TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE
Reno, NV
10 January 2008
0800-1600 hrs
Minutes
Attending: Charley Saff, Laura McGill, James Afarin, Jim Dieudonne, Ken
Harwell, Tom Smith, Mark Maurice, Neal Pfeiffer, George Lesieutre, Satish
Mohleji, Tom Beutner, Wilson Felder, David Lilley, Ashwani Gupta, David Riley,
Ian Halliwell, Chris Goyne, Dale Pitt, Doug Garrard, Tom Duerr, Brian Landrum,
I-Shih Chang, Basil Hassan, Kevin Kremeyer, Weinong Chen, Howard Kanner,
Tony Gross, Bill West, Jim Neidfoefer, Jeffrey Zweber, Allen Arrington, James
Cistone, John Mankins, Mark Melanson, Ron Bengelink, Darin Haudrich,
Guest: Bob Dickman, Sharon Grace, Bill Seymore, Robert Bocchieri, Mike
Conners, Eleanor Aldrich, and various AIAA staff
1. Opening Remarks – Charley Saff – Attachment 1
Charley gave a recap of the goals he set during his tenure as Vice President –
Technical from 2005 – 2008. His goals were:
a. Provide a Strategic Vision for TAC – Vision DVD is on web site
b. Increase the Stature, Quality and Breadth of AIAA – improved awards process,
accepting fewer, higher quality papers, and promoting joint conferences with
other societies
c. Reorganize TAC to Provide a “Place” for Everyone – reorganization plus
database key parts of goal
d. Work Together Better With AIAA Organization and Staff – doing better, some
TCs still doing their own thing
e. Tie Budget to Products for TAC – using key indicators and we’re meeting them
so far
2. Approval of Minutes – Charley Saff
A motion was made to approve the minutes from the TAC meeting held in August at
Hilton Head, SC. Motion was seconded – motion passed.
3. Honors and Awards – George Lesieutre – Attachments 2 and 3
A summary of the items HAC is currently working on:
Existing Awards:
C3I Award: Deactivated
Approved selection processes: Plasmadynamics & Lasers
Selection processes not yet approved: Piper General Aviation
Modest updates needed: Missile Systems, Info Systems, Fluid Dynamics
Use of TC Member Waiver Process - Wyld, Jeffries, Propellants and Combustion –
Concerning the waiver process – When Charley is asked to provide a waiver for a
nominee, he will contact the appropriate Group Director, get validation from them
concerning the nominee and then submit the waiver.
New Awards
Holt Ashley Award for Aeroelasticity – sponsored by the Structural Dynamics TC –
approved by Group Director - additional information concerning award in Attachment 3 –
motion was made to approve award – seconded – discussion on whether this award
overlaps with SDM award – after discussion – motion passed
Intelligent Systems Award – no new action – need title, description and justification
Unmanned Systems (PC) Award – no new action
Future Business
Potential New Awards
Fred Billig Award in Hypersonics / Propulsion (PC) – needs revision
Brian Rowe Memorial Lecture Award – no proposal, yet
Existing Awards
Reactivate: Chanute (Flight Test TC); Haley (Space Sys TC)
Rename: (W.H. Pickering) History Manuscript Award
New Venue: (Atmospheric and Space Environments) Losey, VanAllen
4. Q&A – Bob Dickman – Attachment 4
2007 was a good year for Events – 24% over budgeted direct margin – top three
conferences – Space Exploration Conference, MDA and BMD; financial pressure on
smaller events will grow – venue cost up – staff cost high; need to manage “Total Onsite Experience” ASM 2009 model: includes conference, forum, exhibits, and venue
Increasing sponsored events – provides corporate commitment to AIAA however
major sponsors are nearly tapped out; Orbital Sciences is new sponsor for Space
2008; Exhibits FY07 was 2% below budgeted margin – transition of bringing the
process in-house – location and lay-out are important – if attendees don’t visit,
exhibitors won’t come back
Areas looking ahead – need to attract more young professionals to events;
collaboration between TAC and Public Policy – TAC workshop was a good start –
build on that – there is still concern about the process of creating Public Policy papers
– PPC is working on trying to streamline the process; collaboration between TAC and
International – build on the MOUs; active outreach to Small Business and
Entrepreneurs; improve visibility of AIAA awards
5. AIAA Branding – Sharon Grace – Attachment 5
The Brand standards manual is complete and can be accessed on-line at
http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=305. It provides a consistent look across
products and services. “When did you know” is the integrated marketing campaign.
Over 100 people have submitted their stories on our web site. The plan is to start the
campaign using pictures of children and continue with the theme using pictures of
people as they age through life. Members can help with the branding initiative by
using the updated logo, refer to the brand standards manual and encourage “When did
you know” discussions – Tell your story!!!
6. AIAA Financial Planning – Bill Seymore – Attachment 6
Financial reports are issued and reviewed monthly by the Finance Committee (except
for the year end statements) – monthly telecoms are held the last Thursday of each
month, reports are posted to the Finance and BOD portals – available by request from
your staff liaison – reported at each Board meeting; Reports are available in three
formats – Institute Summary, VP Summary and Institute Detail; Reports for FY08
and forward are attempting to accurately determine “true cost” of delivering our
products and services to members.
7. International Meeting for Aerospace Product Support – Charley Saff –
Attachment 7
IMAPP 2007 was an AIAA cosponsored conference organized by the Product
Support TC. Conference was held in San Diego and because of a glitch in the hotel
reservation system, prospective attendees were told the hotel was sold out. Because of
this some people did not attend the conference and the TC was faced with attrition
charges from the hotel. The TC negotiated with the hotel to remove some of the
charges however the TC was still left with a balance on the hotel bill.
Recommendations - TAC to pay the remaining bill out of the TAC budget and then
use left over TC funding (at the end of the year) to pay back the TAC account. TAC,
staff and PSTC will seek to make this conference a jointly sponsored conference with
DGLR. TAC and staff will redraft its conference approval forms to rename
cosponsored conferences to a title that does not imply financial support and also
highlight on the form that cosponsorship does not imply any financial obligation.
TAC will use this incident to discourage other TCs from making similar agreements
in the future.
A motion was made to accept these recommendations – seconded – passed
8. Meetings for approval – Betty Guillie
Phase II forms:
AIAA Space 2008 Conference and Exposition, 9-11 September 2008, San Diego, CA
47th Aerospace Sciences Meeting including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace
Exposition, 5-8 January 2009, Orlando, FL
Motion made to accept – seconded – passed
Cosponsored Conferences:
CASI Astro 2008 Conference, 29 April-1 May 2008, Montreal, Canada
1st IAA Symposium on Private Human Access to Space, 28-30 May 2008, Arcachon,
France
IMAPP 2008 Conference, 22-24 October 2008, Hamburg, Germany
Turbomachinery Broadband Noise, 23-24 October 2008, Bilbao, Spain
27th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), 24-31 October 2008, St. Paul,
MN
Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems, 28-30 October 2008,
Ellicott City, MD
Motion was made to accept – seconded – passed
IMAPP 2008 and 1st IAA Symposium on Private Human Access to Space are
currently at IAC for approval.
9. Staff Report – Betty Guillie – Attachments 8 and 9
Key indicators for meetings taking place since August
GNC – 375 budget – 389 actual
AFM – 80 budget – 85 actual
MST – 100 budget – 82 actual
Space 2007 – 600 budget – 926 actual
ATIO/LTA – 250 budget – 209 actual
Weapon Systems Effectiveness – 130 budget – 136 actual
TC funding - $3600.00 has been allotted since 10/1/07 - $45,550 is still remaining.
Highlights of Institute Activities – attachment 9 (hard copy provided at meeting)
10. VP Pet Project – TAC Reorganization – Basil Hassan – Attachment 10
Changes in the reorganization – change name of Aircraft and Air Transportation
Systems and Operations Group to Aircraft & Atmospheric Systems Group
Structure of TAC would divide the seven groups (directorates) into 2 areas –
Groups of Discipline and Technology Committees which make up the Aerospace
Sciences, Information Systems, Propulsion & Energy and Structures, Design & Test
Groups; Groups of Systems and Technology Integration Committees make up the
Aircraft & Atmospheric Systems, Space & Missiles, and Engineering & Technology
Management Groups.
The Systems and Technology Integration Committees run across the board – the
Discipline and Technology Committees run down the board – intersecting between
the two groups are the Program Committees
TCs moving from one group to another –
Moving to Aerospace Sciences Group – Ground Testing and Modeling and
Simulation
Possible working groups within Structures, Design and Test Group – Structures
Certification Working Group, Materials Qualification Working Group and Dynamics
Testing Working Group
Possible working group within Intelligent Systems – Software Certification and
Testing WG
Moving to Engineering and Technology Management Group – Computer-Aided
Enterprise Solutions
Motion was made to approve the proposed TAC structure for presentation to AIAA
BoD – seconded – passed
11. By-Laws Changes – Laura McGill – Attachment 11*
Committee of Laura McGill, Bob Winn and Cathy Downen was formed to codify the
Strategic Planning Process in the AIAA Bylaws. Attachment 11* goes through the
proposed changes (changes must be approved by TAC – IDC – BoD) – main points –
adding the reference of Program Committees to the Bylaws, specifying the make-up
of the IDC membership and adding the reference in the Bylaws that Technical Panels
may be established by TCs.
Motion was made that TAC approve the presented changes to the AIAA Constitution
and Bylaws for submittal to the Board of Directors – seconded – passed
*Attachment 11 is the version that was presented to the Board of Directors on 11
January 2008 and not the one that was presented at the TAC meeting on 10 January.
Changes from the TAC meeting are identified in the file and do not affect the TAC
sections of the Bylaws. Removed by IDC and the Board of Directors – reference
stating the Executive Director’s position as the President of the AIAA Foundation and
the establishment of an Ad Hoc Fellows Selection Subcommittee.
12. Ethics Policy – Laura McGill – Attachment 12
Purpose of the policy is to guide the ethical conduct of AIAA members participating
in the Institute’s technical activities and events. It provides for the establishment of an
Ethical Standards Subcommittee and includes a consolidation of ethical policies that
have been developed by other areas of the Institute but have application to Technical
Activities. The TAC Ethical Standards Subcommittee (TESS) will be made up of: VP
TAC – Chair, VP-Elect TAC, NIS Chairman, One Technical Director, Program
Committee Coordinator, One Deputy Regional Director for Technical Activities, and
others as appointed by the Chair. TESS activities include – maintain TAC Ethics
Policy, develop and maintain guidelines for TAC leaders (Program Technical
Chairman), address Ethics Issues that arise via Technical Activities. Policy also
includes guidelines for citation of internet sources.
13. Modeling of the Aircraft Impact Damage to the World Trade Center Towers
Guest speaker Robert Bocchieri – Attachment 13
14. Region II Report – Brian Landrum – Attachment 14 – presentation includes
breakdown of membership – includes 285 TC members; also includes national
conferences and activities that took place in Region II this year.
15. Group Directors’ Reports
Aerospace Sciences Group – David Riley – Attachment 15
Presentation includes current Aerospace Sciences Group Leadership and 2007 and
2008 ASG sponsored conferences. The Aerospace Sciences Meeting will be
moving from Reno to Orlando, FL for the next 3 years (2009-2011). Contract has
been signed with Gaylord Hotels for the following 4 years – 2012 Nashville, TN,
2013 Grapevine, TX, 2014 Fort Foote Village, MD, and 2015 Orlando, FL.
Planning to present an updated presentation of conference registration fee
education for TC to TAC Exec in May 2008.
Aircraft & Air Transportation Systems Group – Wilson Felder – Attachment 16
Presentation includes Group Leadership; ATIO/LTA Conference 2007 – Belfast,
collocated with ICAS in 2008 in Anchorage, AK. Recap of TCs with highlights
from 2007 included in presentation along with TC sponsored awards for each TC.
Space & Missiles Group – Tom Duerr – Attachment 17
Reorganized the SMG into matrix structure – 4 Deputy Directors with functional
responsibilities across all TCs – Awards, Products (conferences, publications),
Public Policy, and At-Large. All Deputies and TC Chairs report directly to
Director. Launched two new TCs this year – Space Resources and Space
Architecture. Metrics and TC of the Year – 1st place – Space Operations and
Support, 2nd and 3rd places tied – Life Sciences and Systems and Space
Transportation. SMG netted $3M for TAC in 2007, 80% of that was from vended
conferences, roughly equal split between space and missiles.
16. Program Committee Chairman
Space Exploration – John Mankins – Attachment 18
Included in the presentation is the objectives and scope of the PC and a list of TCs
(24) and other AIAA committees that the Space Exploration PC has had
interaction with. There have been changes in the Vision for Space Exploration
which will affect AIAA members and committees. The PC plans to prepare a PC
White Paper and a proposed AIAA Position Paper. Presentation includes slides of
the original Vision for Space Exploration and the revised Vision for Space
Exploration.
Aerospace Traffic Management – James Cistone – Attachment 19
Some of today’s issues – funding – user fees, congestion – caps & slot auctions,
NexGen 2025, Government vs Industry Role
17. Technology Development Prizes – Mike Conners – Attachment 20
The Lighter-than-Air TC is proposing an airship competition that offers the best
mechanism for motivating airship technology development. The overall goal is: To
stimulate the development of a practical and economical transport airship that can
meet user demands. Four annual manned airship competitions – prize awards need to
be defined but should be at least $500,000 to be attractive. Recommend establishing a
subcommittee to explore criteria, legalities, and methodologies of an AIAA
competitive prize program. Subcommittee would present findings and
recommendations at the next TAC meeting for a go/no-go decision on establishment
of an AIAA Contest Foundation.
ACTION ITEM: Mike Conners and Basil Hassan (NIS) will get together to
brainstorm some ideas on technology development prizes.
18. Subcommittee Reports
New Initiatives – Basil Hassan – Attachment 21
2 Program Committees were up for review:
Unmanned Systems – PC has been active since inception, modified charter
Motion: NIS recommends that Unmanned Systems PC continue with revised
charter – motion seconded – passed
Aerospace Traffic Management – PC was dormant from 2003-2007. Has a new
Chair – Jim Cistone – received interest from 17 people, would like to continue
and met with Wilson Felder to discuss further opportunities. Tony Gross will keep
TAC updated on its progress.
Motion: NIS recommends that Aerospace Traffic Management PC continue –
motion seconded – passed
ABET Requirements for Computer Programming in AE – 28 responses on the
academic survey out of 77 (36%). Should have complete employer survey by
May. Will also do a YP survey to see what they think is needed and what they are
using in their career.
Conference Registration Fees for Students – requested a student registration fee
option be included that includes social events in addition to Basic Student Fee
which only includes conference attendance. Discussed this with AIAA staff and
this will be implemented starting in April/May.
2008 TAC Workshop – met with Public Policy – 100+ attendees. All ideas will be
communicated with attendees and AIAA staff. Action Plans Generated from
workshop – PP Sessions/Panels at conferences, PP Leadership Hierarchy within
TAC, Contact List of TAC Expertise, Position Paper Development Process. Mark
Melanson and Satish Mohleji will follow up on these.
ACTION ITEM: Mark Melanson and Satish Moheji will follow up on the action
plans generated from the TAC Workshop - PP Sessions/Panels at conferences, PP
Leadership Hierarchy within TAC, Contact List of TAC Expertise, Position Paper
Development Process to make sure they are implemented.
Additional Membership Categories for TCs – discussion at NIS meeting about
possibly adding an affiliate member category on TCs similar to Associate
Member without age restriction, NIS members felt TC chairs currently have the
flexibility to make use of Special Assignment members and did not see the need
to formalize. No recommendation to bring forward at this time.
No Show Data for FY07 Conferences – Michele Dominiak provided data – about
5% of total accepted fall in the no-show category. Michele will send individual
conference data to Directors.
ACTION ITEM: Michele Dominiak will send individual conference data
concerning no shows to the appropriate Director.
YPC Proposal for YP Receptions – YPC is looking for TAC support at YP
Receptions (5 events during the year). Provide financial support for door prizes.
Discussed various options – Darin Haudrich will discuss options with YPC and
make request at May TAC meeting.
ACTION ITEM: Darin Haudrich will discuss several options for prizes offered by
TAC with YPC and make request at May TAC meeting.
Continuing Ed Requirements for Prof Ed Registration – State Professional
Engineering Registration requires continuation credits. In some cases, conference
attendance can be used for credits. A member requested that AIAA provide
official certification of attendance to conference sessions. There was some
concern that AIAA cannot police attendance. Mark Melanson will work with
AIAA staff (Joanne Zook) to see what might be provided.
ACTION ITEM: Mark Melanson will work with AIAA staff (Joanne Zook) to see
what might be provided for attendees who want education credits.
Finance – Marvine Hamner – Attachment 22 – did not attend – presentation is
attached
Database – Dale Pitt – Attachment 23
TAC Database Committee – Jim Neidhoefer, Terry Morris, Joe Marshall, Teresa
Kinney, Dale Pitt – Committee will complete requirements definition by March
2008, determine how to interface with existing AIAA data base by April 2008.
They will also find suitable database software to run on AIAA website – develop
implementation plan by next TAC meeting
ACTION ITEM: Dale Pitt and team will investigate suitable database software to
run on AIAA website and develop implementation plan to be presented at next
TAC meeting (May).
19. Regional Reports
Region I – Eric Rohrbaugh – did not attend – no presentation
Region VII – Christian Mari – did not attend – no presentation
20. Commercial Space – Eleanor Aldrich – Attachment 24
Presented to TAC as an FYI – possible opportunity for a program committee??
There is an emergence of a broad new environment of commercial space. AIAA
should broaden their scope to encompass and provide forums in this area. Possible
objectives – create dynamic environment for timely information exchange among
commercial space industry constituency, expand AIAA to include 21st century
aerospace business, investment and corporate constituency, focus on business aspects
of commercial space in addition to technical considerations, and expose commercial
space to the benefits and resources of AIAA.
ACTION ITEM: Tony Gross and Tom Duerr will discuss and make recommendation
to TAC on whether commercial space should become a PC.
21. Liaison Reports
RSAC – Darin Haudrich – Attachment 25
Ad Hoc Dues committee has been started. Regional Leadership Conference will be
held at JPC in 2008. Still looking for a place for the 2009 RLC.
New YP Chair is Darin Haudrich – requires a new YP Liaison to TAC. Tim Craig
and Marcus Kruger will take over as YP Liaison. Also need new RSAC Liaison –
possibly utilize one or both of the new YP Liaison.
Publications – I-Shih Chang – Attachment 26
Journal of Aircraft will make scope changes to include Air Traffic Managements,
Aeroelasticity and UAV, Systems Engineering TC is proposing to establish a Journal
of Aerospace Systems Engineering, Pubs committee is looking into ways to
communicate on the web, need more authors from TCs for AIAA books.
ICAS – Ron Bengelink – Attachment 27
ICAS 2008 will be in Anchorage, AK in September. ICAS Officers for 2007-2008 are
all AIAA Fellows – Fred Abbink, Billy Fredrikkson, Ian Poll, and Jerry Hefner. 3 key
ICAS leaders passed away this year – John Swihart, Wolfgang Schmidt, and German
Zagainov.
Education – Ken Harwell – As of December 2007, there were 6605 student members.
Plans are underway for the 2008 Regional Student Conferences. Sixty-six teams
comprised of 1000+ students have registered for the 2008 Cessna/Raytheon Student
Design/Build/Fly competition which takes place in Wichita, KS in April.
PMEC – Steve Gorrell/Jim Dieudonne – Attachment 28
For FY07 – AIAA held 62 courses with over 570 registrants. 11 new courses were
developed and offered this year. 42 courses are being offered in FY08. PMEC
membership increased from 2 to 18 members, established committee governance
handbook, established committee liaisons with TAC, ETC, YPC and Publications
Committees. Benefits of TC sponsored courses – peer recognition, AIAA staff
handles course logistics and administration, TC develops and presents course, TC
receives honoraria, travel funds for instructors. Process to start new course – complete
course profile form, approval by TC and/or PMEC by June 1 2008, schedule course
with Tricia Carr by July 1 2008
Precollege Outreach – Howard Kanner – Attachment 29
On-going efforts are Education Alley at 3rd Space Exploration Conference, Denver,
CO 26-28 February 2008, Passport to the Future with 44th Joint Propulsion
Conference, Hartford, CT, 20-23 July 2008, Careers in Aerospace – brochure for
students, Kid’s Place – part of AIAA website, Quarterly e-newsletter to educators.
18 TCs currently have some involvement in K-12 activities, student competitions
and/or university involvement.
22. Broken Sword Award – Charley Saff
Presented to David Riley – referred to Orlando ASM as Reno, chart with Miami
weather instead of Orlando weather, forgot he suggested the new name for Wilson
Felder’s group.
ACTION ITEM: The Broken Sword is actually broken so Charley is taking it home
to repair it plus the box. Once it is fixed, he will give it to David.
23. Adjourn – motion was made to adjourn meeting – seconded – passed
Addendum to the Minutes – Attachment 30 – Charley Saff – This powerpoint
presentation is the one Charley presented at the Board of Directors on 11 January 2008.
This presentation has an additional recommendation concerning the 2007 IMAPP
Conference Issue. (TAC approved the recommendations found in Attachment 7 as noted
above in Number 7.) The additional recommendation passed by the Board is AIAA will
seek to negotiate a lower bill from the San Diego Marriott. Dave Shaw, VP-Finance, will
take the lead on this.