Minutes of the Canadian Division Meeting of the ACA - Tuesday, June 3rd 2008, 2008 ACA Annual Meeting, Knoxville, Tennessee

(See below for attendance)

Thanks were given to the CLS for sponsoring the lunch for this mtg.

There are three officers for the Canadian Division: a President, a Representative on Council and a Secretary. The Division is looking for people to stand for these positions. Council would like a minimum of two nominees per position.

The secretary position is up for election this year - potential nominees are Pawel Grochulski and Michael Murphy.

Toronto ACA 2009

a) Organization

Jim Britten is the Program Chair of the Meeting, and David Rose is the Local Chair. They will work in close collaboration. They are striking committees for various purposes.

The Local Committee is looking for people to help with the following functions:

• Fundraising: There is a list of fairly regular sponsors that need to be contacted. If anybody has ideas for new funding sources they would be welcome. The committee is seeking people to serve in this capacity.
• Workshop Coordinator: The workshop organization is not the responsibility of the Local Committee, but a coordinator is required to coordinate the rooms, equipment and facilities on the ground for the workshops.
• Webmaster: somebody is needed to setup and maintain the website for the meeting.
• Communication is also a function which is vital to the success of the meeting, both between all the committees, and between the meeting and possible attendees.

At least 40% of the talks in ACA sessions must be contributed. Therefore, if Canadians submit a significant number of abstracts there will be good Canadian representation in the program. We need to drum up support from members and non-members to submit abstracts for the Toronto mtg.

There has been talk of having a big name plenary speaker. The speaker and topic would have to have a wide appeal across the ACA. Discussion from the floor suggested perhaps someone who was more of a user than a professional crystallographer. Could be somebody with a background in energy of environment. Mars was also suggested as a topic.

b) Sponsorship and potential sessions

It looks possible that $200-$500 may be available from the CLS, the CISR and CINS for sponsoring the Canadian Division, which may be put towards a session.

John Tse suggested that there be a mineral session in the ACA for the Toronto mtg. David Rose will have discussion with the Synchrotron SIG regarding this as a possibility, since the Canadian Division is not a SIG and cannot sponsor sessions. Other possibilities are the materials SIG (Pam Whitfield). There may be substantial financial support available from the Can. Inst for Synchrotron Research (E. Pai) and CLS, especially for synchrotron-related sessions in Toronto.

There is talk of another Cdn bid for the ACA in another 5 years from now. Possibilities include Halifax, Ottawa, Victoria, Vancouver and Quebec City.

IUCr

The U.S. National Committee for Crystallography has made proposals to the IUCr executive committee for changes to the bylaws. These include:

• That each region would have a regional representative to committee from each region.
• That each of these reps would not count to the national total of reps on the IUCr.
• Crystallographers who have concerns but are not members of the executive should be able to speak at their meetings, even if they are not allowed to vote.
• At least two nominees should be presented for each position on the executive.

The current President does not support these propositions, but the U.S. National Committee is looking for support for these proposals.

There are several Cdns nominated to various IUCr committees and Louis Delbare has been nominated to the executive committee. NRC sponsorship of ca. $4000 p.a. has been renewed of the Cdn National Committee for Crystallography.

Other Discussion

Letters were sent to Department Chairs looking for names of Cdn nominees for ACA Awards. Two Cdns were nominated for the Buerger Award this year.

Lachlan Cranswick is assembling an edition of the IUCr newsletter on Crystallography in Canada.

Attendees:

D.R. Rose (Chair), Ian Swainson (Acting Secretary), John Tse, Wilson Quail, Megan Barker, Louis Delbaere, Gary Enright, Pam Whitfield, Michael Murphy, Michael Jennings, Emil Pai, Rob Thorne.