PROTOCOL OF COMMITTEE MEETING #2 – 1 FEB 1999
responsibility for action items indicated in bold
The meeting was held at 1400 on 1 Feb. 1999, in the Engineering Classroom Building Penthouse at Tel Aviv University. Attending:
Reuven Boxman (presiding)
Rudy Avni
Vladimir Fisher (representing Yithzak Maron)
Yuri Ralchenko
Shemuel Goldsmith
Shemuel reported on the arrangements for the 2nd Israel Conference on Plasma Science and its Applications, to be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Israel Physics Society. So far 2 abstracts have been received for the plasma meeting, out of 4 for the entire event. Past experience is that generally all the abstracts arrive near the deadline. IPS is arranging all of the logistical support, which will include refreshments at our poster area. Final schedule will depend on what papers are received, etc. He expects that the entire morning will be taken up with plenary sessions, and that we can start our session only at noon, unless we want to overlap the plenary sessions. No conference fee is expected, but we may need to share some minor expenses with IPS. Further publicity was discussed. Rudi and Shemuel will prepare a further announcement to be sent by mail ASAP, including a non-exclusive list of plasma-related topics. Reuven will see if IVS can send out the mailing for us (Answer is Yes-RB). Shemuel will investigate possibilities of having sandwiches available at a lunchtime poster session, after the schedule becomes clear.
Yuri and Reuven reported on a meeting with Eli Jerby to discuss a publicity campaign to attract students to plasma. The consensus was that publicity without a specific event was a lost cause. Several ideas were discussed, including establishing an Israel-wide short course on the undergraduate level on plasma, possibly held in a kibbutz setting. Shemuel expressed reservations on whether we could get academic recognition, and if we could attract students. He further suggested that pressure from the potential customers, i.e. industry and government labs, would be very useful, maybe essential. It was agreed that Reuven would try to organize two meetings, probably during the morning of the plasma conference on 18 March of: (1) Potential ‘customers’, to try to asses the need for plasma trained scientists and engineers, and to see what effective means they could exert. Suggested representatives included Intel, Soreq, Rafael (Yossi Shiloh), MABAT, IAI, Victor Schreibman, Eitan Avni, and the Ministry of Science. (2) Representatives of the academic institutions, to give an opinion on the basic concept, and if their opinion is positive, to draft and curriculum and organize the short course. Suggested names include Amiran Ron or Rafi Kalish from the Technion, Arye Sigler or Yaakov Schwob from Hebrew University, Mikki Mond, Rueven Shuker, or Zalman Rosenwaks from Ben Gurion, Amnon Fruchtman from Holon, and Arye Eichenbaum from Ariel College. Other ideas included an Israel-wide Plasma Open House day, in which all interested labs would participate, and the event would be publicized. In addition to the above, Yuri plans to expand the IPSTA web page, to include educational material, probably by ‘mirroring’ material available at other plasma sites.
The work plan for the coming year was discussed, and contains three major items: (1) the annual conference, which presumably will return to being a separate event next year, (2) a plasma short course on the undergraduate level, as detailed above, and (3) a lobbying effort. Rudi agreed to organize the lobbying effort, for which he will recruit Shlomo.
There was a general consensus to affiliate with the IVS, per the detailed takanon which they circulated. Based on this and item 4, our dues should cover IVS membership (NIS 80 for the coming year) plus what we need for our separate activities. It was agreed that Reuven and Enrique would consult and propose a specific figure, but something in the vicinity of NIS 120 seemed reasonable. We will try to collect membership fees and register members at the conference in March.
