SSRLUO Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

Meeting Notes: October 10, 2003 3:45 - 5:30 p.m.

SSRLUO Home | Committee Members | Meeting Schedule | Meeting Minutes | SSRLUO Activism

Previous SSRLUO Minutes

Attendees:   Uwe Bergmann, Ben Bostick, Linda Brinen, Ray Cowen, Lisa Downward, Deanne Jackson Rudd, Cathy Knotts, Richard Lee, Glenn Waychunas

A meeting of the SSRL Users' Organization Executive Committee (SSRLUO-EC) was held on October 10th, immediately following the 30th Annual SSRL Users' meeting. A summary of issues discussed follows. Follow up or action items are highlighted in bold.

• Uwe Bergmann, SSRLUO-EC Chair, called the meeting to order at 3:45 pm. The meeting began with introductions, as many of the newly elected members were in attendance. The results of the October 9th election were announced at the dinner, and included:
  
  
  • Joy Andrews, California State University Hayward (Materials/Chemistry)
  • Glenn Waychunas, LBNL (Environmental/Geosciences)
  • Timothy Stemmler, Wayne State University (Structural Molecular Biology)
  • Linda Brinen, University of California San Francisco (Macromolecular Crystallography)
  • Lisa Downward, University of California Santa Cruz (Materials/Chemistry)


• Following up on his opening remarks as well as those of Mike Lubell from the American Physical Society encouraging user activism, Ben Bostick reported that he was preparing to send an email message to all SSRL users requesting that they visit the SSRLUO website and forward letters to their Congressional representatives. He reported that a format has been developed by the APS that automatically identifies representatives based on the users' address and also provides sample letters to facilitate rapid submittal by users. Ben related from personal experience that this activity has the potential to have a huge impact on representatives to raise their awareness about the user science supported by synchrotrons, particularly as they are considering future budgets for physical sciences and for synchrotron facilities. http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ssrluo/
• Uwe announced that it is time to elect a SSRLUO-EC Vice Chair for the coming year. The role of this person includes co-organizing the 2004 Annual Users' Meeting as well as participating in meetings with management, DOE, Congressional representatives, etc. (This usually involves a trip to DC in the Spring). The following individuals were nominated, and Cathy Knotts will send an email to the rest of the committee inquiring whether there are any additional nominees so that an election can be held:
  
  
  • Richard Brennan, Oregon Health & Sciences Univ.
  • Andrew Fisher, University of California, Davis
  • Anneli Munkholm, Lumileds Lighting
  
  
• A suggestion was made to consider changing the name of the user discipline for EC membership from "Structural Molecular Biology (SMB)" to something more descriptive. The SMB category has lead to some confusion among users because SMB incorporates "Macromolecular Crystallography (MC)" but is really intended to represent SMB users other than MC users. Suggestions considered were: Physical Biosciences, Physical Biological Methods, Bio Spectroscopy and Scattering. Please forward other suggestions for consideration to the committee.
• Along similar lines, a suggestion was made to consider changing the user discipline identified as "LCLS" to something that incorporates the short pulse effort for SPEAR. Suggestions considered included: Short Pulse, Ultrafast Dynamics. Please forward other suggestions for consideration to the committee.
• Competition for the Lytle Award was particularly strong this year, as numerous well documented nominations were received and considered by the EC. To facilitate awards in the future, more defined procedures and guidelines were discussed. Since the Lytle Award recognizes achievements over one's career, a decision was made to limit future nominations to one individual per nomination (e.g., dual nominees would not be considered). Nominations will continue to be reviewed and voted on by the executive committee. This will be done via a closed (secret ballot) vote, and the nominee with the majority vote shall receive the award. In the case of a tie, the nominations with the tied votes, will be discussed by the committee, and voted on again until a majority vote is determined. Nominations not selected in a given year may be resubmitted for consideration in subsequent years.
• Feedback from the 30th Annual Users' Meeting was very positive. Approximately 300 people were registered to participate in the numerous activities scheduled from October 8-10th including several concurrent workshops. Suggestions for next year included exploring ways to formalize a program for the award dinner (e.g., introductions to newly elected EC members, more recognition of poster competition winners and their research activities, as well as the Lytle Award). The EC would also like to encourage greater participation in this event, particularly among graduate students. One idea to be explored is whether the cost of the dinner could be subsidized or waived for all graduate students who submit a poster for the competition so that they could be present to receive their awards.
• Changes to site access related to foreign visits and assignments were discussed. New DOE rules require that facilities track badged users in the DOE Foreign Access Tracking System (FACTS), and that users from sensitive and SST countries be approved by the DOE before they can visit. This will require that all users inform SSRL User Administration at least 45 days in advance of all scheduled beam time or planned visits to SSRL so that required documentation can be completed and any necessary approvals sought. Ben Bostick and Cathy Knotts will participate in a meeting on this topic along with other user organization representatives and user program mangers at BNL at the end of October. Deanne Jackson Rudd is the representative to the SLAC Security Committee. Users with questions or concerns can contact these individuals. More information on these new site access rules will be shared as they become available.
• Changes related to radiation safety training and procedures were discussed. User operations on SPEAR3 are expected to resume in March 2004. During this first run with SPEAR3 (now until July 2004), all of the experimental floor will be considered a radiologic controlled area (RCA) while radiation surveys are completed. All users in this area must have current GERT training (General Employee Radiation Training) and wear a dosimeter during this period. Procedures to facilitate GERT training and transfer of valid training from other DOE facilities for SSRL users are being implemented. More information will be provided shortly.
• The meeting adjourned at 5:30 pm.

Cathy Knotts
Liaison to SSRL Users' Organization Executive Committee