SSRLUO Executive Committee
Meeting Minutes

The first meeting of FY 97 took place following the SSRL Users' Conference on October 25th. Attendees included: P. Allen, S. Barrett, A. Fischer-Colbrie, D. McKay, P. O'Day, D. Shuh, and H. Thompson. Also in attendance were A. Bienenstock and K. Hodgson.

David Shuh, 1997 chairman of the SSRLUO Executive Committee, welcomed the newly elected members to the SSRL Users' Organization. Brief introductions were madevfollowed by a review of the SSRLUO charter. SSRLUO serves in an advisory capacity to communicate general users' needs and concerns to the Director of SSRL and SSRL Science Policy Board. The SSRLUO provides input regarding users concerns and needs to the funding agencies and fosters the use of synchrotron radiation. Members are elected to the SSRLUOEC for a two-year term.

The SSRL Director, Arthur Bienenstock, thanked the members for their hard work over the busy FY 96 user run and stressed the importance of open communication between the SSRLUO and SSRL management.

As ex-officio, Alice Fischer-Colbrie reviewed some of the outstanding issues from the last meeting in August. Alice attended the August Proposal Review Panel (PRP) meeting to relay the concerns and frustrations of the users regarding the criteria used by the PRP to rate proposals. The PRP panel members were surprised by the perception of "mysterious criteria" and referred the users to the SSRL Proposal Guidelines Booklet. They did not feel any further clarification of the criteria was necessary but agreed to pursue the subject again at a later date. K. Hodgson stated that the major criteria applied to proposals is scientific and technical excellence. A. Bienenstock suggested that a poll of the users would help determine if there is a lot of discontent with the current proposal review process.

However, this suggestion was couched with the concern that there may be larger issues for the SSRLUO to deal with in upcoming months. A BES subcommittee will be formed to study synchrotron radiation. One of the questions to be studied is the consequences of shutting down one US synchrotron facility. A. Bienenstock will be calling upon the SSRLUO to help address this issue in the near future. In addition, there are strong indications that the proposed SPEAR upgrade may be funded if a strong case can be built to present to BES. The SSRLUO will be instrumental in assisting this project as well.

It was determined that the next meeting will be held Tuesday, November 26 at 10:00 am in the 3rd floor conference room of Building 137. Elections for a vice-chair will be held at this meeting due to the absence of several new members.

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