Report of the Committee on Meetings
for the Year ending June 30, 2002

The Committee on Meetings deliberated by e-mail on two separate occasions in the year ending 30 June 002.

In late September and early October 2001, the Committee considered possible meeting locations for the Society's November 2003 forum and annual meeting. The committee received a summary and detailed analysis of prospective sites from Dee Windley of the Sigma Xi staff. In recent years, identifying available hotels that meet our specific requirements for facilities, service, and cost has become more challenging. As a result, the staff has revisited and intensified the approach to researching prospective meeting sites. In addition to reviewing competitive hotel cost, availability, and air fares in cities with good air service, more research has become necessary regarding alternative facilities (i.e., secondary hotel arrangements), the increased floor space necessary to accommodate poster sessions and the student conference, possibilities for more connections with "local host" Sigma Xi chapters (which helps with such activities as field trips, poster sessions, and our increasing demands for telecommunications facilities at the meeting), and consideration of the topic of the Forum scheduled for that year. Finally, in its deliberations, the Committee continued the general practice of seeking geographic diversity in selecting its meeting location.

After reviewing the information available, the Committee via email, with one abstention, approved the site for the November 2003 meeting as the Hyatt Regency Los Angeles at Macy's Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. The 2003 forum will take place on Thursday and Friday, 13 and 14 November 2002, and Sigma Xi's annual meeting will follow immediately from Friday, 14 November, through Sunday noon, 16 November 2002.

In late May and early June 2002, the Committee once again convened via email to consider a proposal that the theme for the November 2003 forum be changed from science education to one involving international science with emphasis on underdeveloped and developing countries. The reason this proposal was made to the Committee was the fact that Sigma Xi's international networking initiative, supported by a grant from the Packard Foundation, may conclude in December 2003. Therefore, it seemed that a November 2003 forum topic on international science, that would tie into this initiative, would serve as both a capstone to this initiative and a beginning for future international activities of the Society. Ultimately, the Committee unanimously endorsed the proposal to set the theme for the November 2003 forum in Los Angeles on international science and that the theme for the November 2004 meeting would be science education.

In the year beginning 1 July 2002, the Committee will review proposals for the site of the November 2004 forum and annual meeting in the Northeast Geographical Region of Sigma Xi. In response to concerns of delegates and chapter officers, the Society's future forum and annual meeting sites will be rotated among the six geographic regions of the Society, rather than among the three broad areas of East, Mid-West, and Western North America as has been traditionally done in the Society. This new process should enable a greater number of chapters in the Society to be closer to the site of Sigma Xi's annual forum and meeting and therefore to participate in the local events of the meeting and to save costs for chapter representatives to attend the meeting.

In terms of the membership of the Committee, in November 2001 Dr. Marye Anne Fox completed her term on the Committee and was replaced by Dr. Peter Raven the President-elect Designate of Sigma Xi. On 3 June 2002, Dr. Patrick Sculley, the Society's new Executive Director, became Chair of the Committee. May I also take this opportunity to express my personal thanks to each and every member of the Committee for their efforts on the Society's behalf; it was indeed a pleasure to work with you.

Evan R. Ferguson, Chair

George Bugliarello
Raymond E. Fornes
Marye Anne Fox (until November 2001)
W. Franklin Gilmore
David Jensen
Peter Raven (after November 2001)
Virginia L. Trimble

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