*** APPROVED ***
Minutes of the 64th meeting of the Canadian National Committee of URSI
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The meeting started at 9h am on 25 April 2005 in room 1147 at the Sussex
campus of the National Research Council, 100 Sussex Dr., Ottawa, Ont.
Members present:
+Antar, Yahia (RMC/Kingston, Chair)
+Georgieva-Nikolova, Natalia (McMaster/Hamilton, Comm. D)
+James, Gordon (CommunicResCenter/Ottawa, Comm. G+H)
+Laurin, Jean-Jacques (EcolePoly/Montreal, Comm. B)
+Mishra, Shantnu (CanSpaceAgency/Ottawa, Comm. A)
+Prato, Frank (UWO/London, Comm. K)
+Routledge, Dave (UAlb/Edmonton, Comm. J)
+Vallee, Jacques P. (NRC-HIA/Victoria, Secretary & member)
+Wittke, Paul (URSI International VP)
Absent members/guests:
-Delisle, Gilles (U of Ottawa, past-Chair)
-Jorjani, Hamid (NRC CorpServ/Ottawa, Guest)
-Krzymien, Witold (Un.Alb/Edmonton, and TRLabs/Edmonton, Comm. C)
-Nadeau, Benoit (Matrox Electronix/Montreal, Comm. E)
-Staples, Gordon (Radarsat/Richmond, Comm. F)
Agreed agenda:
--------------
Start-up:
01. Welcome to members and guests (Antar)
02. Introductory remarks (Antar)
03. Approval of the Agenda (Antar)
Secretary:
04. Approval of the Minutes of the 63th Meeting (Vallee)
minutes are on "CNC web site" www.ursi.ca/2004min.html
05. Business arising from the Minutes (Vallee; Antar)
06. Acting treasurer's report (Vallee)
a. NRC HIA [Fahlman] fund for CNC's annual mtg [$5,650]
b. NRC CNC [Vallee] trust fund for seed/promotion [$17,954]
c. NRC CS [Jorjani] fund for the HQ in Belgium [$12,104]
d. Sum & other NRC contributions [JPV time + web; CorpServ delegate]
07. Canadian URSI Membership lists, by Commissions (Vallee)
08. Status of HIA-CS agreement in support of URSI CNC (Vallee)
General reports:
09. Chair's report (Antar)
10. Report from the URSI Board meeting (Wittke)
11. Short 5min reports (one from each CNC commission representative)
Future radio meetings:
12. Ottawa 2004 URSI-CNC/ANTEM radio science (Antar/Shafai)
13. St.Malo 2005 July URSI-CNC/ANTEM radio science (Antar/Shafai)
14. NewDelhi 2005 Oct23-29 URSI General Assembly (Antar)
15. Canada 2006 URSI-CNC/ANTEM radio science (Antar/Shafai)
16. Ottawa 2007 July22-24 URSI-JointNARS/US-NC mtg (Antar/Roy)
Promotion:
17. Candidatures for URSI Medals & URSI positions (Antar)
18. CNC student awards (Antar)
19. Re-appointment for CNC Comm E (Nadeau; 2nd term).
20. New appointments for CNC
Comm A[Mishra - come with 3 suggestions],
Comm B[Laurin - come with 3 suggestions],
Comm G+H[James - come with 3 suggestions],
Comm J[Routledge - come with 3 suggestions],
Chair [Antar - come with 3 suggestions]
Wrap-up:
21. Other businesses (Antar)
22. Tentative date & place for next URSI CNC meeting (Vallee)
------------------------------------
01. Welcome to members and guests (Antar)
========================================
Dr. Yahia Antar, CNC Chair, welcomed all CNC participants.
Dr. Vallee also welcomed all to this NRC campus.
02. Introductory remarks (Antar)
====================================
Dr. Antar thanked Dr. J. Vallee for the logistical details of this meeting.
03. Approval of the Agenda (Antar)
==============================
The Chair asked for any change to the agenda.
Dr. Prato & Dr. Nikolova moved for the approval of the agenda. Agreed.
04. Approval of the Minutes of the 62th Meeting (Vallee)
===============================================
Dr. Vallee noted that the Minutes can be viewed on the Canadian URSI web
site www.ursi.ca by clicking on "CNC Spring 2004 meeting".
The Chair asked for any change to the Minutes. No change.
Dr. Prato & Dr. Mishra moved that the Minutes be approved. Unanimous.
05. Business arising from the minutes, since the last CNC meeting
==================================================================
See below.
06. Acting treasurer's report (Vallee)
============================
a. NRC HIA [Fahlman] fund for CNC's annual mtg
b. NRC CNC [Vallee] trust fund for seed/promotion
c. NRC CorpServ [Jorjani] fund for the HQ in Belgium
d. Sum & other NRC contributions
a. NRC HIA [Fahlman] fund for CNC's annual mtg:
NRC-HIA in Victoria paid all the travels of the CNC members attending
the CNC annual meeting on 2004 April 05, amounting to a total of $5650.
for 11 attendees. J. Vallee handed out the NRC Travel Expense Claim Forms.
b. NRC CNC [Vallee] trust fund for seed/promotion:
NRC-CNC trust fund in Victoria stood at $17,955 on 2005 April 18.
J. Vallee explained the entries and exits in the last 12 months.
c. NRC CorpServ [Jorjani] fund for the URSI HQ in Belgium
NRC-CorpServ in Ottawa has paid about $12,104 to URSI
for the annual canadian contribution to the URSI Headquarters
[=7248 EURO, representing 8 URSI votes at the GA].
d. Sum and other NRC contributions
-The sum for the items (a,b,c) above is $35,709 for URSI matters.
-NRC-HIA in Victoria pays for the staff involved in the CNC & web site.
-NRC-CorpServ in Ottawa contributes towards the travel of
1 voting delegate at the URSI GA, excluding government members.
07. Canadian URSI Membership lists, by Commissions (Vallee)
======================================
Canadian membership is open to anyone interested, who is active, and who
publishes (no election). Each CNC member updates his Cdn commission's list.
J. Vallee has queried each CNC member about updating their commission list.
The membership lists of all Canadian commissions now contain information
up to June 2004 or better. Commission C list is completed as of July 2005.
08. Status of agreement by NRC CorpServ & NRC HIA to support URSI CNC (Vallee)
==================================================================
The HIA DG has agreed in Dec. 2004 to sign the agreement drafted in April
2004 by NRC CorpServ. This agreement covers the period mid-2004 to mid-2009.
Dr. Greg Fahlman, HIA DG, objected to the modification
enabling CorpServ to support at most 1 delegate to the URSI GA, instead
of the usual 8 voting delegates supported since 1993 by CorpServ.
The URSI CNC was invited to make a presentation to the NRC CISET/Partners on
13/14 June 2005 in Ottawa, as one of the top three well managed CNCs. The NRC
CISET/Partners meeting assembles 1 or 2 reps from 30 CNCs, every odd year.
Dr. Frank Prato will make a presentation to the CISET/Partners meeting in
June 2005 in Ottawa, on behalf of the URSI CNC.
Dr. James & Dr. Mishra independently estimated their costs to go to the
URSI GA in New Delhi in Oct. 2005 at around Cdn $5000. NRC CorpServ is only
willing to contribute to one CNC member an amount up to Cdn $2750
departing from Ontario or east (up to $2250 departing from Manitoba or west).
Dr. Nikolova & Dr. Prato moved that up to 8 voting CNC members be
partially reimbursed from the HIA CNC Trust account to go to the URSI GA
in New Delhi in Oct. 2005, by up to $1000 Cdn each. Unanimous.
09. Chair's report (Antar)
====================================================================
Dr. Antar reported on happenings at the international level, including
talks at the Boulder 2005 meeting on the financial surplus and Canada's share,
and that NRC CorpServ wants our support for the COSPAR mtg in 2006 in Ottawa.
The 50% share of the surplus money from the 2003 Columbus meeting should
come soon. Some problems occured with IEEE, regarding the proper US Tax
Form to be used in the declaration.
10. Report from the URSI Board meeting (Wittke)
=======================================================
Dr. Wittke mentioned, among other things, the upcoming International
Symposium on Signals, Systems, Electronis in summer 2007 in Montreal;
should it be joint with our URSI-JNARS in 2007 July in Ottawa ?
URSI publications have a rigorous review process for their articles.
URSI white papers can be too broad and may be contentious to some people.
11. 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.
Each commission representative should try to disseminate, to the Cdn
members of their own commission, the information about URSI & meetings.
12. Canada 2004 URSI-CNC/ANTEM radio science (Antar)
=========================================================
Dr. Antar reported on this mtg. As expected, CNC got some publicity, but
the financial aspect had not been worked with ANTHEM, so no surplus money.
13. St.Malo 2005 July URSI-CNC/ANTEM radio science (Antar)
=====================================================================
Dr. Antar expected little participation, and no surplus money.
14. NewDelhi 2005 Oct23-29 URSI General Assembly (Antar)
==========================================================
Six CNC members here today indicated an intention to go there:
Antar, James, Mishra, Nikolova, Prato, Wittke.
There may also be others, among CNC members not present today.
15. Canada 2006 URSI-CNC/ANTEM radio science (Antar)
================================================================
Location not decided yet. No agreement yet on surplus money.
16. Ottawa 2007 July22-24 URSI-JointNARS/US-NC mtg (Antar)
===============================================================
Dr. Antar reported that the profits are to be shared 50%-50%, based on 350
people attending, and a $550 registration fee. Up to 800 people could come.
Dr. Wittke mentioned again the upcoming International
Symposium on Signals, Systems, Electronis in summer 2007 in Montreal;
should it be joint with our URSI-JNARS in 2007 July in Ottawa ?
17. Candidatures for URSI Medals & URSI positions (Antar)
===============================================================
The deadlines for submission of candidates for medals was in 2004 Aug.
Medals will be given at the AGA in 2005 Oct.
No Canadian was currently identified for top URSI positions.
18. CNC student awards (Antar)
===============================================================
None.
19. Re-appointment for CNC Comm E (Antar).
===============================================================
At the CNC mtg, we discussed this item. Nadeau's first term (3 yr)
comes to an end on 30 Sept. 2005.
Names were circulated for a new candidate, notably
Syed Bokhari and Joe LoVetri.
Antar will contact them, and Antar will advise the CNC Secretary
of his choice (name of best willing candidate).
20. New appointments for CNC
===============================================================
Comm A: Dr. Mishra's term ends on 2005 Oct. 31; names were circulated;
the willing candidate is:
-A.P. Freundorfer, ECE Dept,WalterLightHall, Queen's Univ,Kingston, K7L 3N6
Comm B: Dr. Laurin's term ends on 2005 Oct. 31; names were circulated;
the willing candidate is:
-Aldo Petosa, CRC, 3701 Carling Ave., Ottawa POBox 11490, Stn H, K2H 8S2
Comm G+H: Dr. James's term ends on 2005 Oct. 31; names were circulated;
the willing candidate is:
-Alex Koustov,Phys&EngPhys,UnivSaskat, 116 Sci Place,rm258,Saskatoon S7N 5E2
Comm J: Dr. Routledge's term ends on 2005 Oct. 31; names were circulated;
the willing candidate is:
-Andrew Gray, NRC HIA DRAO, PO Box 248, Penticton V2A 6J9
Chair: Dr. Antar's term ends on 2005 Oct. 31. None expressed an interest
in the Chair's job. Dr. Routledge & Dr. Prato moved to extend Dr.Antar's
term until 2007 Oct. 31. Unanimous.
21. Other businesses (Antar)
==================================
Dr. Antar will approach our Comm. C representative (Dr. Krzymien) about
working for the Ottawa 2007 URSI-JNARS conference. Charles Despins was
suggested for extra help.
CNC electronic newsletter: in the last year, Dr. Mishra has not received
any article for inclusion. Dr. Vallee sent him the 10 commission lists
with addresses.
22. Tentative Date and Place for the next URSI CNC meeting (Vallee)
=======================================================================
There was a suggested or pencilled-in date for Victoria in the second
half of April.
Y.Antar thanked all members present for their work on the CNC.
Antar thanked Vallee for his hard work and reminders of impending deadlines.
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 at NRC-HIA in Victoria.
The CNC meeting ended at 15h30m.
PS: Minutes written by J.P. Vallee.