AIAA SF Council Meeting Minutes Tuesday August 31, 2004

Council Members in Attendance:
 Chair: Prasada Rao Gogineni
Vice-chair: Rick Kwan
Secretary: Eric Mueller
Treasurer: Todd Farley
Webmaster: Corwin Lakin
Pre-College Outreach: Juanita Ryan
National Public Policy Committee: Norman Begrun
Bruno Geoffrion
Stephanie Gregg

Meeting Start: 6:00 pm Meeting End: 7:30 pm

Reviewed last meeting's minutes: Discussion on the newsletter (no change) SVEC membership (paid for) Banner design (ordered) Reviewed potential programs More volunteers required for council Programs calendar Treasurer's report: outstanding checks

Discussion on the newsletter options: Phone tree method of getting the word out about dinner meetings was partially successful. One person attended the meeting because they were called, but all the rest said they couldn't come (usually because the meetings are too far away). Conclusion was that people would probably come if they are interested, regardless of how they find out about the meeting (newsletter, phone call, or word of mouth).

The biggest problem with getting the newsletter out in a timely fashion is not the frequency of due dates, but the availability of content. There is frequently lots of empty space on the newsletters that does not get filled by council members until after the due date. We should try to submit things to Rick (or his successor as newsletter editor) at least a week before the due date.

Discussed the potential infrastructure issues regarding allowing people to opt for electronic-only newsletters. The biggest problem here is maintaining the database, as national AIAA has no precedent for doing this. We can easily access their list of emails and addresses, but would have to maintain a separate database of newsletter-delivery preferences. Because this is so problematic we will stick with the current delivery methods for the time being.

Banner Design: The original design (before the long email discussions) was submitted to the graphic production company. National AIAA said we would be charged extra because there is a third color on the banner, but we may be able to get CAT III funding for the printing. Some concern was expressed that we would need the bill quickly so that there would be time to request CAT III funding before the due date (approximately one month from the council meeting).

Mathcounts Guest: George Henderson Also attending the meeting was a representative of MathCounts, a program designed to stimulate interest in mathematics, science and engineering among 7th and 8th graders. The program was founded in 1983 and has been held annually in February ever since. Teachers at each school select 4 student representatives and 4 alternates to take a Saturday morning test. Based on the results of that test, the highest-scoring students participate in an interactive "Jeopardy" type contest in the afternoon. The MathCounts organization is responsible for furnishing lunches, awards, and costs of the venue, and the total cost per year for each local section is approximately $1300 to $1500. Roughly $500 to $800 goes to lunches, and another $400 to $500 to awards. They need financial support from other institutions to help keep the program alive (ie. the AIAA), and could also use help finding large venues suitable for a hundred or more students taking tests. The California Society of Professional Engineers (www.cspe.com) sponsors the MathCounts program, and is the Sacramento chapter of the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE). They have a page on their website devoted to the MathCounts program: http://www.cspe.com/FunctionalAreas/StudentYouth/sy01.htm

The question for the council is whether we would be willing to help fund the program for the next year, potentially with CATIII funds. They will need to know whether we can support them in the next few months (by October or November).

Chairman's Report: Received CD's from the Regional Leadership Conference in Ft. Lauderdale and distributed them to the council. Also distributed a pamphlet about "Influencing Volunteers to Get into the Water," which should be very useful for our overworked staff. Also announced the creation of upload sites on the AIAA website for section and activity reports, which were supposed to be ready by August 2. There is also a new distinguished lecturer program on the website.

We may be able to obtain CATIII money for .pdf software (obviously the proprietary software, not the reader).

Programs: We have programs set through the end of 2004, but after that nothing has been scheduled. A calendar on the section website is available so that we can check for planned dinner meetings months in advance. That way we can individually invite speakers without having to go through a long process of confirming plans with the council. Corky will begin putting that information on the website. We also decided to start putting the council meeting dates on the calendar with a link to the meeting minutes, in the hopes that we might attract more volunteers or at least provide more transparency in the governing of the section. Finally, we will need a distinguished lecturer for May 2005, and Rusty Schweikart's name was thrown out as a possibility.

Treasurer: The outstanding $1500 check from AGI was received. Still waiting to here from NASA Ames about their $6000 check. An invoice was sent to them with a due date of 9/2, so it remains to be seen whether they will pay us soon. Amount of money available for Galileo Scholarships was budgeted at around $1300, and parents have begun contacting council members to make sure we're holding the scholarship again. There was also a question as to whether there is a separate pot of money from which to pay the scholarships, or whether we take it out of our annual operating budget. Todd was to check on this, but it was agreed generally that there was supposed to be an independent savings account from which those funds are drawn. In addition, we need additional funds for the Galileo Scholarship, or donations from interested institutions.

Membership: Stephanie Gregg volunteered to take up this council position. Congratulations to our new membership chair!

Pre-college outreach: DiscoverE is starting up, and SVEC has the website where teachers sign up for the program. The names go to Juanita. The 7th and 8th grade essay contests will also be held next year. Received a summary of the NASA Explorer schools program, for which the official launch will be 9/30. Astronaut Marsha Ivans will be there. Council members are invited to attend that ceremony on the afternoon of 9/30, which will be at Juanita's school.

Education: Galileo Scholarship finalist Allison Cleymaet was the only finalist to respond to our offer of membership in the AIAA. Her application and our check for the student membership fee ($20) were mailed in. Education officer is looking into organizing beginning-of-the-year activities at the local engineering schools (particularly Stanford, Berkeley, and SJSU).

Young Professionals: No response was received from the Stratofox amateur rocket team about coming to an FFMF. Will continue trying to reach them while looking for other special guests.

Evolution of Flight: Need to talk with Gano about this. We would like to start the second round of interviews, since the first was considered quite successful with more than 30 interviewees. The full length documentary (first edition) still needs to be put together.

Webmaster: Corky is looking for other volunteers to help manage the website. A technical meeting needs to be set up between the people will upload material to the website to discuss such things as access rights and passwords. Corky will set this up.

Miscellaneous: The San Jose Tech Museum was discussed as a possible cheaper alternative to the Hiller Aviation Museum (for our annual Banquet). We could also host dinner meetings there. Stephanie Gregg has the names of people we would need to contact to set something up.

Next council meeting: October 5, 2004 Next dinner meeting: September 23, 2004.