Executive Committee MeetingMinutes
Monday, June 2, 2008
The meeting was held on the Roche campus in Palo Alto. It was called to order at 7:34 pm by Chair Mark Kent.
Members present: Ihab Darwish, Lois Durham,
Abby
Kennedy, Mark Kent, George Lechner, Ferenc Makra, Natalie McClure,
David
Parker, Howard Peters, Sally Peters, Bruce Raby and Karl
Marhenke.
Guest: Mathilda Kennedy.
Capitalized names indicate voting members; a quorum was
present.
It was MSC to approve the minutes of the meeting of Monday, May 5, 2008 as distributed.
I. Karl Marhenke (Secretary) said that he had
listened
in on the conference call that LSAC staged on the topic of electronic
voting.
Karl sent out a lengthy e-mail summarizing the presentation and
discussion.
One question that arose during the call was member
categories;
one speaker made it sound as though there are categories whose members
are listed on the rosters provided by National, but who are ineligible
to vote. Karl asked ExComm members if anyone could clarify this and the
answer is that according to the Section bylaws, everyone on the roster
except for Affiliate Members is eligible to vote.
Three different commercial electronic voting services were
discussed on the call. To Karl, it seems the one best suited to our
needs
was Campus-Vote, which is already running elections for several ACS
Divisions,
including Analytical Chemistry (ANYL). The cost would be approximately
55 cents per member, so cost savings will not be great. But voter
participation
should improve greatly; the speaker, who was from ANYL, said that their
figure rose by a factor of 4.
There would be a sizable cost saving by using Survey Monkey;
however, Survey Monkey requires all voters to have an e-mail address.
We
would have the trouble and expense of identifying everyone not
reachable
by e-mail, and mailing them election materials.
It was MSC to form an ad hoc committee of 3 ExComm members
to gather cost and e-mail data and recommend a voting procedure at an
ExComm
meeting to be held at the picnic in July. Karl, Howard and George
volunteered
to do this.
Karl also noted that he e-mailed National to ask why he
always
ended up going round and round in password-requesting circles when he
tried
to read an article in C&EN online. The answer that he got was that
"domestic members get only limited access to C&EN online." So the
"member
benefit" of receiving C&EN applies only to paper copies, although
the
e-mail did promise that in 2009 we would be able to access articles. In
the meantime, we are welcome to purchase them for $25.00 each. Karl
wondered
why the website cannot explain this to domestic members instead of
subjecting
them to a frustrating runaround.
II. Mark Kent (Chair) commented on the Gerber talk at the May dinner meeting. Natalie noted that several people who have not attended dinner meetings before were present at this one.
III. Natalie McClure (Chair Elect) presented a pile
of very nice thank you notes from children at the East Palo Alto school
where the Family Science Night was held.
Natalie described a tentative schedule of section meeting
events. In September we should have a speaker on chemical transport in
and out of cells. Also in the fall will be a tour of the recycling
center
in San Jose and the sculpture garden in San Francisco dump. This will
be
on a Saturday afternoon. Also in the fall, an astronomer will speak on
recent explorations. In January we will present the Mosher Award, as
usual.
The February and March dates are yet to be filled. We may have an ACS
tour
speaker in April who will talk on the chemistry and biochemistry of
coffee.
In May Natalie is planning an event in Monterey, but not the aquarium
(which
now charges $2500 for a group visit). It will probably be the Hopkins
Marine
Center and/or the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Finally,
Natalie
is hoping for a talk on nanotechnology.
There is no progress to report on the Stanford Tech Trek
Science Camp for 8th grade girls; she will work on it more soon, and
she
will update us before picnic.
On the Mosher Award, Natalie reported that several good
candidates
have been nominated this year, plus three held over from last year.
Natalie
asked for committee volunteers; at the moment, the committee consists
only
of herself and Lois.
Natalie reported that the Radding Award winner is Dorothy
Phillips, who will not be able to attend the picnic. Peter Rusch will
make
an arrangement for an award presentation, perhaps at one of this fall's
dinner meetings.
Natalie asked if anyone had any progress to report on a
fitting
memorial for Jack Riley. It was MSC to investigate ways to honor Jack.
Suggestions were to support the Teacher of the Year award at a Regional
meeting, or a Jack Riley award to be made by the Section.
IV. Abby Kennedy (Councilor) Talked about National
Chemistry Week.
1. We plan to have the usual exhibits and demonstrations
at the San Jose Museum.
2. Abby hopes to present "chemical comedian" Brian Malow.
His usual fee is rather high--$2500--but Abby is hoping to get a
discount
from him as a contribution to our educational efforts.
3. The NCW theme for 2008 is "Having a Ball with Chemistry",
so Abby is proposing a member bowling tournament (with bowling balls,
of
course). It would attract young families. We need to decide best time
for
it. Abby has located an upscale bowling alley; we can even have a
"bumper
lane" for very young bowlers so that they can't roll gutter balls.
It was MSC to authorize Abby to apply for a grant to support
a science attraction such as the chemical comedian for NCW.
V. George Lechner (Councilor) gave Natalie a San
Jose
waterworks "Free Tours" flyer.
Shirley is back in the hospital with a broken leg. George
visited her; she is very angry at her former doctor who first operated
on her leg. But George said that otherwise she is in good spirits even
though she faces another 2 weeks in hospital.
George has been working on the project of identifying
chemicals
that should not be used in high school chemistry labs.
VI. Sally Peters (Councilor) received a voice mail
with a message from Shirley. The picnic reservation letters will be
saved;
Shirley said that processing them and sending Karl the names for name
tags
will give her something to do after she gets home from her stay in the
hospital.
Sally announced that Carolina Sylvesti, the Chemistry
Olympiad
teacher from Palo Alto High, will attend the picnic.
VII. Lois Durham (Picnic Arrangements) noted that
she
is leaving on a trip the day of the picnic, and she asked for
volunteers
for several tasks including removing "ACS" signs afterwards, and taking
take pictures.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:19 p.m.
The NEXT MEETING will be on Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. in the usual room at Roche. Those needing directions and/or a map should contact
Respectfully Submitted,
Karl Marhenke, Secretary