• Approved the Minutes of the NERA Meeting held at Pier 5 Hotel, Baltimore, MD, on Sept. 23, 2002, as posted at url---
  http://www.agnr.umd.edu/users/NERA/workshop/NERAMinutesSept2002.html

• Accepted the Northeast Multistate Activities Committee Report and Recommendations posted at url--- http://www.agnr.umd.edu/users/NERA/workshop/MACReportMarch2003.htm

  1. Approved the proposal, NE_temp341, “Development of an Improved Management Program for the Internal Lepidoptera Pest Complex Attacking Apples in the Northeastern Unites States” 04-2003 to 2005. Submitted by J. Hunter/R. Seem (NYG).
     • Bruce McPheron was appointed Advisor of the new project.

  2. Approved with stipulation the proposal, NE_temp361, “Genetic Bases for Resistance and Immunity to Avian Diseases” 10-2003 to 2008. Submitted by K. Kerr (CTS).

  3. Approved with stipulation the proposal, NE_temp401, “Developing and Integrating Components for Commercial Greenhouse Production System ” 10-2003 to 2008. Submitted by T. Fretz (MD).

  4. Approved the proposal, NE_temp521, “Biological Improvement, Habitat Restoration, and Horticultural Development of Chestnut by Management of Populations, Pathogens, and Pests” 10-2003 to 2008. Submitted by J. Anderson (CT-NH).

  5. Approved the Request to Write a Proposal entitled: Development of bio-based alternatives for managing plant-parasitic nematodes in crops. 10-2004 to 2009. Submitted by L. Magnarelli (CT-NH)

  6. Approved the proposal, NRSP_temp022, “National Animal Genome Research Program (From NSRP-8)” 10-2003 to 2008. Submitted by W. Trumble (NH)/M. Dentine (WI).

  7. Approved the proposal, NRSP_temp101, “National Program for Controlling Virus diseases of Temperate Fruit Tree Crops (NRSP5)” 10-2003 to 2008. Submitted by J. Hunter (NYG)/R. Cavalieri (WA).

• Deferred decision on off-the-top funding requests for NE-9, NE-59, and the NRSPs (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8) for the summer meeting.

• Approved the proposed amendment to the NERA Rules of Operation regarding MAC membership: "The Multistate Activities Committee will consist of at least three members: three of whom will be NERA members; one of whom will be a Northeast Extension Directors Association (NEED) member; all members will be appointed by the NERA Chair for a three-year term."

• Appointed Cathy Roheim (RI) as the regional representative to the National Advisory Committee for the NRSPs.

• Inform USDA-CSREES on actions taken by the NERA Directors.

• Develop a secure message board on the NERA web where comments on the two candidates for the NERA-ED position can be posted. The directors will be given a week to post their comments.

• Include in the summer meeting agenda the following topics: assessments, off-the-top funding and expectations from the new Executive Director related to regional and multistate cooperation.

• ESCOP Chair Angle will request NASULGC to explain item headings when sending out the invoice for the assessments

• Invite NE-9 and NE-59 presenters to the NERA summer meeting

• Prepare for the NERA meeting on July 15, 2003 at Princeton, NJ.

Call to Order – Chair
Chair Hackney called the meeting to order at 2:30pm. He requested each member to make a brief update on current events and important issues in their home institutions. Almost all the institutions are facing budget cuts. Further discussion of this topic was proposed for the summer meeting.

The New Advocacy Group's Mission and Vision - The Honorable Larry LaRocco , Vice Chairman, FH/GPCFleishman-Hillard, Gonella Kaufman, and F. H. Hutchinson and Company
The new advocacy group is now known as the Blue Ribbon Team (BRT). It is composed of 4 firms. The team’s leader is Larry LaRocco, and Fred Hutchison is the deputy. BRT prepared the 2-pager that CARET reps. gave to their congressional reps. at the Hill. BRT is working on two main goals: (1) a 5% increase in formula fund and (2) support of at least 30% of competitive grant proposals submitted to CSREES. The team would like to have (1) success stories- breakthroughs and (2) forward-looking on what would we do in research if we have more resources. Fred also proposed using CARET more effectively. They plan to conduct a strategic planning with CARET. F. Hutchison gave a few tips on how to engage key people in the process: (1) look at individual line items and make them part of the request (2) give them access to constituents, and (3) publicity in local colleges/stations’ papers is important and send them a copy of the paper when you thank them. The team also has developed ideas on how to use the Exhibit on the Hill more effectively. These suggestions will be shared with BAAPBD and NASULGC. The URL of the webpage where updates on BRT’s activities can be found is http://www.nasulgc-bac.com

The BRT reports directly to Tom Payne and Fred Cholick of the BAC. Requests should be coursed through the BAC. The team will continue to accommodate requests to attend meetings if they are held in Washington, DC.

CSREES Update - Ralph Otto, CSREES
R. Otto's report focussed on the budget. There is a 0.65% rescission in 2003 appropriation. The RFPs for NRI and new competitive programs will be released in April, with topics on: (1) animal genomics and bioinfomatics including graduate and post-grad education combined with training components, (2) human nutrition behavioral area, (3) air quality, and (4) animal and plant diseases, also in relation to homeland security.

For the FY2004 budget, competitive funding will grow, Formula Fund will be sustained and there is an increase for 1890’s, but not 1862’s. Homeland security will be included in the supplemental funding from the Dept. of Defense. There will be an increase for critical emerging issues which will be treated separately from homeland security.

He mentioned that Rod Brown sends his greetings to the group.

Consideration of the Sept. 23, 2002 Meeting Minutes from Baltimore, MD - Chair
http://www.agnr.umd.edu/users/NERA/workshop/NERAMinutesSept2002.html
The minutes as posted in the above url was unanimously approved without revision. A motion was made, seconded and passed.

Interim Actions by the Chair and Executive Committee Report – Chair
Chair Hackney enumerated his interim actions:

1. Met with the Executive Committee twice by conference call to discuss the NERA ED position and possible part-time appointment at NASULGC. Although NASULGC was strongly encouraging the part-time appointment, after consultations with the other EDs it was decided to drop the NASULGC option.
2. Drafted the position description for the NERA ED position.
3. Appointed the NERA Executive Committee as the Search Committee for the NERA Executive Director and invited the NE-Extension Director’s Chair Ted Alter to be a member. Mort Neufville of NASULGC was invited as an adviser to the committee. The position announcement was released on January 9 with a February 14 deadline. Five applications were received. The Search Committee met by conference call on February 28 and narrowed down the candidates to two. NERA members will have a chance to interview the two candidates at this meeting.
4. At the meeting in Chicago in November 2002, NERA was requested not to contact the new advocacy group directly but to work through the Board of Ag representatives. This is why the plan to survey the directors on regional priorities, and for the Executive Committee to meet with the firm was shelved. However, the firm agreed to send a representative to attend this meeting.
5. Chair and Tom Fretz (MD) met with Rodney Brown to discuss funding for facilities.
6. Appointed Bruce Wiersma (ME) and Robin Morgan (DE) as NERA representatives to the ESCOP Budget and Legislative Committee.

Chair Hackney opened the discussion on the process for selecting the candidates. The Search Committee had narrowed down the number of applicants for the ED position from five to two. Each of the two candidates will be given 30 minutes to speak to the group. A message board will be posted to collect the comments from the directors. It will be displayed on a secured website for the directors to view to help them make their choice. At the end of the week, votes should be submitted to Chair Hackney. The Executive Committee will meet tonight to finalize how the selection will be done.

ESCOP Report - J. Scott Angle
J. S. Angle, as Chair of ESCOP, reported the following:

• Solicited votes from the ESCOP membership and obtained approval for the following ballots:
  • Use of $100,000 of residual advocacy funds to begin operations of the National Institute for Agricultural Security
  • 2003 ESCOP assessments equivalent to 25% of ESS assessment for advocacy efforts in 2002 that will generate approx. $100,000 for:
    • NIMSS = $30,000
    • Publications, communications and marketing = $20,000
    • Advocacy = $50,000
  • New guidelines for National Research Support Projects

• Attended NIAS meetings and initiated process through the University of Maryland to contract IlioCo (Terry Nipp’s company) to provide program and administrative services to NIAS (Jan.-Dec. 2003). The University of Maryland had received the check ($100,000) from NASULGC. Process for procuring IlioCo’s services is in progress.

• Followed-up on the results of the Counterfactual Study. Contracts were extended to Sept. 2003 to enable the group to share their final report at the Fall ESS meeting.

• Consulted with Tom Payne and Richard Jones regarding the invitation for the new advocacy group to attend ESCOP and regional meetings. The firm is obligated to attend only three meetings a year (NASULGC, CARET and the JOINT COPS). However, if the meetings are in town and have no conflict with the firm’s activities, a representative can attend these meetings.

He noted that the continuation of the ESCOP assessment for next year will be discussed at the ESS Meeting in September. The process for soliciting votes by electronic balloting is also being reviewed. There was general dissatisfaction on how invoice from NASULGC is sent. J.S. Angle, as ESCOP Chair, will request NASULGC to explain each item heading in the bill. Assessments will be discussed further at the summer meeting.

The meeting adjourned for the day at 5:30pm. Copies of the MAC Report were distributed for consideration tomorrow.

March 6, 2003-- NERA business meeting continues

Executive Director's Job Jar Report - J. S. Angle/Rubie Mize
Copies of the Job Jar Report were distributed. Majority of the tasks were completed except those left by D. MacKenzie. Draft documentation on these projects have been shared with directors involved.

Discussion and Consideration of NERA Proposed Budget for FY 2003-2004 - Chair Hackney The directors had a closed door discussion of the budget. There will be no increase proposed for FY2003-2004.

Future Meetings

• Summer Meeting - Keith Cooper distributed meeting packets for the NE Joint Session to be held at the Chauncey Conference Center in princeton, NJ, on July 13-15, 2003. J. Seemann, Chair of the Planning Committee expounded on how the sessions were developed. The objective of the joint session is to proactively work on problems within institutions and among state lines that are hindering effective collaborations. There will be a follow-up to the reports that will come out of the sessions to determine if we are progressing in implementing initiatives. K. Cooper will contact the directors for comments on the agenda before the next planning committee meeting. Patricia Kastner is the main contact for administrative arrangements. J. Seemann added that expectations from the new Executive Director should be included in the summer agenda.

• Fall ESS Meeting - J.S. Angle gave out copies of the agenda and noted that the NERA meeting is scheduled for the morning of Sept. 22nd.

A discussion followed regarding "Indirect Costs". The presidents of universities are supporting an increase to 48%, which will mean less money for the scientists. Scientists might be discouraged to compete for NRI if indirect cost is increased. This is a good entry point to bring Formula Funds (as pre-payment of indirect costs) back into the discussion. J.S. Angle asked the directors to send him their comments regarding indirect costs.

Consideration of the Multistate Activities Committee Report - Robert Seem
MAC Chair R. Seem earlier distributed copies of the Report and Recommendations of the Multistate Activities Committee. The report is posted at url---
http://www.agnr.umd.edu/users/nera/workshop/MACReportMarch2003.htm

R. Seem sought aproval for items #1-7. The motion made to approve items #1-7, was seconded and approved.

Decision on the off-the-top funding requests will be deferred for the summer meeting. Representatives from NE-9 (Ann Thro) and NE-59 (Stephan Goetz) will be invited to give project reports at the NERA summer meeting.

MAC was charged to look into the regional off-the-top requests and to report back to the membership at the summer meeting.

A motion was made to accept the proposed amendment to the NERA Rules of Operation. It was seconded and passed.

Agrosecurity Update and Discussions

• NIAS Update - J. Scott Angle distributed copies of the NIAS report. Terry Nipp has been in operation as the NIAS Executive Director since January 2003.
• Becky Batts from the Office of Inspector General, USDA, gave a PowerPoint presentation. It is posted at:
  http://www.agnr.umd.edu/users/nera/workshop/2003MarchMeeting/homelandsecurity_march62003.htm
• Robert Mason Smith, the new USDA-CSREES National Program Leader for Agrosecurity gave a presentation and he was invited to present at the Northeast Summer Joint session. His PowerPoint is posted at:
  http://www.agnr.umd.edu/users/nera/workshop/2003MarchMeeting/NAHLN03052003.htm

Department of Energy presentation - Denise Swink, DOE
D. Swink gave a presentation (copy available from NERA upon request) about funding opportunites in DOE for the land-grant institutions.

Refresher's Course for Administrative Advisors - Bob Seem

• Advisor Duties and Responsibilities - Bob Seem's presentation is posted at
  http://www.agnr.umd.edu/users/nera/workshop/2003MarchMeeting/Advising_Multis.htm
  In addition, How to Prepare an Effective SAES-422 is posted at:
  http://www.agnr.umd.edu/users/NERA/workshop/HowToPrepareSAES422.htm
• Lessons from an Experienced Advisor - Louis Magnarelli's tips are posted at:
  http://www.agnr.umd.edu/users/NERA/workshop/TipsForAdvisors.html
• NIMSS as a Tool for Advisors to Manage Multistate Projects - Rubie Mize's presentation is posted at
  http://www.agnr.umd.edu/users/nera/workshop/2003MarchMeeting/NIMSS.htm

CSREES Information Technology Update - Sally Rockey, CSREES
S. Rockey reported that her unit had set up an ISTM - Information Systems Technology Management Service Board to monitor the progress being made on various IT projects.

She reported:

• the CSREES website re-design should be completed by October 2003
• E-government, in particular E-grant application will commence initial phase on October 2003
• The federal government will have Central portal for all agencies by 2004
• E-extension is under development. EASE has ceased. A decision was made to terminate this project.
• One Solution! is the central theme. The purpose is to take advantage of technology using all applications possible. NIMSS will be part of One Solution.
• CRIS will be moved to Oracle to allow compatibility with other systems outside USDA.

NEREC-1001 Report - Michael Voiland M. Voiland reported that NEREC-1001 (Integrated Deer Damage Management) is well underway. He distributed copies of the report.

Nominations Committee Report
A motion was made to appoint Bruce McPheron as NERA representative to ESCOP's Science and Technology Committee. The motion was seconded and approved.

Resolutions Committee Report
None

Summary Comments and Closing – Chair Hackney
Chair Hackney summarized the important points that were discussed in particular the process for selecting the new Executive Director for NERA. Comments will be solicited from stakeholder groups including USDA-CSREES and the other regional Executive Directors. Questions will be shared with the NERA directors as well as answers. A website will be created for follow-up discussion with the full membership. This will be available by early next week. Comments will be received for one week and voting solicited soon thereafter. An offer would be made to the candidate with the highest number of votes. There are 15 member-directors and hence, a total of 15 votes expected to be cast.

Chair Hackney thanked everyone. He adjourned the meeting at 2:20pm.

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