President’s Column, February 2010
Tue, Feb 23 2010

I thought it was time for me to pen some news about AMOS, now that we have recovered from the very successful 17th National Conference held in late January in Canberra. I have heard that this was the biggest conference we have ever held as a separate meeting (ie, not jointly with another conference). The standard of the presentations and posters was very high and Clem Davis and his team deserve our gratitude for their hard and effective work in organising the program, the social events, and the management of the conference (which was very smooth).

I want to record the Society’s thanks to Robin Robertson who has been Treasurer for the past two years, at a time when the Society faced several challenging financial issues. Robin is stepping down as Treasurer, but will remain as a member of National Council. Richard Wardle, of course, is stepping down as President, but will remain on Council as immediate past president for the next two years. Richard’s drive to improve our web pages and to ensure they work as an effective “front” for the Society has meant that we are well placed to improve our image and our utility for members and others. Richard also deserves our thanks for his hard work for the Society.

Another person we are sorry to see stepping down is Susan Karoly, our administration officer, who has decided to pursue other challenges. Susan’s wide understanding of Society workings and people, and her dedication to the Society, have been of enormous value and Richard thanked her warmly for her contribution to the Society at the end of the Conference. Our new administration officer, Jeanette Dargaville, commenced work with us on 15 February. Susan will stay with us for a short transition period, so that she can transfer as much of her knowledge of the Society’s operations to Jeanette as possible. Jeanette will be available for half a day on each day Monday-Friday. Jeanette brings with her an enormous amount of experience in administration.

The bright side of these departures is that new Council members have been elected, along with a new Treasurer (Ian Watterson) and new Vice-President (Blair Trewin). Both Blair and Ian have been very involved previously in AMOS activities, and it is good of them to contribute again. Ian also represented AMOS at the first global meeting of the IFMS, the International Forum of Meteorological Societies, in Atlanta in January. AMOS is on the Steering Committee for IFMS. More details are available at www.ifms.org.

In other news, Ailie Gallant and Joelle Gergis will be sponsored by the Society to participate in Science Meets Parliament (SMP), 10 & 11 March, in Canberra. This activity is organised by FASTS, the Federation of Australian Science and Technology Societies. AMOS has, for the past few years, sponsored a couple of early career members to SMP. I am sure that Joelle and Ailie will enjoy the experience of discussing climate change science with federal members of parliament. Other early career researchers might consider nominating to participate in SMP in future years.

I will be in Hobart on 12 March to present the 2009 Priestley Medal to Dr Susan Wijffels of CSIRO, at an AMOS function in the CSIRO Marine Laboratories. We hope many Tasmanian AMOS members and their colleagues will join us at the function, to congratulate Susan on her very well deserved award. I will make a short presentation about AMOS and how we see the Society developing, and I hope to meet many of our members.

Neville Nicholls
February 2010