2022 AAAS Engineering Section Business Meeting

Thursday February 10, 2022, 5:30pm-7:00pm (virtual)

DRAFT MINUTES

Section Chair, Jennifer Curtis called the meeting to order at 5:30 PM. She welcomed everyone to this virtual business meeting of the Engineering Section. She introduced members of the Steering Group who are present and asked past Steering Group members to introduce themselves. She then asked anyone who was present who also wishes to introduce themselves to do so. Several new members introduced themselves and expressed interest in getting involved with our section’s activities.

Dr. Curtis provided an update on issues related to the section activities. In particular, she showed a ppt presentation in which she discussed the latest AAAS activities, including governance modernization, DEI initiatives, global activities, government relations work as well as a summary of symposia sponsored by our section in the 2022 Annual Meeting. (Dr. Curtis’ presentation can be viewed here)

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In her presentation, Dr. Curtis mentioned that because of the governance modernization process, beginning with 2023 the new cycle of election for Steering Group members will be from January 1 to December 31 instead of the period between two consecutive annual meetings. She mentioned that during the period from February 21 to December 31, 2022, our Steering Group will consist of only six members. She will serve as Retiring Chair, Anne Robinson and Pramod Khargonekar will continue serving as Members-at-Large and Marwan Simaan will continue serving as Secretary. She also mentioned that the Steering Group approved unanimously the appointment of Nicholas Abbott as Chair and Sankar Basu as Member-at-Large for our section during that period.

Dr. Curtis announced that this year 40 members of our section were elected Fellows of AAAS. A list of names of the newly elected Fellows appeared on the AAAS website and has been posted on our section’s Website (http://www.ece.ucf.edu/aaas-m). Dr. Cutis welcomed the newly elected fellows. She included their names in her ppt presentation and asked those who were present at the meeting to introduce themselves and say a few words about their research accomplishments.

Marwan Simaan, section secretary, briefly reviewed the AAAS Fellow nomination process. He mentioned that nominees for Fellow must have been AAAS members in good standing for the four consecutive years prior to the time of nomination. He added that there are three ways a AAAS member can be nominated for Fellow: (1) by a member of the Steering Group, (2) by a group of three Fellows, and (3) by the AAAS Chief Executive Officer. For Fellow nominations by members of the Steering Group, he mentioned that this method is subject to a quota which depends on the number of members in the section. The quota for the 2022 cycle is 20. Information on the nomination process by a group of three Fellows and a copy of the online nomination form can be found on the AAAS website (http://www.aaas.org/fellows) A link to that website can also be found on our section Website (http://www.ece.ucf.edu/aaas-m). Dr. Simaan mentioned that the deadline for Fellow nominations by a group of three Fellows is April 20, 2022, and that there is quota for those elected through nominations by this method equal to the Steering Group Quota.

Dr. Curtis mentioned that the theme for the 2023 meeting is Science for Humanity. She encouraged the attendees to consider submitting proposals and mentioned that those who are interested should check the proposal submission website: https://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2023/symp90/cfp.cgi for instructions about the submission procedure and proposal requirements. Dr. Curtis stressed the fact that to be successful the proposal must be newsworthy and must follow the format in the guidelines. She then asked for ideas and suggestions. A discussion followed with several attendees presenting ideas for possible proposals.

Dr. Curtis asked the attendees if there are any new business. In the absence of new business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:00pm.

Submitted by:

Marwan A. Simaan

Secretary, Engineering Section (M)

February 14, 2022