Officer Responsibilities and Job Descriptions

Qualifications

1. Member of SIAM Activity Group
2. Elected by the members of the SIAM Activity Group (except for the first Chair of the SIAM Activity Group who is appointed by the President of SIAM)

Responsibilities

1. Serve as the chief volunteer of the SIAM Activity Group
2. Partner with the Chief Executive Officer in achieving the SIAM Activity Group's mission and goals
   • Discusses issues confronting the SIAM Activity Group with the Chief Executive Officer
3. Provide leadership to the SIAM Activity Group
   • Work with fellow officers and committees to plan for activities
   • Organize the SIAM Activity Group’s efforts by implementing the goals and delegating the duties required by the SIAM Activity Group Rules of Procedure and the year's plans
4. Serve as leader of the technical area that the SIAM Activity Group represents
   • Ensure quality of conferences -- program director/organizer
   • Ensure cooperation with SIAM Annual Meeting (see “Responsibilities” above)
   • Ensure promotion of technical area -- SIAM News articles
   • Ensure communication with members and community – Web, newsletter
5. Appoint any special task forces or committees and chairpersons of committees/task forces, in consultation with other SIAM Activity Group officers
6. Recommend members for prize selection committees to the SIAM President
7. Ensure that any SIAM Activity Group prizes are structured in keeping with SIAM prize policy
8. Preside at the meetings of the SIAM Activity Group. (SIAM Activity Group business meeting is held during SIAM Activity Group conferences.)
9. Communicate with the Board of Trustees and Council on the goals and accomplishments of the SIAM Activity Group
   • Evaluate annually the performance of the SIAM Activity Group in achieving its mission and make a report to the Board of Trustees and Council
   • Submit charter renewal petition every three years as required by the SIAM Activity Group’s Rules of Procedure
10. Represent SIAM Activity Group in overall SIAM structure
    • Attend in person, participate via conference call, or send a representative to meeting of SIAM Activity Group Chairs held in conjunction with SIAM Annual Meeting

Qualifications

1. Member of SIAM Activity Group
2. Elected by the members of the SIAM Activity Group (except for the first Vice Chair of the SIAM Activity Group who is appointed by the President of SIAM)

Responsibilities

1. Carry out the duties of the Chair if he or she is unable to fulfill the duties of the Chair
2. Preside at meetings when the Chair is absent
3. For the SIAG/CST Prize, SIAG/LA Best Paper Prize, and SIAG/OPT Best Paper Prize – serve as chair of the prize committee.

Qualifications

1. Member of SIAM Activity Group
2. Elected by the members of the SIAM Activity Group (except for the first Program Director of the SIAM Activity Group who is appointed by the President of SIAM)

Responsibilities

1. Responsible for SIAM Activity Group conferences and programs, including participation in the SIAM Annual Meeting. The Program Director will coordinate these activities with the SIAM Activity Group Chair. Responsible for coordinating with SIAM Director of Programs and Services on SIAM Activity Group conference placement and timing.
2. Serve as the conference organizer or delegate such responsibilities to an individual approved by the chair and other officers
3. Organize or delegate responsibilities to organize minisymposia at the SIAM Annual Meeting in years where there is no SIAM Activity Group conference
4. At least once every seven years either organize a track of at least six minisymposia at the SIAM Annual Meeting or have an activity group meeting held jointly with the Annual Meeting. Responsible for coordinating with the SIAM Activity Group Chair and the SIAM Director of Programs and Services on these activities. The Director of Programs and Services will consult with the Vice President for Programs and the Vice President-at-Large.

Qualifications

1. Member of SIAM Activity Group
2. Elected by the members of the SIAM Activity Group (except for the first Secretary of the SIAM Activity Group who is appointed by the President of SIAM)

Responsibilities

1. Keep a record of the affairs of the SIAM Activity Group
2. Handle SIAM Activity Group correspondence
3. Oversee the production and distribution of SIAM Activity Group newsletters
4. Ensure that the information about the SIAM Activity Group on the SIAM website is correct
5. Maintain minutes of the SIAM Activity Group business meetings
6. Serve as SIAM Engage Community Moderator.

SIAM Activity Groups appoint liaisons to SIAM News to ensure that their fields are brought to the attention of the entire SIAM membership via lively, fairly nontechnical articles about developments in the field.

The ideal SIAM Activity Group liaison to SIAM News might have the following characteristics:

• An adaptive big-picture perspective of the field
• Personal knowledge gleaned by doing research in the field, combined with an awareness of how that area fits into the field at large
• Awareness of prizes and programs (educational, funding, and so forth) in the field
• The ultimate goal of the liaison's efforts is a steady supply of articles that over time convey to readers of SIAM News the status of research in the field. To that end, the liaison is either an articulate person who likes to write, or a person who has the matchmaking skills needed to identify a writer capable of presenting a worthy topic to readers of SIAM News.

SIAM members and thus SIAM News readers are mathematicians who for the most part will not be experts in a particular area; they might be only dimly aware that it even exists. The author of a SIAM Activity Group-generated article needs to be able to explain the implications of a new research advance, whether for the public at large, for the field of the SIAM Activity Group, or overall for science/technology; at the same time, because readers are mathematicians who have or are about to receive PhD's, sufficient mathematical details need to be brought out to impress those readers.

The responsibilities of the ideal SIAM Activity Group liaison are pretty simple: Keep up with progress in the field and, when a newsworthy development comes into view, let SIAM News know. Some people do this quite well, phoning to point out that there's a hot new area in which a new/refined algorithm/method/application has produced more/better/faster . . . results of some kind. This liaison, being ideal, would also know who could (and who should not) write an article about the advance. SIAM News is happy to accept rough drafts, which after an iteration or two with the author(s), will do the job. Articles can cover the awarding of (nationally or internationally recognized) prizes, the introduction of new university programs, initiatives at funding agencies; they could in rare cases be book reviews (of general-interest books).

As far as the steady supply of articles mentioned earlier, in some years, one or two articles would be plenty. A SIAM Activity Group conference is often a good occasion for more extensive coverage, with articles (three to six) that together constitute a snapshot of the conference program and, most likely, the field. The authors are usually conference speakers who have given outstanding talks in active areas; in general, when approached by a SIAM Activity Group representative during the conference, such speakers enthusiastically accept invitations to write articles. Conference coverage is often optimal when advance planning is done with SIAM News staff.