membership was available to Nanotechnology students at Flinders, and undertook to hand out the forms to 3rd-year students there. Carter said that she would talk to 1st- and 2nd-year students about membership. Bouwknegt said that forms should be handed back to Campbell to send to the national office. Other matters raised included: - The branch cannot pay membership for either postgraduates or 1st/2nd year students. - The national branch has a graphic designer (who is also a Physicist) to work on posters and flyers. - There is a new (as of 2000) set of cartoons available, as well as the WA video. (Our copy of this video was passed on to Mike Roach.) - Accreditation. - Credit card payment is costly for the AIP, and therefore should not be encouraged by a web-based payment method. - As Hale is no longer at the UniSA, Bouwknegt undertook to send membership forms to John Pattison. Bouwknegt reported that the national branch can now supply a membership list. Campbell found this unbelievable and promised to send an email to Bouwknegt to explain. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS: EDUCATION: Hale said that in Perth she had been involved in quiz nights, careers nights, public lectures, Science fairs and the Women-In-Physics lectures. She opted to join the education subcommittee. Bouwknegt said he would like a careers night, noting that we had one the year before last, and Women-In-Physics had one last year. He asked Hale to organise a "Careers night", to which she agreed, and suggested collaboration with Kalloniatis in making the arrangements. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS: MEETINGS: Kalloniatis reported that nothing specific is planned, but he has a number of ideas. He asked whether the mix of meetings is appropriate. Leinweber suggested giving up on members' lectures, thus reducing our workload, and concentrating on public lectures, which have a big impact. Kalloniatis asked what is acceptable for a members' lecture. Bouwknegt said that 40 was a good response, as for the Todd Maddern lecture. He was always concerned about a poor turnout for members' lectures, so we need to get someone interesting to speak. However, he does not want to give up on them. Samardzic noted that when it was discussed at the AGM people didn't want to give up on members' lectures. Kalloniatis noted that we got a mix of people last year who seemed to be interested. Bouwknegt decided we should not give up on members' lectures, but must make sure the speaker is OK, and so there should not be a set number of such lectures. Kalloniatis listed possible events: - A members' lecture by Lloyd Hollenberg from Melbourne on the Physics of the digeridoo, possibly with a demonstration of the instrument. - A joint meeting with biology, with John F Jones of Flinders to talk on plans for a synchrotron. - The joint meeting with the ASSA, where a speaker could be chosen from those considered last year, such as David Malin. - Physics of Diving. (Campbell cautioned that he didn't think that the speaker, Ken Smith, could talk on this for a whole session, so he had wondered about getting several speakers to give similar short talks on how they use Physics.) - Abraham Chan, from WISER in the CSSM (a forum in July on the World Space Environment), could give a public lecture. - The Women-In-Physics lecture. Leinweber suggested Michael Nielsen, who visited for the summer school on Quantum Information and computation, as an outstanding speaker. Samardzic and Bouwknegt suggested that the Women-In-Physics lecture should be in National Science week in August. Bouwknegt reported that this year the lecturer will be an Australian, in line with the policy of the national council to have an international lecturer in every second year. Samardzic objected that this was not the original concept for the tour. Bouwknegt reported that the lecture is to be named after an Australian Physicist from the last century. ANY OTHER BUSINESS: Bouwknegt said that he needs a budget request from everyone. He undertook to make a draft budget and distribute it. Carter asked if anyone had information on polymorph 5 of chocolate, produced in a particle accelerator, as it could make a good exhibit in the display case. Kalloniatis asked about a lost departmental parking permit. Samardzic said that a nomination from the UniSA for the Claire Corani memorial prize had been received, and asked that someone chase up nominations from Adelaide and Flinders. She explained that the Head of Dept. should make the nomination. Blankleider undertook to seek a nomination at Flinders. DATE OF NEXT MEETING: This was set for Thursday 11th April, 2002 L Campbell, 7-3-02 ACTION SUMMARY: BOUWKNEGT - To send corrections to the minutes of the previous meeting to Campbell. - To discuss the national president's visit with Kalloniatis. - To discuss the payment to TAFE with French. - To get lecturers at Adelaide Uni. to hand out free-membership forms to 3rd year students, and to send these forms to John Pattison. - To make a draft budget and distribute it. BLANKLEIDER - To review the proposal for indirect support of the Oliphant awards through the branch, and consult with the committee if necessary. - To seek a Flinders' nomination for the Claire Corani memorial prize. CAMPBELL - To send the completed free-membership forms to the national office. - To inform Bouwknegt of the ongoing problems with the membership list. CARTER - To talk to 1st- and 2nd-year students about AIP membership. EVERYONE - To send budget requests to Bouwknegt. - To pass on to Carter any information about polymorph 5 chocolate. FORD - To get lecturers at Flinders Uni. to hand out free-membership forms to 3rd year students. HALE - To organise a "careers night", in consultation with Kalloniatis. SAMARDZIC - To send details of the video camera to Bouwknegt. - To provide Bouwknegt with details and budget requests for new initiatives of the education subcommittee. SOMEONE - To seek a nomination from Adelaide Uni. for the Claire Corani memorial prize.