Charter and Bylaws of the American Association to Advance Powder Diffraction (AAAPD)
I. Mission Statement:
The AAAPD represents scientists and engineers from academia, government, and industry who use powder diffraction in their work. In addition to providing a network to connect powder diffraction practitioners, we provide curated information on topics such as conferences, databases, educational resources, instrumentation, facilities, and software used by the scientific community. As a voice for the community, the AAAPD advocates for practitioners’ needs related to facilities, research funding, and software development, which will strengthen the field and support powder diffraction practitioners.
II. PURPOSE
The purpose of the AAAPD is to:
(1) Advocate for the powder diffraction community and promote the exciting and vital science enabled by powder diffraction.
(2) Connect powder diffraction practitioners to others in the community and provide a venue for the exchange of ideas, information, and advice.
(3) Inform and influence decision makers at funding agencies on matters affecting the powder diffraction community, including software, instrumentation, infrastructure, and operating policies at user facilities, and facilitate discussions between the decision makers and powder diffraction practitioners and the broader research community.
III. MEMBERSHIP
Membership in the AAAPD is free and open to any who have an interest in powder diffraction or who use powder diffraction. Students, recent graduates, and people new to powder diffraction are especially encouraged to join.
Members join via an online form and their membership is immediately recorded. Members may rescind their membership at any time. The membership list will be curated to ensure it remains current.
IV. MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS
The AAAPD Annual Membership meeting will be held virtually and/or in conjunction with a scientific conference in the U.S. in which powder diffraction practitioners are likely to participate (e.g., the American Crystallographic Association Annual Meeting, the Denver X-ray Conference, the Pittsburgh Diffraction Conference, etc.). The AAAPD Annual Meeting will include a summary of the previous year’s activities and accomplishments, important updates on user facilities of interest to the community, updates on Executive Committee (EC) changes, and any amendments to the by-laws.
V. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
1) Roles and Responsibilities. The EC will carry out the following:
a) Solicit input from the powder diffraction community and relay the sentiment of the community, including recommendations, to the management of facilities, relevant funding agencies, and other organizations.
b) Regularly report back to the membership.
c) Provide advice upon request on matters affecting national powder diffraction user facilities and software.
d) Form, as appropriate, ad hoc committees to deal with special needs of the powder diffraction community identified by the EC. Ad hoc committee members will consist of AAAPD members.
e) Ensure a web presence and curate a membership list. Members can choose to be included in a list available to other members.
f) Serve as ambassadors to promote powder diffraction.
2) Executive Committee Membership and Terms of Service
The AAAPD EC shall have seven members consisting of the Chair, Vice-Chair, a Secretary, and four additional members. The Secretary also assumes the role of Treasurer if the need arises. Each year, two new members are elected by the AAAPD membership to serve 3-year terms on the EC. The EC then elects officers from among the EC who serve 1-year terms.
A Vice Chair is elected each year from the two members starting their second year on the EC. The Vice Chair will become Chair during the third year of committee service and will remain as an ex officio member on the EC for a fourth year as Past Chair.
A Secretary is elected each year from the EC members. However, the current Vice Chair and Chair cannot serve simultaneously as Secretary. The Secretary can be re-elected for additional 1-year terms, within the constraint of their three-year term.
In the event that neither of the second-year members is able to serve as Vice Chair, first or third year committee members currently not serving as Chair may be considered. If a first year EC member is elected, s/he remains on the committee for a fourth year after completing 1-year terms as Vice Chair, Chair and Past Chair. If a third-year member is elected Vice Chair, s/he serves a fourth year as Chair before rotating off.
In the event of a resignation of an EC member, the remaining term may be filled with an appropriate replacement by simple vote of the continuing EC members.
If an EC Member neglects their duties or fails to uphold standards of scientific and civil integrity, that member can be removed by a two-thirds majority vote of the full EC.
3) Executive Committee Membership Qualifications. The EC members must be AAAPD members and willing to devote sufficient time to fulfilling their duties and responsibilities effectively. A majority of the AAAPD EC Members must reside in the U.S. The EC shall strive to have diverse representation reflecting the community of practitioners, including those from industry, academia, national laboratories, user facilities, and various disciplines.
4) Executive Committee Elections. Elections will be held every year. The election cycle will begin with a formal call for nominations to the AAAPD membership by the EC Chair. The EC may also solicit additional nominees as needed to fill the open positions and/or increase the diversity of the candidate pool. In preparing a slate of candidates, the EC shall strive to have scientific, disciplinary, and institutional diversity.
The AAAPD membership will vote for the candidates using electronic ballot or other methods as deemed appropriate by the EC. The election process (distributing biographies of the candidates and ballots, tallying the votes, and reporting the results) shall be the responsibility of the Secretary of the EC. Election of members shall be by simple pluralities of votes cast.
5) Executive Committee Officers. The officers of the EC shall be Chair, Vice-Chair, and Secretary. Terms for members shall begin on January 1 following an election in the fall. The Chair position term will be one year, after which the Vice Chair will assume the position of Chair, and the Chair will move into the ex officio position of Past Chair, providing advice and guidance to the current EC. The Secretary position will be for one year.
In the first EC meeting following the election of new EC members, the EC shall elect its Vice-Chair and a Secretary. Neither the Chair nor Vice-Chair shall be an employee of a national diffraction user facility.
6) Executive Committee Meetings. Meetings will be organized by the AAAPD Secretary and facilitated by the AAAPD EC Chair. Meetings may be held virtually or in person. The frequency of EC meetings will vary depending on the needs and issues at hand, but meetings will be held at least once a quarter. Prior to the first meeting of each calendar year, the by-laws will be reviewed by the EC. Activities and discussions will be documented by the Secretary, and the reports will be made available to all members of the AAAPD. The EC may conduct business when a quorum of its members is present, either in person or virtually; such quorum must consist of at least 50% of the EC members and include the Chair or Vice-Chair. EC members are expected to prepare for and attend all scheduled Committee meetings. The Chair is responsible for drafting the agenda in consultation with the EC members. The Secretary will distribute the agenda before meetings. EC members who miss more than four meetings over the course of the calendar year are considered non-participating and may be removed from the EC.
VI. ADOPTION OF THE CHARTER
This charter shall be adopted if approved by two-thirds of the AAAPD founding members, at which point the founding members become the inaugural EC and Officers will be determined. The terms of the inaugural EC members will be set to comply with the rotational schedule detailed in section V.2 (Terms of Service).
VII. ADOPTION OF AMENDMENTS TO THE CHARTER
A proposed amendment to this charter, bearing the signatures of at least five AAAPD members, may be introduced to the EC at any time for consideration at the next annual meeting. A two-thirds majority vote in favor by members participating in the meeting is required for adoption of the amendment.