Minutes of the June 2014 DLS Executive Committee Meeting
(from Anne Kelley, Secretary/Treasurer of DLS)
DLS Executive Committee meeting
June 9, 2014
Pacific Room, San Jose Hilton, San Jose, CA
Attending: Toni Taylor (chair), Roseanne Sension (vice-chair), John Fourkas (chair-elect), Henry Kapteyn (past chair), Anne Kelley (Secretary-Treasurer), Anthony Johnson (Councilor), Ralph Jimenez, Albert Stolow, Kristan Corwin
Toni Taylor called the meeting to order at 9:02 am.
The committee voted to approve the minutes from the Executive Committee meeting at Laser Science 2013.
Anne Kelley gave a Treasurer’s report. The Division has been approximately breaking even for the past several years, but is likely to go into the red in 2015 because the cancellation penalties for moving CLEO from Baltimore to San Jose may eat up nearly all of the profit from CLEO in that year. There was discussion of approaches to increasing membership. One might be to target APS members who are not DLS members and offer to pay their DLS dues (pro-rated) for the remainder of the year, in the hope that they will continue their membership. This would cost DLS an average of a few dollars per member at the start. It could be done at meetings of DAMOP, which already has a high degree of overlapping membership with DLS, and/or at the March meeting. Kristan Corwin has had good experiences doing this for DAMOP and can advise. The committee voted to approve this on a trial basis.
The new DLS Fellows were announced. We got seven, more than we expected, which must mean that other divisions did not use all of their slots. Some of the new Fellows are now no longer DLS members. Anne will try to get them to rejoin in order to receive their awards.
The upcoming Laser Science meeting in Tucson was discussed. Because the meeting is being held at a resort with no other properties within walking distance, there are few options for the location of the banquet. The least expensive option presented by the OSA staff is $75/head (without drinks) at the resort’s Signature Grill. Anne already approved listing the banquet on the registration web site at $70, an increase from $60 last year and $50 in previous years. Anne will continue to work with OSA staff to try to get a better price and/or drinks included with the price. It was also noted that the menu provided has no vegetarian options, which Anne will work with OSA staff to correct. A number of possibilities for after-banquet speakers were discussed and will be pursued. Cheuk Ng, one of this year’s Laser Science co-chairs, has declined to continue past this year; possible replacements for 2015 were discussed.
The high cost of the Tucson location has also caused serious financial stress for the Symposium on Undergraduate Research. The EC previously approved (by e-mail) additional funding for the Symposium, but we would like to find donors to help offset some of the additional costs. Several possibilities were discussed and will be pursued.
Dan Gauthier, who is running this year’s New Laser Scientists meeting in Tucson, has requested suggestions for names of newly hired faculty or national lab scientists who would be appropriate to invite. Members were asked to send suggestions directly to Dan.
The new DLS Outstanding Dissertation Award was discussed. Eight applications have been received and all are excellent. The committee discussed the preferred number of finalists, each of whom will present a talk in a special session at FiO/LS and receive $750 toward travel expenses, and agreed that four would be the ideal number. They should each be scheduled for 30 minute talks. Their travel expenses will be taken out of the Student Travel Grants budget, leaving $2500 (five awards) for the regular travel grants program at FiO/LS. The committee also agreed that holding this competition annually rather than biannually might be ideal, but we should reconsider at our next meeting.
The committee discussed having a lower registration rate for postdocs than for senior scientists. While there are many reasons why this might make sense, we need to tread carefully with OSA as we do not want to jeopardize maintaining lower rates for students.
Anthony Johnson reported on an APS corporate restructuring proposal described in materials provided to the committee. The main comments from the committee were that it may not be desirable to limit the number of terms that the Treasurer may serve, as this position is traditionally an important source of experience and corporate memory. Members also wondered who, under the new structure, would take care of negotiating our relationships with OSA.
Ralph Jimenez reported on the APS Convocation held in February. The day before the Convocation there were Congressional visits organized by APS. Issues discussed with Congressional staffers included sustainable funding for science, limitations on travel for national lab staff, and the problems caused by switching most DOE grants to lump-sum (rather than annual) funding without a concomitant one-time increase in the budget for these grants. The IT staff at APS expressed willingness to set up various tools for Divisions to communicate with their membership. The desirability of a DLS Facebook page was discussed (OSA has one).
Ralph Jimenez has been approached about holding a joint session with DCP at the March meeting. The EC is in favor of this but not if we have to use our only session to do it. If DCP is willing to convert one of theirs to a joint session, we should do it; otherwise we should try to get a second, joint session for the 2016 meeting. Ralph will discuss with DCP.
The committee met with OSA staff Chad Stark and Naomi Chavez. Contributed papers to Fundamental Science (QELS) are up from the past few CLEO meetings. The next CLEOs are 10-15 May 2015 and 5-10 June 2016, both in San Jose; the intent is to move back to May thereafter, still in San Jose. Cancellation penalties for moving CLEO 2015 from Baltimore currently stand at $91K (DLS share, $15K) but this may go down if space is resold. FiO/LS will be in San Jose in 2015 and Rochester in 2016, with the intent to either stay in Rochester or alternate between Rochester and San Jose in future years. Canadian locations have been suggested but pose problems for international students and national laboratory scientists. A proposed revision of the roles and responsibilities of volunteers and staff on JCQE was discussed. If approved, this would reduce the number of DLS representatives on JCQE from three to two, both of whom would serve on CLEO Steering.
At least one new DLS member is needed for JCQE and CLEO Steering, and potentially one more for JCQE if the proposed changes are not made. Several names were discussed and Toni will follow up.
A nominating committee is needed to find candidates for the upcoming elections for Vice-Chair, Secretary/Treasurer, Councilor, and two At-Large members. DLS chooses two members and APS chooses the third, but we can give APS some suggestions. A number of names were suggested to Toni.
The photonics community is being invited to respond to a Request for Information (RFI) from DOD related to the Obama administration’s National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI). The RFI seeks public feedback on the creation of two new Innovative Manufacturing Institutes. Photonics is one of six technology focus areas competing for inclusion. Toni attempted to join an informational webinar but there were technical difficulties. Toni has some additional information that she can provide to interested members.
Potential topics for the March meeting, organized by John Fourkas, were discussed.
Amy Spivey plans to put out the next Newsletter this summer. Please send her any items for inclusion.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:18 pm.