Business Meeting Minutes
In attendance: Arthur Suits, Birgitta Whaley, Don Truhlar, Jim Lisy, David Nesbitt, David Jonas, David Leitner, Jim Wang, two of the DCP student award winners.
Arthur announces the new DCP Executive Committee members. congratulations to new fellows, to the recipients of 2011 student travel awards, to the DCP Prize winners.
No awardees again this year for dependent child care award.
We have been trying to have the Plyler award web site changed to reflect the new title and scope of the award.
Darlene Logan at APS will make change.
Broida Prize: Not quite enough support for prize. DCP/DAMOP will have to pay 452 annually, so about 225 per year will have to be supported by DCP. General agreement that DCP should pay this amount annually.
Membership: Trend is disturbing. % of APS membership is declining. DCP is currently at 3.5%, approaching the 3.0% threshold required for division status.
Discussion to use other meetings as occasion to recruit students to division and to advertise benefits of membership at symposium.
Jim Lisy: Could advertise in JCP, good venue to advertise benefits of membership such as nomination for fellowship in APS, student travel awards to APS March meeting.
David Jonas: The number of APS fellows through DCP depends on membership numbers.
David Nesbitt: Other divisions we could join forces with?
Nancy: Topical groups, would be good avenues to recruit, specifically energy topic group; topical groups cannot nominate fellows, but DCP would be a home for those members so that they could be nominated to be fellow.
Expenses and deficits: Discussion of reception. Could save $2000 - $3000 annually. All support DCP not participating in next year's reception. New fellows can instead be recognized at business meeting. If JCP were interested in supporting reception, this could be a future solution.
Treasurer should remind program chair that registration dues will be waived for one foreign invited speaker per focus symposium.
Topical group on Physics of Climate Change: Discussion of role of physics in discussion of climate change. This will be discussed at council meeting in April. More of an issue for APS than DCP. Send comments to Nancy.
Birgitta thanked for putting together 2011 March Meeting program. (Birgitta notes bad experience with organizers of Spectroscopy of Astrophysical Systems, and this one fell through. The community goes to different meetings.)
Any suggestions for Don? Send them to Don, along with suggestions for session organizers.
Nancy: Good time for Astrophysical symposium since that fell through this year. Names of possible organizers are suggested. Birgitta: This group goes to different meetings.
Nancy: Should DCP participate in different meeting? This sparks lots of discussion about moving to May, advantages and disadvantages.
Executive Committee Minutes (following business meeting):
In attendance: Arthur Suits, Birgitta Whaley, Don Truhlar, Jim Lisy, David Nesbitt, David Jonas, David Leitner.
Nancy: ACS symposia chairs raise money; why don't we do this for APS symposia?
Discussion whether JCP would support symposia if the speakers would contribute perspectives to JCP. Symposia organizers could write perspective before symposium - news and views-like, which would advertise symposia. A perspective could be submitted after the meeting. Another way JCP might contribute would be to sponsor a banquet.
Ideas for membership: Which divisions have increased membership and why? What are other ways DCP could get the word out on what we offer? Could we hold a forum at March Meeting for Nobel winners?
Discussion about longer contributed talks, perhaps about 20 min. It is difficult to get faculty to contribute talks with the current limit of 12 minutes.
Arthur and David N. will hold a DCP membership drive at the Dynamics of Molecular Collisions meeting.
Lunch with the experts was cancelled this year because the speaker could not attend the meeting. There was general agreement that we should do this next year.
Discussion about nominations for Lilienfeld Prize. This has been often awarded to high-energy physicists, and there is discussion of whom to nominate from chemical physics.