Congratulations to all our crew working so diligently on the upcoming 2008 midyear. First, to Linnea who has revamped the accelerator newsletter site – très, très slick! The site also has links to the midyear website, including what to see and do. Tremendous progress has been made on both the meeting and the professional development school. Though all is not yet finalized, we are hoping for a final approval very soon. The dual track is an interesting concept with the goal to increase attendance. Don and Vasha are working hard as our academic deans to put together a rewarding and informative program, while Linnea, our "boots on the ground" administrative dean, is busily taking care of so many details.
Our fearless leader, Scott has spent a great deal of time putting together an absolutely superb poster to announce the meeting and should have approval for the poster from the Health Physics Society (HPS) board very soon. The poster will be used to advertise the meeting in Knoxville. You might remember that the 1997 San Jose meeting, on the same topic 11 years ago, was poorly attended and therefore a financial drain on the secretariat. We hope to reach out to a larger audience and feel that the funds expended for the poster one year in advance of the meeting, will generate much good will and needed support. The cost to print 500 posters is just under $1000.
An area where we are perhaps lagging a bit is to secure outside funding to help defray the costs of a night out or the opening reception. Anyone who knows vendors who would be willing to contribute toward this cause should have them mail checks directly to the secretariat, to the attention of Sue Burk. If you need the society’s not-for-profit tax ID number, please contact Sue directly. If we can get 10 companies to each contribute at least $500, it will go a long way to making this meeting extra special. So as members of the Accelerator Section, especially those in the Bay Area, please make an effort to ask for a little support. It is clear that if we do not pull off a well-attended meeting, there will never be another midyear on this topic. Please remember, it doesn’t hurt to ask.
On another topic, we will need to replace two out-going board members and elect a president-elect for 2008. Should you wish to serve in either capacity, or would like to put forth a name, please let me know ASAP.
Finally, please keep in mind that we would really like to give the Patterson Award at the 2007 annual meeting. Just to remind everyone, the H. Wade Patterson Memorial Award was established to honor the memory of the first president of the Accelerator Section and to reward the outstanding student paper in accelerator health physics given at the annual meeting. We have not found suitable recipients for the past two years. We even went to the HPS board to have the award included in the awards banquet only to have to tell them at the last minute that we had no recipient in Providence. Let’s get the word out. I’m tired of carrying the plaque to the last two meetings, and not finding a suitable home. The plaque also carries with it an honorarium of $300. The future of our section lies in the ability to train and retain competent, enthusiastic young scientists. Help us to spread the word on this prestigious award.