APPROVED
Minutes of the 56th meeting of the Canadian National Committee of URSI
held on 27 April 1998
at the Univ. of Toronto's Galbraith Bldg rm 173, 35 St.George St., Toronto.
Presents:
Yahia Antar (comm. B)
Keith Balmain (guest, 99 URSI Toronto)
Jamal Deen (comm. D)
Gilles Delisle (chair)
Laurier Forget (guest, NRC-ASPM/Ottawa)
Amy Pinchuk (comm. E)
Elvino Sousa (comm. C)
Jean-Pierre St.Maurice (comm. G + H)
Maria Stuchly (comm. K)
Ken Tapping (comm. J)
Jacques P. Vallée (secr., NRC-HIA/Victoria)
Paul Wiitke (past chair)
Temporary presences:
George Eleftherinds (guest, 99 URSI Toronto) - pm
Safwat G. Zaky (guest, UofT E+ComputerE dept chair) - am
Emilie van Deventer (guest, 99 URSI Toronto) - pm
Absents/regrets:
Andree Bichon (guest, NRC-CorpServ/Ottawa)
Stanley Kubina (guest, NARS Montreal 97)
Gilles Missout (comm. A)
Rod Olson (comm. F)
Tentative Agenda for the 56th meeting of CNC URSI
1. Welcome + Opening Remarks
2. Approval of Minutes of 55th meeting in Ottawa
3. Report of Joint APS/URSI meeting in Montreal 1997
4. 1999 URSI GA meeting in Toronto
5. Commission B meeting in 2001 in Victoria
6. Nominations to CNC URSI
7. CNC URSI Fund, and utilization of surplus
8. Commitment of Canadian commission Chairs for URSI 1999
9. Canadian URSI membership list
10. Meeting with international URSI representatives
11. Other business
12. Date of next CNC meeting
The meeting started at 09:30 am.
1. Welcome + Opening remarks
============================
Dr. Delisle, Chair of CNC URSI, welcomed all participants to this
meeting. He also thanked Dr. Keith Balmain for the logistical details
of today's meeting.
On behalf of the Dept. of Electrical and Computing Engineering
at U. of Toronto, Dr. Safwat Zaky welcomed all delegates to this
meeting and all those coming to the 1999 URSI GA next year.
Dr. Delisle thanked Dr. Zaky for his offer of help.
Dr. Delisle asked for any modifications of the proposed agenda.
Item 11 "Other business" will include the 2004 Calgary APS meeting;
URSI Awards, CNC Chair Nomination procedure, and others as they arise.
Dr. Delisle noted that items in the Agenda will have to be moved up or
down depending on the arrival/departure of key people in the room.
Dr. Delisle moved for the approval of the Agenda. Accepted.
2. Approval of Minutes of 55th meeting in Ottawa
================================================
-Page 6: change "It is not normal practice to have people doing
more than one term" to "It is not normal practice to have people doing
more than two terms".
Proposed by J.-P. St. Maurice, seconded by Maria Stuchly, that the
minutes be approved as amended. Approved.
3. July 1997 Montreal meeting of APS/URSI
=========================================
Laurier Forget (NRC-ASPM-ConfServ) distributed a report on that meeting.
The total conference revenue was around $590,000 Cdn, and the total
conference expenditure was around $428,000 Cdn.
Laurier Forget noted that CNC URSI will be getting a net benefit of
around $26,000 Cdn.
[Note: in Sep.'98 the CNC URSI account was credited $25,607 for that event.]
There were 1336 Abstracts accepted, and 1333 registered participants,
giving a ratio of 1.0.
Gilles Delisle commented that this was an excellent meeting, very well
attended, the largest ever in that category. Maria Stuchly moved to offer
congratulations to the organising committee, supported by Y. Antar.
Agreed. Gilles Delisle will send a letter to the NRC-CSO, to thank
them, and to note the excellent work by Doris Ruest.
Amy Pinchuk will write a letter of thanks to the two co-chairs
for that meeting, to be signed by the HIA DG.
Some consequences for the upcoming meeting were noted, notably
the need for more poster spaces, smaller poster sizes and duration.
4. August 1999 URSI GA meeting in Toronto
=========================================
Keith Balmain introduced the topic, which he illustrated with some
transparencies, plus several paper handouts. The GA meeting will last
7 days for some, and 9 days for others (each commission will decide for
itself). Expecting 900 full-fare participants, plus about 300 student-fare
participants, plus accompanying guests. Expected full-fare registration
fee is near $700 Cdn for participants, and a smaller one (at cost;
about $100) for accompanying persons.
About 600 posters are expected. About 700 people are expected
to participate at the banquet at the Royal Ontario Museum.
The Delta Chelsea Hotel will be the HeadQuarters for the URSI GA; that
hotel charges about $155 Cdn per night.
George Eleftherinds spoke about the UnderGraduate Competition for the
conference, restricted to Canadian undergraduates, and for which a
4-member advisory committee has been created.
Maria Stuchly spoke on meeting publications. Oxford Press will be
involved. There will be a Book of Abstracts, in 2 volumes.
Emilie van Deventer spoke on local arrangements, including room
allocations. Computer access will be possible for all participants.
Laurier Forget noted that NRC-ASPM-ConfServ will not run a conference
deficit, but will look at fundraising and to be as conservative as possible
to avoid a deficit. The registration fee is not fixed yet.
[Note: Article 4 of the URSI GA 1999 Contractual Agreement between NRC,
IEEE, URSI, and CNC URSI states that "the CNC/URSI shall pay
NRC-ASPM ConfServ the amount of $10,000 Cdn before April 1, 1999".]
[Note: in Mar.'99 the CNC URSI account was debited $10,000 for that event.]
5. May 2001 Victoria meeting of URSI Commission B
=================================================
Y. Antar presented the status of this upcoming conference, using
many color tranparencies. He expects about 400 participants.
CNC emphasized that it needs a net profit to support other activities,
similarly to the recent URSI/AP-S 1997 Montreal meeting.
Laurier Forget suggested that a letter should be written by the
International URSI Commission B Chair and sent to the NRC-ASPM-ConfServ,
to invite NRC-ASPM-ConfServ for this task.
Maria Stuchly moved that CNC would like the NRC-ConfServ be chosen for
the task, supported by Gilles Delisle. Agreed.
[Note: Schedule B of the Victoria Conf Center License Agreement between
the City of Victoria, URSI, UVic, and CNC URSI stipulated that the
CNC/URSI shall pay the amount of $1,200 Cdn in June 1998. ]
[Note: In June'98 the CNC URSI account was debited $1,200 for that event.]
Gilles Delisle moved that the CNC delegates Commission B national
president Y. Antar to the international symposium on Electromagnetic
Theory held 25-28 May 1998 in Thessalonika, Greece, and that he brings
back the information needed to organise the Victoria meeting of
commission B in 2001, and that CNC sets aside $2000 Cdn of its
account for that purpose. Supported by CNC URSI. Agreed.
[Note: As of May 1999, NRC-HIA had not received the claim from Dr. Antar.]
6. Nominations to CNC URSI
==========================
All members whose mandated had expired or were soon to expire have
accepted Don Morton's letter of extension, except Gilles Missout.
Maria Stuchly expressed concerns at the large number of CNC members
whose terms would end on 31 Aug. 1999. The CNC recommends that CNC
should have 6 overlapping members from May 1999 to August 1999.
The CNC proposed that there should be 2 CNC meetings in 1999, one
around end of April 1999, and one meeting at URSI GA in Toronto in Aug.'99.
According to the agreement between NRC Internat. Affairs and NRC HIA,
most travel reimbursements for a CNC meeting are paid by NRC HIA, while
most travel reimbursements for a URSI GA are paid by NRC-CS-Int.Affairs.
[Note: Ms. Bichon offered $4800 to the NRC URSI account for that purpose.]
Gilles Delisle received two suggestions to replace Gilles Missout, and
expressed the opinion that they could be seen as "inbreeding". A round
table gave the following three additional suggestions, and the CNC ranked
them thus: (1) Dr. Mishra; (2) Dr. Ghannoushi; (3) Dr.Kashyap.
[Note: Dr. Mishra has since accepted the HIA offer to serve on CNC URSI.]
7. Creation of a CNC URSI Fund, and utilization of surplus
==========================================================
During previous conferences, the CNC/URSI donated its share of any
surplus to an "NRC Conferences Fund" held by NRC-ASPM-ConfServ in Ottawa,
which was a reasonable act in light of the fact that (at that time) NRC
did not charge a "conference management fee" (extracts from a letter by
former CNC secretary R. Hayward, dated 26 April 1995).
Gilles Delisle read a letter faxed to him from NRC-HIA DG Dr. Don Morton
on this matter. Jacques Vallee mentioned some changes that have occurred
since, and was invited to photocopy and distribute the latest draft from
Don Morton. Don Morton's letter is a "draft" (as spelled out on the first
line of document), and Don Morton has expressed a willingness to discuss
the matter further with the CNC Chair Gilles Delisle.
Gilles Delisle noted that NRC-HIA is obligated to pay the travel
reimbursements for the CNC meeting underway today.
[Note: the Apr.'98 Toronto meeting of CNC costed NRC-HIA/Victoria ~ $6,000.]
A letter dated 21 April 1998 from NRC lawyer Alan Blackwell was read,
stating that "I believe CNC/URSI is still a committee of NRC, and its
money is a kind of government money". Don Morton's draft stated that
"CNC/URSI is considered an NRC committee...", and "funds in that account
will have to be considered Government of Canada revenue and, as such, will
be governed by principles which must be in line with government policies
and procedures".
The CNC mandated Gilles Delisle to pursue the matter of CNC travels,
first with the NRC-HIA DG Don Morton.
8. Commitment of Canadian commission Chairs for URSI 1999
=========================================================
All CNC members are all committed to the Toronto URSI GA. Each
national commission chair could, if he/she wanted, have input with
their respective international commission chair.
9. Canadian URSI membership list
================================
The e-mail ASCII list had been sent by the CNC Secretary to all CNC
members, with a request that each commission chair updates its own.
At meeting time, most CNC members had done their updates, except two.
Gilles Delisle requested that the final upgraded list be circulated
back to everyone.
[Note: in May'98 the CNC Secretary did circulate the final list.]
10. Meeting with international URSI representatives
===================================================
Keith Balmain reported that URSI representatives will be in Toronto
Thursday 30 April through Monday 4 May 98, to discuss the 99 URSI GA
meeting in Toronto. These representatives will set up strategy meetings,
committee meetings, Board meetings, etc.
11. Other business:
===================
(A)Tour of the Toronto facilities for the 1999 URSI GA
After lunch, Keith Balmain guided the CNC members to all the conference
rooms across the Univ. of Toronto campus that will be used for the 1999
URSI GA. The CNC was much impressed.
(B) APS meeting in Calgary in 2004
Y. Antar and Gilles Delisle made a presentation. Details of local
arrangements were discussed. Gilles Delisle will send an Invitation
Letter on behalf of CNC URSI.
(C) Four International URSI Awards are available
Gilles Delisle received from URSI the rules for the Balthasar van
der Pol Medal Award, the John Howard Dellinger Gold Medal Award,
the Appleton Prize Award, and the Issac Koga Gold Medal Award. All
nominations from the CNC must be received in Belgium before 15 Aug. 1998.
(D) URSI Large Square Km Array Science Meeting
Ken Tapping reported on this upcoming meeting, in Calgary in July 1998.
He mentioned the very high sensitivity of such a telescope, and the
Canadian option of a tethered balloon at an altitude of 10 000 feet.
12. Date of next CNC meeting
============================
It was suggested to be on the last Monday of April 1999, unless there is
a last minute change.
[Note: the actual meeting date will be 28 May 1999 in Toronto.]
Closing
=======
CNC Chair Gilles Delisle thanked all those present for coming to
this CNC meeting.
CNC Secretary Jacques Vallee also thanked all members
present on behalf of NRC-HIA, and reminded them to fill the NRC Expense
Claim Forms and to send them to him at NRC-HIA in Victoria.
The CNC URSI meeting ended at 17h.
Dr. J.P. Vallée
jacques.vallee @nrc-cnrc.gc.ca