Minutes of the IUPAP Council Meeting

IUPAP Executive Council Meeting

iThemba LABS

Cape Town, South Africa

Tuesday, October 25

Present: Y. Petroff (President), A. Astbury (President Designate), R. Barber (Interim Associate Secretary-General), S. Bagayev (Vice President -at-large), J. Sahm (Vice President -at-large), H. Fukuyama, P. Ormos, A. Sen, M. Skolnick, E. Zingu (Vice Presidents elected from the Commission Chairs).

Participating by telephone: J. Franz (Secretary-General)

IUPAP/APS staff: Jacquelyn Beamon-Kiene

Regrets: B. Richter (Past President), S. Rezende (Vice President-at-large)

1. Call to Order and Remarks from President

The president called the meeting to order and stated that the Council is the body which has the formal power to act for IUPAP between General Assemblies. In most cases this would entail giving formal approval to matters already discussed and agreed on at the meeting of Council and Commission Chairs.

2. Approval of Minutes of Council

The minutes of the last Council meeting in Mumbai, India, October 16, 2004 were approved as circulated.

3. Sponsorship of Conferences

It was agreed that decisions on sponsorship of conferences by IUPAP be approved. The detailed decisions are given in the attached lists (List A and List B) for conferences (Appendix 1) to be held in 2006 and 2007. In addition to these, one Type A conference for 2008 was given advanced approval, the International Conference on Low Temperature Physics (LT-25).

4. Approval of the slates of commissions to go to the General Assembly

The detailed slates for the commissions, agreed on at the meeting of Council and Commission Chairs, was approved for presentation to the General Assembly.

5. Nominations for Council Officers

The following nominations were approved for presentation to the General Assembly:

President designate Sukekatsu Ushioda Japan

Secretary-General Judy Franz USA

Associate Secretary-General Peter Melville UK

Vice President-at-large Carmen Cisneros-Gudiqo Mexico

Bruce McKellar Australia

Jia-er Chen China - Beijing

Vice Presidents - commissions Dan Dahlberg USA C9

Pavel Exner Czech Rep. C18

Prathiba Jolly India C14

Annick Suzor-Weiner France C13

Leslie Pendrill Sweden C2

6. Member Affairs

It was agreed that the resolution “that Tunisia should become a Member of IUPAP as soon as IUPAP has received the first year’s membership dues” be presented to the General Assembly.

7. Budget

The current financial status was summarized in the attachments to the agenda of the meeting of Council and Commission Chairs. The reserves have increased beyond the level that has been maintained traditionally. This occurred especially in 2004 and was the result of the unexpectedly favourable exchange rate for the euro, the relatively lower expenses in 2004 and the payment of back dues in several cases.

The audited report for 2004 was formally accepted. It was noted that the auditor had commented on the balance in the Bank of America account exceeding k$100, but this was a standard caution. Steps will be taken that the balance in any of the CD accounts does not exceed this limit. This particular account needs to be large as it is the one used to fund conference grants.

The proposed budget for 2006 was approved.

Inasmuch as the reserve should be reduced somewhat, it was agreed that it should be recommended to the General Assembly that the fees for 2006-8 remain at current level of 1850 euros per share.

8. New IUPAP Awards

8.1 Creation of “IUPAP Young Scientists Prize”

For these awards that are to be directed at scientists early in their careers, it seemed that a common framework was desirable, rather that having different guidelines and names for each commission.

It was decided that these prizes should be called the “IUPAP Young Scientist Prize”. Eligible candidates would have had up to 8 years of research following Ph.D. Time not spent in research would not be counted (e.g. for women who had taken maternity leave, etc.). The prizes would be awarded through the commissions. IUPAP will provide one medal plus $1000 to each commission annually. The frequency with which the prize is awarded would be left to the judgment of the commission (one to three years) and the total amount of money would be available. The same medal is to be used by all commissions. The selection committee will be established by the commission. Presentation of the prize is to take place at an international conference sponsored through the commission. A citation of 100 words will be provided by the commission.

Details regarding the way that candidates will be nominated, the appointment of a selection committee, etc., were left to the commissions. It was suggested that the medal should have the IUPAP logo, the name of the award and, possibly, the commission name. On the certificate, the name of the commission should appear. The certificate should be of a standard form.

It was agreed that these details of the awards would be reported when the resolution was presented to the General Assembly for approval.

8.2 Creation of a New Award for C18

C18 has proposed a new prize, “The IUPAP Medal - Mathematical Physics Achievement Award” to recognize a person who has enriched and impacted the field of mathematical physics within the last ten years, with preference to individuals from an environment without a strong mathematical physics tradition.

The Council approved this prize. If there is to be a cash award, it will have to be raised by the commission, as has been the case for other prizes awarded through commissions. There was no commitment by the Executive Council to provide money from central IUPAP funds.

9. Review of Working Groups

9.1 New Working Group on International Cooperation in Nuclear Physics

A new working group (WG9) was proposed by C12 and modeled on ICFA, with its mandate centred on

nuclear physics. Details of the proposal are given in the minutes of the Council and Commission Chairs.

The Council concurred with the discussion in the meeting of the Council and Commission Chairs and approved the proposal. A resolution to this effect will be presented to the General Assembly for their endorsement. The working group will relate to C12 and should report to the General Assembly.

9.2 Resolutions on Working Groups for the General Assembly

WG1 ICFA. It was agreed that this working group should be continued.

WG2 Communication in Physics. It was agreed that this working group should be continued.

WG3 Condensed Matter Physics. It was agreed that this working group should be terminated. It was considered preferable to leave the number blank. At some time in the future a new working group may be constituted in condensed matter physics.

WG4 PaNAGIC. It was agreed that this working group should be continued, but that the mandate must be restated.

WG5 Women in Physics. It was agreed that this working group should be continued with a possible change in members and Chair.

WG6 Energy. It was agreed that this working group has now completed its report and should be terminated.

WG7 Ultrahigh Intensity Lasers. No report was available. However, it was agreed that this working group should be continued.

WG8 Nanoscience. It was agreed that this working group should be continued.

WG9 Cooperation in Nuclear Physics. New Working Group - see item 9.1 above.

10. Nanoscience Conference

A small specialized conference, proposed by the WG8 on Nanoscience, was approved and given a conference grant of US$ 10,000. It is recognized that this conference is a small specialized one that is closely connected with WG8.

11. Approval of IU representatives.

The following list of Inter-Union representatives for 2005-2008 was approved.:

IU.1 International Council on Scientific Union (ICSU): Yves Petroff

IU.2 Committee on data for Science and Technology (CODATA): Peter Mohr

IU.3 Committee on Space Research (COSPAR): Peter Wenzel

IU.4 Consultative Committee on Units: Leslie Pendrill

IU.5 International Council for Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI): Roger Elliott

IU.8 Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE): Jon Samseth

IU.10 Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics (SCOSTEP): Sandra Chapman

IU.13 IUPAC Commission on Atomic Weights and Isotopic Abundance (CAWIA): Kumar Sharma

IU.14 IUPAC Inter Division Committee on Terminology and Symbols (IDCNS): Leslie Pendrill

IU.15 Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM): Andrew Wallard

IU.18 International Union of Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB) : Pal Ormos

In addition to these, Yves Petroff was named to be the IUPAP Delegate to the Executive of the International Commission for Optics (AC1). Also it is noted that C4 has an Associate Member who provides liaison with the International Astronomical Union.

12 Adjourn

The meeting adjourned.

Appendix 1: The files have already been distributed to the Council, the Commission Chairs and Secretaries.

List A: Conferences approved for 2006 Conferences approved 2006.A.doc

List B: Conferences NOT approved. Conferences NOT approved 2006.B.doc

List C: Conferences given Early approval for 2007. Conferences Pre-approved 2007.C.doc