APPROVED
Minutes of the 59th meeting of the Canadian National Committee of URSI
----------------------------------------------------------------------
prepared by CNC Secretary & member J.P. Vallee (NRC-HIA/Victoria).
The meeting was held on 1 May 2000 at NRC's downtown campus,
in the Council's Chamber, room 1147, 100 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario.
Members Present:
Yahia Antar (RMC/Kingston, Chair)
Jamal Dean (McMasterU/Hamilton, Comm. D)
Gordon James (CommunicResCenter/Ottawa, Comm. G+H)
Witold Krzymien (TRLabs/Edmonton, Comm. C)
Jean-Jacques Laurin (EcolePoly/Montreal, Comm. B)
Shantnu Mishra (CanSpaceAgency/Ottawa, Comm. A)
Frank Prato (UWO/London, Comm. K)
Dave Routledge (UAlb/Edmonton, Comm. J)
Gordon Staples (Radarsat/Richmond, Comm. F)
Chris Trueman (ConcordiaU/Montreal, Comm. E)
Jacques P. Vallee (NRC-HIA/Victoria, Secretary & member)
Guests present:
Keith Balmain (UTor/Toronto, 99TorMtg)
Laurier Forget (NRC-ConfServ/Ottawa, 99TorMtg)
Absent:
Gilles Delisle (LavalU/SteFoy, past-Chair)
Tentative Agenda for the 59th meeting of the CNC URSI:
01. Welcome and introductory remarks
02. Approval of the agenda
03. Approval of Minutes of the 58th Meeting
04. Canadian URSI Membership lists
05. CNC Trust Fund
06. Short 5min Reports, one from each CNC commission representative
07. URSI G.A. in Toronto, Aug. 1999
08. Commission B mtg in Victoria, May 2001
09. APS/NA URSI mtg in Columbus, Ohio, June 2003
10. IEEE-APS/URSI-NARS mtg in Calgary 2005
11. Candidatures for URSI Medals & URSI positions
12. Sponsorship of CNC
13. Other business
14. Date and place of next CNC meeting
The CNC meeting started at 10h am.
01. Welcome and introductory remarks
========================================
Y. Antar, CNC Chair, welcomed all participants and thanked
J. Vallee for the logistical details of this meeting.
Everyone present introduced himself.
The Chair mentioned the huge amount of work done for the CNC over the last
six years by the past Chair, G. Delisle. G. Delisle is currently away due to
an impromptu voyage in Chile.
02. Approval of the Agenda
==============================
The Chair asked for any change to the agenda. No change.
Y. Antar and G. James moved for the approval of the agenda. Done.
03. Approval of Minutes of the 58th Meeting
===============================================
The Chair asked for any change to the minutes. No change.
S. Mishra and Y. Antar moved that the Minutes be approved. Done.
04. Canadian URSI Membership lists
======================================
Each year, each CNC member updates his commission list. Canadian
membership is open to anyone interested in this field, is active,
and who publishes (no election). In the USA, members have to be elected
in order to be on the USA lists.
05. CNC Trust Fund
======================
Here is a summary of financial activities related to the CNC, starting
with the NRC-CNC Trust Fund and going on to other NRC funds.
a. J. Vallee reported on the status of the NRC-CNC Trust Fund held in Victoria,
currently standing at $22803.81, and he explained the entries and exits in 2000.
Of note is a GST clawback for a total of $317.11 that was reimbursed to the
CNC Trust Fund.
b. NRC-HIA/Victoria pays all the travels of the CNC members attending
the CNC annual meeting, amounting to a total of $7423.72 in 1999 May.
J. Vallee handed out the NRC Expense Claim Forms.
[Note added 000726: NRC-HIA/Victoria paid $9023.26 for the 2000 May CNC
meeting, with two members missing the airline's Saturday-night rule.].
c. NRC-HIA Victoria pays for the NRC staff involved in the CNC.
d. NRC-CorpServ/IntRel Ottawa pays ~$11000 to URSI/Belgium for the Canadian
national contribution to URSI.
e. NRC-CorpServ/IntRel Ottawa offered to pay $600 toward the travels of each of
8 voting delegates at the URSI GA 1999 August in Toronto, but restricted to
university-based members only. This amounted to a total of $1772 (covering
3 voting members at the URSI GA99, others being government or company based).
06. Short 5min Reports, one from each CNC commission representative
=======================================================================
Each CNC member spoke about on-going activities & developments in their
field. Some concerns expressed were outside the purview of the CNC mandate.
07. URSI G.A. in Toronto, Aug. 1999
=======================================
K. Balmain reviewed the local arrrangements at the 99URSIGA in Toronto.
He thanked the NRC-CorpServ/ConfServ in Ottawa for their enormous
amount of work towards the GA. The CNC formally accepted the tabling of the
report from K. Balmain and his team.
L. Forget reported on the financial outcomes of the URSI GA, which did
a bit better than breaking even financially. The CNC formally accepted the
tabling of the report from L. Forget and his team.
The CNC requested that a Letter of Thanks to Dr. K. Balmain for his work
be sent by the NRC HIA.
[Note: Letter of thanks by HIA was sent to Dr. Balmain on 26 July 00].
08. Commission B mtg in Victoria, May 2001
==============================================
Y. Antar reported on the 2001 May 13-17 meeting, organised by the CNC.
About 400 people are expected to attend. An agreement has been reached between
the NRC-CorpServ-Conference Services and the CNC, giving about 40% of any
financial surplus to the CNC.
09. APS/NA URSI mtg in Columbus, Ohio, June 2003
====================================================
Y. Antar reported on the 2003 June 23-27 meeting, organised by Gary
Brown, Chair of the US-NC of URSI.
The CNC agrees to collaborate with this event. The CNC Chair will send a
formal letter to them, expressing the CNC position.
[Note: Email from Y. Antar sent on 2000 June 02 to G. Brown.]
10. IEEE-APS/URSI-NARS mtg in Calgary 2005
==============================================
Y. Antar reported on the arrangements for this meeting. The documentation
at this time was not finalised. The CNC is in favour of going ahead with
Calgary. Originally, the Calgary meeting was to be held in 2003, and
pushed to 2004, and to 2005. The CNC Chair will make further contacts
about the Calgary arrangements.
[Note: Phone call from Y.Antar on 2000 July 26 to CNC secretary, reporting
that the meeting is unlikely to be held in Calgary in 2005, but possibly
later in 2007 in Ottawa or Toronto.]
11. Candidatures for URSI Medals & URSI positions
=====================================================
Y. Antar reported that P. Wittke/Kingston was elected as URSI VP in 99Aug.
No other info on competitions for medals & positions was available at this time.
His nomination had been sponsored by the CNC.
12. Sponsorship of CNC
==========================
Y. Antar introduced the topic, and mentioned that one of CNC's goals should
be to get URSI more visible in governmental and industrial circles. Many
organisations currently benefit from the CNC activities, notably CRC/Ottawa,
CSA/Montreal, EMR/Ottawa, Dept. Nat. Defense/Ottawa, Nortel/Ottawa. The CNC
should think about how to get them involved in sponsorships of one kind or
another.
13. Other business
======================
Members made numerous suggestions on various topics, and the following two
were agreed to and acted upon as follow.
a. CNC Award for Best student paper: W. Krzymien & D. Routledge proposed
that two URSI-Canada awards be made each year to students at Canadian
universities presenting the best paper at selected coonferences in 2000,
from the CNC Trust Fund. Y. Antar & F. Prato proposed an amendment, that
the award amount should be Cdn$500 each, and that matching money from other
sources be seeked up to Cdn$500. Voted and agreed.
The selected conferences were:
Calgary 2000 July - International Conf. on Wireless Communications;
Winnipeg 2000 July - Antenna Technology and Applied EM.
[Note: the CNC Chair will present a letter to the best students, indicating
the amount of money, and that NRC will send a cheque when all the details
are received later (name, address, pos code).]
[Note: in Aug. 2000 a cheque for $500 was made from the Trust Fund and sent to
Anthony Grbic/Univ. Toronto as recognition for best student paper].
b. CNC Electronic Newsletter: S. Mishra and Y. Antar proposed that the
CNC set up an all-electronic newsletter, to be distribution to all Canadian
members on URSI-CNC commission lists. Agreed.
14. Date and place of next CNC meeting
==========================================
It is tentatively suggested that the next CNC meeting be the first Monday
in May 2001, possibly in Ottawa.
Y.Antar thanked all members present for their work on the CNC.
J. Vallee thanked all members on behalf of NRC-HIA for helping Radio
Science in Canada, and encouraged them to fill the NRC Travel Claim Forms
and to send them to him in Victoria.
The CNC meeting ended at 16:10 h.
Jacques. P. Vallee
PS: the CNC's own web page is at http://www.ursi.ca