Timeline

Specifically, here is an ambitious schedule illustrating the aforementioned procedure assuming this proposal gets funded in the fall of 2003:

Nov. 2003:

Chairs and ad hoc steering committee finalize the conference site and date. Chairs and committee announce the first workshop and program in EOS. Email announcements are sent out to mailing lists and Earth Science departments to request applications for the first meeting. The initial announcement in EOS will also serve as a MYRES manifesto that spells out the goals of the conference series as ideas to which future meetings will have to adhere.

Dec. 2003:

Chairs and instructors meet informally with the senior advisory panel at the 2003 fall AGU meeting to discuss the scope of the meeting and logistics.

Feb. 2004:

Chairs evaluate applications, distribute them to instructors, and organize instructor's recess. By making the greatest possible use of electronic communications, we intend to lessen the workload implied in these and similar tasks.

Mar. 2004:

Instructors meet, decide on reading list, prepare instructional material, make draft lecture notes available on the MYRES website, and give reading list and finalized program to chairs for electronic distribution to meeting attendees.

Aug. 2004:

First MYRES meeting is held. Chairs organize meeting, evaluate questionnaires, collect lecture notes, and prepare a report to be published in EOS in the late fall of 2004. Chairs, with the assistance of a temporarily employed undergraduate, continuously update the MYRES website.

Jan. 2005:

Chairs announce a call for proposals for the next MYRES meeting (to be held in 2006). Conference proposals will have to include nominations for two new chairs, and program drafts. Proposals will be posted as they arrive to invite comments which will be relayed to the authors of the proposals. In the first funding cycle of MYRES, we will require submissions for the second MYRES to cover a topic outside the deep Earth, in order to widen the range of possible first time attendees.

Aug. 2005:

Chairs publish all final competing proposals on the MYRES website and call for an online vote. All students and junior faculty in Solid Earth Sciences will have one vote, and voting will be electronically. Chairs, with the help of the undergraduate employed to maintain the website, will perform a rough check of eligibility as far as resources permit.

Sep. 2005:

The old and new chairs announce the winning new meeting theme and invite applications for the second MYRES workshop.

Dec. 2005:

Old and new chairs as well as new instructors meet with the senior advisory panel at the fall 2005 AGU meeting to exchange insights into running the meeting, and work out program specifics.

2006:

Procedure from above for the 2004 MYRES meeting will be repeated. After evaluation of the second meeting performance in the fall of 2006, old and new chairs will meet in the fall of 2006 AGU meeting to discuss a possible modification of MYRES procedures, and submit a proposal for renewed funding.

We envision running MYRES for the intermediate future according to these loosely formulated rules; adherence to the spirit behind the MYRES effort is more important than specific bylaws. Funds will be made available to the first and second meeting chairs by the PI of this proposal, and the chairs' and each meeting's performance will be continuously monitored and reviewed by the community at large.