Minutes of 25th AGM of CASCA

May 28, 1994

University of Western Ontario

London, Ontario

1. Motion to adopt the minutes of 1993 AGM

Motion 1. Moved by D. Hanes, seconded by D. Bochonko, that: the Minutes of the 1993 Annual General Meeting be adopted. Carried.

2. Business Arising

There was no business arising from the 1993 Annual General Meeting.

3. Presidentþs Report - L. Higgs

The President expressed his pleasure in having been able to serve the community during the past two years. He noted his appreciation for the voluntary efforts of many Society members and thanked Jean-Ren Roy for his contributions to the Board.

The President commented that the high point in astronomy in Canada for the preceding year was the Gemini agreement and the support expressed for our national facilities. However, there were several challenges facing Canadian astronomy. These included: ensuring that the instrumentation needed for Gemini is forthcoming, the launching of a new radio astronomy facility, the lack of support for software analysis, our increasing membership, the potential cost of a permanent Society office, the Societyþs financial position in times of low interest rates and the cost of publication of Cassiopeia.

The President also noted that Cascatrust was now entering a phase of standard operation. The FSU support program was also going well. He congratulated S. Tremaine on his appointment as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. Finally he expressed his personal thanks to the LOC in London.

4. Secretaryþs Report - A. Gulliver.

The Secretary reported that the present membership of the Society included a total of 440 members, 342 Ordinary, 92 Student, 3 Honorary and 3 Corporate. Some 14 members had either resigned or had been expelled by the Board of Directors for non-payment of dues. Since the last Annual General Meeting, there had been 11 applications for membership. The membership changes included:

New members admitted May 28, 1994
              Bietenholz, Michael      York University
              Chaboyer, Brian          CITA
              Gomez, Mercedes          Universit de Montral
              Philip, Davis            Union College
              Vanajakshi, ChandrasekharanNASA Ames Research Center
                   Transferring from Student to Ordinary
              Bridges, Terry           Royal Greenwich Obs.
Student members admitted May 28, 1994
              Barkhouse, Wayne         Saint Maryþs University
              Blake, Christopher       University of Western Ontario
              Blake, Ronald            Saint Maryþs University
              King, Katherine          University of Toronto
              Neagu, Elena             University of Waterloo
     The following members resigned from the Society:
              Binette, Luc             CITA
              Goldsmith, Chris         York University
              Medd, Wilf               Victoria, BC
              Mendes de Oliveira, ClaudiaInstitut d'Astrophysique
              Noreau, Louis            HIA
              Tatum, Jeremy            University of Victoria
     The following members were expelled from the Society for non-payment of dues:
              Aube, Martin             Universit de Laval
              Beech, Martin            University of Western Ontario
              Boudreault, Robert       Universit de Laval
              Groisman, Gaston         University of Calgary
              Sherwood, William        Max Planck Institute
              Sparkes, Douglas         University of Waterloo
              Vennes, Stephane         University of California
              Wang, Jianguo            Universit de Laval
     

5. Treasurerþs report - C. Clement.

The Treasurer reported that interest income was down while expenses were increasing. Income from dues were at about the same level as last year. Some 70 people had not yet paid their dues. The Treasurer noted that those who had still not paid by October 1 would be expelled. A graph of excess revenue over expenses was shown. This indicated that expenses were now exceeding revenue.

Motion 2. Moved by C Clement, seconded by S. Rucinski, that: the Treasurerþs Report for the Society be accepted. Carried.

6. Presentation of Board motion regarding fees - L. Higgs.

The President put forward the case for a fee increase to cover the shortfall described by the Treasurer. He noted that the Society was still building up the endowment funds, that additional expenses of several thousand dollars were foreseen for the coming year, that 5 years had elapsed since the last fee increase and that one third of the members were behind in their dues.

The Treasurer presented the proposed new fee structure. Full members would increase from $35 to $45, if payment is received before October 1, or $55 after that date. Student members would increase from $14 to $20, or $25 in case of late payment. Corporate rates would remain unchanged.

Motion 3. Moved by C. Clement, seconded by A. Underhill, that: the proposed fee structure be implemented. Carried.

7. Committee reports.

Awards committee - W. Wehlau.

Peter Martin was announced as the winner of the Beals Award. The Plaskett Medal winner was Grant Hill. W. Wehlau announced that he will retire as chair and thanked those members of the community who had assisted in the evaluation of theses submitted for the Plaskett Medal award. The President thanked W. Wehlau for his efforts and noted that the new chairman will be D. Routledge.

Education committee - R. Bochonko.

Members were reminded of the activities of the Journals Program, the Job Registry and the Universe in the Classroom Newsletter. The committee wished to encourage the Educational Session held at each meeting. It also wants to maintain a database of graduate students and their eventual destinations. J. Penfold will be the new chair of the committee. The President thanked R. Bochonko for his efforts.

Heritage committee.

No report was presented.

Optical and infrared astronomy committee - D. Welch.

New committee members E. Hardy and S. Morris will replace retiring members G. Joncas, J. Landstreet and P. Kronberg. N. Duric will be the cross-appointment with the radio astronomy committee.

It was noted that Canada had played an influential role in the choice of instrumentation for the Gemini telescopes. The committee discussed a funding program capable of responding on a short timescale for the reduction of HST data. They also discussed the proposed D'AOCam for the WIYN telescope.

Radio astronomy committee - R. Taylor.

The committee believed that the major issue facing radio astronomy is its vision for the future. In particular, what should be the instrumental priority for the next generation of radio astronomy facilities? The program for the first workshop in August was presented. The great international interest and the potential for international collaboration were emphasized.

Space astronomy committee (JSSA) - D. Leahy.

New committee members S. Lilly and N. St-Louis will replace retiring members T. Bolton and F. Wesemael. The main new development had been the approval of ODIN by the CSA. Concern had been expressed about non-support for data analysis. NSERC and CSA have been trying to get together on this.

Cassiopeia editor - J. Penfold.

The circulation of Cassiopeia via e-mail was mentioned as well as experiments with World Wide Web access with the assistance of D. Crabtree.

8. Cascatrust Report - C. Clement.

D. Fernie will be replacing D. MacRae as trustee. Cascatrust will be taking over the charitable functions of the Society and would be paying for the Hogg Lecture and the Plaskett Medal. Cascatrust had raised more than $1000 in the past year. D. Fernie thanked the contributors and noted that an anonymous donor would provide matching funds up to $3000 for any funds donated for the Hogg Lecture.

9. Report on the status of HIA - D. Morton.

D. Morton reported on the status of HIA, noting that major changes had had to be undertaken because of budget constraints. These constraints had resulted in a reduced NRC and HIA budget. Despite these constraints NRC had undertaken to maintain its responsibility for government astronomical facilities, particularly those serving Canadian university scientists.

As part of these changes the laboratory spectroscopy group will be transferred to another institute allowing their consultation activities to continue. The solar-terrestrial physics group will phase out its activities over the next 3 years. Some 28 scientists and technicians will be affected. All of NRC's astronomical activities will be consolidated in BC with administrative activity shifting there over the next 3 years. The JCMT group will move to Victoria or Penticton. Views will be solicited on which location would be preferred. D. Morton stated that Gemini was not directly responsible for these changes. A general reorganization had been planned for some years.

In regard to specific facilties, NRC will try to continue to operate the telescopes at DAO as long as university astronomers continue to use them. CFHT must determine in which ways it can do better than other telescopes. The agreement to operate JCMT is in place until 2009. The DRAO synthesis telescope is now beginning its 7-element-phase of operation. But there is a need to examine where we are going, a question that will be addressed in the upcoming workshop. A redistribution of optical versus radio astronomy funding is anticipated. This could be based upon the ratio of university scientists in each field.

For the long term outlook, two optical facilties are foreseen. These would of course include Gemini, and perhaps CFHT. One radio astronomy facility could be an enhanced DRAO, an enhanced JCMT or some international collaboration. NRC will provide these facilties so Canadian university scientists can do science. It will not operate as an independent research organization although it will continue to support HIA scientists for their excellence.

The importance of astronomy has been reaffirmed by NRC but HIA must continue to justify its efforts. HIA needs the help of CASCA in setting priorities, recognizing that we must give up something to get something new. This was important in obtaining Gemini approval, as was the committment not to overrun the budget. Most of all, if HIA is important to members, they must say so to their Deans and Presidents and to NSERC. Otherwise HIA will disappear.

10 Report on the status of Gemini - D. Morton.

The international agreements establishing Gemini had been signed. It is a cost-limited project totaling $176 million without any budget overrun being allowed. The project is on schedule and on budget. The instrumentation plan has been accepted. Seeing tests underway on Cerro Pachon have been very encouraging. CTIO staff are very enthusiastic as are the South American astronomers. A meeting to discuss science with large telescopes will be held at UBC next year from May 31 to June 3. Those interested should contact G. Walker.

11. Report from SAC (CFHT) - H. Richer.

The Canadian members of the Scientific Advisory Committe are M. De Robertis, D. Hanes, G. Joncas and H. Richer (chair). The SAC had met in Quebec City following the Adaptive Optics meeting, the proceedings of which will be available from CFHT (contact R. Arsenault). The SAC discussed detectors and instrumentation for the future including MEGACAM, an array of 64, 2K x 2K CCD's. The major concern of SAC is to define the niche for CFHT in the era of 8-m telescopes. A summary of the SAC proceedings will appear in Cassiopeia.

12. Report from CTAC (CFHT) - D. Hanes.

The Canadian Time Allocation Committee for the CFHT consists of M. De Robertis (chair), R. Doyon, D. Hanes, B. Oke, R. Pudritz and J. Rice. D. Hanes presented the time assignment and instrument request statistics. The oversubsciption ratio was down to 1.8:1. Only 35 proposals were received instead of the 55 expected. CTAC encourages stellar astronomers to apply for time on the GECKO instrument. The policy of having a 4 night minimum run for any instrument was stressed.

13. Report from CTAG (JCMT) - G. Moriarty-Schieven.

The Canadian Time Allocation Group for the JCMT reported an oversubscription rate of 2.5 to 3.0:1. The numbers of applications have been constant over the last 2 years. Seventy-five per cent of the proposals with graduate students as PI's have received time. The policy of separate TAC's for each country will be permanent. Flexible scheduling had been implemented for a 1 week trial and, because of its success, will be tried again in November or January. Backup proposals in case of poor weather were encouraged.

14. FSU travel grant program - L. Higgs

he committe consisted of P. Dewdney, L. Higgs (chair), D. MacRae, R. Taylor and W. Wehlau. Some $1850 had been donated by about 30 members. The committee had decided to award small travel grants for up to $500 for research in the FSU or abroad. A legal agreement had been signed with the EAAS which is responsible for submitting award recommendations to the committee for approval. This is expected to be a time-limited, two-year program with a goal of $5000 or more.

15. Motions from floor.

There were no motions from the floor.

16. Nominations to 1994 nominating committee.

The Board presented the names of two nominees, J. Hesser and A. Wehlau, for the 1994 Nominating Committee. The outgoing President will chair the committee. Members wishing to nominate other candidates should forward such nominations in writing to the Secretary.

17. Future CASCA Meetings.

R. Roger invited members to attend the 1995 meeting which will be held at the Lakeside Resort in Penticton from May 28 to May 31. The theme will be þPhenomena and Physics of the Interstellar Mediumþ.

• The 1996 meeting will held at Queen's University.
• The 1997 meeting will held at the University of Alberta.
• The 1998 meeting will held at Universit de Laval.

18. Report of appointments to CITA council.

The Board appointed D. Henriksen for a 4-year term as CASCA representative on CITA council and P. Bastien for a 2-year term as the CASCA appointee.

19. Appointment of the auditor.

Motion 4. Moved by D. Hanes, seconded by T. Landecker, that: the firm of Tinkham & Associates be re-appointed as auditors. Carried.

20. Results of election - A. Gulliver.

The Secretary reported that J. Landstreet and M. De Robertis had been acclaimed as First Vice- President and Second Vice-President, respectively.

21. Other Business.

W. Wehlau reported that the SAO in the FSU was in desperate need of a 386 or 486 PC to record data from their CCD. H Richer reported that there would be a job centre for applicants and interviewers at the next CASCA meeting. W. Harris expressed thanks to L Higgs on behalf of the Society for his service as President of the Society.

22. Adjournment.

Motion 5. Moved by D. A. Hanes, seconded by J. Rice, that: the meeting be adjourned. Carried.

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Please e-mail any suggestions/comments to Jack Penfold (jpenfold@mtroyal.ab.ca)