1. Innovations at the 1995 Annual Meeting
2. Finances
3. Initiatives to Expand Interest in Photobiology among Grade School Students
4. Photochemistry and Photobiology Looks to the Future
5. Photochemistry and Photobiology Statistics for 1994-1995
6. Meeting Sites for 1996 and 1997
7. Public Affairs
8. Report on the Forum for Women and Minorities (Hill)
9. Photobiology Online
10. News from the Secretariat
2. FINANCES - The financial status of the Society continues to be excellent. For the Fiscal Year ending August 31, 1994, the Society had a fund balance of about $782,000. Expenses ran $536,000 for the same period. The Society realized a profit in 1994 of approximately $100,000 and current projections are for the same amount for 1995. As in previous years, Photochemistry and Photobiology was both the largest income generator for the Society as well as the major expense. The Journal ran about a $120,000 profit while the rest of the Society operations ran about a $20,000 deficit.
The Finance Committee has developed an investment policy for the ASP which is currently being implemented. The overriding goal of the policy is to continue the fiscal policy that current expenses are covered by current income. The investment objectives are preservation of capital, liquidity, long term growth of capital, and current yield. To meet these objectives the funds of the ASP are to be divided into an Operating Fund, a Reserve Fund, and an Investment Fund. The Operating Fund will consist of approximately 60% of the Annual Society Expenses and will be kept in checking or saving accounts in federally-insured institutions. This will be used to pay for the day-to-day operations of the Society. The Reserve Fund will be used to provide long-term financial stability for the Society. Approximately 60% of current Annual Society Expenses will be kept in a Reserve Fund, to be held in federally insured certificates of deposit and fixed income securities backed by the U.S. government and securities issued by or backed by U.S. government agencies. The Reserve Fund could be used only under emergency conditions. Council must declare that such conditions exist and must authorize expenditures from the Reserve Fund. The Operating Fund and the Reserve Fund at present will each total a little over $300,000. The Investment Fund will consist of Society funds in excess of those held in the Operating Fund and the Reserve Fund, and will be available for projects as directed by Council. At present this amounts to about $400,000 - $500,000. The moneys of the Investment Fund will be invested in fixed income securities, mutual funds, and investment-grade corporate bonds.
3. INITIATIVES TO EXPAND INTEREST IN PHOTOBIOLOGY AMONG GRADE SCHOOL STUDENTS - Council is considering developing a video tape and material on CD-ROM or for access through the World-Wide-Web that could be used by teachers to introduce students to photobiology as a discipline and as a career option. Frank Gasparro, Chair of the Education Committee for 1995-1996, is working on this. Input, particularly from those who have had experience in produving videos for students, is welcome.
4. PHOTOCHEMISTRY AND PHOTOBIOLOGY LOOKS TO THE FUTURE - Editor Irene Kochevar has successfully negotiated an accelerated printing schedule with Allen Press. As a result, the printing time for manuscripts has been reduced from 16 weeks to 12 weeks. All authors are being encouraged to submit final accepted manuscripts on disc. Instructions will appear in Photochemistry and Photobiology and will be sent to authors along with the acknowledgment letter. This may save two weeks or more in the editing time. The revolution in electronic publication is likely to impact on income from Photochemistry and Photobiology. With this in mind, the Publications Committee is considering a proposal from ISI for electronic publishing of Photochemistry and Photobiology on a trial basis. The number of sites that could access Photochemistry and Photobiology in this way would be limited during the trial period.
5. PHOTOCHEMISTRY AND PHOTOBIOLOGY STATISTICS FOR 1994 - 1995 - The overall acceptance rate for submitted manuscripts was 58%. The total number of original research manuscripts submitted, including invited symposium manuscripts, declined by 24% from the average number for 1990 - 1992, but was up by 8% from 1993. The decline represents in large part a decrease in the number of symposium reports and related manuscripts. The distribution of published manuscripts was: Photochemistry, Photophysics and Phototechnology -38%; Environmental Photobiology and UVR Effects - 16%; Photosynthesis and Photoconversion - 10%; Photomedicine - 27%; Photosensory Biology - 9%. Invitations to write reviews have been accepted by 22 authors; it is anticipated that 10 invited reviews will be published this year. The emphasis of these reviews will be on very recent progress (last 1 - 2 years). Two Symposia-in-Print will be published in 1995 and 9 are in progress.
6. MEETING SITES FOR 1996 AND 1997 - The 1996 ASP Annual Meeting will be held at the Omni Hotel in Atlanta, GA on June 15 - June 19, 1996. Potential sites for the 1997 meeting are Pittsburgh, PA, Kansas City, MO, Milwaukee, WI, Chicago, IL, and Houston, TX. Initiatives are underway for joint sponsorship of symposia by societies with related interests. This includes the European Society for Photobiology, the Pan American Society for Pigment Cell Research, the Radiation Research Society, the Oxygen Society, and the Environmental Mutagen Society. The ASP is cosponsoring a symposium on DNA Damage and Repair at the European Society meeting in September, 1995.
7. PUBLIC AFFAIRS - Dr. Richard Granstein wrote and produced an ASP brochure on photobiology, entitled "Light and Life", for distribution to congressional science aids at the 1995 meeting, which was held in Washington D.C. A press release on the ASP Annual Meeting was prepared with the aid of the George Washington University press office. Dr. Noonan also announced the meeting on Fox Television News. A special session for Congressional science aids and journalists, entitled "What is Photobiology?", was held on Saturday morning. This resulted in an excellent article in the August 8, 1995 issue of JAMA (pages 445-446).
8. REPORT ON THE FORUM FOR WOMEN AND MINORITIES (HILL)* - Following the survey distributed several months ago with the Newsletter, a directory of individuals who identified themselves as female or a minority was printed by MAPS and was distributed to individuals at the Forum meeting held on June 19. This directory will be updated annually. Nineteen individuals attended the Forum meeting this year. The group discussed sending the Women and Minorities Directory to NIH, ACS, EPA, and the DOE and requested that either the directory should be replicated on Photobiology Online or that information about how to obtain a copy should appear there. Suzanne Wolford has volunteered to act as coordinator of the Forum for the next year.
9. PHOTOBIOLOGY-ON-LINE - Several American and European members of the ASP have participated in developing POL. Tamas Vidoczy in Hungary has been codeveloper of the project and manages a POL mirror site there. POL went on line February 14, 1995. A jobs listing will be added soon and, as electronic submission of manuscripts develops, abstracts of papers in Photochemistry and Photobiology will be available. More information on the ESP will be added and negotiations are underway with Elsevier to obtain the table of contents listing of the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology. The International Photodynamic Association is considering participation. Graphics will be added soon.
9. NEWS FROM THE SECRETARIAT - MAPS (the management firm that handles day-to-day operations of the ASP) now has E-mail capabilities; the address is MAPS@CSRA.net. Members can now contact the Secretariat via the Internet, as well as via telephone, letter, and fax.
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