Division VIII Business Meeting, IAU General Assembly 24

Attendance: F. Bertola, J.R. Bond, R. Davies, R. Ekers, M. Feast, J. Felten, L. Gurvits, R. Hunstead, E. Khachikian, P. Lilje, C. Lineweaver, M. MacCallum, J. Mould, J. Narlikar, S. Okamura, B. Partridge, J. Peacock, S. Refsdal, B. Roukema, P. Shaver, S. Simkin, A. Szalay, V. Trimble, B. Tully, M. Wanas, R. Williams

This was a joint meeting of Division VIII and its two Commissions, 28 and 47. The reports and approval of new officers of the two Commissions took place first, and are reported separately in this volume.

Division VIII Officers, Triennium 2000-2003

The Division VIII Board includes the President, vice President and past President of each of the two Commissions, and a Division President who is nominated by the Board. These appointments were approved at the meeting. In addition, three additional nominations were made and approved at the meeting. The new Board of Division VIII is as follows:

PRESIDENT:	V. Trimble
BOARD:	F. Bertola (Division President-Elect; past President Commision 28) M. Birkinshaw (Division webmaster) S. Lilly (vice President, Commission 47) S. Okamura (President, Commission 28) J. Peacock (President, Commission 47) E. Sadler (vice President, Commission 28) P. Shaver (past President, Division VIII) A. Szalay (past President, Commission 47)

Scientific Meetings

A summary was presented of the scientific meetings that had been supported/sponsored by Division VIII and its two Commissions over the past triennium: 11 Symposia, 5 Colloquia and 3 Joint Discussions. Of these, the following took place at the General Assembly in Manchester:

Symp. 201:	New Cosmological Data and the Values of the Fundamental Parameters
Symp. 204:	The Extragalactic Infrared Background and its Cosmological Implications
Symp. 205:	Galaxies and their Constituents at the Highest Angular Resolutions
JD 8:	Oxygen Abundances in Old Stars, Implications to Nucleosynthesis and Cosmology
JD 9:	Cold Gas and Dust at High Redshift
JD 10:	Cluster Mergers and their Connection to Radio Sources

The following four meetings are supported for 2001:

• Extragalactic Star Clusters (E. Grebel; Pucon, Chile)
• Planetary Nebulae (M. Dopita; Canberra, Australia)
• Cosmic Masers (V. Migenes; Rio de Janiero, Brazil)
• AGN Surveys (A. Mickaelian; Byurakan, Armenia)

Discussion

A number of points were raised for general discussion:

1. Communications. A renewed effort will be made to reach all members of both Commissions by e-mail, so that regular newsletters can be sent, and a new and more comprehensive website will be established. Susan Simkin agreed to act as email coordinator.
2. Organization of the Division. As in previous years, it was decided to leave the Divisional structure unchanged, with no new Commissions proposed. The intention of Div XI to establish a new Commission on Astroparticle Physics was supported. The possibility of creating new Working Groups was discussed, and will be further explored in upcoming newsletters.
3. Reports on Astronomy. The continuing need for such reports as reference sources for both researchers and historians was generally agreed, and possible formats were discussed.
4. Format of the General Assembly. There was a brief discussion about the structure of the General Assembly, in particular whether somewhat more time should be made available for meetings organized by the Divisions and Commissions.

The President thanked the Board members for the pleasant and productive collaboration over the past triennium, and welcomed his successor Virginia Trimble and the new members of the Board. He also thanked the General Secretary, Assistant General Secretary and IAU Secretariat for their help on administrative matters. In turn, the participants of the meeting thanked the President for his efforts over the past three years.