Welcome to the New IAS Blog Spot

[Edit: Some of the text originally posted here has been added to the "About" page.]

As an example of the material likely to appear on this site, we offer this note from Boise State University:

Uwe Reischl, professor of health sciences, presented a research paper at the 55th annual meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society held Sept. 19-23,in Las Vegas, Nev. The paper, titled “Thermal Properties of Reflective Helmet Exposed to Infrared Radiation,” was based on research conducted in the Public Health-Ergonomics Laboratory using a novel thermal manikin technology developed at Boise State. The paper was co-authored with Prof. Ravindra Goonetilleke of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in Hong Kong.

From Idaho State University:

Beginning Sept. 29, the Idaho Museum of Natural History will hold docent training classes for individuals interested in working with the museum.
A docent is a volunteer teacher who learns about the museum's exhibits and presents the information to visitors and school groups. Docents at the Idaho Museum of Natural History will learn about Idaho's past through the rocks, landscape, fossils, prehistoric peoples and wildlife.
The docent training is scheduled 1-4 p.m. Sept. 29; Oct. 6, 13, 20 and 27; Nov. 3, 10 and 17; and Dec. 1 and 8.
… Specific themes that will be covered in these training sessions include "Welcome to the Museum! Docent Orientation," "Geologic Formation of Earth: Getting the Ball Rolling," "Kingdoms of Life: A Who's Who of Living Things," "Geologic Building Blocks: Minerals and Gem Stones," "Designing Effective Docent Tours," "Heliocoprion: The Sharks Amongst Us," "Utahceratops and Dinosaur Cousins," "Process of Fossilization and the Pleistocene Mammals," "Masks and Shamanism in South American Native American Cultures," "Native Plants of Idaho" and "Small Mammals of Idaho: Owl Pellets."
For more information, contact Thorne-Ferrel at (208) 282-2195 or thorrebe@isu.edu.

In Academy business, this past Saturday (the 24th), the IAS Executive Committee met at the College of Southern Idaho. Many important issues were discussed, and you’ll be seeing the complete meeting minutes in the next Retort. Our discussions were basically what instigated this blog, as you probably guessed.

One of the more important decisions was to seriously study what needs to be done to “go electronic” with the Journal of the IAS, and circumstance where it might become “Open Access” on the web. We hope to have a report ready by the end of the year and absolutely before the next Annual Meeting. The Journal is now by far our largest expense, and IF significant cost savings can be realized, our aim is to make the transition by the end of next year. We urgently invite members and outsiders to comment on this matter.

As suggested by that invitation, we also see this blog as a possible extended forum to discuss Academy business and other matters of interest to our membership. Anyway … more to come.