Minutes - August 2003 (Part 2)

33. Board Visitations to Area Committees:
Board members reported on the attendance and discussions of Area Committees they visited. Highlights of these reports and discussions are listed below.

Apparatus Committee:
Mamola reported that the committee expressed concern about a about a decline in entries to the Apparatus Competition. D. Peterson expressed that he did not think the committee members understood the expectation of the competition and suggested that they should review the history of the awards. Mamola noted that a summary of the entries and the winners would be compiled and reported in the TPT. Hein suggested that the committee might want to consider bringing its website to the AAPT.

Research in Physics Education:
Fehrs reported that the committee had over 100 attendees. The report concerning Bob Beichner’s proposal to develop a ComPADRE collection of PER articles generated a heated discussion.

Educational Technologies:
R. Peterson reported that the committee expressed a desire for the AAPT to arrange wireless capabilities for their computers. The members were upset regarding the charges by hotels for these services. The committee also expressed a desire to serve as an advisory body for ComPADRE.

Laboratories:
R. Peterson reported that the LabFocus II Conference is slowly evolving.

International Education:
Robertson reported that the committee was complimentary of the recent international conference held in Cuba and were favorably impressed with the quality of physics education in Cuba given its political environment.

Senior Physicists:
Holbrow reported that the committee was healthy. This is a temporary committee and next year the Board will need to consider if the committee were to be made a full Area Committee. D. Peterson also reported that John Rigden had asked if invited papers could be longer than one half hour as long as the time limit for the paper session was maintained. He expressed to the committee that this was not impossible.

34. Calculus-Based Conference.
The Introductory Calculus-Based Physics Conference will be held in Crystal City, September 19-21. 130 had registered for the meeting and some slots were still available.

35. Adjournment.
Holbrow adjourned the meeting, stating that agenda items not addressed would be placed on the agenda for the October meeting.

Mary Beth Monroe, AAPT Secretary