2002 Preliminary Business Meeting, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Section D Chair Brad Mullens called the meeting to order at 5:05 p.m.
Vice-Chair Dawn Wesson submitted minutes of the 2001 preliminary and final business meetings. Approval was moved by Charles Apperson, seconded by Leonard Munstermann, and passed unanimously.
Old Business
The new Section D officers were introduced by Chair Mullens as noted in the Preliminary Business Meeting agenda: Vice-Chair Dawn Wesson, Secretary Jan Conn (absent due to injury), and Secretary-elect Nancy Hinkle (who was drafted to record minutes).
The Section D program was summarized as noted in the Preliminary Business Meeting agenda, noting particularly the student debates on Monday morning and Highlights of Veterinary Entomology to be given by Reid Gerhardt and Highlights of Medical Entomology to be presented by Cynthia Lord.
Chair Mullens noted that numbers of papers and posters were up slightly compared to 2001, with 26 10-minute papers in two sessions, and 41 posters spread over three days.
A dozen Section D student presentations were scheduled for Monday afternoon to be moderated by Anton Cornel and Nancy Hinkle with Marc Klowden heading the judging team.
Student poster presentations were judged by Tom Scott, Miwa Takano-Lee, and Tim Lysyk.
The final Section D business meeting was scheduled for 3 p.m. Wednesday in Room 114 to accommodate travel schedules.
Other Symposia/Conferences relevant to Section D:
§ Sunday 8:00-noon Recent Progress in Haematophagous Arthropod Response to Host Cues, organized by Dan Kline and Jerry Butler, Room 316.
§ Sunday 1:00-3:40 Comparative Ecology and Evolution of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, organized by Peter Armbruster and Jan Conn, Room 222-223.
§ Sunday 12:45-4:00 Molecular Systematics and Evolution of the Acari, in Room 114.
§ Monday 8:00-11:20 Student Debates in Medical and Veterinary Entomology, Room 315.
§ Tuesday 8:00-11:30 West Nile Virus: Entomological and Veterinary Aspects, organized by John Anderson, Room 316.
§ Wednesday 8:00-11:30 Bioterrorism and Vector-Borne Pathogens Affecting Human and Animal Health, organized by Ken Gage and Geoff Letchworth, Room 316. Mullens noted that there were several other bioterrorism-related symposia of potential interest to Section D members in other sections.
§ Wednesday 1:00-2:40 Medical Entomology Beyond U.S. Borders, organized by Jack Petersen and Mustapha Debboun, Room 114.
Governing Board Report, Ed Schmidtmann
Discussed the 2003 budget, with the philosophy of "reducing costs and saving money." Other topics:
Online membership directory will be available in the near future. Searchable by name, affiliation, address, e-mail, specialty, branch, and section. Directory will be updated monthly. Members will be responsible for submitting their changes.
Member numbers will be on ballot notices next year to facilitate online voting.
Membership renewal is a major source of funding for ESA and Section D membership has dropped from 889 in 1999 to 698 in 2002.
For several years prior to 2001 expenditures exceeded income; that, compounded by the stock market decline, has severely strained the Society's finances. Motion 5 passed in San Diego attempted to reestablish a firm financial foundation. Focus on core values. Publications and meetings, both national and branches. Other functions outsourced to association management firm and Cadmus (publishing). Staff reduced from 21 to 7. While this has stemmed the flood, the Society is not out of the woods.
2002 meeting registration estimated at 2,200 people.
Publications Council Report, Bill Reisen
Report will be presented after the Publication Council meeting here in Fort Lauderdale.
Editorial Board Reports
Journal of Medical Entomology, Durland Fish
Journal Statistics: Normal submission rate with a greater rejection rate, around 40 percent. John Edman serves as Editor-in-Chief. As of December 2nd, all manuscripts will be handled by the rapid review online system, facilitating manuscript tracking.
Annals of the Entomological Society of America, Jan Conn
Absent. No Report.
Environmental Entomology, Sally Paulson
Alan Cameron editor-in-chief since April. More than a dozen subject matter areas. Slight declines in submissions with a 39-percent acceptance rate. (1) Policy of withdrawing manuscripts - editors recommend policy be clarified by council. (2) Manuscript appeals.
Journal of Economic Entomology, Tim Lysyk
Twelve subject editors and four board members. Acceptance rate 60 percent with 4.5 month turn-around (7 weeks in review, 7 weeks for author revision, and 3 weeks in editor's hands). Institute policy to require authors number pages. One problem is that ESA will not accept foreign purchase orders, and many institutions have policies stipulating payment only by purchase orders.
American Entomologist, Jerry Hogsette
Interim Editor-in-Chief is Gene Kritsky. Encourages submissions of feature articles as well as articles in other categories. New columns proposed include What is That? Potential sources of Linnaean Game questions. Stories from the field. Have an insect of the quarter with description of what it does and why it is interesting. Insect of the year, identifying insect having most impact in past year. Heritage section. Michael Gray considering dropping extension section unless submissions increase.
Arthropod Management Tests, Peggy Wirth
Absent. No report.
Thomas Say Publication, Bruce Eldridge
Absent. No report.
Book and Media Reviews, Carl Jones
Because of the editor's recent relocation and ESA Headquarter's reorganization, there is a backlog. In 2003, ESA will present its first "Children's Book Award." Other media nominations including movies, TV programs, songs, etc. should be submitted via Alan Kahan. For linkage of web-based courses to ESA's web site, advise the Section D representative.
Committee Reports
Education and Youth, Roxanne Rutledge
Ethics, George O'Meara
Fellows, Ed Cupp
Absent. No Report
Founders' Memorial Award, Marc Klowden
The Founders Memorial Award Committee has four proposals to consider for the 2003 meeting, and will be voting in December to decide who the presenter will be. The deadline for proposals for the 2004 meeting is October 2003, and Section D will nominate Bruce Eldridge to present the Memorial Award Lecture to honor George Craig.
Systematics Resources, Larry Hribar
The committee met at noon on Monday, November 18, 2002, in Fort Lauderdale. Discussion of a number of topics followed introductions. Three issues predominated:
(1). The decline of systematics positions in universities and the apparent reluctance to replace systematists with systematists. There appears to be a great deal of dissatisfaction with ESA on the part of some Section A members. Many seem to feel there is no support for traditional systematics. Some feel money and positions are being diverted to molecular-oriented projects and personnel.
(2) Some concern was expressed over the apparent trend to take the ESA journals to a totally online status. If no hard copies of the ESA journals exist, would they serve as suitable outlets for systematics papers? Particularly the Annals and to a lesser extent the Journal of Medical Entomology publish systematics papers.
(3) Voucher specimens were discussed, particularly what do people do and how do they do it? Is it ESA editorial policy that voucher specimens be deposited and accession numbers published?
Program Sympoisa, Dawn Wesson
Vice-Chair Wesson advised that a single 2003 program symposium topic has been submitted to date, Population Replacement/Drive of Genetically Modified Organisms. Other possible topics for regular symposia are:
§ Insect Repellents: Past, Present and Future,
§ Vector-Borne Emerging Human and Veterinary Bacterial Pathogens,
§ Advances in Forensic Entomology, and
§ Vector Saliva and Host Immune Systems.
She praised the student-organized debates on vector issues and speculated on the possibility of its becoming an annual event. She reminded attendees of the mid-December deadline for program symposium topic submissions, and the late February deadline for regular symposium topic submissions.
Other, Lance Durden
Durden reported that Medical and Veterinary Entomology, edited by Gary Mullen and Lance Durden, was published by Academic Press (now Elsevier) in 2002 and would be available for the conference rate of $79.95 if ordered before November 30.
New Business
A. Potential changes in NIH funding sections. As an FYI for section D members, Durland Fish began the discussion by noting that the NIH was considering removing proposals dealing with field vector biology from the vector biology section and placing them in the clinical trials and epidemiology section. This has been opposed by many medical entomologists, and letters have been written to point out the serious drawbacks of such a move. The deadline for comment has passed, and a decision has not yet been made.
B. Certificate of Distinction at the Brisbane, Australia, International Congress of Entomology - Charles Apperson nominated John Edman and Daniel Sonenshine.
C. Session moderators reminded to complete attendance forms (important for justifying rooms for next year).
D. 2003 ESA Annual Meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio is earlier than ever in recent years (October 26-30, 2003). Deadlines for papers, posters, registration, etc.
E. Results of Election: Section D Secretary-Elect is Nancy Hinkle.
F. Nominations Committee - composed of George O'Meara and John George. Nominated Tim Lysyk and Roger Moon for secretary. No nominations from audience.
G. Resolutions or proposals.
H. Other items (1) Recommend all sessions move to permitting PowerPoint presentations next year. (2) Print names on nametags with larger print. (3) Make abstracts printable from on-line listings.
Meeting adjourned shortly after 6 p.m.