**Brookhaven Council Commentary 2007 - 2008**

The BNL Council is a Committee of 18 tenured scientists which, in its
capacity as an advisory group reporting to the Laboratory Director,
makes recommendations on issues affecting the scientific staff. Council
by-laws list specific responsibilities on its role in granting tenure
and reviewing cases of termination and scientific misconduct. The former
is happily more common than the later. At the request of the Director,
the Council assists in the LDRD and Goldhaber selection process and
provides membership to Committees whose activities bear upon the Lab\'s
scientific lifestyle. Council members are selected by the scientific
staff in elections that are organized by Department, Division, or
Directorate. Following is a summary of Council activities covering the
time period, March 2007 -- February 2008.

***Tenure Cases***

The Council considered 4 new tenure cases and one case from the
preceding year, 2006. For each of the new cases, Council subcommittees
were formed to guide the process. The Council considered written case
files containing a CV, key publications, a memo to the Director from the
candidates Department Chair summarizing the case, letters from outside
reviewers with a comparison to peers, and biographical information on
reviewers and peers. An oral presentation to the Council was given by
the candidates Department Chair, often assisted by a tenured colleague
familiar with the candidates accomplishments. Following discussions
within the Council, a written recommendation stating the strengths and
weaknesses of the case was drafted by the subcommittees and voted on.
Final reports were sent to the Director Jan. 24, 2008.

The fifth case had been evaluated by the Council in 2006 but
administrative approval had not been finalized. At the Directors
request, the Council reviewed documentation and provided a written
report.

***Revisions to Tenure Procedure***

The Council was informed that the existing tenure process takes too long
because meeting of the BSA Board and the Science and Technology Steering
Committee are scheduled in opposite order to their voting sequence. In
order to keep the tenure clock within the specified bounds, the process
will be moved up in time and compressed.

***Visitors to the Council***

An important component of the Council\'s activities is to be informed on
management concerns that effect a scientists working environment. In
most cases visitors were sent a list of questions prior to a meeting.

May: Doon Gibbs (Associate Laboratory Director for Basic Energy
Sciences). Energy LDRDs, BNL-University Joint appointments.

June: Peter Bond (Associate Laboratory Director for Nuclear and Particle
Physics). Ombudsman to represent interests of scientific staff.

July: Tom Schlagel (Director, Information Technology Division).
Cybersecuity, customer support, computing platforms.

August: Pat Looney (Assistant Laboratory Director for Policy and
Strategic Planning) and Doon Gibbs (Deputy Director for Science and
Technology). Selection process for energy related LDRDs.

August: Sam Aronson (Laboratory Director). Ethics training course,
Tenure cases and future of tenure, Financial health of BNL, Bureaucracy,
Treatment of foreign nationals, Open campus

November: John Amabile (Head of Safeguards and Security), Lenny Butera
(Operational Security (OPSEC) coordinator), Randy Biegelman (Head of
Counterintelligence, CI), Phil Sarcione (Deputy head of Safeguards and
Security), Mark Sakitt (Scientist consultant for OPSEC and CI). DOE
regulations, Treatment of foreign Nationals, Open campus.

February Doon Gibbs (Deputy Director for Science and Technology) and
Lori-Anne Neiger (Chief Intellectual Property Council & Technology
Licensing Manager) BNL-University joint appointments.

***Meetings with the Lab Director and Deputy Director***

Once a month, schedules permitting, the Council Chair and Secretary met
with Sam Aronson and Doon Gibbs. This was an opportunity for a give and
take discussion on the concerns of (non-management) scientists and Lab
management. Discussions included requests for Council input and progress
reports on tenure cases and other Council business. Council meetings
included a re-cap of the Directors meeting.

***Joint Appointments***

As discussed by Doon Gibbs and Lori-Anne Neiger, there are \~ 20
scientists at BNL who jointly hold tenured positions at Universities.
DOE and Battelle are in favor of growing this program. Lab management
would like to see JAs equivalent to BNL employees in all respects
possible. During 2007 one Council member accepted a JA with Stony Brook.
A precedent was set when the Council and the JAs Department both voted
that membership on the Council continue.

***Cybersecurity, Physical security, Counterintelligence, and an Open
Campus***

There were multiple discussions with Lab management and within the
Council on these issues. While everyone recognizes the changing
landscape and the increasing presence of DOE in imposing regulations,
the Council felt that its responsibility was to communicate to Lab
management impacts on doing science. Issues that arose include 1) delays
in granting foreign nationals access to the Lab, 2) the lack of meeting
place that is outside of the Lab\'s secure perimeter 3) the tradeoffs
between having the security perimeter surround the whole Lab vs.
specific buildings containing classified research or critical
infrastructure, and 4) the need **not** to enforce uniformity in
computer systems or to require encryption of \"ordinary\" scientific
data.

***LDRDs***

This year the LDRDs were slit into 2 categories which were separately
competed. The new LDRD category was for focused R&D in energy science;
the other category followed past years practice with a focus on the
development of new core competencies. Council sub-committees
participated in the discussion and rankings of proposals in both
categories. In order to bring greater expertise to the reviewing
process, sub-committee members were encouraged to seek the advice of
their Council colleagues on proposals outside their area of expertise.

***Goldhaber Fellows***

A Council subcommittee sat on the Goldhaber Fellowship selection
committee, providing advice and rankings the candidates. The Council
strongly endorses this program as a way of attracting outstanding young
scientists to BNL.

***Family Friendly Workplace***

As part of the Lab initiative to improve working conditions, Peter Bond
requested Council representation in discussions of scientific work
schedules.

***Ethics (Research with Integrity) training***

A first version of an ethics training course had been released for
voluntary evaluation and comments. The Council took an active role in
taking the course and collecting comments, which were relayed to the
Director. Recommendations which were by and large adopted include 1)
Starting with a statement on what constitutes misconduct in scientific
research based on existing Federal Guidelines 2) Recognition of the
difference between misconduct and honest mistakes, 3) Recognition that
differences of opinion and interpretation and changes of research
direction in response to changes in funding are not examples of
misconduct, and 4) the need to inform staff what their duties are if
they come across a case of possible misconduct.

***Council Representation***

Currently there are 18 Council members who represent
Departments/Divisions in approximate proportion to their size. In EENS
Council members are elected by an at large vote of a Directorate. Two
Council members left this year to become an assistant ALD and Department
Chairman. NSLS and NSLS II were considered as a single unit for the
purpose of selecting one of the replacements.

Chair: Vladimir Litvinenko

Secretary: Lawrence Kleinman