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2003 Annual Meeting

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Research and Technical Studies (RATS)

Business Meeting Minutes

Minutes for RATS 2003 Business Meeting
The meeting was called to order at 8:15 p.m. by Chair, John Hirx.

Minutes

The minutes from the 2002 Business Meeting were approved.

Blythe McCarthy read and submitted the Secretary/Treasurer's Report in which she discussed available funds, membership and membership dues. She reported that at the end of 2002, the RATS AIC balance was $8182. If membership were to continue at the same level next year, available funds for 2004 should total $3713. Until membership and/or member services increase, she recommended dues remain at the same level.

Publications
A discussion on means of RATS support of publications occurred. Chandra Reedy stated that she preferred the group encourage papers for JAIC and not start their own publications. She stated that RATS papers would fit well in the journal. Terry Schaeffer said that the group could foster the integration of science into conservation projects/papers. Terry Weisser agreed there was room for better integration. Michelle Derrick (new JAIC editor) reminded members that the publication specifics are given in the back of the JAIC.

AIC Endowment Funds
Susan White voiced concerns for the mid-career conservator and suggested the group support research for this demographic. She stated that finding funds for research projects for conservators in private practice at mid career is very difficult. Mary Striegel stated that the AIC professional development endowment does include funds for research awards.

EAS Student Sponsorship
This sponsorship was not awarded again this year. Mary Striegel said that in the past, the EAS session chair nominated the awardee. John Scott said that none of the presenters needed the funding this year. Terry Weisser suggested we support students at AIC instead of EAS. Judy Bischoff suggested that the EAS money be used to support an AIC presentation and that $500 be budgeted to support research. John Scott asked that RATS help support the session at EAS. He said that it would be good to do other things with the award, as they are not running a Young Investigators session this year. John Hirx suggested we could donate the funds to FAIC, but received little support.

Chandra Reedy motioned and Terry Weisser seconded, that the $500 formerly budgeted for a student award at EAS be used for a RATS award for professional development for research. The motion passed unanimously.

[Secretary/Treasurer's Note: After consulting with Katharine Untch and Rick Kerschner of the AIC Board, it was determined that this motion is not yet technically possible to execute as proposed. The FAIC Endowment for Professional Development provides funds for a variety of professional development activities, including workshops and at present partial funding for two awards: the FAIC Workshop Development Award and the FAIC Individual Professional Development Award.

FAIC does not yet have an associated award that is solely for research. The closest fit of an existing award is probably the FAIC Individual Professional Development Award. Award guidelines and applications are on the AIC website. This award provides funds for individuals to pursue their own professional development goals which could include attending a workshop, conference or conducting research if the research leads to the professional development of the applicant. The awards are small, up to $1000 per individual. While this award is not restricted only for research, some of the successful applications have already been awarded for research. All applications for all types of professional development goals are reviewed together by a review committee and are awarded, as a group, on a competitive basis. So at this point in time it would be difficult to single out just one recipient for "research" only, or to guarantee that one award is given to research only each time. If the proposals are competitive, however, as some have been in the past, then they may be awarded for "research".

This award might not be exactly what the RATS group has in mind for a specific, stand alone "research" award, but it is the closest fit we have to date. To set up a new, endowment fund for a specific purpose would take about $20,000 minimum plus a committment from the specialty group to set up and maintain a review committee. The Book and Paper group has done a similar thing with the new Christa Ghaeda fund. In the mean time, Katharine Untch offered to have the wording changed in the guidelines for the FAIC Individual Professional Development Awards to include "research" as one of the options to better clarify that option. A donation therefore to the FAIC Endowment for Professional Development, would support research at some point, yet it could not be guaranteed that it would do so in this specific year. However, since such a donation would support research at some point, for this coming year, the $500 allocated in the above motion could be given to the Professional Development fund.]

RATS Pins
The chair asked what should be done with the pins. Terry Weisser suggested we give them to new members. Chandra Reedy motioned, Jim Moss seconded that they should be distributed to those present at the current RATS meeting. The motion passed; the pins were distributed, but there are many left. The secretary/treasurer collected dues from five new members.

New Business

RATS Website
Laramie Hickey-Friedman has been updating the RATS website. Please email any ideas to her. Chris Maines proposed a link to IRUG.

Oddy Testing
The Chair suggested that information on the oddy test be added to the RATS website and discussion ensued. Pat Griffin said that variations in sample setup could be discussed and Sara Moy broadened this to include variations on the entire test. Terry Weisser stated that the test is thought relevant mainly by objects conservators and that we need to educate the other disciplines (i.e. textile and paper) regarding its applicability. The chair suggested RATS could act to “translate” the test to all specialties. He added that the oddy test is useful especially when no labs are available. Madeleine Fang cautioned against posting specific results due to liability issues and referred to CONSDIST-L discussions on this topic. Jamie Martin agreed, stating that this encourages people to ;think that products stay the same batch to batch when they do not. Terry Schaeffer stated that Oddy test results shouldn’t be published, but felt we should support someone to talk at AIC. Charles Phillips suggested that an email or DISTLIST discussion could be summarized and the results presented at AIC or in a journal. Mary Striegel said that Chandra Reedy had published an article in Studies along those lines 3-4 years ago.

Proposed RATS dist-list
The chair suggested RATS start a dist-list. Jamie Martin said that the Materials-L list has received 0 emails in the last three years and members would need to participate for any list to be successful. There was some interest, so John Hirx said to email him with your email address to be included. Craig Deller asked what the form would be and John Hirx replied that he envisioned a closed list similar to OSG-L. Jim Moss added that beyond participation members would need to keep their address up to date.

Future RATS session topics
The Chair suggested future topics for RATS sessions could include papers on plastics or museum lighting. The membership supported the suggestions.

Eastern Analytical Symposium
John Scott stated he has been coordinating the EAS Conservation Science sessions for approximately a decade. As a result, many conservation scientists (including AIC-RATS members) have organized and chaired sessions led, addressed and attended by many more conservation scientists, conservators, students and others. John also stated that the EAS Governing Board has a policy of encouraging compatible groups to program smaller conferences within the larger EAS conference, for excellent synergies. A great thing about this is that EAS' considerable resources make event production easier and allow the compatible groups to focus much more on content than on logistical chores. [AIC specialty groups have been conducting more "off-peak" meetings in addition to the AIC Annual Meeting, and John suggests AIC-RATS could also do this every other or every third year at EAS.] John mentioned that the conservation science sessions are very well-regarded by the EAS leadership, and that the basic necessary support is likely to continue as long as sessions quality and attendance remain high. John asked for volunteers to help him with onsite logistics in the 2003 EAS conservation Science Annual, and/or to help with an EAS seminar for secondary and college students and teachers on "What Cultural Heritage Conservators Do, " requested for 2004 by the EAS Board's Development Committee. He also stated that EAS is currently developing additional scientific membership groups to "sponsor" the EAS organization, which becomes a possibility if coordinated programming and a group's other EAS participations go well over time. AIC-RATS could eventually have sponsor status, and if so would designate a delegate to the EAS Governing Board and to join the Committee of 80-90 persons who produce the EAS conference. John suggests RATS members explore <www.EAS.org> and <www.NYCF.org> and invites enquiries at NYConsnFdn@aol.com. It was suggested by a member that we examine similar possibilities with IRUG.

Election Results

Ellen Salzman Chase was elected Vice Chair and Joseph Swider Secretary/Treasurer for next year. Alison Murray assumes the position of Chair.

Nominating Committee:
Elizabeth Bede volunteered to head the nominating committee for next year. She will find a second member for the committee.

CAMEO-Michele Derrick said that CAMEO (www.mfa.org/conservation/cameo.htm) is now adding images.
Chris Maines announced the formation of a new users group for mass spectrometry. For further information contact him.
The meeting adjourned at 9:05pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Blythe McCarthy
RATS Secretary/Treasurer

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