Biophysical Society Bulletin | July/August 2020

President’s Message

Report fromCouncil In keeping with BPS tradition, the

As a result of conversations at the BPS 2020 Annual Meeting, a subcommittee of individuals from the Early Careers Committee and the Committee for Professional Opportunities for Women came together to develop a proposal for a Family Care Grant Program. This programwould provide families with flexible financial assistance that can be applied to extra expenses incurred for dependent care during the Annual Meeting. BPS would provide these grants in lieu of onsite childcare, which has historically been underutilized relative to the expense. Council enthusiastically approved this program citing that it was a much more inclusive means of providing support to members. Subgroups rounded out the agenda for the first day of the Council meeting. The Subgroup Chairs expressed a concern about the BPS policy that substitute speakers for Annual Meet- ing symposia are on the precluded speaker list for two years and presented a proposal asking Council to reconsider the policy for substitute speakers. It was noted that this policy may make it more difficult to find willing volunteers in the event of a cancel- lation. Council debated the issue and ultimately agreed that the current policy makes BPS unique frommany other organiza- tions and helps ensure diversity of speakers by not allowing the same people to speak year after year, regardless if they are a substitute speaker. Council also entertained a proposal for a new Subgroup: the Multiscale Genome Organization Subgroup. Thomas Bishop and Tamar Schlick put forth the proposal, which included the required petition with signatures of 100 regular BPS members and draft bylaws. Council approved the proposal, welcoming the Multi- scale Genome Organization Subgroup as the 16th Subgroup in the Society. Read more about this new Subgroup, their aims and focus, on page 15 in this issue. The Friday Council Meeting agenda focused entirely on the BPS 2021 Annual Meeting. After much thoughtful discussion, Council concluded that maintaining the in-person meeting as planned for Boston in 2021 would not be reasonable in light of the uncertainties surrounding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Though no one knows what the status of COVID-19 will be in February 2021, the top priority is the safety and well-being of members and attendees. Given this situation, Council opted to cancel the in-person meeting now in order to have sufficient time to develop virtual programming that would best meet the needs of Society members. Council did not make the decision to hold a virtual 2021 meeting lightly, as the Annual Meeting is such a high point in the life of the Society and its members. The Annual Meeting experience, getting together with colleagues and friends from around the globe to learn of new scientific advances, is unparalleled.

Spring Council meeting was originally scheduled to take place at the home city or institution of the BPS Presi- dent, in this case, Rensselaer Poly- technic Institute in Troy, New York. Unsurprisingly, due to COVID-19, the face-to-face meeting was cancelled, and, for the first time, BPS Council met virtually.

Catherine A. Royer

With the continued aims of increasing transparency, sharing information, and providing insights on Council activities to our membership, we are providing this summary of the Spring Council meeting, that took place Thursday, May 28 and Friday, May 29. The spring meeting typically centers on strategic items for the Society as opposed to the more operationally oriented Council meetings, which occur in the fall and in conjunction with the Annual Meeting. Focused on the BPS strategic goals of Fostering a Global Com- munity and Sharing Knowledge in and about Biophysics , Council agreed to fund a BPS Sponsored Lecturer at the European Biophysical Societies’ Association (EBSA) 13th Congress in Vi- enna, Austria, in July 2021. Council also agreed to provide poster awards at the EBSA meeting with Supporting the Next Genera- tion as a strategic priority. Acknowledging prior agreement to provide similar support to the International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB) for their 20th Congress, which has been rescheduled from October 2020 to October 2021, Council discussed identifying opportunities to provide support in Asia and Africa as well. In 2017, the Society leadership developed a five-year strategic plan. As part of this planning process, Council requested that all BPS Committees develop metrics for their activities and estab- lished a cycle on which to review the work of the Committees and their alignment with the strategic plan. There is a four-year rotation for Committee reviews, and this year the Early Ca- reers Committee and the Education Committee were reviewed. They provided comprehensive reports and metrics about their activities. Both committees facilitate numerous programs at the Annual Meeting, during Biophysics Week, and at other times during the year. While Council was generally very pleased by the work of the Committees, there was a request that all commit- tees consider how they are serving BPS members, what they are doing well, and what else they should be doing, especially in light of the pandemic and changing needs of members. There will be conversations with the committees over the summer months and changes to programming are anticipated.

July/August 2020

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