The American Institute of Mining,
Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers
The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc. Report of the 1996 President Donald W. GentryThe year 1996 marked AIME's 125th anniversary.In addition to the annual meeting celebration, 1996 also saw important milestones reached in the implementation of AIME's Long Range Plan and further implementation of AIME's Member-Direct policy. I am pleased to report to the AIME Community on the significant progress made in these areas and on other pertinent developments.1996
Annual Meeting AIME
celebrated its 125th anniversary at its Annual Meeting in Anaheim,
California, February 4-8, 1996 hosted by The Minerals, Metals and Materials
Society (TMS). The annual meeting activities included a Keynote Session, chaired by 1997 President Leonard G. Nelson, and featured three distinguished speakers. The annual banquet served to recognize the recipients of honorary membership as well as other prestigious AIME awards. The banquet celebration included an AIME 125th anniversary salute and champagne toasts on behalf of both US and International engineering societies. I wish to thank both the TMS and AIME staffs for organizing these anniversary events and to express my appreciation to TMS leadership for creating such a memorable host environment. Government
Affairs through AAES AIME
government affairs activities continued during 1996 through the American
Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) located in Washington, DC. These efforts involved a total of ten volunteers, each representing a
member society, serving on various AAES councils, commissions and task
forces. However, at its spring
meeting the AAES Board of Governors decided to focus limited AAES resources
on the engineers public policy activity, curtailing all other efforts. This was done in an attempt to bring expenses in line with revenues
projected for 1996. This
restructuring effort has been ongoing during 1996. Consequently, the AIME Board of Trustees at its August meeting decided to defer action concerning continued membership in AAES until the February 1997 Annual Meeting of the Board. By deferring the decision on continued membership in AAES, the AIME Board of Trustees benefited from the additional time available to thoroughly evaluate progress of the AAES restructuring and refocusing efforts. Overarching
and Member-Direct Programs At
the August 1994 Board meeting, the trustees adopted a policy that provides
funding to AIME's overarching programs and member-direct programs.
Overarching programs are defined as those that carry out the purposes of the
Institute and may include participation by one or more of the member
societies; member-direct programs are those carried out by the Member
Societies. Approval of specific programs are limited to those that clearly
carry out the purpose of AIME, as described in its bylaws (Article I,
Section 2). The selection of specific projects and the balancing of programs
is the responsibility of the Board of Trustees. During 1996, the AIME Program Evaluation and Review Committee reviewed all 1996 projects submitted and made its recommendations to the Board. The committee is to review and evaluate progress made at yearÕs end on projects funded in 1995 and report back to the Board at the February 1997 meeting. For 1996, the Board approved total funding in the amount of $651,720 for overarching and member-direct programs. Long
Range Plan The
AIME Board of Trustees, at its November 1995 meeting, approved a Long Range
Plan, together with a plan to implement the goals and objectives in the
areas of (1) maintaining and enhancing the tradition of AIME, (2)
facilitating the sale of the United Engineering Center, (3) developing
policies to use income from AIME endowment and formalizing the
implementation strategy for the overarching and member-direct program
initiatives, and (4) strengthening the interactive working relationship
among AIME Member Societies. I am pleased to report that significant progress was made in all these areas of our plan.
Finance: Funding Methodology, Business Plan and Audit Committee A
formal methodology was approved by the Board to determine the level of
funding available for overarching, member-direct and special programs while
preserving the endowment corpus. Based
on this methodology, a three-year business plan was subsequently approved,
which will provide the basis for implementing the long range plan. In addition, the Board approved an Audit Committee of AIME to annually review the performance of the independent auditor and the audited financial statements of the AIME Corporation and to report their recommendations and findings to the Board of Trustees in a timely manner. You are invited to review the audited financial statement for the AIME corporation for 1996 (ending November 30, 1996), which includes required new reporting for the endowment funds of not-for-profit organizations, contained on pages 16-24 of this report. In spite of only moderate market conditions, AIME assets increased from 2.6% from the end of fiscal year 1995 to $15,093,481 at the end of fiscal year 1996. Inter-Society Affairs
United
Engineering Trustees (UET) I
am pleased to report that AIME continues its effective involvement in the
governing of the UET, with members of AIME member societies serving as AIME
representatives on the Board of the United Engineering Trustees.
In this respect, I welcome the new AIME trustees, John K. Hammes and
J. Keith Brimacombe, who are replacing Drs. Joklik and Ansell respectively
on the UET board. I express my
sincere thanks and appreciation to the out-going trustees.
Founder
Societies I
am pleased to report our continued effective interactions with the Founder
Society officers and executive directors in matters of common interest.
This interaction has provided the president-elect, the executive
director and me with an important opportunity to become cognizant of the
broad spectrum of issues affecting the engineering profession. This continuous dialogue has proven to be highly beneficial in the
formulation of UET bylaws 127 and 128, which provide for the distribution of
assets upon the dissolution of the UET or upon the sale of the United
Engineering Center.
ABET The
Institute also retained its relationship with the Accreditation Board for
Engineering and Technology (ABET), as an affiliate body, and is represented
by its Executive Director who serves as an official observer at ABET board
meetings.
Australian
Interchange
AIME
and AusIMM (Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy) have had a long
standing exchange program of distinguished lecturers from both countries
taking turns each year visiting each other's country. During late April and early May, 1996, I had the pleasure of visiting
a number of branches of AusIMM and mining camps in remote locations
delivering my lectures titled Ð Major Issues Facing the US Mining Sector
and US Mining Technology: An
Assessment and a Vision. I wish to thank the AusIMM staff for making the necessary arrangements and to express appreciation to all those who so graciously extended their hospitality and friendship to my wife and to me. In
Appreciation It
has been an honor for me to serve as your AIME president, to have had the
opportunity to associate with and be assisted by the many fine people who
comprise the AIME family, and to have had the privilege of representing AIME
on many auspicious occasions. I
reflect with great affection on my visits to the local sections and on the
opportunity to strengthen AIME's ties with its member societies and with the
other Founder Societies. I appreciate the cooperation of the Board of Trustees of AIME. I also extend my sincere appreciation to the member societies' boards of directors and executive directors, the staffs of AIME and the member societies, committee members and others for their dedicated support during the past year. I also congratulate and pledge my full support to 1997 President Leonard G. Nelson and the new Board of Trustees, all of whom are depicted on the following pages. Donald W. Gentry
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