Although I already sent a detailed response about the suggestion of a
special award for field engineers, I always seem to leave something out.
The EB never dismisses any idea out of hand. However, you'll note that
both of our awards have sponsors, as do the awards presented by almost all
non-profit societies. If the idea is perceived as a good one, then someone
will be willing to sponsor it, and we could consider whether it is an
appropriate activity for our society. The ABRF can't take on a new project
without identifying a source of funds. Our treasurer (Karen De Jongh)
prepares an annual budget before each fiscal year, and we discuss
priorities based upon longstanding projects and priorities and new projects
to be considered. Long range planning is also important. Each year, our
members, whether individuals, research groups, education committee, or EB
itself, come up with new ideas to think about and prioritize. There was
also a report published last year in the ABRF News from the "status"
taskforce, whose name doesn't really describe what it did, that provided a
list of recommendations that we have worked from. That taskforce was
suggested to the EB after the successful workshop that Karen organized at
ABRF96, before she was elected to the EB. The EB works as a consensus
group, and that usually provides a fair way of considering any issue. Even
if we approve of an idea or issue as a priority, that usually involves
identifying a person, funds (or mechanism for seeking funds), and a time
frame for carrying out the activity. That's how our activities work.
Best regards
Ruth
At 08:50 AM 7/30/98 +0000, Katheryn Resing wrote:
>Hi, I would like to throw out a suggestion to ABRF that we have an award
>to honor exceptional service technicians who help us keep our facilities
>running. We all complain about poor technicians, but seldom do anything to
>encourage the good ones. An annual award for exceptional service would be
>seem to me to be a way we could provide positive feedback to these
>invaluable people.
>
> The kind of service person I am thinking of is exemplified by Greg
>Aiolo, PE Sciex. He was there at the beginning of the ESI revolution and
>quietly kept our instruments running while we struggled to learn how to use
>them. I participated in three set-ups where he did the work, he worked
>hard to get the instruments running optimally for each lab, and kept them
>that way for years, at great personal expense. He also spread info around
>about how different labs did things, making it easier for us all to get
>good data. His thorough, careful approach inspired students to bring the
>same attitude to the instrument. Furthermore, he always assumed that if I
>said the instrument wasn't working, it wasn't that I was doing something
>wrong (I may have been, but that was always the last thing he considered,
>having exhausted all other possibilities).
>
>Katheryn Resing
>
>
>
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