2005 Section Advisory Committee Report
The Section Advisory Committee (SAC), chaired by Susan M. Barman, has
held two meetings in the past 12 months in which 11-12 sections were
represented. The major objective of the first meeting in Bethesda MD on
December 13, 2004 was to assist the Society in preparation for the 2005
Strategic Plan meeting by identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
and threats (SWOT analysis) facing the APS. In addition, John Williams
(past president of the APS) updated SAC members on recent Council
activities, and Martin Frank encouraged Section Chairs to include
information on “Open Access” in Section Newsletters. Time was also spent
discussing Section Award finances and ways to highlight trainees at
Experimental Biology (EB) meetings. The following morning, section Chairs
reconvened as the Nominating Committee to select candidates for
President-elect and Council. The major agenda items for the second meeting
of SAC on March 30, 2005 prior to the IUPS Meeting in San Diego, CA was to
the review annual Section Reports and to discuss issues related to Section
Awards and soliciting funds for Section activities. Below is a summary of
some of the changes made over the past year that are viewed as improvements
in the operation of the Sections and areas where progress is still needed.
Section Awards
Section Steering Committees take great pride in being able to award
trainees travel awards for attendance at EB meetings. In response to a
request to Council last year by SAC members, all Section-based Award winners
names and photos (when available) will now be published in an issue of
The Physiologist.
Sections are interested in identifying mechanisms to increase the funds
in these accounts through charitable contributions. Whereas some Sections
have had considerable success in obtaining new funds annually for their
awards, other Sections are concerned that the lack of additional funds might
compromise their ability to sustain their awards. APS members are
encouraged to support their Section activities via making a donation to
these funds. For more information or to make a donation, see the APS web
site.
Although some Sections report an increase in the number of outstanding
applicants for their trainee awards, several sections again received no
applications for their New Investigator Award (NIA). A brief description of
the Award criteria are: "Candidates should be investigators who have made
meritorious contributions to the area represented by the APS Section to
which they are applying. They should not be above the rank of Assistant
Professor or a comparable position in a research track at an academic
institution or in industry (e.g. Scientist, Sr. Scientist, Research
Investigator, etc.). They should receive nominations from at least two
regular members of the APS. Candidates will be judged on their publications,
how the publications relate to the APS section to which they have applied,
and evidence for independence and promise (grant funding, peer review
activities, etc.)." In an effort to highlight NIA recipients, they are
encouraged to submit a mini-review to an appropriate APS journal for
possible publication. In an effort to increase the number of applicants for
the NIA, SAC members have made a proposal to Council that would allow
individuals to apply for this award at any point during the year, although
the award would still be made the EB meeting. Another proposed change in
the process is that an individual would only be allowed to apply for an NIA
offered by the Section they list as their primary affiliation.
Don Reis Memorial Fellowship
EB 2006 will be the start of a new annual Featured Topic session that
will highlight the Don Reis Memorial Fellowship award winner. The
Cardiovascular, Central Nervous System, and Neural Control of Autonomic
Regulation Sections have worked together to make this a reality. The three
sections will rotate using one of their Featured Topic allotments for this
session. Six trainees (two from each of the Sections) will be selected on
the basis of their abstracts to present in this session. Their presentation
will be judged to identify the Award winner. Funds for this fellowship are
from the Donald J. Reis Fund in honor of his outstanding contributions to
the field of neural control of the circulation.
Role of APS Publications in Section Activities
While some Sections have had a long history of strong cooperation with
their journal representative, just a few short years ago several Sections
were very discouraged by the failure of their journal representative to take
an active role in their Section activities. Thanks in large part to the
efforts of Dale Benos and the Publications Committee, this year all Sections
reported favorable interactions with their journal representative. One
example of a positive change was mentioned above regarding publication of a
mini-review by NIA recipients. Another example is that Alberto Nasjletti,
editor of AJP: Heart Circulatory Physiology has implemented, on a
trial basis, inclusion of the Chair of the Cardiovascular Section as an
Associate Editor of the journal.
Trainee Members of the Sections
Over the past couple of years, Sections have encouraged trainee members
of their steering committee to participate in section activities beyond
those associated directly with their role on the APS Trainee Advisory
Committee. Trainee members are now serving on some Section Program
Committee and are allowed to organize a Featured Topic. Other Sections have
included these members on other Section subcommittees (e.g., Awards) or
included a Trainee page on the Section Newsletter. SAC also discussed ways
in which APS could help highlight trainee members’ participation at EB
meetings. Steering Committee members are encouraged to visit posters
presented by trainees, reserve an evening where trainees could present their
posters, or have a trainee-poster session in conjunction with the
Distinguished Lecture.
International Physiologists role in Section Activities
In response to the request by the International Physiology Committee to
increase participation of international members in APS activities, many of
the Sections have included an international APS member on their steering
committee.
Getting Involved in APS Section Activities
APS members are encouraged to become active participants in their Section
activities. Each APS member can select one primary affiliation and as many
secondary affiliations as fit their interests. For those who are interested
in becoming more involved in sectional activities, you can contact SAC
members at:
http://www.the-aps.org/committees/members/sac.htm. For further
information on the Sections, go to
http://www.the-aps.org/sect_groups.htm.
Susan M. Barman, Chair
Council Actions
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Council accepted the report of the
Section Advisory Committee.
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Council approved a plan to seek greater
return on the interest in the Sections’ accounts used to support trainee
travel to Experimental Biology Meetings.
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Council approved allowing individuals to
apply only for awards offered by the Section that is listed as their
primary affiliation. New Investigator Award (NIA) candidates would also
only be allowed to submit applications to the Section listed as their
primary affiliation.
-
Council approved changing the deadline
for the New Investigator Awards to be one month prior to the abstract
deadline for the EB meetings.
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