Minutes of the 64th Meeting of the Board of Directors,

Meeting of the Fellows, and Open Meeting of the Members

The 14th US National Congress of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics was held at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia. In conjunction with this conference, the 64th Meeting of the Board of Directors, the Fellows Meeting, and the Members Meeting were held in Room 231 Norris Hall, on the campus of Virginia Tech on Thursday, June 27, 2002.

1. A quorum was not present, so no voting action by the Board was taken. President Beatty called the meeting to order at 11:30 EDT. The following were in attendance: M. Beatty (res0guxi@verizon.net), C. Bert (cbert@ou.edu), J. Dally (jimdally@aol.com), E. Dowell (dowell@mail.ee.duke.edu), H. Espinosa (espinosa@nwu.edu), D. Frederick (dfundfff@vt.edu), R. Haythornthwaite (rmh@y.astro.edu), R. Heller (rheller@vt.edu), Q. Jiang (gjiang@engr.ucr.edu), M. Johnson (millard@engr.wisc.edu), W. Knauss (wgk@caltech.edu), M. Ostoja-Starzewski (martin.ostoja@mcgill.ca), S. Shrader (sallys@vt.edu), C. Taylor (cet@aero.ufl.edu), L. Virgin (lvirgin@duke.edu), L. Wheeler (lwheeler@uh.edu).

2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting. There was no report on previous Minutes of the Board Meeting in NY scheduled for 12 November 2001, due to its cancellation following the air tragedy. Meeting of the Fellows was held 12 November and 4 new Fellows were elected – information attached. An AAM Awards luncheon on 13 November was conducted by C. Bert. Professor A. Leissa received the Outstanding Service Award for 2001; and previous award recipients C. Taylor for the Outstanding Service Award (1998) and V. Gupta for the Junior Achievement Award (1998), were recognized. Thanks went to C. Bert for a job well done under these unusual circumstances.

3. AAM Activities Report. Beatty distributed a summary report on AAM activities for the period 1 June 2001 to 31 May 2002, and several additional documents on previous revisions to the Bylaws and on Rules of Policy and Procedure, for discussion. See attachments.

4. Awards Committee. Beatty, reporting for Committee Chair S. Ostrach, noted that Junior Achievement Award nominations have been received. Members need to stimulate interest in these Awards. New members of the Awards Committee were announced – J.T. Oden, W. Knauss, and R. Batra. Knauss suggested a conference call to finalize the selection of awards by the Committee. Hardcopy paperwork would still need to go to all members. S. Shrader (acting on behalf of D. Mook, AAM Secretary) reported that only 6-8 medals currently are on hand. The Board will need to discuss in the future having new medals made, which may require a new mold.

5. Adjudication Committee. R. Haythornthwaite reported that no nominations have yet been received for the Founders Prize and Grant, deadline July 1, 2002.

6. Director Reports. L. Virgin, Director for Region IA, Eastern U.S., had no news to report.

7. PACAM VII. Thanks went to the Chair, Professor P. Kittl, and Co-Chairs, G. Diaz and D. Mook, of the Organizing Committee for the PACAM VII Conference, held at Temuco, Chile, January 2-4, 2001. The proceedings were published in Applied Mechanics in the Americas Volume 9, edited by P. Kittl, G. Diaz, D. Mook and J. Geer, to whom thanks was extended.

8. PACAM VIII. Co-Chairs are Professors R. Rodriguez-Ramos and M. Ostoja-Starzewski. The latter reported on the proposal for PACAM VIII to be held at Havana, Cuba in January 2004 (see attachment). In view of current U.S. policy on trade restrictions, some concern was expressed over the distribution of the proceedings and its publication. Treasurer Heller asked where the residual money from PACAM VIII would go. Publisher R. Haythornthwaite indicated that PACAM VIII in Cuba might create some publishing problems and cautioned AAM’s involvement with the proceedings publication. The proposal was discussed but no specific decisions were made. Ostoja -Starzewski will develop further information and report at the November meeting on these several issues.

9. Discussion of Bylaws. Beatty remarked that the Bylaws need to be updated and amended to make sure everything is clear, to revise some typographical slips, and to include previously approved revisions. It was noted, for example, that Rules of Policy and Procedure mentioned in the Bylaws do not exist. Beatty prepared some established Rules of Policy and Procedure related to Regional Directors and AAM Awards (see attached). These additions and some previously approved revisions to the Bylaws will be included in a new edition of the Bylaws. Beatty will work on this and append the currently established Rules of Policy and Procedure. Espinosa will add the Rules of Policy and Procedure to the web site documentation.

10. Treasurer’s Report. R. Heller reported on the current financial status of AAM (see attached). There was discussion on how the Founders Prize and Grant is reported. R. Haythornthwaite remarked that it is reported separately through a non-profit foundation handled directly by Haythornthwaite and does not need to be reported by AAM. In reference to Mechanics subscriptions, a suggestion was made to accept Credit Card charges only from outside US. S. Shrader, reporting for Secretary Mook, remarked that there are 616 paid members. Of these, 54 are Corresponding Members (outside the Americas), 4 are Student Members. New membership applications for 2001: 12 total – 9 Professional, 1 Student, and 2 Corresponding Members. New membership applications for 2002: 3 total – all professional. There are 117 Fellows, 12 of whom are not active paid members. A list of unpaid Fellow members was given to C. Bert. These Fellows will be notified of their delinquent dues payments and informed that their membership in AAM will be terminated, if these back dues are not paid in full.

11. Editor’s Report. H. Espinosa reported on the financial status of AAM editorial operations (see attached). Discussion on how to make AAM more attractive through improvements in Mechanics and the web site– suggestion by Espinosa to have articles in either English or Spanish as acceptable languages. Discussion to add more information to web site – courses, idea exchanges, etc. Espinosa proposes to put Contents only on the web site in 2003. Haythornthwaite emphasized the need to continue Mechanics in hardcopy. The Editor’s budget request (see attached) was $26,000/year, which includes part-time secretarial support, publications costs, and web update.

12. Remarks on the new Mechanics. Thanks went to H. Espinosa for an outstanding job on development of the new Mechanics and AAM web site. The Mechanics Contents are now more useful than any previous time. M. Beatty described the convenience and utility of the various links to Mechanics Contents on the web site. There was some discussion about putting the Contents on the web site only instead of hardcopy publication. Espinosa suggested an electronic journal (within the current Mechanics) with very short innovative papers. Beatty stated that AAM’s goal is not to compete with other journals. Espinosa suggested trying specialty articles that would go through a review process – these would replace the space vacated by removal of the Contents. The articles would be called Mechanics Letters and would be 2 pages submitted in pdf format. New Associate Editor appointments were discussed. Addition of Associate Editor with the web site as the principal role was discussed – Alberto Cuitino was appointed.

13. Motion on the Budget. Bert moved to approve Espinosa’s budget – no quorum being present, the vote was postponed. Bert will seek email approval by the Board.

14. Old Business. Discussion on changing the term of President. The term of office of President Elect now runs parallel with President so it is not necessary to extend the President’s term to 2 years. Bert is next President (2002-2003) and Wheeler the President Elect (2002-2003).

15. New Business. Discussion of June 2003 Calgary Conference – ad will be placed in Mechanics free. Heller brought up the polic y of free ads. It was agreed that job announcement ads should be charged $200 effective September 1, 2002. Espinosa will collect the payments for job announcement ads and forward them to Heller. Call for papers, conference announcements, etc. will contin ue free of charge.

16. Fellows Meeting. Professor Bert acting as the current President-Elect (simultaneously Secretary to the Fellows) conducted the Fellows Meeting. Twelve Fellows were present. C. Bert reported that several nominations for Fellow have been received for consideration in the Fall election period 2002, and Fellows were encouraged to nominate outstanding colleagues. Membership requirements for Fellow nomination were discussed. It was moved and seconded that, effective in the 2002-2003 nomination and election period concluded in the Fall 2003, a nominee for Fellow must be a (Western Hemisphere, permanent resident) Member or Corresponding Member in good standing for a period of at least five years prior to nomination. The motion passed unanimously by the Fellows present.

17. Members Meeting. Dr. Ken Chong of NSF handed out a notice of an ASME web-cast. This will be put in Mechanics as a conference ad. Professor Jasiuk suggested interaction and joint participation with AAM and SES. Beatty suggested that he would like to see this joint participation and suggested they might get together with PACAM 2004. Interaction would provide good free advertisement for AAM – requested Jasiuk provide information for the next SES symposium. Jasiuk will go back to SES and subsequently report to AAM. Espinosa stated that the Board needs to be involved – get the Latin Americas involved in SES. Dr. Chong said he would be willing to help with research agendas associated with NSF.

18. Announcement and Introduction. Lewis Wheeler was announced as the new President Elect for 2002-2003.

19. Closing Remarks. Beatty extended thanks and appreciation to all Board Members and others for their support and assistance throughout the year. C. Bert was introduced as new President (2002-2003). Bert requested ideas for AAM Secretary, Secretary to the Fellow, and Regional Director Nominations. Bert thanked Beatty for a job well done.

20. Meeting Adjourned 3:30P EDT.