Minutes from the Board of Directors of The Combustion Institute
Electronic Meeting (Thirty-Fifth Meeting)
24 February 2015
In attendance were the following Board Members:
M. Aldén, J. Chen, M. Colket, P. de Goey,
P. Desgroux, J.F. Driscoll, D. Dunn-Rankin,
F. Egolfopoulos, O. Fujita, I. Gökalp,
I.-S. Jeung, H. Kobayashi, K. Kohse-Höinghaus,
M. Kono, C.K. Law1, R.P. Lindstedt,
R.E. Mitchell2, H. Pitsch, S.B. Pope, F. Qi,
R. Ragucci, R. Sawyer1, C. Schulz,
G. Smallwood, M.D. Smooke, M.S. Wooldridge3,
M. Xu
1: Honorary Non-Voting Board Member
2: Arrived late
3: Left early
Not attending: A. Masri
Guests: D. Sharbaugh, D. Skreppen, B. Waronek (All CI Staff)
President Kohse-Höinghaus called the meeting to order at 9:00 EST. There was a review of our conference call practices and a reminder of the ‘Conflict of Interest’ Policy.
Item 1: Minutes
Minutes from the meetings on 3 and 6 August 2014, during the 35th Symposium in San Francisco, were unanimously approved with the correction, under Item 10, of the year to 2018 for the Dublin Symposium.
Vote: (Accept: 24; Honorary Non-Voting: 2)
Item 2: 35th Symposium
The finances of the meeting, which included a substantial financial loss, were reviewed. The Executive Committee requested and the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) has provided recommendations for improvement. This information has been shared with the Site Committee and used to begin discussions with our intended PPCO, and to revise the guidelines to host the International Symposium on Combustion.
J. Chen and M. Wooldridge provided information on the attempts to invite media to the International Symposia and the associated pilot media and video project. Lessons learned will be used when meeting with the Seoul Local Host Team (LHT). No outside media were present at the meeting and efforts in this area need to be reviewed before 2016. The video project consisted of 4 parts: montage presented on Friday morning at the Symposium, taping of plenary lectures, interviews with 20 members and still photography. A fraction of the interviews are currently being edited for a potential posting on the website. The initial budget will cover post-production expenses for 12 videos. Feedback is encouraged from the Board on the best ways to use these videos that have different levels, i.e. of overall CI matters to specific technical content. Finding the best method to post and explain the content to general users is needed.
Following the Symposium, a survey was done concerning the pilot for the Young Researcher Mixer. The event was well received and CI was encouraged to continue this gathering early in the week. Audience, location, timing, food and beverage are items that need further discussion with the Seoul LHT.
Item 3: Financial Reports
K. Brezinsky has been appointed as Chair and S.H. Chung is now a member of the Finance Committee. After review of investment options, the Finance Committee has opened one new account. This provides diversity with our investments and the Finance Committee will monitor returns for future investment decisions. The Committee has had discussion concerning healthcare for CI staff. Chair Brezinsky and Executive Administrator Waronek will present a package to President Kohse-Höinghaus and Treasurer Dunn-Rankin for final approval. Income and expenses are on track with the expectations of the Committee.
There was a vote on the new check signing policy requiring any expenditure of $10,000 US or more to require 2 signatures. It was noted that procedures are in place to handle this policy in a timely fashion.
Vote: (Accept: 25; Honorary Non-Voting: 2)
Item 4. Committee Reports
ICISS Committee
M. Aldén, Chair of the ICISS Committee, reviewed the progress of ICISS. The first 2 programs, in Italy and Brazil, were approved by the Executive Committee in August 2014. For the 1 January 2015 deadline, five proposals were received. They are being reviewed and additional information will be requested from the organizers before being recommended for approval. With this high level of interest, the original budget of $250,000 US will not have sufficient funds for the next proposal deadline of 1 June.
It was noted that the ICISS Guidelines are open for discussion and changes, i.e. establishing schools in various continents. As the current proposals and approved schools cover North and South America, Europe and India, there is a global perspective. Diversity in topics should be looked into for the future. The Committee is open to further suggestions to improve the Guidelines.
There was a vote on the proposal to extend ICISS funding by a maximum of $150,000 US for the three year period through 1 June 2017.
Vote: (Accept 24; No Vote 1; Honorary Non-Voting: 2)
Publication Committee
A new contract has been signed for bothCombustion and Flame and The Proceedings of the Combustion Institute which ensures long-term stability for the Institute and competitive conditions for our community. Elsevier will also fund a young researcher award and additional information will be presented at the next meeting for your approval. We appreciate the efforts of B. Haynes and K. Eve, Elsevier, in negotiating this agreement.
Governance Policy Committee
R. Mitchell presented the first draft from the committee comprised of M. de Joannon, B. Haynes and P. Westmoreland. The committee reviewed our current practices and is suggesting a governance policy, using established groups to oversee the policy. These groups are the Executive Committee, Secretary, Executive Administrator and the Nominating Committee. The policy identifies the specific responsibilities of each group.
The Board needs to review this document in detail and compare it to the current By-Laws. S. Pope suggests the details for the Nominating Committee also be reviewed against the Nomination Committee Guidelines. Feedback should be provided to the Executive Administrator so a revised document can be prepared and sent for further discussion.
Board of Directors – Election Preview
While gathering information to prepare for the elections in 2016 and 2018, some challenges have been identified. The 2018 election will have a significant number of members retiring and the majority of them will be from North America. The Nominations Committee needs to be aware of these challenges and look beyond the ‘current’ election as they select a slate of candidates. In agreement with earlier Board decisions, industry participation should be considered and potentially, increased. Procedures to achieve this goal should be devised and a respective amendment to the Nomination Guidelines might be needed. The Nomination Policy Committee will be re-activated to discuss and present a recommendation on this item.
Site Committee
U. Riedel, Chair of the Site Committee, has provided guidelines for future bids to host a symposium. These have been reviewed by section chairs, previous hosts and program co-chairs with no negative comments. All groups which have expressed interest in hosting for 2020 have received this information so they are not surprised with the changes that are being suggested. These guidelines will provide more structure to the process of submitting a bid. The Executive Committee has reviewed and recommends support of this new guideline.
Additional discussion items included conflict of interest and sponsorship of the symposia by individual research groups and universities. These will be reviewed further before the site visit for the 36th Symposium.
There was a vote to accept the Site Committee’s guidelines to host the International Symposium on Combustion.
Vote: (Accept 24; No Vote 1; Honorary Non-Voting: 2)
Note: The approved guidelines have been posted on the CI website.
Item 5. PPCO Status
Discussions on an agreement between CI and our intended PPCO have been underway. An agreement, covering the 2016 and 2018 symposia, should be ready for signatures by the end of February. When completed, discussion on an agreement for future symposia will begin. Special thanks to Uwe Riedel for his negotiation of this agreement. The local hosts from both Seoul and Dublin have been consulted and the agreement will provide flexibility for their local PCO.
Item 6. New Initiatives
Vice President/President-Elect J. Driscoll advised that discussion has continued since the August 2014 meeting. The suggestions received from the sub-committees have been reviewed. Working with D. Dunn-Rankin, Treasurer, and the Executive Committee, the initiatives have been ranked in order of importance and their ability to be implemented. Before requesting approval, committees will need to be appointed to research these initiatives. The development will continue to be reviewed by the Board until a plan is ready for a vote of support. It is the expectation that a vote on these items will be taken at the meeting in 2016 in Seoul at the latest.
Item 7. Office Review
The office is running smoothly with the addition of D. Sharbaugh as our new Administrative Assistant. Discussion continues on the media employee search.
Item 8. New Business
There was no additional New Business.
President Kohse-Höinghaus thanked everyone for their time and participation.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:41 EST.
Past Board of Directors Meetings
Past Meetings