Minutes of Friday, 13 June 2003
Present (at SLAC): Phil Burrows, Ray Cowan Sridhara Dasu, Eduardo do Couto e
Silva, Gabriella Sciolla, Amanda Weinstein, Fran Spiller
Present (by phone): Homer Neal, Eli Rosenberg
1. Schedule for the Annual Meeting:
There is a new schedule conflict between Steve Wozniak's BBC interview visit,
and SLUO Annual Meeting/BaBar week. Neil Calder would very much like us to
accommodate the BBC, and has already negotiated with BaBar management to provide
the time he needs in the afternoon by having BaBar move some of their afternoon
meetings to 11:00 a.m. That puts a tight squeeze on our schedule. We discussed
the Annual Meeting schedule, rearranged it to end at 11:30 a.m., and follow up
with the Institutional Representatives Meeting in the Orange room. Neal agreed
to get BaBar to start at 11:30 a.m.
Homer suggested that the SLUO Exec. report should be on the agenda. Sridhara
suggested we do it at the Institutional Rep. Meeting after the main meeting in
the auditorium.
2. Interaction with SSRL Users
Eli noted the SLAC Scientific Policy Committee had suggested that SLUO explore
closer ties with the SSRL Users Group. The SSRL Users invited us to send a
representative to the meeting of their Executive
Committee on May 9th. Ray Cowan from SLUO Exec. attended. He reported about
several items they discussed and was impressed by their organization of the
Washington visit.
Eli commented that SSRLUO, after their visit with congress, reported to Pat
Dehmer in the DOE/BES office (their equivalent of Robin Staffin). We should, in
the future, report to DOE/NSF as well. This year's trip was arranged on an
informal basis and people already booked return travel without planning for it.
The plan is for the Washington team to visit with DOE Oof S and NSF people and
build this into the schedule. SLUO Exec. agreed that this is a good idea. We
should plan with FNAL UEC to make this visit productive.
3. Interaction with Fermilab UEC
There was a discussion that SLUO Exec. and FNAL UEC arrange physics talks by
University/Lab physicists at Germantown. To continue to implement this we need
to talk to Robin and Marv during their visit. One suggestion is that there be a
seminar organizer contact at the Germantown office and SLUO Exec. and FNAL UEC
can suggest speakers. The Germantown contact can mutually negotiate with each
speaker for the visit.
It was suggested that we invite Robin Staffin and Marv Goldberg to the
Institutional Rep. meeting and chat for a while before lunch. We can continue
with the annual election organization, etc., after lunch. This session will
overlap the BaBar meeting. It will nevertheless be quite fruitful.
4. Visa Issues
Eli raised the issue of increased foreign visitor visa difficulties. There is
plenty of evidence that obtaining a visa has become difficult. There is also
indication that things are about to get worse. Can SLUO Exec. do much about
this? It was agreed that there is not much we can do directly. We can, however,
bring up the awareness of this issue. Eli suggested that we raise the question,
"What is your university doing about this visa issue?" at the Institutional Rep.
meeting. Sridhara suggested that Eli, as the chair of SLUO Exec., could write to
the APS president outlining the problems faced by our constituents and
requesting APS to petition appropriate authorities about solving this problem.
5. Health Care Survey
Eduardo circulated a proposed health insurance survey questionnaire. Sridhara
will help convert it into a web form that will automatically send email to the
SLUO secretary when filled. After debugging, this will be sent to the SLUO list.
Submitted by Sridhara Dasu
posted July 15, 2003 by mcdunn