2023 AAAS Engineering Section Business Meeting
Tuesday April 4, 2023, 4:00pm - 5:30pm
(virtual)
MINUTES
Section Chair, Dr. Nicholas Abbott called the virtual zoom meeting to order
at 4:00 PM. He welcomed everyone to this virtual business meeting of the AAAS
Engineering Section.
Dr. Abbott provided an update on issues related to our section’s
activities.
His ppt presentation can be viewed here.
Following the first item on the agenda, he mentioned that due to the
recent AAAS governance modernization process the structure of our Steering
Group has changed. Our Steering Group under this new structure consists of 9
instead of 8 positions. He introduced
the positions and the individuals who are currently serving in these positions
for 2023:
1.
Section Chair (Nicholas Abbott)
2.
Section Secretary (Marwan Simaan)
3.
Nominations/Leadership Development
Chair (Pramod Khargonekar)
4.
Membership Engagement Chair (Anne Skaja Robinson)
5.
Early Career Representative (Carlos Rinaldi-Ramos)
6.
Non-Academic Representative (Sankar Basu)
7.
Council Member (Jaqueline Chen)
8. Member
At-Large (Norma Alcantar)
9.
Member At-Large (Jennifer Sinclair Curtis)
Dr. Abbott explained the responsibilities of each of these positions and
mentioned that 2023 is a transition year in which all members of the group have
been appointed for this year only.
Towards the end of 2023 and every year thereafter elections will be held
to fill several of these positions on a rotating basis.
Dr. Abbott 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, has been
posted on our section’s Website (http://www.ece.ucf.edu/aaas-m), and is included on Dr. Abbott’s presentation. Dr. Abbott welcomed the newly elected fellows
who were in attendance and thanked them for attending the meeting. He asked
those in attendance to introduce themselves and say a few words about their
research.
Dr. Abbott mentioned that in the
final phases of the governance modernization process, AAAS sought to capitalize
on its unique multidisciplinary strength to build on its strategic goals and
find a new opportunity for impactful dialogue and solution. The
Multidisciplinary Working Groups (MWGs) were created, under the purview of the
AAAS Council, to address high-priority issues in science, technology,
engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM). The MWGs draw upon the
strengths of AAAA at the intersection of science, policy, and publishing;
the multidisciplinary composition of our members; our longstanding connection
with other scientific and professional societies; and our deeply engaged
volunteers with extensive expertise. He mentioned that Proposals for new
MWGs will be accepted on a rolling basis. The AAAS Council will periodically
review topics for which to convene MWGs. The first MWG is the
Empowering Career Pathways in STEMM Multidisciplinary Working Group. For
additional information see https://www.aaas.org/governance
Dr. Abbott announced
that the 2024 AAAS Annual Meeting (https://meetings.aaas.org/)will be held in Denver, February 15-17, 2024: The
meeting theme is “Toward Science
without Walls”. He mentioned that the call for proposals includes Scientific Sessions, Lightning Talks, and Workshops.
Scientific
Sessions - Deadline: Thursday,
May 4, 2023 11:59 p.m. PT
Science and
technology experts assemble in small multi-disciplinary panels to discuss
research that advances knowledge and/or responds to the needs of society.
During these 60-minute sessions, a panel of three speakers give 10-minute
presentations followed by audience questions and comments.
Lightning
Talks - Deadline: Thursday,
May 4, 2023 11:59 p.m. PT
Lightning
talks offer early career researchers the opportunity to have the stage to
themselves for ten minutes (one speaker only per submission).
Workshops - Deadline: Thursday,
May 4, 2023 11:59 p.m. PT
Workshops
should be aimed at individuals seeking careers in science and engineering and
professionals looking to sharpen or supplement their skills. These workshops
are instructional and interactive in nature and are markedly different from a
scientific session. Workshops may have up to 3 presenters and will be 60
minutes in length.
Dr. Abbott 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/2024/cfp.cgi for instructions about the submission
procedure and proposal requirements. Dr. Abbott stressed the fact that to be
successful a proposal must be newsworthy and must follow the format in the
guidelines. He then asked for ideas and suggestions. A brief discussion
followed with everyone present contributing ideas for possible proposals.
Dr. Simaan, Section Secretary, briefly reviewed the AAAS Fellow
nomination process for 2023. 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 (That is, since
December 31, 2019, or earlier). He added that there are three ways a AAAS member can be nominated for Fellow: by a member of
the Steering Group, by a group of three AAAS Fellows, or 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 primary number of
members of the section. The quota for
this year is 19. Information on the nomination process by a group of three
Fellows 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 25, 2023. He
added that while there is no quota on the number of nominations by this method,
there is quota for those advanced to Council through this method that is equal
to the Steering Group quota (19 for this year).
Following
Dr. Simaan’s presentation, several attendees
expressed concern that the quota on the 3-Fellow nominees that are advanced to
council is very small (20 out of 93 in the 2022 election) and as a result many
highly qualified nominees by this method have been rejected. Dr. Simaan mentioned that he will bring
this concern to AAAS with the hope that this quota can be increased in the
future.
Dr. Abbott asked the attendees if there was any new business. In the absence of new business, the meeting
was adjourned at 5:30pm.
Submitted by:
Marwan A. Simaan
Secretary,
Engineering Section (M)
April 10, 2023