Meeting Minutes

[William Neil]

LRIG Mid-Atlantic Meeting Minutes
October 15, 2007
In Attendance:
Ed Kuspiel, Bill Neil, Jimmy Chen, Gail Crawford, Dave Pechter , Andy
Zaayenga, Mel Reichman ( via phone) , Kapeel Krishana ( via phone)

Our chapter chair, Ed Kuspiel ,reviewed the good year just past, which
included very successful meetings on a range of topics: Andy's
biorepository meeting, Bill's emerging technology meeting, the May
technology show, and the ADMETox meeting put together by Jimmy and
Mel.

Administrative efforts that came to fruition: the mid-atlantic chapter
is now incorporated, has a tax number, and has paid any back taxes.
The 513C or tax-exempt status is not actually in hand, but the
groundwork is laid.

For next year, the key areas are recruiting people for the committee
and board, and finalizing the chapter's tax-exempt status.

Our treasurer, Jimmy Chen, reviewed our overall bank balance. LRIG MA
has approximately $54,000 in the bank, and $74,000 in Paypal. The
Paypal balance will be moved over to the bank account, for a total of
$128,000. Generally it is recommended that a non-profit organization
keep its bank balance under $100,000 or if it makes more sense
depending on the scope of the organization, 6 months of operating
costs. Balances above this can be an issue with the IRS.

The question of the balance led into a discussion of ways to spend
this money in a manner consistent with the chapter's overall goal of
education.

Andy Zaayenga is planning an upgrade to the global organization's web
site. This is expected to cost about $50,000 and be paid for by
contributions from the various chapters. Andy recommends that we plan
on a $5,000 to $10,000 contribution.

Ed Kuspiel recommended and it was agreed that the chapter purchase a
second LCD projector since a single rental fee can be $1000 which is
actually more than a purchase.

There was a wide ranging discussion of how to spend a portion of the
chapter's balance on student scholarships. Some of the ideas:
?working with the Keck Institute which is a biotechnology research
institute associated with Claremont College
?creating scholarships for New Jersey FIRST ( student robotics
competition) participants.
?continuing and augmenting the poster session competition, including
the idea of adding a luncheon for the parents to the poster session
?looking into a need-based approach for scholarships so that the
money doesn't just go to the top people who may not need it.
?pursue matching funds for scholarships from either pharmaceutical
companies or technology companies.

Please add in your suggestions on how LRIG can disburse funds as a
non-profit organization with a focus on education. You can forward
them to Ed Kuspiel or Dave Pechter. Ed would like to have a final plan
in place by the end of January. We will also need to establish who
will solicit matching funds and from whom. If you interested in being
involved in this process or to make suggestions, please contact Ed.

Another practical suggestion was outlined for streamlining the poster
review process: using a tiered approach which has been used at ALA so
that posters are vetted in "heats" and the final judges just see the
posters that have won their "heats". Another recommendation is that
posters be submitted as a pdf so that judges can preview the posters.

Dave Pechter volunteered to be the recruiting chair, essentially to
act as a central collection point for names of people who are
interested in getting more involved in LRIG. We are looking for a few
people, but there will be a process of bringing them in and getting to
know them. The suggestion was made that business cards may help in the
initial contact with people at meetings. The web site has some
provision for getting LRIG cards for officers, but the design needs
some updating. Also as part of recruiting, it is recommended that we
include an announcement at meetings and in emails to the effect that
we are encouraging members who would like to get more involved to
contact us.

Meeting Plans:

A February 2008 Biorepositories meeting will be set up by Andy Zaayenga.

Kapeel Krishana will handle the speakers for the May 2008 technology
exhibit. He will publish the speaker list as it evolves in the forum
on the web site. He will also reprise his successful Labview session,
scheduled a little later at 6 ?6:30pm. Scott Jennings and Gautam
Agnihotri will be asked to help out with the table.

Emerging Technology meeting focused on biology is planned for early
September 2008. Dave Pechter and Ed Kuspiel will work on that.

ADME Tox / Lead Optimization for November 2008, headed up by Mel
Reichman and Jimmy Chen.

Andy Zaayenga will also chair a sample management meeting for February 2009.

Two other practical issues for meetings: 1) A suggestion was made that
we need better gifts for the speakers, especially those from pharma or
academia. We agreed on a leather portfolio that is branded LRIG. Gail
Crawford will look into it, and 2) a request was made for a ghost,
or non-responding, email account that can be used as the source for
meeting announcements. Approximately 10% or 270 email responses come
back from a typical mailing. Andy Z will look into this.

At closing Ed re-stated our goals for 2008: scholarship mechanism in
place, non-profit status, and new blood.

-- Dave