Hi,

Here are a few information items for you.

1) I have been informed by NSERC that we will not receive any questions from
   SAPES on our grant that have to be addressed in the Large Project Day (LPD)
   presentation.  This is a departure from what happened in 2015, which I think
   is due to the large turnover of NSERC staff, not knowing what past practice
   was.

   I will work on the presentation and send you a draft copy in the next ~2
   weeks, but this should mean we do not need a Board meeting prior to LPD
   to discuss our responses to their questions.  Instead, we should plan on our
   next Board meeting to be as soon as possible after the grant results are
   released.  For example, we should let any backup URS students know whether
   they will get a scholarship or not, and we should not keep them waiting
   longer than absolutely necessary.

   Please let me know if any dates April 1-10 are particularly bad for a
   meeting, so I can set up a Doodle Poll.

2) Late last week, Mike Roney and I officially submitted the grant application
   package to NSERC, to pay for their contribution to the SAP Long Range Plan
   (LRP).  Note, this is not an application in the usual sense, but is a
   request to use NSERC's internal administrative funds for this purpose.
   The approval process is entirely internal (probably only Danika Goosney's
   signature).  Our repeated efforts to have CFI pay for part of the LRP were
   not successful, and I can discuss this in a future Board meeting if you want.

   As we discussed at the last Board meeting, our request projects a full LRP
   of about $80k, of which the two institues pay $30k and NSERC contributes the
   remaining $50k.  We had a phone conversation with Emily Diepenveen about it
   on Monday.  She thought our proposed budget looked reasonable, and does not
   foresee any issues with approval.  Once the approval is obtained, she will
   contact a potential Chair, followed by the other committee members.

3) I have received the final 2015-16 financial review statement, as well as the
   completed T2-short, from the CPA.  I signed the T2-short on our behalf and
   it has since been sent to Revenue Canada.

   The CPA has since begun the 2016-17 financial review, which he estimates
   will take about a month.  The 2017-18 and 2018-19 will likely be a while
   longer due to the complexity of the new engagements and it being right in
   the middle of tax season.

   Greg and Iris should plan to provide the 2019-20 receipts for the CPA
   sometime in April.  I expect to be at the ACOT meeting on Apr 24, so if it
   is possible for you to give them to me then, I can bring them back with me
   to Regina.

4) I was asked at the last Board meeting to follow up with Gwen on the issue of
   why CINP students haven't been receiving any of the WNPPC student talk
   prizes in recent years.  

   In years when WNPPC is in Quebec (2018), there are many fewer CINP student
   talks than IPP student talks.  When the WNPPC is in Alberta (2019), the
   balance is more even.

                     2018        2019
   nuclear (ISAC)    9 (4) 	18 (10)
   non nuclear        29          17

   Given that there are only 3 prizes per year, the statistical fluctuation in
   how the prizes are distributed is large.  Gwen did not think there is any
   systematic discrimination against CINP students in the awarding of talk
   prizes, given this fluctuation.

That's all for now.  Again, please indicate your availability for a meeting at
the beginning of April.

Garth
