ESSSO Meeting
Friday, Jan. 18, 2008
Meeting minutes:
Hi All,

Thanks to those of you who were able to make it Friday - we had an extremely productive meeting. We were also graced by the presence of none other than David Jackson, who offered his insight on a variety of issues. Here is my summary (P.S. ESSSO Secretary wanted...):

   *New faculty member Dr. Caroline Beghein (global seismic tomography) stopped by to introduce herself. She encouraged students to stop by her office and chat. Afterward, students expressed concern that they were unaware there was a new faculty member. Dave Jackson pledged to keep the students informed throughout the upcoming faculty search process.

   *Faculty search -- We need to collectively decide what our involvement will be in the process. The current search involves ESS, IGPP, and AOS, up to eight new faculty hired over the next year or so. Students could be involved simply by submitting evaluations of the candidates, organizing lunches with the candidates, giving a summary presentation to the search committee, and/or participating in committee meetings directly. David Jackson will help us follow through on any of these, but warns that putting students on the committee itself could get tricky. On our end, Britney (ESSSO VP for Student Affairs) will come up with a strategy for student involvement in the process, and we will work with Prof. Jackson to make sure our voice is heard. Undergraduates (as always) are encouraged to participate in addition to grads.

   *Grad student salaries -- Dave Jackson tells us that the raise we asked for was tentatively approved (unanimously) through an informal vote at a faculty meeting. They hope to put this into effect starting July 1, although it is still unclear what formalities need to be resolved. There is some concern about drying up current grants which were awarded assuming the previous salaries.

   *Ski trip -- February 23-24, Mountain High/Wrightwood (details in a separate e-mail)

   *"Unofficial Guide" for new students -- Marissa will be leading the grad version, Erik leading the undergrad version. Contributions will be solicited.

   *ESSSO web site -- Paul is working with The Steves to get this up, hopefully within the next few days.

   *Spring Research Symposium -- We will invite at least USC and Caltech, possibly others. Paul will throw out some dates and see what sticks -- the big issue is the day of the week (Saturday?). We can budget about $800 for this event. Maybe participating schools can also contribute some moolah. (Those students who won the awards last year can expect their checks this week -- apologies for the massive delay.)

   *Coffee and cookies for Colloquium -- To make the labor distribution a little more equitable, we will now have a sign-up sheet. This week is Marissa, then Paul, then we'll start the sign-up sheet. Matt S. and Antonio are the de facto contacts for the faculty organizer, i.e. they will help pick potential speakers once the faculty search business is over.