As a result of the new California State Budget, the Geology Board is slated to be terminated.
The termination of the Geology Board and transfer of its authorities to the Board of Professional Engineers and Surveyors is on page 26 of the final State Budget
http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/pdf/Enacted/BudgetSummary/FullBudgetSummary.pdf
This appears to be a significant detriment to the professional practice of geology in the State of California.
According to the Geology Board, they aren’t sure that it’s a done deal yet, and they recommend that you contact your local representatives if you’d like to protest this decision. The Geology Board plans to continue to operate business as usual until they hear otherwise.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
California Board of Geology Terminated in New Budget Deal
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Field Trip - SR 87 Landslide
The Arizona Section of AEG is pleased to announce that the SR 87 Landslide Field Trip will be held on Saturday August 15, 2009. We will be meeting at the Bass Pro Shop located at 1133 North Dobson in Mesa at 8am. AEG will be providing transportation as well as soda and water. Pancho Garza, P.E. and Wayne Harrison, P.G. will be discussing the SR 87 landslide remedial repairs, investigation and monitoring.Please RSVP , Bonnie Whitley by Wednesday August 12th.
Hope to see you there!
Monday, July 6, 2009
A Few Things of Interest
As always, there is a lot of good stuff over at the Arizona Geology blog, so I encourage a visit. But, I have to repeat something I saw over there:
The Arizona Guardian online newspaper, is prominently displaying a YouTube video of Arizona State Senator Sylvia Allen in a committee hearing, with the caption:
On June 25th the senator voiced support for opening up uranium mining in Arizona and countered environmentalists by assuring them that the the Earth has been around for "6,000 years..." and has lasted that long without environmnental laws. She said it twice.
Thankfully she's not my representative (she represents Snowflake), but I'm really disturbed that someone with views like this legislates in Arizona. It's really no wonder that the state governement is in such bad shape right now.
And because I don't want this post to be a complete downer - the following is a time-lapse video from the International Space Station of an incredible eruption of the Saraychev eruption last month in the Kuril Islands (north of Japan). This one is big enough to make for nice sunsets world-wide for a while (though it's still too early to determine if climate will be affected).
Thursday, July 2, 2009
New Fissure Maps and Subsidence Workshop
The AZGS has released new earth fissure study area maps. New earth fissure maps showing confirmed and unconfirmed earth fissures for Harquahala, Maricopa County, and the Friendly Corners, Tator Hills and Signal Peak areas of Pinal County are complete. The 1:24,000 scale maps can be downloaded free at the Arizona Geological Survey’s (AZGS) Earth Fissure Center (http://azgs.az.gov/efmaps). For interactive viewing and custom map-making at up to 1:12,000 scale, visit the Arizona Department of Real Estate’s Earth Fissure Viewer at http://azmap.org/fissures.
Also of note is the Land Subsidence and Earth Fissure Workshop in August - the infromation below is from Brian Conway of ADWR:
I wanted to remind everyone again about the upcoming AHS Land Subsidence and Earth Fissure Workshop. I am still accepting abstracts and need at least three more talks to attempt to fill the full day workshop. I also want to remind you to register for the workshop whether you will be presenting or attending; either way you will have to pay for the workshop. I was also wondering if anyone would be interested on giving a presentation about the Arizona Land Subsidence Group. Here is the information about the workshop:
Arizona Hydrological Society
American Institute of Hydrology
2009 Annual Water Symposium
Land Subsidence and Earth Fissure Workshop
Sunday, August 30th, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm
Scottsdale, Arizona
Westin Kierland Resort and Spa
American Institute of Hydrology
2009 Annual Water Symposium
Land Subsidence and Earth Fissure Workshop
Sunday, August 30th, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm
Scottsdale, Arizona
Westin Kierland Resort and Spa
Abstracts should be 250 words or less and include title, authorship, and affiliations. Please include a brief biographical sketch of the primary author(s) and indicate that the abstract is for the Land Subsidence and Earth Fissure Workshop. Please submit abstracts no later than July 30th.
Abstracts must be submitted electronically to: hydrosymposium@a6consultants.com
Please copy Brian Conway (Workshop Moderator) on the email for the abstract submittal: bdconway@azwater.gov
If you have questions about the workshop, please contact:
Brian Conway
Arizona Department of Water Resources
602.771.1517
bdconway@azwater.gov
Friday, June 5, 2009
Next Meeting: Thursday June, 11 - AEG President Mark Molinari
The Arizona Section of AEG is pleased to announce that our next meeting will be held on Thursday, June 11, 2009 at Pizzeria Uno in Tempe. The social hour begins at 6 PM dinner is usually around 7 PM and the talk will begin shortly after dinner. The presentation topic is "Practical Applications of Airborne LiDAR Data for Environmental and Engineering Geology Projects" presented by Mark Molinari, L.G. Mr. Molinari is the 2009 AEG President and we are happy to have him in from Washington. Hope to see you all there! Thanks to Yellow Jacket Drilling for sponsorship!
Please RSVP to Pancho Garza, by Monday, June 8, 2009.
2) Don’t forget. It's time for elections to happen once again.
So, nominations are open - I've listed the responsibilities of officers below. I have agreed to return as Chair, Pancho Garza has agreed to return as Vice-Chair. Ben Ciampa has agreed to return as Treasurer and Gregg Mitchell has agreed to return as Student Liaison. The non-utilized Field Trip Coordinator is currently vacant, but not terribly important - Pancho is currently picking up those duties with a planned field trip later this summer.
This leaves the position of Secretary. Unfortunately, Heather Hespeler cannot continue in this role. Thankfully, Bonnie Whitley with GTI has agreed to take over.
So, if you want to nominate yourself or someone else (hopefully with their knowledge) for any position, go ahead - but we do currently have people in place to fill the roles that need filling.
The elections will be at our next meeting on Thursday evening. Most likely they will be voice vote unless we have multiple candidates and need a more private way.
Chair – coordinate officer duties liaison with national, attend AEG Board meetings, and manage preparation of annual report including financial report. Coordinate meeting sponsorship and Arizona Section website. Prepare newsletter.
Vice Chair – coordinate speakers and topics for all meetings, have discussions with members to see what kind of topics they are interested in hearing about, and help out with meeting setup
Treasurer – manage chapter’s bank account, collect/deposit/manage money collected at meetings/events, and prepare annual financial report.
Student Liaison – correspond with students at U of A, ASU, NAU, and organize student night.
Secretary – coordinate meeting locations and food, send out meeting announcements, receive and tally RSVP’s.
Field Trip Coordinator – organize at least one field trip per year for AZ AEG members and anyone else interested.
Things of Note
I've been rather quite around here for the past few weeks, so below are some links to catch you (and me) up with some happenings that may be of interest (as usual, the excellent blog, Arizona Geology is a huge source).
Friday, May 15, 2009
Random Geo-Links
I've been out of touch for the last week, and there are few things of interst out there. Enjoy.
- Southwest Geotechnical Conference wrap-up (unfortunately, I had to miss this one)
- And finally, a cool video of a culvert failure. This was sent to me via email and I don't really have a source to credit - so if you know where it came from, let me know. Edit: Thanks to the commenter who did the research for me ;) - The video was captured by MWTW.com photojournalist Kevyn Fowler in Freeport, Maine.
Mid-Year BOD Meeting Summary
ASSOCIATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL & ENGINEERING GEOLOGISTS (AEG)
Annual Board of Directors Meeting Summary
The Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists (AEG) Directors convene meetings biannually to review the status and conduct the business of our organization. On April 17th and 18th, 2009, the Board of Directors (BOD) Mid-Year Board Meeting was in session in Seattle, Washington, the President’s city of residence. Detailed meeting minutes were prepared and will be available for approval at the next Annual Board Meeting, which will take place in South Lake Tahoe, California, September 26-27, 2009. The following summary was prepared to assist our Directors in highlighting major issues and topic areas for communication to the general membership.
AEG has twenty-five (25) sections and five Executive Council members totaling thirty Directors. Nineteen (19) Section Chairpersons or their proxies were present along with the Executive Council (EC): President Molinari, Vice President/President-Elect Kreuger, Treasurer Hilton, Secretary Bauer, and Past-President Kuper, achieving the required majority present for a quorum. Chief Operating Officer Roland was also present, as were Governance Committee Chair Andrews, Finance Committee Chair Sofield, Strategic Planning Committee Chair Hale, Communications Committee Chair Shaw and other invited guests. Sections absent were Montreal, New England, New York-Philadelphia, Ohio River Valley, Southeastern, and Southern Nevada.
· President Molinari discussed his Section visits, and told the Board that he would report back to them after discussing the Jahns Lecturer Selection with GSA.
· Treasurer Hilton reported that the IRS accepted AEG’s request to change the fiscal year from July-June to January-December, starting January 1st, 2009, which means AEG has to file a tax return for the short year of July-December 2008. The accountant-audited financials for the fiscal year 07-08 will be available at the end of April 2009 and our taxes are due May 15th. He also reported that our investments, down around 6%, are doing much better than the overall stock market, due to our conservative investment strategy which is consistent with prior BOD direction.
· The 2008 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA had a surplus of around $21,000.
· Chief Operating Officer Roland reported that our Year-to-date membership total is 2632 members, which is around 85% of the total for 2008. Staff members at headquarters are in the process of calling lapsed members, but Section cooperation is imperative to bringing these members back to AEG.
· Sections that have access to lists of State Licensees are asked to send these lists to Headquarters for membership solicitation.
· Communications Committee Chair Allen Shaw discussed the print media of AEG. He asked that Sections ask their members to submit technical papers or case studies to the Environmental &Engineering Geoscience Journal. There will be several papers in a future issue of the journal by speakers at the Shlemon Specialty Conference on Fault Rupture that was held in Southern California in February 2009, and there is also the potential for a Special Publication from the conference proceedings and papers. Allen would like to increase advertising in the AEG NEWS in order to add more color photos and enhance the quality of the publication.
· Website Committee member Dale Andrews reported on ideas about the website revision. He emphasized the need for the website to be a living document and for the Board to consider how it will be continually updated after revision.
· In addition to presenting Finance Committee report, the Finance Committee Chair, Darrell Sofield, reminded the Board of its fiscal responsibilities and how the committee helps to meet those responsibilities. He then stated that without a Treasurer’s report or a fiscal report that compares the actual financials to the budget, the FC could not do its job. “With out those reports, you can’t tell if the budget was met,” Darrell said. The FC suggested that the BOD develop a policy on procedures for financial reporting including procedures for comparing the budget to the actual money spent and a discussion section for items where considerable difference was noted between the budget and actual money spent. The EC has already begun implementing the FC’s suggestions in the 2009 budget, as the budget and actual financials will be broken into quarters for easier comparison, and dissemination to the FC and BOD.
· Sofield also made a request to members of the current BOD to join the committee. After waiving the 30-day notice, the Board approved by blind vote Mary Kay Markunas and Niall Henshaw as Finance Committee members.
· 2009 Annual Meeting Co-chair Gary Luce reported that planning for the Annual Meeting in South Lake Tahoe is going well. COO Roland will distribute the PowerPoint presentation to Section Chairs for promotion at Section meetings. President Molinari will send the Board information on the Outstanding Environmental and Engineering Geology Award after the selection committee makes a decision.
· Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) Chair Paul Hale gave an update on some of his sub-committees.
o Advocacy committee has been working on gathering information on the photos they received from the photo contest they hosted, is developing one page technical information flyers, and is considering making a short movie promoting the profession.
o Student/Young Professional Support Committee has been busy with the Visiting Professionals Program, Section Champions/Student Liaison coordination, the Facebook page (New Geologist), the Student Chapter application template, a Student Welcome Packet, and planning a pre-Ice Breaker event at the Annual Meeting to connect students and professionals.
o Section/Chapter Support Committee is finalizing an Officers’ Handbook for Section Officers and conducting a survey of Section Chairs to find out where they need help.
· The SPC contracted with Creativity @ Work to conduct a member survey and internal and external interviews. The results were used to direct the Strategic Planning workshop, which was held April 17th in Seattle, the Friday before the Board meeting. During the workshop, the attendees defined the areas of concern regarding the future of AEG. Now the SPC will work on a new Strategic Plan and will present it at the 2009 Annual Board Meeting.
· During lunch each Section was asked to answer three questions: 1) What is working for your Section? 2) How is the economy affecting the Section and its members? 3) What committee(s) are you on or would you like to be on? Answers will be posted with the minutes of the meeting.
· The Board discussed the Joint Task Force on Areas of Practice (JTFAP) Guidance document during the MYBM. There was considerable concern that the document in its current condition does not effectively represent our professional practice and its intended use and purpose remains unclear. Although a vote was not called for, an informal blind straw poll was conducted asking if the document should: 1) stop, 2) proceed with the input and guidance of AEG on a broader basis, or 3) proceed as a publication solely published by AEG. Two abstained, 20 thought AEG should proceed on a broader basis, and 1 thought we should proceed with a publication published solely by AEG.
o President Molinari requested creating an ad hoc committee. The BOD concurred, stipulating the following committee make-up guidelines:
1. Minimum of 3 members from Western US, minimum of 2 members from Mid-west/Eastern US, plus two current JTF committee members
2. Minimum of 5 members are current or former board members
3. Strive to include at least one member of AEG Licensure Committee
4. Strive to include at least one member who has been or is included on State Licensure Board
5. Range of 7-10 members
o The Ad-hoc Committee’s charge will be to:
1. Review and summarize member comments about the document
2. Consult with Mark Molinari after he obtains feedback from AIPG and Geo-Institute (after June 15 deadline) regarding how they intend to proceed and invite to forum if appropriate
3. Make recommendations for action and direction of the document
4. Present recommendations to the membership one month before the Annual Meeting
5. Have a discussion forum at the 2009 Annual Meeting assuming the document goes forward with the other groups
6. Work with CA, OR, WA and other licensure boards
· The Spring Shlemon Conference was a great success and had an approximate surplus of $12,000. The selection committee is looking for proposals for future conferences, beginning next year.
· President Molinari discussed the progress of the future Annual Meetings.
o 2010 – Charleston, SC
o 2011 – Anchorage, AL - AEG will need to help with the planning of this meeting
o 2012 – Salt Lake City, UT
o 2013 – Seattle, WA
· The Board decided it would like to post each AEG NEWS issue online when it is mailed and to allow public access for current and past issues.
· Governance Committee (GC) Chair Dale Andrews reviewed the GC’s summary of observations from the 2008 Annual Board Meeting. He also presented three Conflict of Interest templates for the board to decide among, in order to comply with IRS requirements. The board decided to have an attorney review all three statements and work with the GC and EC to finalize a version for Board approval at the 2009 Annual Board Meeting.
· Andrews also presented a template for Sections to use for meeting announcements, which will be posted under the Section/Chapter Support documents on the website.
· The GC compared the governance structure of AEG with other similar organizations and presented potential options for AEG. The Board discussed AEG’s current governance structure and decided that it is effective, but feels that the GC should look into other options including the proposed options of Delegates and Regionalization as well as define performance measures and ways to measure efficiency and effectiveness of the governance of the Association in its current structure.
· Treasurer Hilton presented the Fiscal Year 2009 budget, which covers from January-December 2009, to the board, emphasizing the major changes from the FY08/09 budget. Items such as reduced printing in the coming year, increased advertising/sponsorship efforts, and membership drives are essential to achieve/exceed this budget and allow the use of discretionary funds. The Board approved the budget as presented.
· The Board discussed the pros and cons of online vs. print publications. Through straw vote, the Board’s order of priority for electronic publication is 1) E&EG Journal (21 votes); 2) AEG News (14 votes); 3) Directory (5 votes); and 4) Abstracts with Programs (0 votes). Members will be asked for their priority in a demographics survey that will be included with their membership renewals.
· The Board discussed ways to retain and recruit members; each Director/Section Chair pledged to recruit a certain number of members by the 2009 Annual Meeting. Look for our goal to be posted and progress to be tracked as part of the membership drive.
· Director Metz offered a free frequent flyer ticket to any member who recruited the most members before the 2009 Annual Meeting.
· The Board approved changes to certain By-laws to account for the change in fiscal year to a calendar year.
· The Board approved a template for a Memorandum of Understanding between AEG and Sections proposing to host a future Annual Meeting.
· Two Student Chapters were approved by the Board: The College of Charleston and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
· The Board approved by blind vote a nominee to be included on the Executive Council ballot as Secretary for 2009/2010. This nomination is not a final result, but places this candidate on the mailed ballot; the election results will be presented at the AEG Business Luncheon in Tahoe in September.
· COO Roland summarized the report that the AEG Foundation (AEGF) submitted. The AEGF would like to work closely with the EC to establish one committee for the Lemke and Corporate Sponsor scholarships for students at the Annual Meeting. It would like to look at ways to support un- or underemployed members. It is supporting color photos in the E&EG, but would like for AEG to find a way for this to be self-sustaining.
· PowerPoint slides on the AEGF are available for Section Chairs to have at their Section meetings.
· President Molinari discussed AEG submitting a proposal to IAEG at the 2010 meeting to host the 2014 meeting, and reminded the Board that this meeting would replace AEG’s Annual Meeting that year, and would be an IAEG meeting, not a joint meeting.
· The next Board of Directors meeting is on September 26th and 27th in South Lake Tahoe, CA.
Annual Board of Directors Meeting Summary
The Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists (AEG) Directors convene meetings biannually to review the status and conduct the business of our organization. On April 17th and 18th, 2009, the Board of Directors (BOD) Mid-Year Board Meeting was in session in Seattle, Washington, the President’s city of residence. Detailed meeting minutes were prepared and will be available for approval at the next Annual Board Meeting, which will take place in South Lake Tahoe, California, September 26-27, 2009. The following summary was prepared to assist our Directors in highlighting major issues and topic areas for communication to the general membership.
AEG has twenty-five (25) sections and five Executive Council members totaling thirty Directors. Nineteen (19) Section Chairpersons or their proxies were present along with the Executive Council (EC): President Molinari, Vice President/President-Elect Kreuger, Treasurer Hilton, Secretary Bauer, and Past-President Kuper, achieving the required majority present for a quorum. Chief Operating Officer Roland was also present, as were Governance Committee Chair Andrews, Finance Committee Chair Sofield, Strategic Planning Committee Chair Hale, Communications Committee Chair Shaw and other invited guests. Sections absent were Montreal, New England, New York-Philadelphia, Ohio River Valley, Southeastern, and Southern Nevada.
· President Molinari discussed his Section visits, and told the Board that he would report back to them after discussing the Jahns Lecturer Selection with GSA.
· Treasurer Hilton reported that the IRS accepted AEG’s request to change the fiscal year from July-June to January-December, starting January 1st, 2009, which means AEG has to file a tax return for the short year of July-December 2008. The accountant-audited financials for the fiscal year 07-08 will be available at the end of April 2009 and our taxes are due May 15th. He also reported that our investments, down around 6%, are doing much better than the overall stock market, due to our conservative investment strategy which is consistent with prior BOD direction.
· The 2008 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA had a surplus of around $21,000.
· Chief Operating Officer Roland reported that our Year-to-date membership total is 2632 members, which is around 85% of the total for 2008. Staff members at headquarters are in the process of calling lapsed members, but Section cooperation is imperative to bringing these members back to AEG.
· Sections that have access to lists of State Licensees are asked to send these lists to Headquarters for membership solicitation.
· Communications Committee Chair Allen Shaw discussed the print media of AEG. He asked that Sections ask their members to submit technical papers or case studies to the Environmental &Engineering Geoscience Journal. There will be several papers in a future issue of the journal by speakers at the Shlemon Specialty Conference on Fault Rupture that was held in Southern California in February 2009, and there is also the potential for a Special Publication from the conference proceedings and papers. Allen would like to increase advertising in the AEG NEWS in order to add more color photos and enhance the quality of the publication.
· Website Committee member Dale Andrews reported on ideas about the website revision. He emphasized the need for the website to be a living document and for the Board to consider how it will be continually updated after revision.
· In addition to presenting Finance Committee report, the Finance Committee Chair, Darrell Sofield, reminded the Board of its fiscal responsibilities and how the committee helps to meet those responsibilities. He then stated that without a Treasurer’s report or a fiscal report that compares the actual financials to the budget, the FC could not do its job. “With out those reports, you can’t tell if the budget was met,” Darrell said. The FC suggested that the BOD develop a policy on procedures for financial reporting including procedures for comparing the budget to the actual money spent and a discussion section for items where considerable difference was noted between the budget and actual money spent. The EC has already begun implementing the FC’s suggestions in the 2009 budget, as the budget and actual financials will be broken into quarters for easier comparison, and dissemination to the FC and BOD.
· Sofield also made a request to members of the current BOD to join the committee. After waiving the 30-day notice, the Board approved by blind vote Mary Kay Markunas and Niall Henshaw as Finance Committee members.
· 2009 Annual Meeting Co-chair Gary Luce reported that planning for the Annual Meeting in South Lake Tahoe is going well. COO Roland will distribute the PowerPoint presentation to Section Chairs for promotion at Section meetings. President Molinari will send the Board information on the Outstanding Environmental and Engineering Geology Award after the selection committee makes a decision.
· Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) Chair Paul Hale gave an update on some of his sub-committees.
o Advocacy committee has been working on gathering information on the photos they received from the photo contest they hosted, is developing one page technical information flyers, and is considering making a short movie promoting the profession.
o Student/Young Professional Support Committee has been busy with the Visiting Professionals Program, Section Champions/Student Liaison coordination, the Facebook page (New Geologist), the Student Chapter application template, a Student Welcome Packet, and planning a pre-Ice Breaker event at the Annual Meeting to connect students and professionals.
o Section/Chapter Support Committee is finalizing an Officers’ Handbook for Section Officers and conducting a survey of Section Chairs to find out where they need help.
· The SPC contracted with Creativity @ Work to conduct a member survey and internal and external interviews. The results were used to direct the Strategic Planning workshop, which was held April 17th in Seattle, the Friday before the Board meeting. During the workshop, the attendees defined the areas of concern regarding the future of AEG. Now the SPC will work on a new Strategic Plan and will present it at the 2009 Annual Board Meeting.
· During lunch each Section was asked to answer three questions: 1) What is working for your Section? 2) How is the economy affecting the Section and its members? 3) What committee(s) are you on or would you like to be on? Answers will be posted with the minutes of the meeting.
· The Board discussed the Joint Task Force on Areas of Practice (JTFAP) Guidance document during the MYBM. There was considerable concern that the document in its current condition does not effectively represent our professional practice and its intended use and purpose remains unclear. Although a vote was not called for, an informal blind straw poll was conducted asking if the document should: 1) stop, 2) proceed with the input and guidance of AEG on a broader basis, or 3) proceed as a publication solely published by AEG. Two abstained, 20 thought AEG should proceed on a broader basis, and 1 thought we should proceed with a publication published solely by AEG.
o President Molinari requested creating an ad hoc committee. The BOD concurred, stipulating the following committee make-up guidelines:
1. Minimum of 3 members from Western US, minimum of 2 members from Mid-west/Eastern US, plus two current JTF committee members
2. Minimum of 5 members are current or former board members
3. Strive to include at least one member of AEG Licensure Committee
4. Strive to include at least one member who has been or is included on State Licensure Board
5. Range of 7-10 members
o The Ad-hoc Committee’s charge will be to:
1. Review and summarize member comments about the document
2. Consult with Mark Molinari after he obtains feedback from AIPG and Geo-Institute (after June 15 deadline) regarding how they intend to proceed and invite to forum if appropriate
3. Make recommendations for action and direction of the document
4. Present recommendations to the membership one month before the Annual Meeting
5. Have a discussion forum at the 2009 Annual Meeting assuming the document goes forward with the other groups
6. Work with CA, OR, WA and other licensure boards
· The Spring Shlemon Conference was a great success and had an approximate surplus of $12,000. The selection committee is looking for proposals for future conferences, beginning next year.
· President Molinari discussed the progress of the future Annual Meetings.
o 2010 – Charleston, SC
o 2011 – Anchorage, AL - AEG will need to help with the planning of this meeting
o 2012 – Salt Lake City, UT
o 2013 – Seattle, WA
· The Board decided it would like to post each AEG NEWS issue online when it is mailed and to allow public access for current and past issues.
· Governance Committee (GC) Chair Dale Andrews reviewed the GC’s summary of observations from the 2008 Annual Board Meeting. He also presented three Conflict of Interest templates for the board to decide among, in order to comply with IRS requirements. The board decided to have an attorney review all three statements and work with the GC and EC to finalize a version for Board approval at the 2009 Annual Board Meeting.
· Andrews also presented a template for Sections to use for meeting announcements, which will be posted under the Section/Chapter Support documents on the website.
· The GC compared the governance structure of AEG with other similar organizations and presented potential options for AEG. The Board discussed AEG’s current governance structure and decided that it is effective, but feels that the GC should look into other options including the proposed options of Delegates and Regionalization as well as define performance measures and ways to measure efficiency and effectiveness of the governance of the Association in its current structure.
· Treasurer Hilton presented the Fiscal Year 2009 budget, which covers from January-December 2009, to the board, emphasizing the major changes from the FY08/09 budget. Items such as reduced printing in the coming year, increased advertising/sponsorship efforts, and membership drives are essential to achieve/exceed this budget and allow the use of discretionary funds. The Board approved the budget as presented.
· The Board discussed the pros and cons of online vs. print publications. Through straw vote, the Board’s order of priority for electronic publication is 1) E&EG Journal (21 votes); 2) AEG News (14 votes); 3) Directory (5 votes); and 4) Abstracts with Programs (0 votes). Members will be asked for their priority in a demographics survey that will be included with their membership renewals.
· The Board discussed ways to retain and recruit members; each Director/Section Chair pledged to recruit a certain number of members by the 2009 Annual Meeting. Look for our goal to be posted and progress to be tracked as part of the membership drive.
· Director Metz offered a free frequent flyer ticket to any member who recruited the most members before the 2009 Annual Meeting.
· The Board approved changes to certain By-laws to account for the change in fiscal year to a calendar year.
· The Board approved a template for a Memorandum of Understanding between AEG and Sections proposing to host a future Annual Meeting.
· Two Student Chapters were approved by the Board: The College of Charleston and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
· The Board approved by blind vote a nominee to be included on the Executive Council ballot as Secretary for 2009/2010. This nomination is not a final result, but places this candidate on the mailed ballot; the election results will be presented at the AEG Business Luncheon in Tahoe in September.
· COO Roland summarized the report that the AEG Foundation (AEGF) submitted. The AEGF would like to work closely with the EC to establish one committee for the Lemke and Corporate Sponsor scholarships for students at the Annual Meeting. It would like to look at ways to support un- or underemployed members. It is supporting color photos in the E&EG, but would like for AEG to find a way for this to be self-sustaining.
· PowerPoint slides on the AEGF are available for Section Chairs to have at their Section meetings.
· President Molinari discussed AEG submitting a proposal to IAEG at the 2010 meeting to host the 2014 meeting, and reminded the Board that this meeting would replace AEG’s Annual Meeting that year, and would be an IAEG meeting, not a joint meeting.
· The next Board of Directors meeting is on September 26th and 27th in South Lake Tahoe, CA.
Short Course: Expanding Geological Practice: New Areas & Methods
Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists
Inland Empire Chapter, Southern California Section, May 15, 2009
Re: Distribution of Brochure for Annual Short Course
Dear AEG Members and Attendees:
The brochure for the AEG-Inland Empire Chapter Annual Short Course is attached here.
"Expanding Geological Practice: New Areas & Methods”
Eight speakers will present talks in two technical areas:
· Site Investigation Survey Methods: GPS-GIS, InSAR, LiDAR
· State of Environmental Practice: Climate change, solid waste management, SWPP, Current Trends & Development
Location: UC-RiversideEXTENSIONCENTER , Riverside , CA
Date: Friday 12-June, 2009
For more details see attached brochure or go to:
http://www.aegsc.org/chapters/inlandempire/shortcourses/
- Kerry Cato, Inland Chapter Chair
Inland Empire Chapter, Southern California Section, May 15, 2009
Re: Distribution of Brochure for Annual Short Course
Dear AEG Members and Attendees:
The brochure for the AEG-Inland Empire Chapter Annual Short Course is attached here.
"Expanding Geological Practice: New Areas & Methods”
Eight speakers will present talks in two technical areas:
· Site Investigation Survey Methods: GPS-GIS, InSAR, LiDAR
· State of Environmental Practice: Climate change, solid waste management, SWPP, Current Trends & Development
Location: UC-RiversideEXTENSIONCENTER , Riverside , CA
Date: Friday 12-June, 2009
For more details see attached brochure or go to:
http://www.aegsc.org/chapters/inlandempire/shortcourses/
- Kerry Cato, Inland Chapter Chair
Shlemon Specialty Conference on Advancing New Madrid Region Time-History Determination
Shlemon Specialty Conference on
ADVANCING NEW MADRID REGION
TIME-HISTORY DETERMINATION
To be held at the
FogelmanExecutiveCenter, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN
Wednesday – Friday, June 3 – 5, 2009
FOR HOTEL RESERVATIONS….
FogelmanExecutiveConferenceCenter
330 Innovation Drive
Memphis, TN 38152
901-678-3700
Block of rooms reserved for the nights of
June 2, 3 and 4, 2009
Rate: $85.00/night
ABSTRACT SUBMITTAL:
Abstract submittal has been extended to May 15. To submit your abstract, go to the following link:
http://www.aegweb.org/i4a/pages/Index.cfm?pageID=4634
PROPOSED SCHEDULE:
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Preconference Tours of CERI and the USGSPublicEarthquakeResourceCenter, if there is sufficient interest.
Hotel Registration for those staying at FogelmanExecutiveCenter
12 Noon to 12:45 PM - Conference Registration
1:00 – 5:00 PM Conference Opening,
Martitia Tuttle (USGS, Memphis, TN), Geological Record of Ancient Earthquakes in the Central US,
Gail Atkinson (University of WesternOntario), Characteristics of ground motions in inactive regions and associated constraints on time history methods, and
Discussion Panel and/or Submitted Presentations and/or Submitted Poster Session
5:30 – 6:30 PM Ice Breaker, included in registration (dinner on your own)
Thursday, June 4, 2009
8:30 – 11:30 AM Conference Announcements,
Rob Williams (USGS, Golden, CO), Shear-wave velocity structure in the Central US,
Dominic Assimaki (Georgia Tech), Nonlinear site response in ground motion predictions, and
Discussion Panel and/or Submitted Presentations and/or Submitted Poster Session
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM Lunch Provided
1:00 – 5:00 PM Conference Announcements,
Jack Baker (StanfordUniversity), Active Region Time History Selection/Generation Approaches,
Chris Cramer (CERI, University of Memphis), Central & Eastern US Time History Selection/Generation Approaches, and
Discussion Panel and/or Submitted Presentations and/or Submitted Poster Session
Dinner on your own
Friday, June 5, 2009
8:30 AM – Noon Conference Announcements,
Reginald DesRoches (Georgia Tech), Engineering Applications and Issues for the Central US,
Discussion Panel and/or Submitted Presentations and/or Submitted Poster Session, and
Conference Closing.
Post-conference Tours of CERI and the USGSPublicEarthquakeResourceCenter, if there is sufficient interest.
Contact Information:
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact: Oliver Boyd (olboyd@usgs.gov) or Greg Hempen (Greg_Hempen@urscorp.com).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
