**BROOKHAVEN COUNCIL COMMENTARY** **March 2005**

# 

The Brookhaven Council is a group of tenured scientists elected by the
scientific staff that advises and makes recommendations to the Director
about the Laboratory policies affecting the scientific staff. The
Council is particularly concerned with the maintenance of an atmosphere
conducive to excellence in scientific research at BNL. The Council is
also represented on the Laboratory's newly established Internal
Communications and Involvement Working Group. This Commentary is a
summary of the activities of 2004-2005 Brookhaven Council.

# [Meetings with the Director]{.underline}

# The full Council met with Dr. Chaudhari three times over the past year. The prominent subjects of discussion at these meetings: the process for evaluating candidates for tenure appointments and the development of an enhanced safety culture at the Laboratory. In addition to these meetings, the Chair and Secretary of the Council met with the Director following the Council's monthly meetings to review topics that were discussed at the meetings and were of concern for the scientific staff. 

# 

# [Tenure Cases]{.underline}

The most important activity of the Council is to perform a comprehensive
review of the tenure cases that are recommended to the Director by the
Department Chair through the cognizant Associate Laboratory Directors.
As a guideline for the tenure review, a successful candidate for tenure
at BNL will have achievements and/or have demonstrated leadership and
creativity in their scientific or technical field equivalent to the
scientists who achieve similar recognition at the best research
organizations and institutes worldwide. This year seven cases were
evaluated by the Council over a five month period. The Council provided
a summary of the strengths and weaknesses of each case and the results
of a secret ballot vote. The Director is particularly interested in
having the overall tenure evaluation process be transparent and fair and
these notions were the subject of several discussions with him.

# 

# [Ombudsmen]{.underline}

Another important responsibility of the Council is to review termination
of any scientific staff appointments for reasons of financial exigency
or major program change. One case was referred to the Council this year
where a scientific staff member with a continuing appointment was
recommended for termination for reasons of financial exigency. The
Council determined that the case had been handled properly by the
Laboratory management and reported this finding to the Director. The
Council emphasized to Laboratory management that it is important to
involve the Council in any such reviews in a timely manner, as specified
in Laboratory procedures.

## [Council Meetings with BNL Management]{.underline} 

In addition to the meetings held with the Director, the Council invited
several BNL managers to individually visit the Council to discuss topics
of interest to the scientific staff. Peg Bogosian, Manager of the Office
of Intellectual Property & Sponsored Research highlighted the rather low
revenues at the Laboratory from work for others (non-DOE). In subsequent
discussions with the Director, he indicated his desire to remedy this
situation. Interim Deputy Director Peter Bond shared his thoughts on
tenure, on structure of scientific staff positions, and on safety
courses at the Laboratory. Mike Holland, DOE's Site Manager for BNL
provided a DOE perspective on future challenges and funding. Fiscal
Services Division Head Mark Israel presented policies and practices for
conference expenses. The Manager of the Diversity Office, Shirley
Kendall, discussed how to obtain more diversity within the scientific
staff. A discussion of information services resources and plans were
discussed with Mary Petersen, Head of the Information Services Division.
Challenges and improvements to safety at BNL were discussed with Jim
Tarpinian, ALD for Environment, Safety, Health, & Quality.

**[Establishment of Emeritus Position]{.underline}**

The Council recommended to the Director the establishment of an Emeritus
Position. The title could be conferred upon retired staff that held the
rank of tenured or continuing scientist/engineer during active service
to the Laboratory. It should be based on scientific accomplishments and
should be reserved for those scientists or engineers who wish to
continue doing research, writing, or instrument development after
retirement. Laboratory management now has this recommendation by the
Council under consideration.

# [LDRD]{.underline}

Four members of the Council participated in evaluating LDRD
applications, with one representative from each directorate: HE/NP, BES,
Life Sciences, and EENS. Next year there will be five Council
participants because of the creation of the Light Sources Directorate.
Also, the Council will not have direct votes on future LDRD applications
and will serve only in an advisory capacity. This change was the subject
of much discussion within the Council and is believed by some to be
ill-advised.

# [Goldhaber Fellows]{.underline}

The Council has a subcommittee that serves on the Selection Committee of
the Goldhaber fellows. This year three Council members participated in
the selection process that led to the awarding of three fellowships.

**[Council Representation]{.underline}**

The Council periodically reviews its representation from various
departments and divisions. This year the Council determined that the
Physics Department was under-represented. Consequently, beginning with
the 2005-2006 Council, there will be one additional representative from
the Physics Department. This will bring the total Council membership to
seventeen. Because of recent re-organization at the Laboratory, further
realignments on the Council may be considered.

## [Your Involvement in BNL Council]{.underline}

The BNL Council tries to identify issues that are important to the
scientific staff. It is important that the scientific staff bring items
of concern to the BNL Council. To learn more about the BNL Council, or
to identify your department or division representatives, please see
link: <http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/Admin/council.asp>

Robert A. Bari

Chair

BNL Council (2004-2005)