2013 CAP Congress DNP Annual Meeting Minutes
The meeting was called to order by DNP Chairperson Jens Dilling (JD) circa 12:47 on Tuesday, 28 May 2013, at which time 24 DNP members were present.
The chairperson gave a brief report on the division’s recent activities. Firstly, he introduced the Chairperson-Elect Zisis Papandreou (ZP), who described the 2011-2012 DNP Thesis Prize. The prize committee was chaired by ZP and also included Adam Garnsworthy and Sonia Bacca. ZP reported that 2 theses from the previous competition were eligible to add to the 3 new theses and that all were of high quality. The winner, Stephan Ettenauer of UBC, was the unanimous choice of the committee. He further encouraged supervisors to nominate their eligible students. Art Olin asked if co-supervisors could nominate students and JD replied in the affirmative. Information on the thesis competition is available on the recently revamped DNP website, http://dnp.uregina.ca , which ZP administers with assistance from Secretary-Treasurer Barry Davids (BD). The nomination deadline is October 1st.
JD proceeded to describe the DNP activities at the Congress, which include 12 sessions, 5 of which are joint sessions with other divisions, (3 PPD, 1 medical, 1 theory). Also there is a mini-symposium on mass spectrometry celebrating the 100th anniversary of the discovery of isotopes, jointly sponsored with the Canadian Society for Mass Spectrometry and Isomass Scientific Inc., which represents a first such co-sponsorship with an external scientific organization, according to JD. The DNP sponsored a plenary talk by Brad Sherrill of MSU. JD noted that of the 43 DNP abstracts at the congress, only 6 were from students; this low turnout was attributed to the large number of other meetings this year, but it was generally agreed that effort should be expended to increase this number. JD thanked the session chairs for their service.
JD mentioned that many of the DNP activities have been taken over by the CINP. Reiner Kruecken (RK) asked if there was a connection between the DNP and the CINP and if there ought to be. RK suggested that perhaps the CAP DNP Chairperson ought to be an ex-officio member of the CINP board. Jean Barrette (JB) pointed out that there has been a large overlap between the two organizations’ officers and board members, a point later echoed by Adam Sarty. Andrew Cumming inquired about the specific activities the CINP has taken over from the DNP. JD pointed out that, e.g., in its recent long range planning exercise for subatomic physics, NSERC chose to consult the CINP rather than the DNP. JD mentioned that the CINP is a registered lobbying organization and that it receives funds from both NSERC and institutional subscribers. Nigel Smith inquired about the possibilities of lobbying activities by the DNP. Such activities would be coordinated by a separate unit of CAP and DNP is not separately engaged in lobbying.
Secretary-Treasurer Barry Davids (BD) then presented a brief financial and membership report, summarized below.
1. Financial state
In the year from Jan 1 2012 – Dec 31 2012, we ran an operating surplus of $954.85,
leaving our balance at $11 428.76. Our operating expenses during 2012 included only a $55.15 charge for an NSERC meeting and $250 for 3 student prizes at the WNPPC. Offsetting these $300.15 in expenditures were $1260 in revenues from 126 full memberships at $10 each. For unknown reasons, the $1000 2010-2011 DNP Thesis prize was not paid to Richard Hydomako despite a request from ZP to the CAP Executive Director. BD has followed up with the CAP Executive Director by email but no response has yet been received.
2. Membership
As of May 25, 2013 we had 123 full members and 88 student members, for a total of 211 members. This represents a small decrease from 2012’s 128 full members and a small increase from 2012’s 87 student members.
3. Financial outlook
If membership remains roughly constant as it has recently, we can expect to be able to spend ~$1300 per year without diminishing our cash reserves. With the usual annual expenditures of $1000 for the DNP thesis prize and $250 for WNPPC student prizes, we have a $10 000 surplus to spend on support for invited speakers, student travel grants, etc.
4. DNP Bylaws
Last year BD drafted a set of bylaws for the division. After incorporating some minor improvements suggested by ZP, the bylaws were distributed to the membership for comments. The suggestions received were considered by the DNP executive committee and the bylaws were approved and forwarded in February 2013 to the CAP Council for approval. It is anticipated that the Council will approve the bylaws at the Congress or shortly thereafter.
5. Election of Officers
A regular election of the Chairperson-Elect and Secretary-Treasurer for 2 year terms from 2013-2015 was to be held this year. Nominations for these two positions were solicited by the Secretary-Treasurer via email on Feb 4, 2013; a reminder was sent on March 21st. As only one nomination for each open position was received by the Secretary-Treasurer by the April 15th deadline, Reiner Kruecken (TRIUMF and UBC) was elected Chairperson-Elect and Barry Davids (TRIUMF) was elected Secretary-Treasurer by acclamation. The 2013-2015 CAP DNP Executive Committee is as follows.
Zisis Papandreou Regina Chairperson
Barry Davids TRIUMF Secretary-Treasurer
Reiner Kruecken TRIUMF & UBC Chairperson-Elect
Jens Dilling TRIUMF Past Chairperson
The discussions which took place during the Secretary-Treasurer’s report are summarized below.
Adam Sarty pointed out that the problems experienced by the DNP initiating action from the CAP Executive Director are not unique to our division. The staffing levels at the Ottawa office are apparently inadequate. Therefore, more funding would appear to be warranted, which could potentially be obtained by raising the CAP membership fees. A $10 increase in membership fees would raise approximately $10k per annum, which could be used to increase staff levels (though not by much). A straw vote revealed that a $10 membership fee increase, with the proceeds to be exclusively devoted to increasing staffing levels at the Ottawa office, was unanimously supported by the DNP members in attendance. Daniel Banks pointed out that the budget proposed by the CAP Council this year calls for only an inflationary increase in membership fees.
A discussion of how to spend the large DNP surplus ensued. John Crawford suggested increasing the size of the WNPPC prizes. BD pointed out that the DNP contribution to these prizes is only half of the total, with the PPD contributing the other half. Other suggestions included increasing the size of the thesis prize, providing Congress fee waivers for foreign invited speakers, and providing travel grants to students to attend the Congress. Also mentioned was the provision of guaranteed sponsorship of plenary speakers suggested by the division. There was a consensus that providing student travel grants would be an excellent use of the surplus. JB suggested that we ought not attempt to spend our entire surplus in one year, but that 3-4 years would be more appropriate. He also mentioned that next year’s Congress will be held at Laurentian University.
The meeting was adjourned circa 13:26.