2016 AAAS Engineering Section Business Meeting

 

Friday February 12, 2016

 

Washington, DC; Omni Shoreham Hotel, Hampton Ballroom

 

MINUTES

 

1.   Introductions: Kent Fuchs, Section Chair, called the meeting to order at 9:45 AM after around 15 minutes of networking with coffee and snacks being served.  He asked those present to introduce themselves. The attendance list is included in Appendix A.

 

2.   Approval of Minutes: Dr. Fuchs asked for comments and suggested corrections to the draft minutes of the Section Business Meeting held on February 13, 2015, at the San Jose, CA meeting. The draft minutes were posted on the Section website http://www.eecs.ucf.edu/aaas-m shortly after the 2015 San Jose meeting.  Copies of the draft minutes were also distributed at the meeting.  There were no comments made or changes suggested.  A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes.  The motion passed unanimously.

 

3.  Section Chair Remarks:  Dr. Fuchs described some of the new initiatives at AAAS.  These include the development of social media outreach, the expansion of international engagement and activities, and initiatives to increase the AAAS membership.  An important part of the AAAS membership drive is to increase the membership in the engineering section since the field of engineering includes considerable interdisciplinary research that has national policy implications. Currently the AAAS membership is around 120,000 but has declined by about 5% last year.   Dr. Fuchs pointed out that both our section budget and the Steering Group Fellow nomination quota depend on the number of AAAS members who have affiliated with the engineering section.

 

Dr. Fuchs also summarized some additional information regarding the 2017 Annual Meeting.  In particular, he mentioned that the planning committee decided to eliminate the option of 180-minute symposia.  The available option now are the standard 90-minute symposia, a new 90-minute discussion format which focuses slightly more on audience participation, and a new 15-minute flash talk format, which is an opportunity for an individual to briefly discuss a particular topic or area of research.

 

4.   Update on the various programs and changes at AAAS: Yolanda George, our section’s AAAS Liaison, discussed the role of sections in AAAS, including evaluating Fellows, serving as subject matter experts for AAAS advocacy and public engagement effort, and recruiting new members. She described the new council committee charged with reviewing the Fellows Program, and in particular the 4-year rule.  She also mentioned the new additions to the AAAS Family of Journals, which in addition to Science, include: Science Signaling; Science Translational Medicine; Science Advances (an open access online journal), Science Immunology, and Science Robotics (which will begin publication in Summer/Fall 2016). She also mentioned the AAAS Office of Philanthropy and Strategic Partnerships, Trellis, and other AAAS Offices.

 

5.   Announcements:  Dr. Fuchs announced the 2016-17 results of the AAAS elections for Section M:  Linda P.B. Katehi (University of California-Davis) was elected as Chair-Elect; Nadine Aubry (Northeastern University) was elected as Member-at-Large; Nancy Jackson (Sandia National Laboratories) and Robert M. Kelly (North Carolina State University) were elected as members of the Section Electorate Nominating Committee. The term for all those who were elected starts on February 16, 2016.

 

Dr. Fuchs thanked all the officers whose terms ended after this Annual Meeting:  Nicholas Peppas as Retiring Chair, Alan Willner as Retiring Member-at-Large, and William E. Bentley and Edmund Seebauer as Retiring Members of the Electorate Nominating Committee.  On February 16, 2016 Dr. Fuchs will become the Retiring Chair and in that capacity he will serve on the AAAS Council and he will also Chair the Electorate Nominating Committee. 

 

Dr. Fuchs also announced that this year 35 members of our section were elected Fellows of AAAS. A list of the names of the newly elected Fellows was distributed at the meeting and is attached as Appendix B.  The Newly elected Fellows were invited to attend our business meeting and 11 of the 35 were able to attend.  Dr. Fuchs welcomed them, and thanked them for attending the meeting.

 

6.   Fellow Nomination Process: Dr. Fuchs asked Marwan Simaan, the section secretary to review the AAAS Fellow nomination process which is the same as in previous years.  Dr. Simaan mentioned that our section currently has 6,217 Members (primary affiliation: 3,139, secondary affiliation: 1,910, and tertiary affiliation: 1,168). This year 35 members of our section were elected Fellows of AAAS.  He also mentioned that there is a new rule beginning two years ago, which mandates that a nominee for Fellow must have been a AAAS member in good standing for the four consecutive years prior to the time of nomination.  This means that for the upcoming election, a member must have been a continuous member in good standing since December 31, 2012.

 

Dr. Simaan then described the Fellow nomination process. There are three ways a AAAS member can be nominated:

 

1)      By a member of the Steering Group (method 1),

2)      By a group of three Fellows (method 2), and

3)      By the AAAS Chief Executive Officer (method 3).

 

For Fellow nominations by members of the Steering Group (method 1), he mentioned that this method is subject to a quota of no more than 0.4% of the section primary membership, which is equal to 13 for this year.  Information on the nomination process by a group of three Fellows (method 2) and a copy of the nomination form can be found on the AAAS main website.  A link to that website can also be found on our section Website (http://www.eecs.ucf.edu/aaas-m).  Dr. Simaan also mentioned that the deadline for Fellow nominations by a group of three Fellows is April 21, 2016, and that there is no quota for those elected through nominations by the three Fellows method.   By May 18, 2016, all members of the Steering Group will receive from the AAAS Executive Office copies of the nomination materials for all nominees by the section and a voting sheet that they will need to complete and return to him by June 15, 2016.  Marwan will then forward all votes to the Executive Office.  He concluded by saying that in all three methods, a successful candidate must receive no less than five “Yes” votes and no more than two “No” votes.

 

A discussion followed which centered on issues related to the lack of diversity of Fellows, including disciplines, employment sector such as industry, gender, and international. It was also mentioned that many engineers may not find a need to become members because they get Science magazine via their university or Lab license. There is a need to educate engineers about the value of AAAS membership.  It was also mentioned that community building was needed to not only increase the number of engineering Fellows but to also increase the number of AAAS officers who are engineers.

 

Dr. Fuchs mentioned that AAAS has appointed a committee to review the Fellows election process. Marwan Simaan is serving on this committee. 

 

7. Update on AAAS Subcommittee on Fellows:  Dr. Simaan mentioned that the Committee on Council Affairs (CCA) appointed an ad hoc subcommittee to review the Fellow nominations and election process and report its recommendation to the full Committee, which in turn reports to the Council. In December 2014, the CCA voted to authorize the creation of this subcommittee. The Council also voted its approval in February 2015.  A subcommittee consisting of the following six AAAS members was appointed on December 15, 2015: Ed Aboufadel (Section: Mathematics), Jessica Gurevitch (Section: Biological Sciences), Jeanne Robinson (Section: Chemistry), Marwan Simaan (Section: Engineering), Betty Smocovitis (Section: History & Philosophy of Science), and Saku Vrtilek (Section: Astronomy).

The Subcommittee on Fellows was tasked with examining the following issues. (1) Consideration of adding a statement to the nomination form verifying that all nominees have acted responsibly in conducting their scientific work. (2) Diversity represented among the elected Fellows. (3) Effectiveness of the recent 4-year eligibility rule. (4) Concerns about the distinction and prestige of the AAAS Fellows— individually and collectively. (5) Concerns about what is asked of and what is given to AAAS fellows in the years after they are elected. (6) Concerns about retention of AAAS Fellows as AAAS members. (7) Review process of the Steering Groups to ensure the standard of AAAS Fellow election is being consistently upheld. (8) Review process of the Council to ensure the standards of AAAS Fellow election is being upheld. (9) The difference in criteria and required materials for fellows nominated through the Steering Groups and those nominated through the 3-Fellows process.

Dr. Simaan mentioned that the committee has met only twice by teleconference prior to the AAAS Annual Meeting and has only had a chance to discuss the first two items mentioned in the paragraph above.  He asked anyone who has input or concerns on any of the items of charge to the committee mentioned above to let him know.

 

8.  Planning for the 2017 Annual Meeting:  The 2017 AAAS Annual Meeting will be held in Boston, MA, February 16-20, 2017. The meeting theme is: “Serving Society through Science Policy.” The deadline for the 2017 session proposal submissions is April 22, 2016.  AAAS asked our section to brainstorm at our business meeting and arrive at three hot topics to be discussed at the 2017 Annual Meeting planning meeting, which will be held on Sunday afternoon 2-4:30pm.  These hot topics will form the basis for possible collaborative symposia sponsored by our section or co-sponsored with other section at the 2017 Annual Meeting.   Dr. Fuchs asked for ideas and suggestions.  A discussion followed with everyone present contributing ideas. A summary of these ideas is given below (including details obtained after the meeting but before the Sunday afternoon planning meeting):

 

8.1 The Human Brain and Computing Machines of the Future

 

Proposed by: Sankar Basu (Section M)

 

In June 2015, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a Grand Challenge to the scientific community that addresses three national priorities—the National Nanotechnology Initiative, the National Strategic Computing Initiative (NSCI), and the BRAIN initiative. More specifically, the grand challenge is to create a new type of computer that can proactively interpret and learn from data, solve unfamiliar problems using what it has learned, and operate with the energy efficiency of the human brain.

 

While it continues to be a national priority to advance conventional digital computing, which has been the engine of the global information technology revolution, current technology falls far short of the human brain in terms of both the brain’s sensing and problem-solving abilities and its low power consumption. Many experts predict that fundamental physical limitations will prevent technology from ever matching these twin characteristics. To wit, it is easy to observe that while the human brain consumes less power than an electric light bulb, its capacity for recognition, decision making, and complex problem solving, often  far exceeds that of vast arrays of today’s computing machines consuming up to megawatts of power. There are growing problems facing our generation that range from delivering individualized treatments for disease, to allow advanced robots to work safely alongside people, to proactively identify and block cyber intrusions. To meet this challenge, major breakthroughs will be needed not only in computing hardware, but in ways that a computer analyzes images, sounds, and patterns; interprets and learns from data; and identifies and solves problems. The Grand Challenge thus addresses the science and engineering communities to chart a new path that will continue the rapid pace of innovation beyond the next decade.

 

Recent progress in developing novel, low-power methods of sensing and computation, including neuromorphic, magneto-electronic, and analog systems, combined with dramatic advances in neuroscience and cognitive sciences, lead one to believe that this ambitious challenge may now be within our reach. The symposium will assemble thought leaders in the field from government, academia and industry and plans to critically examine this latter mentioned premise. The symposium will consist of 15 min presentation by each of the 3 speakers followed by an intensive panel discussion.

 

Organizer:

Dr. Sankar Basu, National Science Foundation (CISE/CCF),

 

Tentative Discussant: Dr. Tom Kalil, Deputy Director for Technology and Innovation, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ostp/about/leadershipstaff .

Tentative speakers:

  1. Dr. Lloyd Whitman, Assistant Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy http://www.nano.gov/node/1106 .
  2. Prof. Randy Bryant, Carnegie Mellon University, formerly Dean of the School of Computing http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bryant/.
  3. Dr. Thomas Theis, Executive Director of Nanotechnology Research Initiative, the Semiconductor Research Corporation, and IBM T. J. Watson Research Center https://www.src.org/about/management-team/theis-thomas/

 

Relevant AAAS Sections

  1. Engineering (Section M)
  2. Information, Computing, and Communication (Section T)

 

 

8.2 Knowledge Mobilization for Social Impact: Beyond Technology Transfer and Commercialization

 

Organizer: Sushanta Mitra (Section M)

Co-Organizer: David Phipps

 

The traditional models of research impact from major research intensive universities across the globe has been to enable the impacts of research through success in technology transfer and related commercialization activities. Twenty-first century concepts of broader research impacts are challenging institutions to provide better and meaningful engagement with the public at large creating impacts on policy, society, culture, and the environment as well as traditional economic impacts. This begs the question how (and why) are institutions creating conditions for and supporting broader impact?

 

The proposed symposium will present the institutional/local/regional/national contexts of broader impact practices and reflect on how these different policy and cultural contexts create or remove barriers to supporting research impact. We will pay special attention to how institutional knowledge mobilization can support broader impacts with an overarching goal to connect with government agencies and communities at large and create meaningful social impact.

 

Format: 90 mins with 3 Speakers and 1 Moderator

 

Suggested Speakers:

1. Steven Hill, Head Research Policy, Research Excellence Framework, UK

2. Paul Davidson, President, Universities Canada, Canada

3. Stephanie Michaud, Deputy Director, Networks of Centres of Excellence, Canada

 

Moderator: Robert Haché, Vice-President Research & Innovation, York University, Canada

 

8.3   Are you Safe and Secure in the Internet of Everything Ecosystem?

Proposed by: Ram D. Sriram (Section M) and Ramesh Jain (Section T)

We are witnessing a new revolution in computing and communication.  The Internet, which has spanned several networks in a wide variety of domains, is having a significant impact on every aspect of our lives. Many of the wide variety of resources on the Internet are having significant sensing capabilities. Further these networks are extending beyond physically linked computers to include multimodal information from biological, cognitive, semantic, and social networks.  This paradigm shift involves symbiotic networks of people, intelligent devices, and mobile personal computing and communication devices, and be viewed as Internet of Everything. Data/information need to be transmitted from various devices and humans on the Internet in a trusted and secure manner, within and across networks. Further, privacy issues need to be adequately addressed. In this session experts from the privacy the computer security fields will discuss the current problems and potential solutions to address these problems in the Internet of Everything ecosystem.

 

8.4  Thwarting Disease Epidemics and Pandemics with Emerging Technologies

Proposed by: Ram D. Sriram (Section M), Ramesh Jain (Section T), and Don Hansen (Medical Section)

Recent disease outbreaks caused by Ebola, Zika, other microorganisms are creating considerable devastation to the global economies. Advances in engineering and computing technologies can be effectively used to mitigate or reduce the effect of such outbreaks. This session will focus on the current technologies available to thwart such disease outbreaks and what kinds of science policies various governments should adopt to contain such outbreaks. 

 

8.5   Scientific reproducibility: Legitimacy of Science and Technology in a Global Society

 

Proposed by: Eswaran Subrahmanin (Section M), Maryann Feldman (Section X) and Judy Gelfand (Section T)

 

The practice of Science is growing globally, without the reproducibility of results the danger of erosion of social confidence in science is at risk. Reproducibility requires seeing science as a public good that include sharing of data, methods and results for public scrutiny. With computation taking a center stage in science and engineering the necessity for data commons has become critical to this endeavor. This symposium will explore the needs for such a global commons including the efforts such as the Research Data Alliance and other efforts to inform the path forward towards creating such commons. These commons are needed beyond reproducibility for collaborative global science. We will invite people from technology and science disciplines to address this issue.

 

Dr. Fuchs encouraged all those who have suggested these ideas to develop them further and submit them on the AAAS proposal submission website by the deadline of April 22, 2016.

 

Finally, Dr. Fuchs asked for suggestions for plenary and topical lectures speakers.  The names of Robert Langer (MIT) and Rebecca Richards-Kortum (Rice) were suggested as plenary or topical speakers as they were also suggested last year.

                                                                                                                                                                                            

9.  Adjournment:  Dr. Fuchs asked each of the newly elected fellows to introduce themselves and describe briefly their research.  The meeting was adjourned at 11:30AM.  Lunch was served.

 

 

Submitted by:

Marwan A. Simaan

Secretary, Engineering Section (M)

February 25, 2016

 

 

 

Appendix A

Attendance List

1.      Kent Fuchs, Chair

2.      Nicholas Peppas, Retiring Chair

3.      Larry McIntire, Chair-Elect

4.      Marwan Simaan, Secretary

5.      Ilesanmi Adesida, Member-at-Large

6.      Nadine Aubry, Member-at-Large-Elect

7.      Stuart Cooper, Council Delegate

8.      Molley Soichet, Council Delegate

9.      Roberto Ballarini, ASCE Representative

10.  Krishna Athreya, AAAS COOS

11.  Yolanda George, AAAS Program Office

12.  Catherine Dideon, Senior Program Officer, NAE

13.  Lalit Chordia, Newly Elected Fellow

14.  Ted Conway, Newly Elected Fellow

15.  Jon Dobson, Newly Elected Fellow

16.  Vincent Harris, Newly Elected Fellow

17.  Marwan Khraisheh, Newly Elected Fellow

18.  Shankar Mahalingam, Newly Elected Fellow

19.  Sushanta Mitra Newly Elected Fellow

20.  Martin Richardson, Newly Elected Fellow

21.  Shelly Sakiyama-Elbert, Newly Elected Fellow

22.  Haiyan Wang, Newly Elected Fellow

23.  Hong Yang, Newly Elected Fellow

24.  Sankar Basu

25.  Alex Dale

26.  Moe Khaleel

27.  Larry Nagahara

28.  Ned Sauthoff

29.  Ram D. Sriram

30.  Eswaran Subrahmanian

31.  Usha Varshney

32.  Ge Wang

 

 

Appendix B

 

Fellows affiliated with Section M (Engineering) Elected in 2015

 

 

James Hiram Aylor, University of Virginia: For fundamental contributions in computer engineering research, exceptional professional service, and outstanding leadership in engineering education.

 

David F. Bahr, Purdue University: For significant contributions to research and education in materials science and engineering, particularly for advances in experimental studies of materials reliability across length scales.

 

Ian Baker, Dartmouth College: For distinguished contributions to fundamental understanding of structure-property relationships in materials, particularly high-temperature austenitic alloys, ice sheet fabric formation, and nanoparticle development for cancer treatment.

 

Karl K. Berggren, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: For distinguished contributions to methods of nanofabrication, especially applied to superconductive quantum circuits, photodetectors, high-speed superconductive electronics, and energy systems.

 

Venkat R. Bhethanabotla, University of South Florida: For distinguished contributions to the fields of chemical and biomedical engineering, particularly for the modeling and development of acoustic wave chemical and biological sensors.

 

R. Byron Bird, University of Wisconsin-Madison: For a distinguished career advancing the science, teaching and international communication of chemical engineering, particularly the areas of transport phenomena, polymer dynamics and rheology.

 

Marc Cahay, University of Cincinnati: For seminal contributions to the study of the transport properties of mesoscopic systems and pioneering investigations of spintronics devices.

 

Shu Chien, University of California, San Diego: For continuing outstanding contributions to vascular physiology and vascular cell and molecular biology, which have greatly increased our understanding of vascular pathologies including atherosclerosis.

 

Lalit Chordia, Thar Energy, LLC: For outstanding contributions leading to innovations of supercritical fluid technologies and for championing the widespread use of these technologies.

 

Ted Allen Conway, Florida Institute of Technology: For distinguished contributions to the participation of scientists with physical challenges nationally and within AAAS, and for exceptional leadership of the Committee on Opportunities in Science.

 

Dennis E. Discher, University of Pennsylvania: For outstanding contributions to the understanding of the effects of matrix and cytoskeletal physical properties and forces on cell physiology and stem cell development.

 

Jon Dobson, University of Florida: For outstanding contributions to the development of magnetic micro- and nanoparticle-based technologies in cell engineering, regenerative medicine and gene transfection.

 

Dominique M. Durand, Case Western Reserve University: For pioneering contributions to the field of neuroengineering, including neurophysiology and the control of epilepsy, neural prostheses, and non-linear dynamics of neural systems.

 

Greg Evans, University of Toronto (Canada): For distinguished contributions to aerosol research, particularly the formation of research networks, and leadership in engineering education.

 

Yuguang “Michael” Fang, University of Florida: For distinguished research and teaching contributions to the field of electrical and computer engineering, particularly for wireless network design and cybersecurity.

 

Donald P. Gaver III, Tulane University: For distinguished contributions to the field of biofluid mechanics and surfactant transport in pulmonary pathophysiology, and for academic leadership in the field of biomedical engineering.

 

K. Jane Grande-Allen, Rice University: For distinguished contributions to the field of heart valve biomechanics and mechanobiology, particularly for development of novel bioreactors, biomaterials platforms, and extracellular matrix analysis.

 

Vincent G. Harris, Northeastern University: For seminal contributions to the advancement of high frequency magnetism, magnetic materials, and RF device technologies.

 

Kevin J. Hemker, Johns Hopkins University: For discoveries in underlying atomic scale processes governing mechanical behavior of advanced materials systems, including nanocrystalline, micro-lattice, thermal barrier, and high-temperature materials.

 

Marwan K. Khraisheh, Qatar Foundation: For distinguished contributions to the field of materials processing and manufacturing lightweight alloys, and for outstanding leadership in building and administering academic and research programs.

 

Timothy L. Killeen, University of Illinois: For distinguished contributions to optical interferometry, education and government administration, and leadership in professional service.

 

Shankar Mahalingam, University of Alabama in Huntsville: For distinguished contributions to the field of combustion using laboratory scale experiments and computational models which have led to improved understanding of wildland fire behavior, and for service in engineering education administration.

 

William H. Mischo, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: For research relevant to the development of new digital library technologies.

 

Sushanta K. Mitra, York University (Canada): For distinguished contributions to the field of micro-nanofluidics, particularly for development of tools and techniques for energy exploration, environment monitoring and applications in bio-systems.

 

Babatunde Ogunnaike, University of Delaware: For distinguished contributions to process control systems, process engineering practice, and systems engineering education.

 

Martin Richardson, University of Central Florida: For distinguished contributions to the development of high power pulsed lasers, and for their use in understanding the science of high power laser light interaction with matter, particularly laser-induced plasmas.

 

Ian M. Robertson, University of Wisconsin-Madison: For distinguished contributions in materials science which have advanced the understanding of metallic materials in extreme environments, and for leadership in academic and research administration.

 

Shelly E. Sakiyama-Elbert, Washington University in St. Louis: For fundamental contributions to advanced biomaterials and for leading research on nerve regeneration systems.

 

Mark. T. Swihart, University at Buffalo, SUNY: For outstanding contributions in advancing fundamental understanding and practical implementation of processes for producing, functionalizing, and creatively applying inorganic nanomaterials.

 

Michael W. Vannier, University of Chicago Medical Center: For distinguished contributions, mentorship, and leadership in the field of medical imaging, particularly for image visualization, surface modeling, and X-ray computed tomography.

 

Haiyan Wang, Texas A&M University: For innovative research at the frontiers of materials science and technology, and for exceptional potential to shape the future through intellectual leadership and inspired teaching.

 

Hong Yang, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: For discovery of a new synthesis platform for precisely-controlled noble metal alloy nanostructures, with applications in electrocatalysis for fuel cells and batteries.

 

Tian C. Zhang, University of Nebraska-Lincoln: For exemplary professional work and research, prolific contribution to technical literature, and voluntary activities around the world as a technical expert and adviser.

 

Yuwen Zhang, University of Missouri: For distinguished contributions to the field of heat transfer, particularly in phase change and laser materials interaction, as well as for service to professional societies.

 

Andrew L. Zydney, Pennsylvania State University: For distinguished contributions to the field of membrane science and engineering, particularly for systematically identifying transport and fouling mechanisms in protein, DNA and virus filtration.