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Committee Position Descriptions & Responsibilities
 

Members of the Animal Care and Experimentation Committee are expected to:

• Have some experience on an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) or other specific background in animal welfare regulation and policy.  At least one committee member should be a laboratory animal veterinarian, preferably a Diplomate of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine.

• Attend the committee meeting at Experimental Biology (EB) and the ACE Committee symposia

• Attend a fall committee meeting at the American Physiological Society (APS) headquarters in Bethesda, MD that may include visits to Capitol Hill to discuss animal welfare and policy issues. APS covers hotel and travel expenses.

• Identify animal welfare issues of concern to Society members.

• Participate in email discussions and conference calls to develop Society positions on issues.

• Provide leadership in planning ACE Symposia at the EB meeting.

• Attend or make presentations at national meetings on animal welfare issues as necessary to represent the Society’s perspective and interests.

Members of the Awards Committee are expected to:

• Oversee the Society award programs to ensure uniformity and conformity with the goals of APS.

• Review and rank applications for the Research Career Enhancement Award, Teaching Career Enhancement Award, the APS Postdoctoral Fellowships in Physiological Genomics, the Arthur C. Guyton Award for Excellence in Integrative Physiology Awardee, the Shih-Chin Wang Young Investigator Award, and the Lazaro J. Mandel Young Investigator Award.

• Attend an annual meeting that is scheduled in conjunction with the EB Meeting, where members will review the annual statistics on award application submissions and evaluation and will discuss the appropriateness of Committee procedures.

• Investigate new means of funding for the APS awards program, especially with regard to expansion of the program.

Members of the Career Opportunities in Physiology Committee are expected to:

• Attend the committee meeting at Experimental Biology and participate in/attend one or more of the Career Committee-sponsored events (career symposium, undergraduate poster session, undergraduate orientation session).

• Attend a 2-day fall committee meeting at APS headquarters in Bethesda, MD. APS covers travel expenses for this meeting.

• Take leadership responsibility for at least one Career Committee activity and work on a subcommittee for at least one other activity. Staff support is provided by the Education Office for all committee activities. Committee members report on their progress at the spring and fall Career Committee meetings. Information on the committee activities is provided in their annual report, available at the committee webpage at http://www.the-aps.org/committees/career/.

• Review applications for the APS Undergraduate Summer Research Program. Applications are reviewed initially at the APS online awards site and then awardees are selected via conference call.

Members of the Committee on Committee are expected to:

• Work with their Section Steering Committee to identify APS members willing to serve on APS Standing Committees.  Although one can work on this at any point during the year, it is mainly done between November and January.  The deadline for committee nominations is January 15. 

• Encourage APS members to serve on committees and direct them to view material on the APS web site to identify a committee that meets their interests or talents. See http://www.the-aps.org/committees/nominate.htm

• Attend a meeting annually that is scheduled in conjunction with the EB Meeting.  At this meeting, members vote on whom they recommend to Council to fill all committee vacancies.  It is an opportunity for committee members to assure that their Section is represented on committees. 

• Review all the applicant files received from APS prior to attending the meeting at EB in preparation for discussion of the candidates.

• Remain dedicated to the concept that their role is twofold – to identify and promote members of their Section who might serve on committees, but then to set aside Section affiliations to work with the committee as a whole to nominate the best-qualified individuals to serve the society, keeping in mind the desire to promote diversity and the involvement of younger members in the committee structure.

Members of the Education Committee are expected to:

• Attend the committee meeting at Experimental Biology and participate in/attend one or more of the Education Committee-sponsored events (refresher course, high school teacher/student workshop, David Bruce award judging and undergraduate poster session, undergraduate orientation session).

• Attend a 2-day fall committee meeting at APS headquarters in Bethesda, MD. APS covers travel expenses for this meeting.

• Take leadership responsibility for at least one Education Committee activity and work on a subcommittee for at least one other activity. Staff support is provided by the Education Office for all committee activities. Committee members report on their progress at the spring and fall Education Committee meetings. Information on the committee activities is provided in their annual report, available at the committee webpage at http://www.the-aps.org/committees/education/.

• Review applications for the APS Frontiers in Physiology Summer Research Program for Teachers (middle/high school) and the David Bruce Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Research. Applications are reviewed initially at the APS online awards site and then awardees/finalists are selected via conference call. For the David Bruce Awards, awardees are selected onsite at EB from a group of finalists selected before the meeting.

Members of the Finance Committee are expected to:

• Attend the spring (March) and fall (October) committee meetings and be available for teleconference meetings as issues that require finance committee attention occur.

• At the March meeting, review modifications to the current budget, review annual audit from the preceding year, investment activity, including assessment of investment managers’ performance, and review annual recommendation by the Executive Director, Director of Publications, and Director of Finance, of journal subscription price increases for the succeeding year.

• At the October meeting, review the Society’s annual budget for the succeeding year and review annual salary pool recommendation for staff members.

• Advise and assist the Executive Director and Director of Finance on negotiations of contracts and grants.

• Review significant capital acquisitions and consulting agreements.

• Determine appropriate placement of all cash and investments with investment managers, banks, etc., subject to approval by Council.

Members of the International Physiology Committee are expected to:

• Attend the committee meeting at Experimental Biology.

• Provide strategies to enhance International APS member participation in society activities.

• Review, critique and score applications for the APS Latin American Initiative. Applications are reviewed annually and discussed via email or conference call prior to the Summer Council meeting. 

• Contribute to the generation of the annual report from the committee to Council.

Members of the Joint Program Committee are expected to:

• Register for and attend the Experimental Biology meetings.

• Attend the annual committee meeting held the first day of Experimental Biology and receive housing reimbursement for one night’s stay if applicable.

• Attend a one day committee meeting in June. APS covers travel, meals and housing expenses.

• Attend a one day committee meeting in December. APS covers travel, meals and housing expenses.

• Be an active participant in the leadership of the section/group/committee the committee member represents.

• Solicit proposals for scientific sessions at the EB meeting.

• Provide APS with the final slate of programming for the section/group/committee the member represents.

• Receive electronic copies of submitted abstracts in November and schedule those into appropriate poster sessions in a timely manner.

• Select or oversee the selection of abstracts for inclusion in featured topic sessions that fall under the section/group/committee the member represents.

• Oversee the programming process and provide assistance to headquarters as necessary to create the final annual meeting program.

• At the meeting in conjunction with EB, committee members review and approve Cross Sectional symposium proposals, identify potential overlaps and complements as sections/groups/committees begin to develop their programs, seed ideas for future meetings, and develop workshops and tutorials for the next year’s annual meeting.

• At the June meeting, committee members schedule all oral sessions by date, time and room, identify programming tracks, provide topic categories for next year’s EB meeting, and provide APS with information on all oral sessions for which the member has oversight. This includes session title, presentation titles and full contact information for all speakers and chairs.

• At the June meeting, committee members schedule all posters by day and session, identify late-breaking hot-topic oral sessions and schedule those by date, time and room, and develop tutorial and workshop ideas for the future annual meeting.

Members of the Membership Committee are expected to:

• Institute creative measures to recruit and retain members to the Society

• Vote on approval of applications for Regular Membership

• Make decisions on the appropriate membership category for new members

• Address issues specifically related to undergraduate and graduate student and postdoctoral fellow members

• Carefully review the numbers of new members and dropped members from the Society

• Attend a committee meeting held in conjunction with the Experimental Biology meeting

• Consider all matters pertaining to membership and report its activities to Council

Members of the Perkins Committee are expected to:

• Attend the committee meeting held annually at the Experimental Biology Meetings.

• Review and score applications for the APS John F. Perkins, Jr. Memorial Award for International Physiologists. The applications are reviewed twice yearly (Spring and Fall) at the APS online awards site (https://www.the-aps.org/awardapps/login/index.cfm). 

• Update the committee guidelines for applications if required.

Members of the Porter Physiology Development Committee are expected to:

• Attend the committee meeting at Experimental Biology and participate in/attend one or more of the Committee-sponsored events (Minority Travel Fellows orientation session, Porter Reception, Minority Travel Fellows Luncheon, undergraduate poster session). Also, Committee members should offer to serve as a meeting mentor for one of the Travel Fellows.

• Take leadership responsibility for at least one Porter Committee activity and work on a subcommittee for at least one other activity. Staff support is provided by the Education Office for all committee activities. Committee members report on their progress at the spring Committee meeting. Information on the committee activities is provided in their annual report, available at the committee webpage at http://www.the.aps.org/committees/porter 

• Review applications for the APS-NIDDK Minority Travel Fellows Program and the Porter Physiology Development Program. Applications are reviewed initially at the APS online awards site and, in the case of the Porter Fellowship, awardees are selected via conference call.

Members of the Public Affairs Committee are expected to:

• Attend the committee meeting at Experimental Biology and participate in/attend the Public Affairs symposium at the EB.

• Attend a fall committee meeting at APS headquarters in Bethesda, MD. APS covers travel expenses for this meeting. This meeting includes visits to Capitol Hill for the purpose of discussing relevant policy issues with Members of Congress.

• Participate in electronic discussions and bimonthly conference calls on policy issues.

• Identify policy issues of concern to the Society.

• Provide input as necessary on policy issues affecting physiology research, including appropriations and agency-specific policies.

• Participate in events as necessary to represent the Society’s perspective and interests on policy issues.

• Provide leadership in planning Public Affairs Symposia at the Experimental Biology meeting.

• Staff support is provided by the Office of Science Policy and Government Relations for all committee activities. Information on the committee activities is provided in their annual report.

Members of the Publications Committee are expected to:

• Manage the publications of the Society under policies determined by Council.

• Attend two 2-day meetings a year, in the spring (March) and the fall (October).

• Appoint editors, associate editors, and editorial boards.

• Evaluate editors and journal goals prior to the expiration of the editors' first term.

• Evaluate publications policies, including ethical, peer review, and business policies.

• Evaluate ethical cases, and suggest sanctions to the Council’s Executive Cabinet.

• Solicit nominations from the editors of the Society's journals for membership on the Publications Committee, as vacancies occur. These nominations will be forwarded to the Committee on Committees for consideration by Council.

• Encourage the sections to appoint journal editors as ex officio members their Steering Committees, and encourage the editors to serve as active members.

• Offer advice and consent on the appointment of a Director of Publications.

• Render an annual financial report and budget (details supplied by the Director of Finance) to the Finance Committee through the Executive Director.

• Submit actions of the Committee for publication in The Physiologist.

Members of the Senior Physiologists Committee are expected to:

• Deal with all matters pertaining to emeritus members and members about to retire.

• Develop and maintain liaison with emeritus members.

• Assist in the selection of recipients of the Senior Physiologists Award.

• After receiving a list (divided equally among members) of senior physiologists turning 70, 80, 90 and 100 years of age that year), Committee members send a personal message either as a letter to those having a 70th birthday or as a Beaumont House Commemorative Card to 80, 90 or 100 year-old members.

• Submit replies from senior physiologists to the Executive Director for consideration for publication in The Physiologist.

• Alert the Executive Director to senior physiologists who have written autobiographic or historic accounts of interest to Physiologists. In fact, any offers of archival materials, artifacts, and ephemera should be referred to the Executive Director for consideration for inclusion in the Society’s archives.

Members of the Trainee Advisory Committee are expected to:

• Attend the committee meeting at Experimental Biology and participate in/attend one or more of the Committee-sponsored events (TAC symposium, undergraduate poster session).

• Attend a 2-day fall committee meeting at APS headquarters in Bethesda, MD. APS covers travel expenses for this meeting.

• Serve as a liaison between their section and the Committee, via email listserv messages to share information with section members and through participation in section steering committee meetings and conference calls.

• Take leadership responsibility for at least one Committee activity and work on a subcommittee for at least one other activity. Staff support is provided by the Education Office for all committee activities. Committee members report on their progress at the spring and fall Committee meetings. Information on the committee activities is provided in their annual report, available at the committee webpage at http://www.the-aps.org/committees/trainee/.

• Review applications for the APS Early Career Professional Service Award. Applications are reviewed initially at the APS online awards site and then awardees/finalists are selected via conference call.

Members of the Women in Physiology Committee are expected to:

• Attend the committee meeting at Experimental Biology and participate in/attend one or more of the Committee-sponsored events (APS-ASPET Mentoring Workshop, Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen award luncheon, undergraduate poster session).

• Take leadership responsibility for at least one Women in Physiology Committee activity and work on a subcommittee for at least one other activity. Staff support is provided by the Education Office for all committee activities. Committee members report on their progress at the spring Committee meeting. Information on the committee activities is provided in their annual report, available at the committee webpage at http://www.the-aps.org/committees/women/.

• Review applications for the Caroline tum-Suden/Frances A. Hellebrandt Award Program. Applications are reviewed initially at the APS online awards site and awardees are selected via conference call.

• Review nomination materials for the annual Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen Distinguished Mentor and Scientist Award.  Initially reviews are done at the APS online awards site and then the final selection process is done via a conference call.

• Participate in Mentoring Forum in which committee members write a short article on a topic to be posted online as well as published in The Physiologist.