Minutes 12 September 2007

USLUEC meeting minutes from 12 September

Minutes of meeting of US LHC Users Organization Executive Committee of September 12, 2007

=========================================

Attendees: Mike Albrow, Michael Barnett, Bob Clare, Sridhara Dasu, Joey Huston, Peter Jacobs, Greg Landsberg, Peter Limon, Tony Liss, and Jimmy Proudfoot.

In absentia: Dan Green and Harvey Newman.

Meeting was scheduled for 1:30pm EDT on September 12, 2007. After unsuccessful attempts to connect via VRVS, it has been decided to switch to a conference phone call and the meeting has finally started at 1:45pm.

The following topics have been discussed:

LUO EC Funding:
——————-

Since LUO EC doesn’t have any official source of funding (unlike Fermilab and SLAC counterparts), it has been discussed how to raise funding through the funding agencies. It has been agreed that the main issue is funding for Washington DC trip, which can not be supported from federal grants. It has been decided to approach DPF to attempt raise such funds.

Users Meeting:
—————–

It has been agreed that an important task for the LUO EC is to organize and sponsor annual LHC Users Meeting, similar in scope to the Fermilab Users Meeting. This meeting will provide a forum for the US community involved in the LHC to discuss their results, communicate with the funding agencies, and promote young scientists. From Greg Landsberg’s experience in organizing the Fermilab Users Meeting, the cost for such an enterprise is $15K. It has been decided that the funding agencies (DOE, NSF) should be approached directly to raise funds for the annual meeting. It is expected that a hosting lab/university will provide some cost sharing.

Outreach:
———–

LHC has been getting a lot of mostly favorable press lately, so the outreach program of the LUO EC should build on this success and help exposing US scientists’ involvement in the LHC.

Governance:
————–

The main topic on the meeting agenda was an election of the LUO EC chair for the next year. According to the LUO governance rules, the chair and the secretary are to be elected by the EC members. In the absence of the chair and secretary, Greg Landsberg has agreed to be a temporary secretary for the first meeting. The following qualifications for the chair have been mentioned as important: previous experience with similar users organizations, direct access to funding agencies. After polling meeting attendees and, later, two members who were not able to attend the meeting in person, the following three candidates have agreed to stand for the election:

Michael Barnett

Greg Landsberg

Tony Liss

It has been agreed that the candidates will provide brief statements to the committee about their qualifications and vision of the LUO EC role. After this the committee will vote to elect the new chair. Votes will be collected by Jen Nahn in confidentiality and the results of the election announced to the committee. In case of a tie, a second round will take place among the two top candidates. It is expected that the new chair will be elected and announced to LUO during the week of September 16. It has been decided that the newly appointed chair proposes candidate(s) for the secretary position, and the committee elects one.

NOTE: As a result, Michael Barnett has been elected as the chair of LUO EC on September 19.

Other Matters:
—————-

There was a brief discussion on other matters, such as annual Washington trip, possible Quality of Life subcommittee, etc. It has been decided that more detailed discussion will take place after the election of the chair.

Next meeting:
—————

It has been decided that the next LUO meeting will take place in approximately two weeks, following the election of the chair. It has been later scheduled for Friday, September 28.

The meeting adjourned at 2:27pm.