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Minutes of the GBM of PSSI held on 10th Dec 2009 at NIT Hamirpur
The GBM of PSSI was conducted at the National Institute Of Technology, Hamirpur on the 10th of December, 2009. The GBM was initiated by the Secretary, Dr. Ravi A.V. Kumar and Presided over by Prof. Avinash Khare in the absence of the President. Treasurer Ms. Ranjana Manchanda and Councilor Ms. Chhaya Chavda were present. More than 55 members were also present at the GBM.
The activities of PSSI in the last year were presented by the Secretary and the following points were discussed by the GBM ;
1.The offer by Birla Institute of technology, Patna to host the 26th National Symposium On Plasma Science & Technology (Plasma 2011) was accepted by majority by the GBM.
2.The new look PSSI website was also shown to the GBM by the Secretary. The website now has the audited accounts of PSSI for the members to scrutinize. The sponsorship of the PSSI website by M/s Optimized Solutions, Ahmedabad was also acknowledged and thanked by the GBM. The plan to introduce user log-in for member database management and a discussion board was also accepted. The issue of member database update was also discussed and the responsibility of the member to convey to PSSI any change in his/her email id and address was emphasized.
3.The sponsorship of the PSSI fellowship by M/s National Instruments was accepted and the GBM thanked the company for supporting the activities of PSSI. It was decided by the GBM that in the absence of PhD scholars applying for the fellowship, the fellowship may be given to deserving students from the area of technology. The number and amount of the fellowship(s) may be decided by an appropriate screening committee set up by PSSI.
4.Regarding the PSSI newsletter, renewed requests to the members were made to actively contribute to the same. It was emphasized that without active participation of the members, it is not possible to bring out the newsletter on a regular basis. Prof Ravi Ranade of NIT-Hamirpur also suggested the formation of Zonal Chapters of PSSI so that the number of activities would increase as there could be more number of smaller meetings in the different zones.
5.The lack of audience for the Plasma conference was also taken seriously by the GBM and was debated upon. It was decided that the format of the conference needs to be looked into, while keeping intact the ”single-session“ format of the conference. It was also decided that the length of the conference be reduced to three days and the conference to run over a weekend so that the participants get a free day for sightseeing. This probably will decrease the problem of low attendance at the oral sessions.
6.Dr. YBSR Prasad from RRCAT suggested that in order to maintain the quality of the abstracts, a more stringent selection process needs to be put in place to appropriately reject sub-standard abstracts. It was also noted by the members that followed by non-presentation of these abstracts at the conference.
7.The formation of the ”PSSI Corpus Fund For Technology Development“ was mooted and this was accepted by the GBM. It was also suggested that the host institute organizing the Plasma conference should make an effort to contribute to this fund. All donations to PSSI will go to this fund and the earnings of this corpus will be used to fund the various activities of PSSI, with special reference to technology development activities.
8.It was also suggested that PSSI use its expertise to develop experimental kits for Basic Plasma experiments for MSc and MTech levels. Once this is done, PSSI should identify industrial establishments which could produce them and market them to institutes requiring them for their PG courses in plasma science & technology. Also, PSSI should develop PG teaching labs for use by universities and other academic institutions offering courses in plasma science & technology
9.The 25th National Symposium On Plasma Science & Technology (Plasma 2010) is to be held at the Institute of Advanced Study in Science & Technology (IASST), Guwahati in the latter part of 2010. Since it is the 25th version of the Plasma conference, the GBB suggested that PSSI bring out a handbook containing member details, information about PSSI fellowships & awards and write up about various laboratories in India where teaching/research activities in plasma science & technology exists.
10.The idea of launching the PSSI Journal on the occasion of the 25th Conference was also mooted and was accepted. A committee is to be set up to look into this possibility.
11.The Treasurer presented the audited budget of PSSI which was passed unanimously by the GBM members.
12.It was decided that the draft of the GBM will be posted on the PSSI website for the convenience of the members. An email to that effect would be sent to all members.
13.It was also suggested that registration details for the Plasma conference should be included in the 2nd announcement so that participants arriving early will have an idea about the conference registration.
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