Executive Committee of the American Institute of Physics
Minutes of Meeting
Members Present: Philip M. Morse – Chairman, Robert T. Beyer, W. A. Fowler, Laurence W. Fredrick, W. W. Havens, Jr., H. William Koch, Jarus W. Quinn, A. A. Strassenburg
Nonvoting Participants: Robert S. Marvin (SOR), Isabella Karle (ACA), Edward L. Brady (MaL)
AIP Staff Present: H. William Koch, Director; Sidney Millman, Secretary; G. F. Gilbert, Treasurer; Lewis Slack, Associate Director for General Activities; Dorothy M. Lasky, Assistant to the Director
Chairman Morse called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m.
1. Minutes
Upon motion passed without dissent, the minutes of the Executive Committee meeting of March 21, 1975, were approved.
2. Status of Computer Acquisition
Koch reported that AIP has signed the contract with UNIVAC and that a completed contract, countersigned by UNIVAC, is expected by the middle of May. The equipment is scheduled to be installed in February of 1976. The staff is now considering a specific location for the new computer and whether the old computer should be combined with it. A likely possibility is putting the new equipment and parts of the old equipment on the first floor. The Accounting Section would be moved to the second floor where the Programming group is now located. The staff is looking into the acquisition of the required false floors needed for the air conditioning ducts and electrical conduits. We do not have any good cost figures as yet for the changes that will have to be made but it is estimated that it will be between $20,000 and $30,000 in addition to the expenses already projected.
With respect to conversion of the programs, UNIVAC will provide us with a project leader who will be assigned half-time for ten months and a systems analyst who will be assigned full-time for eight months.
UNIVAC will require one or two weeks to set up the equipment and AIP will have a parallel operation with the old computer configuration. We should have one week of trouble-free operation before the equipment is declared, by UNIVAC, acceptable to us. After that, the official rental period will begin with two months of deferred rental. Accordingly, we should start paying in May 1976 ($9,800 per month).
3. Brookhaven Site
Koch reported that, on April 16 AIP received a Registered letter asking us to vacate the Brookhaven space. Even though our agreement for space at Brookhaven contains a clause requiring 90 days’ termination notice, it was quite a shock to us. We did get earlier indications that they were considering taking over the space we occupy for their own use. Fortunately, there is a happy solution to this problem and that is to move into the basement of the old physics building at Stony Brook where there are 10,000 square feet of vacant space at the moment being made available to AIP. It is air conditioned and will be cleaned and painted for us. The Publications Division presently occupies 3,400 square feet at Brookhaven and will probably want to use about 6,000 square feet at Stony Brook. The arrangement as proposed in a letter dated April 28, 1975, from John S. Toll, President of SUNY-Stony Brook (copy attached as Exhibit A), will be on a year-to-year basis. (The Stony Brook proposal was accepted in a letter dated May 5, 1975, from Koch and a copy is attached as Exhibit B.) Concurrently, it was felt that a grant for $20,000 per year should be made to the Stony Brook Foundation. (A copy of the letter dated May 19, 1975, from Koch making the grant is attached as Exhibit C.) The total expense for the Stony Brook operation, including the grant, is expected to be the same as that at Brookhaven. We have proposed to the American Physical Society that, for the time being, there should be no change in the agreement with respect to publications production work now done for them at Brookhaven. The following motion was then passed:
MOVED that the plan to move the AIP Editorial Mechanics Center from Brookhaven to Stony Brook be approved.
Koch added that informal discussions indicated that we would not lose much staff due to the move. He also reported that discussions were held recently with our real estate agent on possible consolidation of AIP operations. Indications are that consolidating into one building in Manhattan would cost about $6,000,000. On Long Island, between Brookhaven and Stony Brook, it would cost about $3,000,000. However, he did not wish to imply that consolidation is necessarily the most desirable solution. The more appropriate model, Koch thought, is to continue to own and occupy our headquarters building in Manhattan and have, perhaps, the whole Publications Division on Long Island. He liked the model of the American Chemical Society, with headquarters in Washington and a large production operation located in Columbus, Ohio. He noted that Morse had asked the staff to produce for him a report covering several alternatives to be completed by the time of the fall meeting of the Governing Board.
Havens stated that APS is likely to need more space and is currently also exploring possibilities on Long Island for the relocation of their scientific editors.
4. Publication of Transactions of the Society of Rheology
Koch raised the question of the appropriateness of the present arrangement with SOR concerning the handling of the Transactions of the Society of Rheology. He distributed copies of a 1968 memo by Gilbert (copy attached as Exhibit D) and noted that the net income from this journal goes to John Wiley & Sons, Inc. who determines the nonmember subscription price and has control of the nonmember subscription list. AIP merely collects the page charges, and these affect the magnitude of the net income which Wiley gets. Koch thought that either AIP should publish the journal with the financial risks being taken by the Society, or AIP should take title to the journal, publish it, and have an arrangement with SOR comparable to that of Wiley. If, on the other hand, Wiley continues to publish the journal and benefit from the profit, AIP should discontinue collecting page charges on it. Gilbert observed that any Government auditor can audit AIP and ask us to show that our current page charge rate is justified. For all other journals we can do it by showing him the front-end costs, but it cannot be done in the case of this journal. Koch added that AIP collects 3.6 million dollars in page charges altogether and we are concerned that the system may be under attack if some of the page charges appear to be used to make a profit for a profit-making company.
Marvin pointed out that Koch is not placing the right emphasis on the arrangement. The SOR contract with Wiley has nothing whatever to do with page charges. Wiley has the right to sell, over and above what SOR requires for its members, additional copies and back numbers at any price they wish. SOR pays Wiley according to a fixed formula and Wiley pays the cost of production for the copies they sell, plus their proportionate share of editorial mechanics cost. How SOR raises the money to meet its obligation is entirely up to the Society. There is absolutely nothing in this agreement that should present any legal problem whatever as long as there is no profit sharing between SOR and Wiley and since the arrangement is not tied to page charges. He added that the various alternatives are being discussed by the SOR Executive Committee.
(Discussions between Koch and J. R. Knox, Vice President of SOR, subsequent to the meeting give strong indication that the publication of the journal will be transferred from Wiley to AIP.)
5. Reprinting JASA Issues of May and June 1973
Gilbert reported that AIP has received a request from the Acoustical Society concerning reprinting of the May and June 1973 issues of The Journal of the Acoustical Society to fill orders for back number copies. This request is similar to one made by the Optical Society and approved last year that AIP pay the cost of reprinting issues which were depleted as a result of the inadvertent duplication of back issue mailing strips during the subscription fulfillment program conversion. The estimated cost to AIP is about $3,000 for reproducing 500 copies of each. Whereupon the following motion was approved without dissent:
MOVED that AIP pay for reprinting 500 copies each of the May and June 1973 issues of The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.
6. Soviet Journals
-
Implications of New Agreement with the Soviets
Gilbert distributed copies of his memo to the Executive Committee on this subject, dated April 20, 1975 (copy attached as Exhibit E), and discussed some of the highlights such as the royalty arrangements, translation rights after 1975 of the nine Soviet journals that are now being translated by Plenum, and the granting to AIP of advertising rights to Soviet physics journals and to the USSR of rights to translate The Review of Scientific Instruments. Attached to Exhibit C is a copy of a memo by DiCaro, dated April 8, showing that the total value of 1975 subscriptions to AIP journals by Mezhdunarodnaja Kniga, as of that date, was just under $121,000. This compares to a total volume during all of 1974 of $74,500. Gilbert said that at the next meeting he will have an up-to-date listing of the Soviet subscriptions to AIP journals. He mentioned the problem that the whole AIP budget concerning the Soviet translation journals is tied in so closely with the number of pages they publish and depends on how good our guess is. Beyer suggested that AIP look into the state of sales to Eastern European countries as a result of the Soviets’ decision to stop photocopying AIP journals. Fowler said that he would expect that some pressure from Russian physicists will be exerted to increase the number of subscriptions to AIP journals.
Koch noted that AIP has transferred the translation rights for two of the journals that belong to OSA to the Optical Society. AIP has also requested translation rights for two books and four additional journals, two of which were letters parts of principal journals for which we do have the rights.
-
Financial Results of Quantum Electronics and Particles & Nuclei
Gilbert distributed copies of his memo on this subject and noted that the Soviet Journal of Quantum Electronics lost $40,500 in 1974 and a loss of $38,000 is budgeted for 1975. The total loss since 1971 is about $118,000. The Soviet Journal of Particles & Nuclei lost $21,000 in 1974 and is budgeted to lose $17,300 this year, for a total since 1972 of $70,000. The AIP Translations Advisory Board feels that SJQE is a good journal and encouraged us to increase our promotion efforts. We expect to lower our production costs next year when our contract with Plenum expires by about $10 per page for a saving of approximately $30,000 which would almost equal the budgeted deficit for this journal for 1975.
The Translations Advisory Board also felt that SJPN is a high quality journal and encouraged us to continue its publication. We are doing more in the case of the Soviet journals than we have in the past and it has to do with the "heads" program and less copy editing being done by outside consultants.
7. Status of IEE Exchange
Koch reminded the Committee of the previous exchange of letters between J. H. H. Merriman, President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers in London, and Crane. Soon after Morse became Chairman, he wrote to Merriman advising that he will carry on negotiations on behalf of AIP and looks forward to face-to-face discussions. Merriman will be in Canada this fall. With respect to the proposal to set up an advisory council, we shall write and suggest a more balanced arrangement, including APS participation.
8. Implementation of Common Classification Scheme in Physics and Astronomy
Koch reported that the adoption of the Physics & Astronomy Classification Scheme (PACS) is now going apace and that the latest issue of Physical Review Letters published the complete scheme. Not only has the Physical Review adopted it, but it has been adopted by others abroad. He anticipated that it will soon be adopted by Physics Abstracts.
9. Status of Marketing Proposal to the Physical Society of Japan
Koch reported that the Physical Society of Japan turned down the AIP proposal to market their journals in the U.S. under an agreement similar to that which we have with the Institute of Physics in London. The decision is probably the result of their being enmeshed with agencies in Japan.
10. Application of American Vacuum Society to be Admitted as a Member Society
Millman reminded the Committee that at the last meeting it was reported that the American Vacuum Society had informally asked where they stood with respect to their application for AIP Membership made two and a half years ago. At that meeting the Executive Committee discussed whether it is desirable for AIP to expand and what the guidelines should be for admission of a new Member Society.
Havens distributed a memorandum on "issuing shares in AIP" (copy attached as Exhibit F) and raised a question whether some such scheme should be adopted since AIP has assets and a new society that becomes a member essentially shares those assets without paying anything. In the case of the New York Section of APS, it was ruled that their assets would have to go to a 50l(c)(3) organization, presumably APS. In a like manner, if AIP were to dissolve, its assets would very likely be divided among its constituent Member Societies. Gilbert thought that this sounds too much like what one would expect from a profit-making corporation. We would have to get a legal interpretation. Morse asked whether the procedure for new societies to come in gradually as Associate Member Societies would get around the problem, pending the resolution of the legality of Havens’ proposal. Havens said he did not know what it would mean under the proposed new system. Koch observed that AVS is an Affiliated Society now and we provide services for them at cost plus 15% overhead. This would remain unchanged if they were to become an Associate Member Society. Beyer noted that in the case of a new Member Society, if it had a journal it would also be putting assets into the organization. Gilbert noted that we carry the journals as "zero" on our books.
Morse felt that since we have this 3-year old request from AVS, we ought to make progress in the resolution of its application. Gilbert noted that AVS has a very successful journal and it would be to their financial advantage if they were to become a Member Society. Koch stated that AVS has thought of changing its name to reflect its greater involvement in physics. They are very active and very basic-research minded now. Havens thought that even though the Society has become more scientific its meetings still contain a considerable amount of technical and technician-oriented material. Gilbert also mentioned the fact that AVS has recently gone through an IRS audit and was declared 50l(c)(3). Koch added that AVS has been so successful in the exhibit and advertising areas that it brought on this audit. Nevertheless, they were successful in retaining their 50l(c)(3) classification.
Morse suggested that copies of the AVS Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology be sent to members of the Executive Committee. Havens agreed, and Beyer added that information on activities of the Society and about this technical-scientist division would also be helpful. Morse thought that we should (1) give to the Executive Committee whatever data that are available on AVS and (2) ask AVS whether it would wish to apply for Associate Membership.
11. Report on Meeting of Advisory Committee on Corporate Associates
Lasky reported that the Advisory Committee on Corporate Associates met on April 28 and that the newly-appointed Chairman, Dale W. Compton, invited suggestions as to what the committee can accomplish. At this meeting, Koch reported on some AIP programs that might be of interest to industrial people. (Most of these items are familiar to the Executive Committee; some are reported elsewhere in these minutes.) There was a report by Lasky on Corporate Associates membership. At that meeting, Morse asked whether the committee could determine why so few of the outstanding physicists are interested in careers in industry. Fiske suggested that a role for the committee would be to get good young people to go into industry. Another suggestion was that proposed by Millman for AIP to organize regional meetings of industrial R&D leaders and chairmen of university physics departments. Another suggestion was to make use of articles in Physics Today aimed at counteracting the existing attitude of physicists toward industry. As an immediate step, it was decided to invite a panel of three or four graduate students to the fall meeting to discuss their view on industrial careers. The Advisory Committee agreed that highlights of the fall meeting should be reported in PT although the committee did not favor a single issue treatment. Suggestions for topics and speakers for the fall meeting were made and discussed.
At the April 28 meeting, Slack reported on current AIP activities in the preparation of directories and asked committee members about their attitude toward a directory of industrial physicists. The majority felt that industry would not cooperate in this if asked directly to list all their physicists, but it was suggested that the Society directories might include the names of companies the members work for, and a separate company listing in the back of the directory.
-
Election of New Corporate Associate
Lasky presented one additional candidate for election to the Corporate Associates, FMC Corporation. This is the sixth company that has responded positively as a result of her February mailing. Upon motion made and passed, FMC Corporation was elected a Corporate Associate of the Institute, at a dues rate of $250.
12. Plans for Fall Meetings of Assembly, Corporate Associates, Governing Board
Koch presented a schedule for the 3-day fall meetings of the Assembly of Society Officers, Corporate Associates, and AIP Governing Board. The plan is for the Assembly to meet on Thursday, October 2. That same day, beginning at 4:00 p.m., the Corporate Associates meeting would begin and go through the evening, and continue all day Friday, The Governing Board would meet on Saturday, October 4. The AIP Executive Committee would probably meet Wednesday evening, preceding the meeting of the Assembly. All meetings are scheduled to be held at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington.
13. Prospect for a National Register of Scientific Personnel
Slack stated that the 1970 Register was the last one conducted under the aegis of NSF. AIP, with support from APS, continued to collect manpower data on the employment of physicists and a Register was conducted in 1973 with a number of other Societies cooperating. NSF is showing some signs of increased interest in manpower activities. The National Science Board, in its recent report, is recommending that NSF increase its support for studies on the supply and demand of scientific and technical manpower.
The April 1974 issue of PT contains an analysis of the data we have collected. We have been encouraged to do a deeper analysis and Beverly Porter has worked up some additional analyses. In 1975 our activity consists of detailed analysis and maintaining the addresses of people whose names are potential persons to survey should a future Register be conducted. AIP is not planning to conduct a Register in 1976.
The National Research Council is in the process of sending out a second survey of doctoral scientists and engineers. Limited data on lower-degree holders is being assembled only with a very small sample drawn from the post-census survey of the total population.
The incremental costs to conduct another Register are about $150,000 which would be a heavy burden for AIP or the Societies to bear. We could do some activity on a special project basis. For $25,000 we could probably conduct an annual survey of what is happening in the postdoctoral pool. Slack noted that on May 13 H. Guyford Stever is having a meeting of presidents of scientific societies and others. Koch and Sears have been invited and undoubtedly there will be an opportunity for them to urge NSF to get back into manpower collection activities. Koch added that, at its Council meeting of April 27, APS decided that, for the next academic year, they will be giving AIP $50,000 less than they did this year. This means that, even if the data are available, we will not be able to analyze it. Havens explained that a decrease of $18,000 was due to the phasing out of the Doctoral Employment Information Service which is being discontinued on the recommendation of the manpower committee of both the American Institute of Physics and the American Physical Society. The remainder of the decrease of about $20,000 was due to the decrease in support of Sears’ work because he is expected to give a decreasing amount of time to the placement activity. Havens also pointed out that the APS does not give money to AIP. The APS supports specific projects proposed by the AIP and evaluates the results achieved by these projects. The APS is sympathetic to specific proposals for increasing manpower services but no proposals have been received.
14. Changes in Membership of Governing Board
Millman reported that there have been two changes in the membership of the Governing Board since the March Board meeting. Morse resigned as an APS representative to assume his duties as Chairman and he has been replaced by Milan D. Fiske. Also, in view of the proposed amendment to the AIP Constitution which would make the Secretary of the Institute an ex officio member of the Board and Executive Committee, Millman has resigned as a member-at-large and has been replaced by Herbert L. Anderson of the Enrico Fermi Institute.
15. Resolution Concerning Walter C. Michels
Millman referred to the recent death of Walter C. Michels, a former member of the Board and Executive Committee, and thought that it would be appropriate for this Committee to pass a resolution, as follows:
WHEREAS, the Executive Committee of the Governing Board of the American Institute of Physics desires to record its deep sorrow at the death of its colleague, Walter C. Michels, who served as a member of the Governing Board and Executive Committee from 1957 to 1960, be it
RESOLVED, that the Executive Committee of the Institute hereby gives formal expression of its severe loss and does hereby note in its records the passing from this life of a man who was esteemed by his associates and respected by all; and be it further
RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be transmitted to his family.
Upon motion made and passed, the above resolution was adopted.
16. Future Meetings
It was agreed that the next meeting of the Executive Committee will be held at the Institute on Thursday, June 12, 1975.
It was also agreed that a meeting of the Executive Committee be scheduled tentatively for September 8, at which time the Committee would discuss, among other items, a proposed agenda for the October Governing Board meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:40 a.m.