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Academy of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineers
Board of Directors Teleconference
December 17, 2013
After technical difficulties, Lisa Sombart convened the meeting at 12:10PM. Patrick Davidson’s issue regarding a change
in the Induction Dinner dates will be addressed during the Special Events Committee update.
Attendees: Lisa Sombart, Patrick Davidson, John Eash, Randall Wood, Steve Moss, Paul Niewald, Steve Bass, Jim Berkel,
Barton Moenster, Bob Mueller, Randy Foster, Russell Flye, Jerry Kettler, Chris Thomason, Dr. Drallmeier, Lila, Kolker,
Cathy Williams and Nolan Brunnworth.
Agenda: There were no changes to the draft Agenda. A motion was made by Russell Flye to accept the Agenda and
second by Bob Mueller. All were in favor. The motion carried.
Minutes: The draft minutes of the October 17, 2013 Board of Directors meeting were reviewed. Steve Moss requested
2 changes to the SDELC report: 1st sentence: Change to read “Steve Moss reported is was a year of change with the
reorganization and hiring a new director.” 3rd sentence: Change to read “The Solar House team was woefully behind
schedule, but Chris devoted his time and effort to get them ready.” Lisa Sombart questioned the Homecoming dates in
the Special Events Committee report. Change to the 5th sentence to read “Homecoming is anticipated to be on October
9 and 10 next year, and Cathy will try to get reservations again at the Havener Center.” Lisa also noted that Facilities
was spelled incorrectly in the 2nd paragraph, 7th sentence of the Facilities Committee report. Bob Mueller made a
motion to approve the minutes as amended, Russell Flye 2nd the motion. All were in favor. The motion carried.
Treasurers Report: Randall Wood reviewed the Treasurer’s Report for July 1, 2013 to November 30, 2013:
Spendable Account:
Beginning Balance 07/01/2013
Operating Carryover
Instructional Lab Carryover
Income
Donations - General Fund
Donations - Instructional Labs
Donations - Past Presidents Challenge
Reimbursements, Annual Distrib, Invest Income
Expenditures
Balance in Spendable 11/30/2013
Quasi-Endowed Account:
Beginning Balance 07/01/2013
Income
Expenses
Balance in Quasi-Endowed 11/30/2013
Grand Total in Spendable and Quasi-Endowed
$ 90,680.62
$16,495.62
$74,185.00
$ 13,007.18
$
6,468.75
$
2,782.50
$
$
3,755.93
$ 12,255.46
$ 91,432.34
$ 53,833.56
$
4,710.02
$1,198.95
$ 57,344.63
$ 148,776.97
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Randall then reviewed the Budget Composite 2013-2014 for November. As a comparison of November 2012, the
income to the Academy has been light, about 25% off. However, the Academy is in a strong position to commit
$100,000 to the instructional labs for the campus matching initiative. They are well on track with $83,000 collected in
instructional lab donations. The Academy is in excellent shape to submit the matching proposal when due.
Lisa Sombart questioned the trending of the giving. Randall noted that there has been positive emphasis on the labs.
Sending out the year end letters at an early date has shown a positive impact to the giving. Lisa is planning a “State of
the Academy” letter to be sent out to the membership in the Spring timeframe. Randall has asked Nolan Brunnworth to
help him pull together a 3 year giving analysis of Academy contributions as well as a total University’s contributions and
have a report ready for the next meeting. Jim Berkel requested a total amount of giving per “live” member be included
in this report. And compare this amount with how other Academies are giving. There has been 28-29% giving
participation by the members. The Academy may initiate a membership fee if participation does not improve. Jim
Berkel would like to see a dollar amount per live member and/or dollar gifts donated per person on this report. Nolan
will do.
Presidents Update: Lisa will work on communicating financial needs to Academy members. The lab initiative is a good
goal for members with one lab already completed. The $100,000 will be applied to lab development years 2 and 3.
Years 4 & 5 may not see university matching for these labs. Lisa will be taking on a new role at work, but is committed
to seeing everything through for the Academy.
Committee Updates:
SDELC Report: Steve Moss review the report he submitted regarding his meeting in October with Dr. Chris Ramsey and
his participation in 3 advisory board meetings. Steve plans to meet with Dr. Ramsey again in mid-February. The SDELC
advisory board chair this year is Dr. Donald Wunsch from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. Safety is
a #1 priority for the SDELC since students have 24 hours access to the work areas. Development of a new team to
compete in a Cyber Security contest is in the works. Dr. Ramsey is developing their Strategic Plan and a way to track
experiential learning. The new campus requirement for students to have experiential learning will affect the academic
departments. Dr. Ramsey is also looking into obtaining the vacant space in the building. The SDELC is in need of a
couple of new pick-up trucks. Chris Thomason has asked Steve to forward their needs to him. Steve reported that this
Academy is the only Missouri S&T campus Academy to provide funding to the SDELC at our level of $30,000.
Membership Update: Pat Davidson stressed a need for a chair for this committee. John Eash received no response from
the committee members when he requested a need for a new chair. Ron Johnson, current vice chair, could not step up
to this position. John suggested that a request be sent to the entire membership. Lisa agreed and added that this
request include a description of the committee and a definition of the roll of the chair. John will use the strategic plan
description and also add if the members had any interest in any leadership positions. Requests for nominations will go
out to the membership and faculty in February. Nolan stated that he can provide names of possible inductees for 2014
and will work with the new chair once assigned.
Senior Design Update: Randy Foster reported on the Dec 13, 2013 Design Showcase. WebEx was used for the first time,
which was advantageous because the weather that day was very bad for travelling. Steve Bugg attended the Design
Showcase in person. Randy and Lisa both commented that the quality and audio of the WebEx was very good.
However, participation was a bit hindered because the moderators could not hear the WebEx participants if they had
comments. Moderators should check occasionally if WebEx participants need to comment. Randy will get a list of
attendees who used the WebX. He mentioned that the timing of the announcement on the use of the WebX could have
been better and should have been better promoted. He commended the students on their work, stating that this was
the best group he had ever witnessed. He added that Rick Jordan’s son, a chocolatier, submitted a project which was
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executed by 2 teams of students and all did a phenomenal job. Lisa Sombart agreed. All believed that use of the WebX
is a good way to engage the distant members. Cost of the WebX is covered by the project fees. There will be 120
students presenting their projects in Spring 2014. Randy will pass the comments of the Academy on to Dr. Midha. He
then encouraged the board to send any projects to Dr. Midha as the Student Design program needs more sponsors.
Scholarships Update: Barton Moenster had to leave the meeting early and was not available to comment. It was noted
that there is no current activity from this committee.
Special Events Update: Paul Niewald reported that the Academy was not able to reserve the Havener Center ballrooms
again this year due to a standing reservation at Homecoming by the Alumni offices. Therefore, the Academy may
consider moving the regular Induction date away from the Homecoming weekend. Patrick Davidson cannot attend the
Induction events on Homecoming weekend, October 16-18, 2014. Lisa Sombart noted a drop in attendance over the
years. She recommended sending out a survey to the membership asking if a Friday or Saturday night for the Induction
Dinner would be better served for all. Patrick mentioned that possibly moving the events to St. Louis would be more
convenient for some, but Lisa noted that members would not have the ability to visit with faculty and students if the
venue were changed to somewhere in St. Louis. Paul then proposed to hold a Special Events committee meeting to
discuss options for the 2014 Induction events and hopefully have a report at the next Board of Directors meeting in
February.
Strategic Planning Update: John Eash reported that he has received the Department update to the Strategic Plan and
will work to align the AMAE plan with the Department plan. Lisa, Bob Mueller and John have agreed to meet to discuss
alignments. Bob mentioned that the AMAE Mission Statement may need to be changed to align with the goals and
committee action items. John agreed that restructuring committees may be a result. John will coordinate this meeting.
Communications Update: Jim Berkel was available to give an update. Jeff Simmons has joined this committee. Cathy
and Kimber Crull are doing a great job on keep the website up to date. Nolan is working on visibility of the AMAE
website on the Missouri S&T Alumni website. Jim said he may be available to mention this to Chancellor Schrader at the
January 23rd Chancellor’s dinner in Florida. Current communications work includes a power point to be used to
introduce any new department faculty to the Academy. Jim again welcomed any ideas from the board members to
improve communications between the Academy and department faculty.
Facilities Update: Russell Flye queried Dr. Drallmeier on the status of the monitoring process of the HVAC system and
kiosk so this committee could offer recommendations on the efficiency of the equipment and how to run the system.
Also, in anticipation of the completion of all instructional labs, Russel’s committee would like a list of other facilityrelated items needed from Dr. Drallmeier.
Past Presidents Council Update: Randall Wood spoke for Chris Thomason. At the 2013 meeting, the past presidents
were looking for more Academy activity. Some members are key figures in the financial support of the Academy and
would like to step up to stay connected. Lisa mentioned that at the October meeting there was mention of how many
academy members were close to meeting their OGS requirements. The past presidents could call these members and
encourage them to take the next step. Nolan will get this information and add it to the financial analysis report. Nolan
also mentioned that, in speaking with Don McGovern who regretted he could not attend the last meeting of the past
presidents, Mr. McGovern expressed an interest in meeting at least twice a year.
Department Update: Dr. Drallmeier said it was a snowy graduation; there were 80 AE/ME Undergraduates and 3 PhDs
degrees received. Dr. David Riggins was awarded a Curators Teaching Professorship. There are 3 on-going faculty
searches, with interviews starting in the Spring semester. The Dr. Hank Sauer (HVAC) lab is currently being renovated
but there is no completion date set, possibly in January. The kiosk is undergoing a conversion of the building from
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Honeywell to Johnson Controls. We have not been given a timetable on when this project will be completed. Lisa will
check with Jim Packard of Physical Facilities on the timeline of the kiosk. Jerry Kettler cautioned that Johnson Controls is
one of the major suppliers and that since this conversion could be tricky, Physical Facilities should be careful in
describing what it needed.
A commitment letter is needed from the Academy showing support of their donators for the instructional labs. Randall
Wood would like to see the number of members who contribute included in this letter. Dr. Drallmeier mentioned that
the current campus matching program may not be in place in future years. Industry/Corporate funding needs to be
sought for Lab #4.
Dr. Drallmeier continued with his update on the Campus. The campus is now focusing on hiring a provost by April and
two deans by this summer, which is a very short time frame for this task.
Bob Mueller asked about the matching program status. Dr. Drallmeier stated that proposals are due by January 15,
2014 and a possible announcement should be made in late January or February. Lisa said she will get with Dr. Drallmeier
and Randall Wood to draft up the Academy commitment letter.
Other Business: Nolan Brunnworth stated that $25,000 was received from Leggett and Platt towards funding an
instructional lab. He will be taking trips to Indiana, New York and Connecticut and will be getting with Dr. Drallmeier on
faculty start-ups.
Lisa instructed that the next meeting will be a quarterly teleconference meeting on February 11, 2013 and that
committee reports are required for this meeting. A motion was made to adjourn the meeting by Bob Mueller and was
2nd by Steve Moss. All were in favor. The meeting adjourned at 1:34pm.