INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION FOR ACOUSTICS

Present were:

Regrets were received from S.S. Agrawal, G. Brambilla, D. Crighton, and A.S. Nikiforov. Also present at the meeting were A. Alippi representing the 17^th ICA in Rome and S. Kuwano representing the 18^th ICA in Kyoto.

President Crum opens the meeting at 9:05 am. There is a brief introduction of the Board members and the Agenda is approved

AGENDA

1. Opening and approval of the Agenda
2. Some announcement (joint ICA/ASA/EAA dinner)
3. Minutes of the C7 meetings held in Seattle
4. Financial report and travel expenses
5. ICA web page
6. ICA 16^th, Seattle 1998. Final report
7. ICA 17^th, Rome 2001. Report
8. ICA 18^th, Kyoto 2004. Report
9. ICA 19^th, invitations
10. Report of the IUPAP council and chairmen meeting in Vancouver. September 1998
11. IUPAP sponsorship of conferences (IUTAM sponsorship?)
12. ICA support and sponsorship of Satellite meetings
13. Approval of ICA as the 16^th Affiliate Organization of IUTAM
14. Appointment of IUTAM Representative in the Board of ICA (David Crighton)
15. Preparation for the IUPAP General Assembly in Atlanta
16. ICA Board. Structure and responsibilities. New Associate Members.
17. ICA sponsorship of other meetings on acoustics. Policy
18. ICA Gold Medal. Proposal and policy for selection
19. Relationship with IUPAP and IUTAM
20. Other business
21. Next meeting
22. Close of the meeting

Plans for the joint dinner are announced.

Alippi distributes the minutes of the Commission meetings held in Seattle on 1998 June 20 and 27, as well as the minutes of the General Assembly meeting held on 1998 June 25. The minutes were approved with minor corrections.

Treasurer Mellert reports that IUPAP will transfer SF 2500 into the ICA account as partial contribution toward travel expenses. A motion is made and approved to use the IUPAP contribution to cover the expenses of the joint dinner, leaving the residual money in the account. President Crum invites requests for special travel assistance.

The President gives a brief report. The need to establish links to Member Societies is noted. General comments on the ICA web page are invited.

The Chair of 16^th ICA (L. Crum) distributes the final report for the Seattle meeting. Attention is drawn to the following highlights:

• The attendance was at an all-time high for ICA, principally due to the joint meeting with the ASA. With the large attendance and numerous technical sessions, the meeting was both broad and covered some topics in considerable depth.
• A data base of registrants, plus also those who inquired about information, is available for use by the organizers of the next Congresses.
• The meeting was a financial success, both for the ICA and for the ASA, in that both organizations realized a profit in excess of USD 25 000.
• The "ICA allocation" was calculated by the following formula: [number of full registrants] x USD 15 plus [number of student registrants] x USD 5 equals ICA Allocation. For the Seattle meeting, the number of full registrants was 1560 and the number of students registrants was 395, for a total allocation of USD 25 375.

Crum emphasizes the importance of income from the ICA, but elaborates on the difficulty of implementing a 5% levy on the registration fee. Crum proposes a 5% levy on the base registration fee. There is agreement in principle with the mechanism for implementation in Rome to be worked out.

Crum points out the benefit of early registration and the importance of attracting students (with a reduced registration fee to cover the cost of the proceedings).

There is a discussion of the budget items. The high cost for social functions is pointed out and there is a discussion of the plans for the Rome Congress. The cost of preparing 4 volumes sets of Proceedings is compared to the cost for CD-ROMS (USD 16k for CD-ROM to everyone versus USD 42k for 458 hard copies). Rome and Kyoto are invited to use appropriate initiatives for the format of the Proceedings.

The Chair for the 17^th ICA (A. Alippi) begins his report. The congress dates are 2 - 7 September 2001. The venue is the University of Rome (Faculty of Engineering). Alippi presents viewgraphs showing the location of the meeting, the local committee, the schedule, etc. The 2^nd circular will be distributed in the fall. The old problem of distributing the circulars through the national acoustical societies is discussed leading to various suggestions. Alippi presents a video movie. Gerges suggest that the video could be distributed to members of the Board for showing at any opportunity.

The Secretary General for the 18^th ICA (S. Kuwano) begins a presentation describing the schedule and the members of the organizing committee for the Kyoto congress. A web site has been established for the congress and needs to be linked to the ICA web site. There is a discussion of the number of rooms (70 rooms) blocked at the nearby hotel. The total number of rooms should be adequate to cover the total expected attendance and the number of rooms currently blocked may not be enough. The Technical Program is discussed at a fair level of details. Kihlman points out that it is very important to select plenary speakers who can deliver an excellent presentation of general interest. Crum emphasizes that the Technical Program is key to attract attendees.

President Crum comments on alternating venues for the ICA congresses. The venue for the 19^th ICA will be decided in Rome.

President Crum describes ISCU and its Unions. Formally Commission C.7 of IUPAP, the ICA now becomes Affiliate Commission AC.3 of IUPAP.

The ICA now represents the acoustical societies of the world and is well positioned to be the umbrella organization that coordinates acoustical activities internationally. Futures plans for the ICA would be to recognize Acoustics as a Union on its own.

The President reports how IUPAP money is used to sponsor conferences. The example of the 15^th International Symposium on Nonlinear Acoustics is given. Proposals requesting sponsorship come to the ICA for approval and are forwarded to IUPAP. The ICA currently has no applications.

Crandall invites IUTAM applications.

Rules for ICA support for small meetings are found on the web page. The ICA currently has no applications. The need to publicize the availability of funding is stressed.

Gerges explains an upcoming specialized symposium on Vehicle Noise organized by the Brazilian Acoustical Society and he is invited to submit an application for ICA funding.

Crandall reports that the General Assembly of IUTAM, which met in Stuttgart 1998 August 28-30, voted unanimously to accept the application for Affiliation from ICA.

An Annual Report for ICA is due to IUTAM for publication.

The Bureau of IUTAM appointed David Crighton to be the IUTAM Representative in the ICA Board.

The President reports his upcoming trim to Atlanta to attend the IUPAP General Assembly where the ICA application for Affiliation as Commission AC.3 will be ratified.

New Associate Members: President Crum describes the role and need for Associate Members and then request suggestions. There is a discussion on procedures and policy that leads to the formulation of the following policy.

• The ICA should have Associate Members for the purpose of liaison with other acoustical organizations.
• The ICA should seek persons who are able to catch the mainstream of the organization's decision making.
• In the case where an existing Board member can speak on behalf of another organization, it is not necessary to appoint an additional member.
• The Chair of the upcoming International Congress on Acoustics should be appointed an Associate Member.

Adriano Alippi is approved as Associate Member. The president recommends that Stephen Crandall remain as Associate Member. Jens Blauert remains the Associate Member for EAA. Tor Kihlman is designated as the person speaking on behalf of I-INCE and an official affirmation of this action is required. Wang Yoon is designated as the person speaking on behalf of WESTPRAC. Samir Gerges and Juan Gallego-Juarez are designated to speak on behalf of the Iberoamerican Federation of Acoustics. It was decided not to invite a representative from IIAV at this time.

Structure and Responsibilities: The need for invoicing the Member Societies for 1999 leads to considerable discussion on the value of ICA to Member Societies. The discussion focuses on the importance of young persons in the field of acoustics, the concept of "scholarships" to encourage and facilitate attending the International Congress on Acoustics, and the proposed Gold Medal. The discussion leads to the suggestion of appointing two sub-committees to look into the issue of young scientists and awards.

A sub-committee is appointed consisting of Nelson (Chair), Gerges, Blauert, and Yoon. The sub-committee is charged with the task of finding ways of getting more young scientists working in the field of acoustics to attend the International Congress on Acoustics.

President Crum suggests sending out a letter summarizing the value of the ICA to Member Societies. The letter should include a reminder of the funding available for symposia, plans for scholarships, and an ICA award. He also proposes to include a copy of the Proceedings of the 16^th ICA on CD-ROM.

The Board is reminder that according to the By-laws, a Nominating Committee needs to be appointed in preparation to accept nominations for new Board Members form Member Societies.

In response to a question from Yoon on the number of shares currently used for Member Societies, Past President Kihlman explains why the IUPAP shares were used and that this caused very little concern. The issue of shares can be looked at in the future to petition the Board for any change.

The President reminds the Board of the request to sponsor WESTPRAC-2000 and advises the Board of a letter from Prof. T. Sone (Conference President). Tachibana gives the history of the request from WESTPRAC-2000 to ICA for sponsorship. There is considerable discussion on policy. The President closes the discussion and calls for any opposition to sponsor WESTPRAC-2000. There is no opposition. The President will write to Prof. Sone confirming that the ICA will sponsor WESTPRAC-2000.

Earlier discussion of the ICA Gold Medal proposal is summarized. A Gold Medal, although a prestigious award, may not be the best way for the ICA to utilize its money to maximize impact. After considerable discussion there is support for an award to young scientists in the field of acoustics. There is agreement on the need to stimulate National Societies to become involve in the award process.

A sub-committee is appointed consisting of Kihlman (Chair), Don, and Legros. The sub-committee is charges with defining rules, procedures and selection criteria for ICA awards.

There is no other discussion on this item.

The next Board meeting is schedule for Thursday, 2000 August 31 in Nice. (Inter-Noise 2000 is being held 2000 August 28-30 in Nice.)

The President closes the meeting at 15 h 45.