January RAC Report

1. DATE / SECTION: January 21, 2000 San Francisco Section
   
   SUBMITTED BY: Stephen M. Jaeger
   
   
   Current Membership Number: 1451
   
   Has this number increased or decreased since last report? Why?
   Increased. Influx of workers to Silicon Valley and the extraordinary efforts of our membership director.
   
   How many council meetings were held since last RAC: 6
   
   Date: 10/5/99 9 out of 15 members attended.
   
   Date: 11/2/99 10 out of 16 members attended.
   
   Date: 11/13/99 6 out of 16 members attended.
   
   (Special meeting to discuss website development.)
   
   Date: 11/22/99 8 out of 16 members attended.
   
   (Special meeting to discuss Sister Section Program.)
   
   Date: 12/7/99 10 out of 16 members attended.
   
   Date: 1/4/00 12 out of 17 members attended.
   
   
   
   Please list the vacant council member positions:
   None. Two more members have joined the council: Rick Kwan and Fanny Zuniga. Other section members have attended the council meetings on occasion.
   
   
   How many programs has the section sponsored since the last RAC meeting?__10_____
   
   October 21st, 1999: Dinner Meeting, Dr. Dallas Denery, NASA Ames Research Center, "CTAS", 32 people attending.
   
   November 5th, 1999: Pioneers Forum at Stanford University: Speaker: Noah Samara of WorldSpace Corporation. Over 400 attending.
   
   November 8th, 1999: AIAA Technical Seminar: Dr. P. K. Menon, "Genetic Search Methods for Nonlinear Control and Signal Processing," over 50 people attending.
   
   November 13th, 1999: NASA/AIAA-sponsored model airplane contest held at Moffett Field.
   
   November 18th, 1999: Dinner Meeting, State Senator Liz Figueroa, "Education and Training for Space and Technology Jobs", 26 people attending.
   
   December 3rd, 1999: Young Professionals' Fermented Fluids Forum, "Astronaut Hopefuls, " 18 people attending.
   
   December 4th, 1999: "Mars Day" at the San Jose Tech Museum of Innovation.
   
   December 16th, 1999: Dinner Meeting, Dr. Douglas O'Handley, NASA Ames (retired), "Astrobiology: Rationale and Future Space Missions", 22 people attending.
   
   January 7th, 2000 Young Professionals' Fermented Fluids Forum, "Dynamics of Billiards," 16 people attending.
   
   January 20th, 2000: Dinner Meeting, Mel Bulman, Aerojet, "Strutjet RBCC Engine Testing", 36 people attending.
   
   
   
   Finances: Checking:___$2,408.71____ Savings:_$ 4,223.15_ CD: $11,522.64
   Major Expenses Incurred:
   … $300 to support the Pioneer's Forum.
   … $300 to support NASA/AIAA Model Airplane Contests.
   … $2627.78 for newsletter printing and postage (Sep./Oct., Nov./Dec.)
   
   Membership Recruitment Initiatives:
   
   … We display recruitment information at all AIAA functions.
   … We continue to send out monthly postcards to new members and wayward members.
   … Keeping up Student and Young Professional activities to encourage membership renewals.
   
   
   Career Enhancement Activities:
   
   … No significant activities this period.
   
   
   Young Professional Activity:
   
   … The YP committee, under the direction of Matt Jardin, has held two successful Fermented Fluid Forums. Themes: Astronaut Hopefuls (December, 18 attendees), the Dynamics of Billiards (January, 16 attendees.)
   
   
   Honors and Awards:
   … Nomination forms for the Annual Galileo Scholarship Awards and the Engineer of the Year Award were mailed out with the January Newsletter.
   … The SF section has 5 new Fellows and 27 new Associate Fellows (including two nominated by the current Chair), more than any other AIAA section.
   … The Chair has nominated the H & A committee director, Srini Srinivasan, for a Special Citation for his long-time support of the Section Honors and AwardsŠa BIG job, incidentally.
   
   
   Pre-college Outreach Activities:
   … Sponsored the first of three Model Airplane Contests for the season on November 13th at Moffett Field.
   … Sponsored hand's-on activities for "Mars Day" in December at the Tech Museum of Innovation in optimistic anticipation of the touchdown of the ill-fated Mar's Polar Lander.
   … Began planning for Discover E. An orientation meeting was held at Lockheed Martin on Jan 19th. More orientations are planned.
   
   
   
   
   Technical Activities:
   
   … The TA committee, under the able guidance of Gano Chatterji, held a very successful and well attended technical seminar (over 50 people) at Moffett Field. Topic: Genetic Programming.
   … The chair met with James Baloun of the Design Engineering Technical Committee. The TCs have been encouraged to secure a close relationship with local AIAA sections. The section has offered its assistance with technical seminars and locally hosted conferences. TCs, in turn, can be a source for meeting speakers and local volunteers. There are 96 TC members in the San Francisco and Sacramento sections.
   
   
   
   Education Activities:
   
   … The San Francisco Section, along with the Stanford AIAA, co-sponsored the First Annual Pioneer's Forum at Stanford University. The Forum was initiated by the Stanford Ethiopian Student's Union. Other sponsors included the ASME, the Stanford African Studies Department and the National Society of Black Engineers. The speaker was Noah Samara, Ethiopian-born founder and CEO of WorldSpace Corporation.
   … The San Francisco section council hosted four student representatives from EUROAVIA and AIDAA of Milan, Italy to strengthen our new Sister Section Program (born in 1998.) Since this is intended to be a student-run exchange, the Chair and Vice Chair of the Stanford University AIAA were present at the meetings and will take on some of the responsibility for the program. Student representatives from San Jose State, UC- Davis and UC-Berkeley have also expresses interest in the program. The current SF Vice-Chair and Young Professionals Director, Matt Jardin, has taken on much of the SF section role.
   … Fifteen students representing UC Davis, UC Berkeley, Stanford University and San Jose State attended a very successful dinner meeting held at an East Bay venue in Oakland. Some students traveled for an hour and a half to be there. All expressed a sincere willingness to get their respective University sections involved with AIAA activities. Some made impassioned pleas for speakers.
   
   
   Public Policy Activities:
   
   … An application has been sent for funds to send our chosen representative, Morgan Bracken to the annual CVD in Washington DC. The Chair also announced the CVD at a recent meeting to encourage other members to make the trip to DC on behalf of the section.
   
   
   
   
   
   Other/Concerns:
   
   … The section held our usual January dinner meeting at an unusual site in Oakland. The intent was to accommodate section members who live in the East Bay Cities (Berkeley, Fremont, Livermore, Oakland etc.) who normally find it difficult to drive the long rush-hour distances of up to 60 miles. The meeting was also intended to serve members of the inactive Sacramento section. However, many attendees were South Bay members who made the grueling 1-1/2 hour commute and those living in San Francisco who found it to be an easy trip over the Bay. The meeting was so successful that the section intends to make it an annual or semi-annual event.
   … In support of the Evolution of Flight Campaign, the section has interviewed two "Senior" Fellows, so far: Raymond Kelly, 98, a retired test engineer for United Airlines, and Russell Robinson, 92, former aeronautics chief at NASA Ames and member for 67 years. More such audio interviews are planned. The National AIAA is in contact with the Section to coordinate video interviews with these and other members.
   … The section is also working on an Evolution of Flight web page.
   … We continue to emphasize our web site as a focus for information on dinner meetings and other functions. 
   
   

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