**GSC MEETING MINUTES** - **October Meeting (10/06/08)**

Attendance: Irene Avila, Kim Baxter, Matt Berberich, Kate Callahan,
Megan Cleland, Dan Crooks, Julien Debbache, Stephanie Guzik, Ashley
Hardin, Khalisa Herman, Athena Klutz, Nick McBride, Sara McMillin,
Marieke Mur, Ashley Owen, Andre Pilon, Heather Pressler, Christina
Saikus, Gayani Weerasinghe, Tom Johnson, Kate Szarama, Lydia Durant,
Shau-Ming Wei, Betsey Wade (GPP) (24 attendees).

I.  **General Business**

    1.  Secretary: Kim Baxter requested that we try to remove old
        irrelevant GSC sites from the web.

    2.  Treasurer: Stephanie Guzik updated us on the state of the
        treasury. If you have an Activity Pass and want to attend the
        Halloween Party, contact Sandra Dunn <dsandra@niaid.nih.gov>

    3.  GPP Notes: Betsey Wade reported that OITE will begin monthly
        orientation sessions on the 1^st^ Tues of October. Writing
        workshops will be offered once a month starting in January.

    4.  New Interest Groups: still need volunteers to lead Immunology
        and/or Genetics interest groups.

    5.  Nominations for GSC Co-chairs now open -- send nominations (they
        can be anonymous) to <GSCcochair@od.nih.gov> - nominations close
        at end of November meeting.

    6.  List-servs: Cochairs will let Patty know that the listservs
        GSC-Insti; GSC-INDIVUS; GSC-INDIVnonUS are being used.

    7.  Mentor Awards will be given to three NIH mentors.

    8.  Vote on Partnership Reps moved to Nov. meeting; nominations will
        open then.

II. **Committee Reports**

    1.  **Social Committee** -- Chairs: Gayani Weerasinghe, Sandra Dunn,
        Deborah Kwon. FelCom Happy Hour Weds 10/8 at Harp & Fiddle.
        Halloween Party -- Oct 30, 5 -- 9 PM, FAES House -- please buy
        pre-sale tickets for \$5! Holiday Party will also be with
        FelCom, in December.

    2.  **Academic Committee**

        i.  FAES Lab Techniques Class: Marieke Mur, Megan Dennis; Kara
            Lindstrom; Kate Callahan; Amanda Higley. Kate reported that
            class is going well; there are 11 students.

        ii. Biophysics and Structural Biology Interest Group: Matt
            Berberich -- no news.

        iii. Systems Neuroscience Interest Group: Kara Lindstrom and Lei
             Qin -- no news.

    3.  **Career Development**

        i.  Pathways : Nick McBride, Shau-Ming Wei, Sally McMillin -- no
            Pathways in October; the Research Festival Job Fair is Oct
            16 in Natcher. There is a Science Policy lunch and seminar
            with a AAAS Fellow and the head of a non-profit group, Nov
            13^th^ at 12 and 1pm.

        ii. GS3 : Roseanne Zhao  - Matt Berberich will take over GS3
            while Roseanne is away at Cambridge. Need volunteers to
            speak!

    4.  **Community Service** -- Cathy Kolf and Kim Baxter. Lots of
        activities recently including packing food at Manna, a September
        Blood Drive, cleaning up a public park, and volunteering with
        Transitional Housing Corp in D.C. Next event: packing boxes at
        Manna Food, Oct 7.

    5.  **Trainee Advisory Committee** -- Kate Callahan, Christina
        Saikus, Marieke Mur. Once we have a final count of constituents
        in each program (formal, international, US informal) we will
        have a vote on increasing the number of reps from each program.
        The vote will be at the Nov meeting. Nominations will be open
        from November till the end of December, and new reps will go
        into effect in January 2009.

    6.  **Partnership Representatives** -- no news.

        i.  Formal Partnerships: - Kate Szarama, Shau-Ming Wei, Ashley
            Owen, Gayani Weerasinghe, Sariah Khormaee, Lydia Durant,
            Andre Pilon, Shawna Graves, Ashley Hardin, Anthony Blount,
            Emma Kurnat Thoma,

        ii. International Individual Agreements: Julien Debbache,
            Guillaume Leboucher, Lisa Mielke, Kai-Markus Mueller, Pamela
            Ng

        iii. US Individual Agreements: Irene Avila, Sandra Dillahunt,
             Muslima Ali, Amanda Higley, Christina Saikus, Khalisa
             Herman

    7.  **Public Relations Committee**

        i.  Newsletter -- Co-Editors: Stephanie Guzik and Cynthia Chang
            -- send any announcements or ideas for stories to Stephanie.

        ii. Website -- Web Mistress: Christina Saikus -- continuing to
            update photos, links, past GSC documents. Will also try to
            clean up old websites so that our GSC site is easier to find
            when searching.

        iii. GSX -- Moderator: Julien Debbache -- no news.

        iv. FELCOM rep: Heather Pressler -- Happy Hour Weds 10/8 at Harp
            & Fiddle. Job Fair 10/16. A FelCom Retirement Subcomittee
            has formed to find out how fellows (who do not receive
            earned income and lack a 401K or IRA) can save for
            retirement.

    8.  **Symposium Committee** -- Kate Callahan, Dan Crooks, Marieke
        Mur, Phil Wang, Abbi Engel

        i.  Date is Nov. 14. 84 poster entries have been received.

        ii. Graduation ceremony. Please help get the word out to recent
            graduates so that they can be acknowledged on 11/14.

    9.  **Thesis Committee** -- Tina Tang, Khalisa Herman, Rui Gao,
        Shantelle Lucas. Currently working out the mission statement of
        the Committee. Plan to write an article for the NIH Catalyst, as
        well as present to Partnership and Training Directors. Let them
        know if you have ideas.

III. **New Business**

     1.  Introductions around the room.

     2.  Nominations for every office in the GSC will open in November,
         for positions in 2009. Email the cochairs GSCcochair@od.nih.gov
         with nominations (can be anonymous too).

     3.  We got a phone in the lounge!

     4.  Julien Debbache is going to initiate a Science Policy
         Internship program at the NIH. Email him with your name,
         program, and area of interest.