Call to Order - 9:00 am

Attendees:

Richard Mankin (rmankin@gainesville.usda.ufl.edu)
Betty Ingram (bolhaas@comcast.net)
Bob Ingram (ingraminstitute@comcast.net)
Nan Johnson (nan.johnson@ssc.msu.edu)
Ed Misquez (emisquez@NMSU.Edu)
Virginia Stern (vstern@aaas.org)
Laureen Summers (lsummers@aaas.org)
Latasha Mason (lmason@aaas.org)

Copies of the agenda were distributed. Each attendee gave brief descriptions of their current professional activities. Ed Misquez discussed several new activities of the New Mexico State University RASEM-squared program (Regional Alliance for Science, Engineering and Mathematics), including cooperative efforts in the new Maine Alliance.

Minutes

The minutes from the last meeting (February 15, 2003 - Denver, CO) were reviewed and approved as posted at http://cmave.usda.ufl.edu/~rmankin/annmeetminute03.html and the 2004 Newsletter.

Treasurer's Report

Ed Keller was unable to attend the meeting. His treasurer report for January 1-December 31, 2003 was attached to the agenda.

During the last two years, we our expenses have exceeded income by about $1000. The primary expenses are from student grants, the awarding of which is currently a major reason for our existence. Although we need to build up the membership and increase contributions, the Foundation is in no immediate financial difficulty because we have $11,000 in reserves.

Science Student Grant Committee Report - Richard Mankin

Committee - Richard Mankin, Ed Misquez, Woody Anderson, Betty Weaver
Eight of the eleven submitted applications were acceptable for consideration. Five of the eight had credentials and dissertation projects that were outstanding by previous years' standards. We awarded a $1000 grant to Jessica Mahood, a student in the Microbiology Department at the University of Wisconsin. Jessica's research project is entitled, "Characterization of the codVWXY operon in the Staphylococcus aureus clinical isolate strain, Col." [for some interesting reading, look this up in Google!].

Officer Nominations

After some discussion, the attendees suggested the following nominations, that will be presented to the membership this Spring.
President-Ed Misquez (for CV, see http://rasem.nmsu.edu/Htmls/staff.htm)
Treasurer- Richard Mankin (for CV, see http://cmave.usda.ufl.edu/~rmankin)

New Business
The AAAS has started to prepare a new directory of scientists with disabilities. More on this later.
 

Submitted February 14, 2004
LaTasha Mason
AAAS