PASSCAL Standing Committee Meeting Summary
Fall 2022 Meeting (October 3-4, 2022)
PASSCAL Instrument Center, Socorro, NM
Attendees:
Committee Members Present: Sam Hansen (chair), Marianne Karplus, Andy Parsekian, Weisen Shen, Brad Lipovsky, Max Bezada, Timothy Bartholomaus
Committee Member (virtual participation): Rob Evans
Ex Officio Members: Paul Winberry (PSTC chair), Peter-Ewald Share (EMAC chair)
Board Liaisons: Anne Trehu (PASSCAL Board Liaison), Rick Aster (IRIS Board chair)
Staff and Observers: Kent Anderson (IRIS-Portable Program Manager), Bob Woodward (IRIS President), Andy Frassetto (IRIS-MT Program Manager), Justin Sweet (IRIS-Portable Project Associate), Bruce Beaudoin (PASSCAL-NMT), Sue Bilek (NMT), Galen Kaip (SSF-UTEP), Emily Wolin (IRIS-DCC Manager), Glen Mattioli (UNAVCO-GI Director)
Action Items
Motions
Meeting Objectives
In an effort to maximize group discussion during our virtual sessions, the PASC was presented with a Consent Agenda in advance of the first day of the fall meeting. This agenda contained a single item: the Spring 2022 PASC meeting summary and action item status report. The Consent Agenda item was approved at the start of the first day of the meeting [Motion #1].
The PASC discussed the current strategic vision statement that the committee had drafted and reviewed it to make sure the recommendations were still in line with the community’s needs. The PASC agreed that the current emphasis on recapitalizing the broadband instrument pool was still appropriate. Anderson and Frassetto were tasked with revising the current statement and distributing to the PASC for review [Action Item #2]
The committee reviewed the current year 6 & 7 priorities and had a wide-ranging discussion of potential changes. A big question remains what NSF will stipulate in the upcoming solicitation. It will be important to be flexible with our new initiatives and careful in evaluating additional capabilities that may not be in scope for the next facility solicitation. Anderson and Frassetto were tasked with revising the current statement based on the PASC discussion and distributing to the PASC for review [Action Item #1].
As part of the impending merger with UNAVCO, the current governance committee structures for both organizations will be evolving. At this point, the current subcommittees that report to IRIS Standing Committees are only slated to extend for the first 6 months of calendar year 2023. After that, there will need to be a strong need to continue subcommittees, or alternate solutions to seek out community input with a smaller fixed governance. The committee discussed each of the current PASC subcommittees (PSTC, SSFAC, EMAC, QAAC) and whether a similar subcommittee should be recommended in the new governance structure. We also discussed the creation of technology specific forums or Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to allow regular (annual) input from the broad community and provide feedback to the EarthScope govnernance. Anderson and Hansen were tasked with writing these suggestions and presenting them to the Board [Action Item #4].
The PASC deliberated on how to collect a comprehensive list of key science accomplishments during the past 5 years that were enabled by PASSCAL support. It was suggested that a google doc be created where all committee members could then contribute topics and references. This was done and distributed to the PASC for input by Oct 14, 2022 [Action Item #3]. Committee members will be populating this document and the combined collection of accomplishments will be shared with Cocom and the Board.
The committee discussed concerns with staff retention and stress management through the merger. In addition, we reviewed the past guidance on future operations of the SSF as an essential facility for EarthScope and how the evolution of this facility may be enhanced by reviewing various models related to continuing as a subaward, or moving this facility (along with PASSCAL, IDA, and UNAVCO) under the EarthScope umbrella. Anderson and Hansen were tasked with documenting these concerns to the [Action Items #6 and #7].
