Biotechnology Secretariat Steering Committee Meeting
Wyndham Hotel, Canal Plaza
March 23, 2003
Meeting Summary: Secretary General Guenter Grethe called the Meeting to order at 7:20 AM. The late start resulted from a last minute room change causing attendees to locate the new site.
The minutes were approved as presented on the Secretariat website.
The Treasurer reported a balance of $8215.49 as of mid-February. Several divisions did not pay dues in 2002 and these will be billed for two years when the 2003 invoices are mailed. The Division of Nuclear Chemistry (NUCL) extended our membership roster in 2002. The report was approved as presented and will be posted on the website.
Andy Berks, the Webmaster, indicated the site was functioning well. Abstracts for the New Orleans sessions where BTEC is the primary sponsor were incorporated as received from ACS.
Sharon Vercellotti gave a very thorough accounting of the New Orleans program Biotechnology in the Service of Health. She organized 15 half-day sessions with 11 divisions participating in the program. A total of 93 papers will be presented of which 52 are authored or co-authored from Louisiana. The program expenses are $20,800 of which the Secretariat will pay about $3000 for expenses such as abstracts, signs, etc. Sharons fund raising efforts were spectacular and she received a well deserved round of applause for her excellent work
The future program discussions focused on the plans already in place as these are already out to 2007. The next program is in the fall of 2004 in Philadelphia, Genomics and Proteomics for the Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Food Industries. John Kozarich is the organizer and has begun his preliminary planning. He asked for names of Divisions and respective program chairs to contact. He will contact appropriate industries for support by letter to be developed in collaboration with Guenter. John expects to have a more detailed program developed by the fall meeting in New York.
The program for San Diego in the spring of 2005 is set as Biological Chemistry in Extreme Environments. The co-organizers are Michael Adams and Robert Kelly (tentatively) and they have prepared a preliminary outline.
San Francisco, fall 2006, still requires an organizer. The title was modified to Biosensing Technology. POLY has interest here and so does PMSE and either division may be a source of an organizer.
Fall of 2007 program in Boston will be Nanobiotechnology and Buddy Ratner is tentatively the organizer.
The Secretary-Treasurer will include the program plans in a note to the divisional members in the next few weeks and will ask for approval. That note will also include solicitations for candidates to take over as Secretary-General and the Secretary-Treasurer in January 2004.
The annual report is past due and we will submit in the next few weeks. The deadline for these reports is expected to change from mid-March to mid-February next year to alleviate the time pressure just prior to the spring national meeting.
The Secretariat will accept the membership request of the Division of Health and Safety. Guenter will inform them of the acceptance. This will bring the total membership of the Secretariat to 22 Divisions.
Dr. Binghe Wang, MEDI, came to the meeting asking support for a proposed program, New Approaches to Diabetes, in Anaheim next spring. He was redirected to Biochemistry Division, as we are not programming in Anaheim.
Adjourned at 8:40 AM
Respectfully
Graham Swift
Attendees:
CINF Guenter Grethe
PMSE / I&EC Graham Swift
COLL Terri Camesano
POLY Buddy Ratner
MEDI Binghe Wang
SCHB Sharon Vercellotti
Visitor Mimi Sen
BIOL John W. Kozarich
PETR Lisa Nash
MEDI Kenneth Jacobson
CHED Anna Wilson
BIOT Sharon Shoemaker
BIOT Fred Heineken
ORGN Stan S. Hall
BMGT Tom Lenk