FRIB Users Organization Charter
1. Definition and Purpose:
The FRIB Users Organization is a group whose members are interested in the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) for the purpose of conducting scientific research and developing new technology. The purposes of this association are:
(a) To work towards the realization and timely construction of FRIB and the development of its instrumentation and physics program;
(b) To act as an advocate for the needs of the FRIB user community during project construction;
(c) To articulate and promote the scientific case for rare-isotope science and its significance to society;
(d) To act as an advocate for the field of rare-isotope science in the U.S.A. in order to maximize its scientific potential.
2. Membership:
The membership of the FRIB Users Organization is open to all practicing scientists, engineers, and students interested in the research and/or technical programs associated with FRIB. New members will be added upon receipt of requests submitted on the FRIB Users web site. The membership list is held by the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the FRIB Users Organization.
3. Executive Committee:
An Executive Committee will conduct most of the day-to-day business of the
FRIB Users Organization. After a three year transitional period with an
expanded membership, this committee will consist of nine voting members
selected from the FRIB Users Organization membership. The members of this
committee are expected to articulate the needs and priorities of the users
group to the funding agencies and, in the future, to the FRIB management.
The Executive Committee also provides a direct interface between the funding
agencies, the future FRIB management and the user community. No two members
of the Executive Committee can be from the same institution.
The Executive Committee will have a standing Operations
Subcommittee of 3 members who will focus initially on operations at the
NSCL facility at MSU. The focus of this Subcommittee will shift to operations
at FRIB once the new facility is commissioned at MSU. Members of this
Subcommittee will be active Users of the NSCL facility (in the near term)
and the FRIB facility
(once it is commissioned). Subcommittee members are full members of the
FRIB User Organization Executive Committee, and can be chosen to serve
as Chair of the Executive Committee.
Because active involvement of the Theory community will be essential in the
success of FRIB, the Executive Committee will also set aside one slot for a
Theorist. The Theorist in this slot is a full member of the FRIB User
Organization Executive Committee, and can be chosen to serve as Chair of
the Executive Committee.
The first election for the Executive Committee will be conducted as
follows. The current FRIB Steering Committee will appoint a five member
nominating committee who are charged with selecting a slate of fifteen
candidates for the nine open positions. It is anticipated that nine of
the candidates will come from the present FRIB Steering Committee, for
the purposes of continuity of the present FRIB effort, and that the
remaining six nominations, subject to the criteria of section 3, will
be filled via the procedures outlined in Section 3.
The subsequent election will be held by electronic ballot with the
three nominees having the largest number of votes serving for three
years, the next three for two years and the next three for one year.
All subsequent elections will follow the procedures established in
the following paragraphs. The term of office is three years. Three
members of the Executive Committee will be elected annually by an
electronic election to be conducted no later than October 15 of
that year. The electronic ballot for the election will be
distributed prior to October 1 of that year to the membership
as of September 1 of that year. The newly elected members of
the Executive Committee shall take office on January 1 of the
following year. The first election will be held in 2004.
Each year, one member of
the Operations Subcommittee will rotate off of the Executive
Committee after their three year term, to be replaced by a
member specifically elected to be on both the Executive
Committee and the Operations Subcommittee. Every three years,
the Theorist in the Theory slot will rotate off of the Executive
Committee, to be replaced by a member specifically elected to
serve in this Theory slot on the Executive Committee. The presence
of a Theorist in this Theory slot does not preclude additional theorists
from being elected to and serving on the FRIB Users Organization
Executive Committee.
In years when the Theory slot is occupied, the Nominating Committee will propose
a slate of at least two candidates for the open Operations Subcommittee slot, and
at least three candidates for the remaining two open slots. In years when the Theory
slot is open, the nominating committee will propose a slate of at least two candidates
for the open Operations Subcommittee slot, at least two candidates for the Theory slot,
and at least two candidates for the remaining slot. The Nominating Committee will be
composed of four Executive Committee members selected by the Executive Committee
Chair and approved by the whole Executive Committee. One member of the Nominating
Committee will be from the Operations Subcommittee, and one will be the Theorist from
the Theory slot. Member Nominations that are signed by at least fifteen members of
the Users Organization from a minimum of three different institutions shall also be
accepted and put on the ballot. Current members of the Executive Committee may
be nominated for re-election and can serve for a maximum of two terms.
The Executive Committee will select one of its members to serve
as Chair and another to serve as Secretary. Neither the Chair
nor the Secretary of the Committee will be from the laboratory
where FRIB is built. The terms of the Chair and Secretary are
for one year and are renewable.
If a vacancy arises on the Executive Committee, the remaining
Committee members will select a member of the FRIB Users
Organization to serve out the unexpired term. In the event
that the Chair's or the Secretary's position becomes vacant,
the members of the Committee shall first select a new member
as described above, and then proceed with an election to the
vacated position. The newly selected Committee member is not
a candidate to the Chair's or Secretary's position.
4. Procedures:
(a): The Executive Committee will meet in person or by video or phone conference at least once each quarter of any given year. The minimal quorum for all meetings of the Executive Committee is seven members.
(b): The Executive Committee may, on its own initiative, and shall, upon request of a minimum of 30 members of the FRIB Users Organization from a minimum of five different institutions, submit questions for consideration to the full membership. Issues raised by a majority of those present at an official meeting of the FRIB Users Organization must also be presented for consideration to the full membership.
(c): The Users Organization shall meet at least once a year at a time and place designated by the FRIB Executive Committee. This meeting will usually be held in conjunction with a meeting of the Division of Nuclear Physics of the American Physical Society. In addition, the Executive Committee shall organize, and/or assist the FRIB project management in organizing FRIB-related workshops.
(d): The Executive Committee will have regular meetings with the FRIB project management in an effort to provide input into matters related to the facility. Such meetings are also necessary to organize timely distribution of information concerning FRIB to the Users community.
(e): The elections to the Executive Committee will be organized by the Secretary of the Executive Committee.
(f): The Executive Committee of the Users Organization will establish and maintain close collaboration with all other groups interested in activities related to FRIB such as, for example, the RIA Theory Group or groups assembling to design and construct specific instruments for the facility. Such contacts will occur on a quarterly basis at the minimum through exchanges between the representatives of these other groups and the Chair of the FRIB Users Organization. It is the expectation that the members of all other groups concerned with aspects of FRIB will also be members of the FRIB Users Organization so that all individuals involved with all aspects of the FRIB program will remain at all times fully informed of all issues that affect them.
5. Amendments:
Amendments to this Charter require a two-thirds majority vote of ballots cast by the membership at large.
Proposed changes may be submitted by majority vote at a meeting or workshop, or by petition to the Executive
Committee from a minimum of 30 members of the FRIB Users Organization from a minimum of five different institutions.
Appendix A- Acceptance of the Charter of the RIA Users Organization
The final draft of the proposed Charter of the RIA Users Organization will be sent electronically to all those registered on the RIA Users web site. Members will be asked to register a yes or no vote for it by September 8, 2004. The ballots will be collected and tabulated by a person designated by the current RIA Users Group Chair. A simple majority of those voting will be taken as acceptance or rejection of this proposed charter by the community.
Amendment 1. May 2009
The name of the RIA Users Organization shall be changed to the FRIB Users Organization and the references to the name of the Organization in the Users Organization Charter shall be updated to reflect this change.
Amendment 2. May 2009
The purpose of this association shall be updated in the Charter and changed from:
(a) To work towards the realization and timely construction of RIA
(b) To articulate and promote the scientific case for RIA and its significance to society
(c) To promote and enhance the RIA research and development effort and other FRIB related activities to maximize its scientific potential
(d) To act as an advocate for the needs of the RIA users
to:
(a) To work towards the realization and timely construction of FRIB and the development of its instrumentation and physics program;
(b) To act as an advocate for the needs of the FRIB user community during project construction;
(c) To articulate and promote the scientific case for rare-isotope science and its significance to society;
(d) To act as an advocate for the field of rare-isotope science in the U.S.A. in order to maximize its scientific potential.
Amendment 3. May 2009
Amendments to this Charter may be proposed to the full Organization by the Executive Committee upon approval of the amendment by a three-fourths vote of the full Executive Committee.