Aiche Process Development Division 5th Executive Steering Committee MTG

12 November 2000 - Los Angeles Annual MTG

The AICHE Process Development Division Steering Committee met in Los Angeles on 11/12/00. The attendees were- John Corn, Cawas Cooper, Tom Kenat, Bob Duggal, Christine Seymour, Ron Mack, Joe Cramer, Ka Ng, Anita Katti, John Battler, Scott Rothschild, Jack Vinson, and John Peragine. John Corn facilitated the mtg (in Prabir Basu's absence). Agenda items and key minutes from the mtg follow:

John Corn welcomed the group. Prabir Basu unfortunately could not attend the mtg due to a knee injury and pending surgery. (Get well, Prabir, we missed you)! All attendees introduced themselves and their respective employers.

Cawas Cooper discussed plans for the upcoming Process Development Forum and presented a handout (developed by Scott Rothschild- look ahead) highlighting location options and approximate costs. Including this forum as part of the Manufacturing group (12d) topical in Fall 2002 was discussed but the consensus for proposed timing was June 2002. The key decision points currently are- the location, topics, technical programming committee, and administrative committee. Of the several locations discussed, the Poconos was deemed the best by the committee. No topic was decided but all agreed that it would cut across all areas of Group 12. Joe Cramer (as our AICHE rep for the forum) would need a decision now on which facility to use, the approximate time of year, and a breakdown on how the work would be divided between AICHE staff and Process Development volunteers (such as marketing, registration, fund raising, etc.). With this information in hand, AICHE could then prepare a detailed budget. Based on proposed timing for June 2002, final details would be needed by June 2001. Joe emphasized that AICHE will help out wherever possible but, if the forum is small enough, maybe companies and sections near the forum location could organize the logistics. The technical programming committee members proposed were Cawas, Christine Seymour, Tom Kenat, and Bob Duggal. The tentative administrative committee members proposed were Cawas, and Cheryl Teich.

Joe Cramer presented a new initiative in AICHE to have virtual web connections to meetings and conferences in future. The institute has $20,000 slated for 2001 to start development of a web enabled system and needs some groups to volunteer in the roll-out. By connecting on line over the web, those who cannot attend meetings, short courses, tutorials, etc. can take part in real time. The institute's desire is to try and get a portion (approx. 3 hour segment) of the Spring 2002 meeting on-line. For example, a live ticketed tutorial would be recorded. Those attending over the web would have the opportunity for some instant interaction with questions submitted in real time over the web. The recorded event would also be stored on CD and either available for sale or accessed over the web after the event. The institute anticipates a 3 year plan with one event in Spring 2002 and then to expand each year beyond that. Joe is asking for volunteer groups with the organization for the initial roll-out. He needs to have a formal plan in place over the next 3 months. The steering committee was very excited about this proposal. As an action item, Ron Mack (along with John Corn), will act as liasions and get back to Joe by the end of the year (or no later than the late Jan. retreat) about in our interest in the initial roll-out. (Post meeting note: Joe and Ron have exchanged emails on the webcast. They will discuss our strong interest in more detail the week of 1/8/01).

John Corn mentioned that our 5 year plan needs to be updated, including future topicals. Ka Ng presented the GREAT NEWS that our Process Development Group #12 has just been granted provisional status as a new Division within AICHE. We are now Process Development Division #12. CONGRATULATION TO ALL! Ka represented our division at the 11/11 CTOC mtg and received a unanimous vote. (CTOC stands for "Chemical Technology Operating Council" and handles all technical issues for AICHE). The "deliverables" developed by Bob Duggal and sub-committee members were well received in CTOC's recommendation for divisional status. (Division development will be discussed separately below). Other action items, including an update on the Process Development web site and future programming activities, will also be discussed below.

Now that we are a division, we can let our 125 pledged members know and start to collect dues. Letters to pledged members and future potential members need to be drafted. As an action item, Ka will work with Bob Duggal on writing one letter to those who already pledged and a different letter to solicit for new people to join the division. The deliverables of joining the division will be included in the letters. Another action item is for Ka to work with Joe Cramer on putting together an announcement presenting our new division to the whole AICHE community (possibly through AICHE Extra). John Corn proposed that as a division we need to develop a newsletter. He presented a newsletter from the Environmental Division as a sample for discussion. The newsletter highlights the many new officers within a division. It was noted that the Environmental Division has a Process Development chair. It was thought that this may be a good opportunity for a link to another division and for co-sponsoring activities in the future. As an action item, John Corn and Prabir need to put together a framework for a division and get various offices filled- such as Communications officer, Marketing director, Membership officer, administrative officers for awards and the newsletter, to name a few. It was suggested that the Institute be contacted for help with membership. The AICHE member activities liason is Margie Joy Walden. John is looking for volunteers in the various division development activities and expects to discuss in detail at the Spring 2001 mtg.

We welcomed Scott Rothschild, who has been with AICHE for 2 1/2 years. He works in the meeting planning area and will work with us on the Process Development Forum. He will help coordinate the registration, hotel, financial matters, etc. along with Joe Cramer.

Our web site is www.pd-aiche.com. Jack Vinson has been doing a great job keeping our site up-to-date. Now that we have division status, we'll have a link through the main AICHE web site.

Ramesh unfortunately could not a ttend the meeting last minute. John Corn had a copy of the report but not on overhead slides. He mentioned that we have $1250 in corporate sponsorships and $450 in registration from the 7/00 Steering Committee mtg. Our treasury will start to grow now that we'll be able to collect dues for the division. (Note: Anyone who wishes to see the actual reports should contact Ramesh directly for email copies).

For the Spring 2001 mtg, the deadline for paper submission was extended to 12/1. Christine indicated that we're pretty far along with programming for the Fall 2001 Batch Processing Topical in Reno. Ron Mack presented the framework for the Spring 2002 Manufacturing Topical in New Orleans. He is looking for help with organizing this topical, in particular identifying a topical and marketing chair (hopefully by 12/1). Since this topical will be in New Orleans, the sessions could possibly be coordinated with student sections and local sections (such as Pensacola, Baton Rouge, and Houston). Cawas offered support since his company has several plants in the general area.

The next Steering Committee mtg is scheduled for Fri. 7/13/00 in Newtown Square, Pa. Ramesh will host the mtg.