International XAFS Society Executive Committee Meeting
September 23, 1993
Grenoble

Attending: Bruce Bunker, Alain Fontaine (Vice Chair),Krishna Garg, Diek Koningsberger, Settimio Mobilio, Tim Morrison, Takatoshi Murata, James Penner-Hahn, and Dale Sayers (Chair).

Observer: Jose Goulon.

The meeting was convened at 1350. The chair presented a brief summary of the origin of the International XAFS Society (IXS) and its current status. The IXS exists in order to benefit the international XAFS community, particularly by disseminating releva nt information. The IXS Executive Committee is a formal outgrowth of the ad hoc "Standards and Criteria in X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy" committee. At this point, the IXS has approximately 180 members. Looking a t the current rate of growth and the regions from which membership applications have not yet been received, this number is predicted to grow to 300-500 by the time of the Berlin XAFS conference. Local representatives have agreed to serve as IXS contact p ersons at most of the world synchrotron radiation facilities, although some additional contacts are required (e.g., in Trieste and Taiwan). The IXS Executive Committee has begun the process of establishing formal IXS committees and has begun soliciting n ominations for offices. Preliminary budget plans have been made, although no funding source is presently available.

A review of the IXS Charter and Bylaws was begun. Sayers made two recommendations for changes to articles V and VI of the bylaws (see below).

Garg asked for clarification of who votes for whom in Executive Committee elections. Is it intended that only the members from a geographic region will vote for candidates from that region or that all members will vote for all candidates so that regio nal guidelines will be used only to ensure that there is a representative selection of candidates.? In the former case, there was concern that large countries might dominate their geographic region. Sayers, Fontaine, and others replied that the intent was the former, i.e. that all IXS members should vote for all candidates.

Penner-Hahn inquired if it was appropriate that dues be specifically excluded by the bylaws. Koningsberger (and others) explained that this was the explicit intent of the bylaws. The IXS should be open to all, regardless of financial resources. Until the IXS has demonstrated that it is of value to the community, one cannot expect members to pay. Morrison observed that collecting dues in different currencies is extremely difficult and, moreover, that it is extremely difficult to set dues equitably for members that live in countries having very different financial resources.

Fontaine and Penner-Hahn expressed the opinion that dues will be required in order to permit the IXS to run effec tively. It was the majority opinion that dues are inappropriate at this time. Moreover, it was generally agreed that any move to institute dues should require a bylaw change so that all members have an opportunity to express their support (or otherwise) for dues.

The discussion then moved to the nomination process. This year the nominating committee consisted of the Vice Chair + 5 Executive Committee members (Mobilio, Penner-Hahn, Murata, Crozier, Greaves). The preliminary slate was presented by Fontaine:
(E=Europe, A=North America, J=Japan, O=other, L=at large).
Chair:E. Stern
V. Chair:N. Greaves, A. Fontaine
Secr.:T. Ohta, Udegawa
E1:S. Mobilio, Schutz
E2:S. Gurman, Natoli
A1:J. Penner-Hahn, A. Hitchcock
A2:J. Wong, S. Heald
O1:Lu, K. Garg
J1:T. Murata
L1:H. Oyanagi, D. Koningsberger
L2:K. Baberschke, J. Evans
L3:K. Hodgson, D. Crozier

This slate does not meet the criteria in the bylaws in that there is only a single nominee for Chair. The nominating committee had approached several other possible candidates, however none was willing to serve at this time. It was moved (Morrison) and seconded (Penner-Hahn) that for this election, the nominating committee be allowed to submit only a single name for chair. The chair that is elected this ti me will serve only 2 years. The motion carried unanimously.

The bylaws require that all IXS members be given ample opportunity to nominate other candidates for these positions. To this end, Sayers proposed mailing the tentative slate in January, 1994. T his will be sent to all IXS members and also to the mailing list for the XAFS-8(Berlin) conference. In addition to the slate and a cover letter, this mailing will include a copy of the charter and a membership application. This will give any members tha t wish to nominate other candidates ample time to gather the necessary 10 signatures and should also increase the membership rolls.

Extended discussion ensued concerning the best way to handle nominations. The nominating committee has attempted to balance the slate across geographic areas and across scientific interest (theory vs.experiment; biological vs. materials, etc.). It was asked whether members to be allowed to make nominations for any position? This would run the risk that a nefarious cabal mig ht stack the ballot in favor of their country and/or specialty. To avoid this risk, members will be told the basics of the nominating process: Positions 1-2 from Europe, positions 3-4 from North America, etc. and be instructed that any outside nominatio ns must conform to this pattern; and be made for a specific position.

The present plan is that ballots will be mailed in June, 1994 with instructions that ballots must be returned by August 15. Ballots can be returned to: Ohta (Japan), Fontaine (Europe), Sayers (North America) or Garg (others). Ballots that are not sent prior to the XAFS-8 meeting will be accepted at the meeting through the first day (this will also give non-IXS conferees an opportunity to join the IXS and cast their ballot on the first day of the meeting). Ballots will be counted and validated by the Executive Committee at the XAFS-8 meeting. Sayers indicated that he will send to the Executive Committee a summary of the procedures to be followed for distributing and collecting ballots .

A discussion of the reasons for having only a single nominee for position J1 ensued. The original intent (at the Kobe meeting) had been that the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Society would put forward candidates for this position, as described in paragrap h 3, section VI of the bylaws. After extended discussion of possible ways to modify this paragraph, it was moved (Morrison) and seconded (Penner-Hahn) that this paragraph be dropped. This motion carried unanimously. Murata suggested that Nomura be adde d as a candidate from region J1. This suggestion was approved by unanimous consent.

Returning to the earlier suggestions (Sayers) for changes to articles V and VI, it was moved (Bunker) and seconded (Morrison) that the Executive Committee:

Drop the phrase "(including both officers and members)" from bylaw V.

Change the deadline for nominations (paragraph 5, bylaw VI) from "for the second mailing of the International Conference" to "for the mailing of the election ballot". This change decouples the election process from the International Conference and was proposed on the basis of difficulties experienced with the timing of mailings for the Berlin conference.

The motion carried unanimously.

Following a break, the committee re-convened at 1635. The Chair presented summaries of the activities of the IXS subcommittees and asked for approval of these committees by the Executive Committee. The committees and their responsibilities are:

XAFS Conference. This committee runs the biennial conference on XAFS. Continuity (from conference to conference) is provided by the International Program Committee. The IXS currently expects to receive 5000 DM from the conference to contribute to the c osts of running the IXS Executive Committee by voluntary consent from the Berlin Conference. In the future a contribution to the IXS will be made as part of the formal budget of the conference.

Education and Dissemination. Morrison presented a summary of the activities and plans of this committee. This committee constitutes the principal reason for the existence of the IXS, in that it can serve to disseminate XAFS into a broader community. Th e committee has begun preparation of curricular materials and a survey of educational activities already in progr