                        CINP Board Meeting Minutes

                               Apr 4, 2018
             15:30 Atl/14:30 East/13:30 MB/12:30SK&AB/11:30 BC

In attendance: Rituparna Kanungo, Michael Gericke, Jeff Martin, Garth Huber, 
Sangyong Jeon, David Hornidge

Absent: Iris Dillmann 

1. Approval of Agenda
Approved by consensus.

2. Approval of Minutes
   - Jan 17/18
Moved by RK.
Seconded by DH.

3. Finance Report
   - Iris had to suddenly leave for Germany on the weekend for personal reasons
     and sends her regrets.
GH: No report for this meeting. Nothing substantial has changed since
last board meeting.

4. Executive Director Report (Garth)
   a) WNPPC Student Travel awards competition summary
   GH: Total of 9 applicants. 4 were awarded. 2 in the waiting list.  

   Discussions and Comments:
   RK: Is the large number of applications a trend or an exception?
   GH: QC location usually doesn't generate many applications.
   Conference next year is in Banff. May be we should up the number of
   awardees to 6 next year.
   RK: We should increase the number of awardees to 6 regardless of the location of the WNPPC.
   GH: Board meeting next fall will decide.

   b) Undergraduate Research Scholarships competition summary
   GH: Heavily subscribed. Total of 14 apprlicants. 5 were awarded, 2 in the waiting list.
   Asked the committee to increase the number of awardeed. The committee (chaired by Adam Gansworthy) was 
   against it as it could dilute the prestige of the award.
   
   Discussions and Comments:
   RK suggested to increase the number of awardees by 1 when next NSERC budget is in.

   c) Junior Scientist Travel Support Program
      - this new program proposal follows our discussion at the January
        meeting.
   GH: Following the January board meeting, the proposal is to use 7,500 CAD from
   the surplus for this program. 

   Discussions and Comments:
   RK: Equal amounts for the awards?
   GH: 7,500 doesn't divide evenly. In the last board meeting, it was decided to be flexible
   according to either the long term need (Category 1) or the short term need (Category 2).
   RK: How to manage the program?
   GH: On continuous basis and with a standing committee. Evaluate as the applications
   come in and as the budget allows. First come, first served basis.
   The amounts should be large enough to be attractive.
   JM: Looks entirely reasonable. This will help PDF a lot. Grad students can get Cat.2 equivalent
   from the University. PDF's often cannot.
   GH: We should not set a maximum nor minimun until we have a better idea on typical demand.
   JM: For students receiving Cat.1 support, how can they make up the remainder?
   SJ: We should encourage the students to use the CINP funding to leverage funds from other sources.

   Motion: To create the program with 7,500 CAD budget and solicit one volunteer in the standing committee.
   Moved by RK.
   Seconded by SJ.
   Volunteer: SJ.

   d) Conference Support Applications
      - Fundamental Neutron Physics Summer School 2018
    Report and Discussion moved to the end.
    
    MG and JM excused due to conflict of interest.

    Discussions:
    GH: We have enough funding.
    RK: We'll also get support request for the TRIUMF Summer School.
     
    Motion to support.
    Moved by SJ.
    Seconded by DH. 
      
   e) Update from meetings with officials in Ottawa, Jan 30
   GH: Meeting with Pierre Charest (Vice President of NSERC).  
   Push by the scientific community played a large role in Federal Government's
   acceptance of the recommendations by Canada's Fundamental Science Review. 
   Minister of Science (Kirsty Duncan) has also become the Minister of Sport. A good sign that
   she and her portfolio is prominent in the Cabinet.
   Joining CERN as an associate member is currently off the table.
   The community will need to concentrate on getting the High Luminosity LHC approved first.
   It was pointed out that there is no consistent process for approving big science projects.

   Thanked NSERC for making the relocation expenses for the postdocs eligible. 
   
   GH: Met with the CFI officials on Jan 31. 
   They were pessimistic about the budget. Mid-size competition is not a priority for them.
   More pushing from the community needed for this.
   
   Chalk River Neutron Scattering Facility will be closed. 
   HL-LHC will be a separate budget item. 
   ATLAS upgrade is accepted but not the accelerator contribution.

   A good way to make public aware of our science: theconversation.com/ca. Articles are written by 
   academics then picked up by journalists.

   GH: Met with the Chief Science Advisor Dr. Mona Nemer. 
   Discussed how big science and infrastructure investment will be handled,
   such as the future Electron-Ion collider.
   TRIUMF is a good model, Compute Canada seems to be regarded as poorly run.
   
   f) Update regarding CINP events at CAP Congress
   GH: CINP board meeting in the morning of Thursday June 14th. 
   For the joint session with IPP, it is our (Garth's) turn to chair. 
   Invitations accepted: CFI, TRIUMF, SNOLAB.
   NSERC rep has not yet accepted the invitation.
   
   g) Update regarding inst. members
   GH: Calgary is interested in joining, but feels that this is not the right time.
   Perhaps when TITAN Project solidifies.
   Memorial is also interested but Newfoundland is right now in a budget crisis.
    
5. News from TRIUMF
   GH: Contacted Reiner. He has no news from TRIUMF.
   RK: Governer General visited Triumf.
   GH: TRIUMF is celebrating their 50th year in July.

6. Other Business
   None.

7. Approximate dates of next meetings

   a) A Doodle Poll has been distributed to select the time of the Annual
      Institutional Members meeting, most likely on Friday, May 4.

   Motion to hold the Annual Institutional Members meeting on May 4, 2018.
   Moved by MG. 
   Seconded by RK.

   Motion to waive financial review for 2018 at this time.
   Moved by RK.
   Seconded by JM.
   
   Comments: Approve financial statement by email depending on ID's family situation.
      
   b) Board meeting at CAP Congress in Halifax
      - scheduled at 07:30 at Dalhousie, breakfast to be provided.
      - this is the first meeting of the new Board after the election.  
        Incoming and outgoing members are invited, SWG Chairs and Institutional
        Delegates typically invited as observers.
