FOUNDATION FOR SCIENCE AND DISABILITY (FSD)

Annual Meeting

10:00 AM -12:00 PM, Friday, February 15, 2013

Resource Room for AAAS Annual Meeting Participants with Disabilities
Hynes Convention Center
Boston, Massachusetts

Call to Order/Introductions-Erica Penn

Erica Penn, President, discussed activities of the Foundation for Science and Disability during 2012 and presented her goals for the next term. Notable activities in which FSD members participated included 1) continuation of ongoing programs such as the annually awarded student grants (see below) and the FSD Facebook and LinkedIn pages; 2) broadened interactions with other groups and organizations that have shared goals, such as the American Association for the Advancement  of Science (AAAS) Committee on Opportunities in Science (COOS),  and the Women with Disabilities in STEM Workshop held at Gallaudet University.; 3) organization of a symposium by Imke Durre (COOS  member and FSD member) on contributions of citizen scientists to climate science.

Erica also discussed possibilities for development of new services or projects that could benefit students and career professionals with disabilities who are working in STEM fields.

 Other attendees introduced themselves, including Laureen Summers and Ric Weibl of AAAS; Angela Foreman of Sapphire Executives, LLC; Richard Mankin of the US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service; Dhara Kothavala, graduate student at Arizona State University; Chris Andersen, Director of the Science, Technology, Engineering , and Mathematics Initiative at The Ohio State University, Allan Sampson in the Department of Biostatistics at University of Pittsburgh,  and Yoshiko Miwa, a freelance science writer in Japan. Dhara has been associated with the Environmental Careers Organization, which provided internships to students in environmental research fields. Yoshiko has been writing about disability issues in Japan and also has been involved with Citizen Science Initiative Japan. Ric Weibl noted and discussed several articles relevant to disability issues that had been posted in AAAS Member Central .

·        Minutes - February 17, 2012 (Vancouver, BC) The minutes from the Vancouver meeting were discussed and approved.
 

Treasurer Report- Angela Foreman

Foundation For Science and Disability Treasurer Report

February 13, 2012-January 1, 2013

 The Foundation for Science and Disability appreciates the gift from Edward Keller Jr., a longstanding member and officer of our organization.

 

·        Student Science Grant Committee report-2013- (Committee members: Erica Penn, Angela Foreman, Imke Durre, and Richard Mankin, Chair)

The committee reviewed 4 completed applications. The numbers of applicants decreased this year after several years of consistent increases. 

Naomi Delventhal, a graduate student in the department of Biology at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada,  was selected by the committee to be awarded a $1000 grant for work on a project involving the the phylogenetic relationships among Callogobius species in the Gobiidae family of fishes.

It was moved, seconded, and approved that a $1000 grant be awarded to Naomi Delventhal.

New Business

It was announced that Angela Foreman had been elected for a second term as Treasurer of FSD.

It was moved, seconded, and approved that Erica Penn be nominated to a second term as President of FSD. Ballots will be sent out in the next newsletter.

Erica Penn noted that she had been a participant in a videotaped interview during the President's Reception at the AAAS Annual Meeting on February 14.,She described some of the activities of the Foundation for Science and Disability in the interview.

Richard Mankin noted that Ian King of AAAS had suggested in the AAAS-COOS meeting, February 13-14, 2013, that committee members might prepare up to 8 stories about diversity issues the COOS committee addresses which could be contributed to Member Central (membercentral.aaas.org).  It was moved, seconded, and approved that a subcommittee (Richard, Erica, Angela, and Imke) discuss this topic further by email and write up a story related to activities of scientists with disabilities.

The meeting adjourned at 11:45 AM. Submitted by Richard Mankin, March 5, 2013