*** APPROVED ***
Minutes of the 60th meeting of the Canadian National Committee of URSI
----------------------------------------------------------------------
prepared by CNC Secretary & member J.P. Vallee (NRC-HIA/Victoria).
The meeting was held on 20 May 2001 at NRC's M50 building, room 106,
1500 Montreal Road, Ottawa, Ont.
Members Present:
-Yahia Antar (RMC/Kingston, Chair)
-Jamal Dean (McMasterU/Hamilton, Comm. D)
-Gilles Delisle (LavalU/SteFoy, past-Chair)
-Gordon James (CommunicResCenter/Ottawa, Comm. G+H)
-Witold Krzymien (Univ. Alberta, and TRLabs/Edmonton, Comm. C)
-Jean-Jacques Laurin (EcolePoly/Montreal, Comm. B)
-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:
-Hamid Jorjani (NRC CS/Ottawa)
-Paul Wittke (URSI International VP)
Absent members:
-Shantnu Mishra (CanSpaceAgency/Ottawa, Comm. A)
-Frank Prato (UWO/London, Comm. K)
Agenda for the 60th meeting of the CNC URSI:
--------------------------------------------
Startup:
01. Welcome and introductory remarks (Antar)
02. Approval of the Agenda (Antar)
Secretary:
03. Approval of the Minutes of the 59th Meeting in Ottawa, May 2000 (Vallee)
04. NRC CNC money status: from 'Trust Fund' to 'Revenue Operating Account' (Vallee)
05. Canadian URSI Membership lists for each URSI Commission (Vallee)
General:
06. Short 5min Reports (one from each CNC commission representative)
Meetings:
07. Report from US-NC in Boulder, January 2001 (Antar)
08. URSI Symposium on EM Theory (Commission B) in Victoria, May 2001 (Antar)
09. IEEE EMC Symposium in Montreal, August 2001 (Laurin)
10. APS/NA URSI mtg in Columbus, Ohio, June 2003 (Antar)
11. IEEE-APS/URSI-NARS mtg 2007 - selection of city and LOC (Antar)
Promotion:
12. Candidatures for URSI Medals & URSI positions (Antar)
13. Sponsorship of URSI CNC (Antar)
14. CISET mtg for NRC Partners in Ottawa, 28 May 2001 (Vallee)
Wrapup:
15. Other businesses (Antar)
16. Date and Place of next URSI CNC meeting (Vallee)
----------------------------------
The CNC meeting started at 9h am.
01. Welcome and introductory remarks
========================================
Y. Antar, CNC Chair, welcomed all participants and thanked
J. Vallee for the logistical details of this meeting.
02. Approval of the Agenda
==============================
The Chair asked for any change to the agenda. No change.
Y. Antar and J. Vallee moved for the approval of the agenda. Agreed.
03. Approval of Minutes of the 59th Meeting
===============================================
The Chair asked for any change to the minutes. No change.
J. Vallee and G. James moved that the Minutes be approved. Agreed.
04. NRC CNC money status
============================
a. NRC-CNC Trust Fund held in Victoria was standing at $22,303.81 in April 2001
and J. Vallee explained the entries and exits in the last 12 months.
b. NRC-HIA/DGO in Victoria pays all the travels of the CNC members attending
the CNC annual meeting, amounting to a total of $9023.26 in 2000 May.
J. Vallee handed out the NRC Expense Claim Forms.
c. NRC-HIA/DGO in Victoria pays for the NRC staff involved in the CNC.
d. NRC-CorpServ/International in Ottawa pays ~$11000 to URSI/Belgium for the
Canadian contribution to URSI.
e. NRC-CorpServ/International in Ottawa pays a part toward the travels of
each of 8 voting delegates at the URSI GA, excluding government members.
NB: Sum total available for items a,b,d is $42,327.07 from NRC for URSI matters.
05. Canadian URSI Membership lists
======================================
Each CNC member updates his commission's 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.
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.
Only a shortened summary appears here [see handouts at the meeting].
The CNC Chair reported on various correspondences. On behalf of CNC, he
welcomed the new HIA DG Simon Lilly. Among other things, he noted that CNC
was to rank the applicants for the Young Scientists Awards.
Hamid Jorjani noted that NRC would provide guidance on selected items
related to costs and status (technical details). Among other topics, he
encouraged us to come up with ways to leverage these international links
in order to promote value-added benefits, and NRC's vision.
Paul Wittke reported on the URSI Board meeting. Among other Board issues,
he mentioned the individual membership status versus correspondent status,
and the need for some costs savings,
For Commission A, Y. Antar and G. James proposed to renew
Dr. S. Mishra's term for another 3 years. Agreed.
[Note on 7 Nov. 2001: the HIA DG Dr. S. Lilly wrote a letter to invite
Dr. S. Mishra to stay for another 3-year term.]
For Commission D, J. Deen and Y. Antar proposed to nominate
N. Georgieva [McMaster U.] as a new CNC member. Agreed.
[Note on 7 Nov. 2001: the HIA DG Dr.S. Lilly wrote a letter to invite
Dr. N. Georgieva to join for a first 3-year term.]
J. Deen and W. Krzymien proposed that an Award for $500 be given for
the best student presentation, to be presented by the CNC Chair on
behalf of Radio Science, at the semiconductor conference in Ottawa in Aug. 2001.
07. Report from US-NC in Boulder, January 2001
===================================================
Y. Antar gave a status report. It appears at first that there will be no need
for seed money from the CNC, and about 40% of the net profit could flow to the CNC.
08. URSI Symposium on EM Theory (Commission B) in Victoria, May 2001
===================================================
Y. Antar gave a status report. The symposium has an attendence of about 215 people,
and it is expected to break even financially.
09. IEEE EMC Symposium in Montreal, August 2001
===================================================
J.-J. Laurin gave a status report. There would not be money from URSI Commission E,
on account of too little URSI involvement. G. Delisle and J. Deen proposed
that an Award for $500 be given for the best URSI CNC paper.
10. APS/NA URSI mtg in Columbus, Ohio, June 2003
===================================================
Y. Antar gave a status report. There is a need of a strong Cdn participation.
The issues will be revisited later in 2001.
11. IEEE-APS/URSI-NARS mtg 2007 - selection of city and LOC
===================================================
Langis Roy (Carleton U) made a presentation on behalf of Ottawa.
He expects up to 1300 persons, and it would have 15 parallel sessions.
Y. Antar made presentations on behalf of Winnipeg and Toronto.
The CNC considered the 3 presentations, and decided for Ottawa at Carleton U.
The CNC suggested that Y. Antar be the Chair of the Steering Committee.
12. Candidatures for URSI Medals & URSI positions
===================================================
Y. Antar introduced the various medals available: Appleton, Booker, Dellinger,
van der Pool, Koga. Various nominations were made, and individuals were assigned
to do the necessary paperwork on behalf of the CNC.
In addition, it was suggested that the CNC could nominate people for another
URSI vice-presidency in the future. Some URSI commission vice-chairs are opening soon.
13. Sponsorship of URSI CNC
===================================================
The Communications Research Center [CRC] could potentially help the CNC in
more ways, notably in commissions A,B,C,D,F,K. The CRC is currently helping in
commissions G,H through Dr. G. James as a CNC member.
14. CISET mtg for NRC Partners in Ottawa, 28 May 2001 (Vallee)
===================================================
Travel funds by CNC members to the URSI General Assembly are limited to
'university-based' members in two documents written by NRC-CorpServ in Ottawa.
J. Deen and Y. Antar proposed that the 'university-based' versus 'company-based'
funding restriction in NRC-CorpServ contracts with the NRC-partner institute
and the CNC be removed immediately. Agreed.
[Note added on 1 June 2001: At the CISET meeting held on 28 May 2001, J.Vallee made the same proposition, seconded by the CODATA representative. Agreed by CISET.]
15. Other business
========================
None.
16. Date and place of next CNC meeting
==========================================
It is tentatively suggested that the next CNC meeting be the first Monday
in May 2002, possibly in Ottawa.
[Note added 18 April 2002: the actual CNC meeting date and place will be
at NRC-Sussex in Ottawa on Monday 3 June 2002.]
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 16:40 h.
PS: Minutes written and edited by Jacques P. Vallee
NB: Minutes are posted on the CNC's own web page at http://www.ursi.ca/