Statutes and Bylaws

Pan Ocean Remote Sensing Conference (PORSEC) Association was formed as a scientific forum to promote ocean sciences and remote sensing through exchange of knowledge and through international collaboration. Emphasis is placed on fostering science interest and capability in developing countries, with sponsorships and financial support from individuals and organizations. The PORSEC Association, established in 1992, is maintained by the participation of individual scientists and the sponsors of its Conferences in the form of both financial and consulting contributions. The  Pan Ocean Remote Sensing Conferences have over the years involved a large number of universities, research institutions, governmental agencies, international agencies and private institutions related to ocean and Earth environmental  sciences.

Contents:

Article    1.       Name

Article    2.       Mission and Goals

Article    3.       Activities

Article    4.       Language

Article    5.       Memberships

Article    6.       Governance of the Association

6.1 General Assembly

6.2 Scientific Organizing Committee

6.3 Executive Board of the Association

6.3.1 President and Vice-President(s)

6.3.2 Treasurer

6.3.3 Executive Secretary

6.3.4 Membership & Outreach coordinator

6.4    Committees

6.4.1  Editorial

6,4,2  Program

6,4,3  Conference Organization

6,4,4  Training and Education

6.4.5  Public Affairs

6.4.6  International Affairs

6.4.7  Finances and Budget

6.4.8  Specialized Appointed Committees

 

Article    7.   Elections

Article    8.   PORSEC Association Awards.

By-Laws

  1. Voting Rules
  2. Details about the PORSEC Awards

Article 1.  Name

The name of the Association is “Pan Ocean Remote Sensing Conference (PORSEC) Association”. The Association began under the name Pacific Ocean Remote Sensing Conference with focus on Pacific rim countries, but the word Pacific was changed to Pan as nations from the whole global ocean began to participate.

Article  2.  Mission and Goals

The PORSEC Association mission is to promote the open exchange of knowledge about the oceans and related atmospheric sciences and the use of remote sensing technology in oceanic research.

The PORSEC Association supports the principle that the ultimate objective of this knowledge is to protect our oceans and atmosphere and promote sustainable use and development of oceanic and coastal resources.

A goal of the PORSEC Association is that its conferences, through exchange of ideas and knowledge, will achieve further understanding of the Earth’s environmental processes such as climate variability, the effects of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), oceanic hazards including tsunamis, tropical and extra-tropical cyclones, sea level rise, and other climate change effects and the effects of pollution.

The PORSEC Association aims to provide better opportunities for scientists, especially from developing countries, for learning and applying state of the art techniques related to ocean remote sensing, including space and underwater  technologies, as well as associated data management and information technology.

Article 3.  Activities

The principal activities of the Association shall be:

  • To promote ocean remote sensing through sponsorship of biannual conferences in various locations
  • To organize capacity building training courses and to improve the awareness of the applicability of remote sensing data toward understanding our environment.
  • To organize workshops for addressing various environmental and climate related issues of regional and global concern.

The Association also popularizes ocean remote sensing by publishing proceedings or books related to its conferences and courses, and promotes communication among its members through newsletters.

Article   4.  Language

The working language of the Association shall be the English language.

Article   5.  Membership

  1. Member.

Any individual scientist, or graduate student may apply to join the Association as a  Member and Student Member, respectively. Organizations and institutions may join as Associate Member. The membership fee is US$20 per year for Members and US$10 per year for Student Members, US$200 per year for Associate Members. Membership fees shall be paid annually with the fiscal year for PORSEC Association running from July 1 through June 30. (Membership fees can also be paid for 2 years, in advance, at PORSEC meetings).

The admission of any new member shall be at the discretion of the PORSEC-Scientific Organizing Committee and will be determined by email vote, or at the SOC meeting held at each conference.

The benefits of the members are among others:Timely information and invitation to participate in each forthcoming PORSEC, training courses, symposia, and other specialized activities

  • Receipt of PORSEC Newsletters and bulletins
  • Copy of the Proceedings for the members attending each PORSEC.
  • PORSEC will additionally provide volumes with peer-reviewed scientific contributions to the conferences.
  • Notification and opportunity to participate in the nomination process for the election of officers of the Association

Active ordinary members can nominate candidates for membership submitting to the Membership or Election Committee (see below) a written proposal with an abridged curriculum  of the candidate. The Election Committee investigates eligibility and presents the nominations for Membership to the SOC, which votes on the candidates admission (voting can be done by email).

Students applying for membership may apply directly to the Committee accompanying their request with a university/school certificate or a written recommendation by an ordinary member.

  1. Sustaining Member.

Any organization and company interested in supporting the Association with financial donations in support of the PORSEC Associations outreach work, may join the Association as a Sustaining Member. Such an organization receives all the benefits of PORSEC Association Membership except it will not be a voting member. Past sustaining members include the local host institutions of the Conferences and training courses and many governmental space agencies and international bodies, such as UNESCO. Non-profit foundations and generous individuals are also encouraged to support the work of the PORSEC Association through this form of membership.

Article 6.   Governance of the Association

The PORSEC structure consists of the General Assembly (all full Members of the Association), the Scientific Organizing Committee (SOC) and the Executive Board. The SOC and the Executive Board are both chaired by the President, or in his/her absence by the Vice -President.

The Executive Board is comprised of Officers of the Association and the Chairs of Committees.

The General Assembly can nominate PORSEC Members to become part of  the SOC. The SOC members elect the President and Vice-President and rule on other matters presented by the president. The Treasurer and the  Executive Secretary (see below)  and a few SOC members (up to five) are  nominated by the President.  Executive members are members of the SOC body by default.

6.1.  General Assembly

The General Assembly is the highest authority of PORSEC and consists of all members.  An ordinary session of the General Assembly is held biennially during each PORSEC conference. The President chairs the General Assembly. It participates in selection of the next venue for a PORSEC meeting by discussion at its plenary meeting held during the biennial Pan Ocean Remote Sensing Conference.

6.2.   Scientific Organizing Committee (SOC)

The SOC is comprised of three classes of members: members recommended by the General Assembly, members appointed by the President and the officers from the Executive Board. The number of the elected members should not, in principle, exceed 40, and the appointed number by the president should not exceed 5.

Any present SOC member and the ordinary members can nominate candidates for new SOC membership whenever an open position is announced by the Election Committee. The proposals should be sent to the  Election Committee no less than three months before the SOC meeting.The candidates for SOC membership should be no more than 25.

The Election Committee investigates eligibility and interests of the candidates and presents the nominations, which will be voted upon by the present members of SOC either in their plenary session at the conference or via email.

Important responsibilities of SOC are:

  • Election of the PORSEC President and Vice- President
  • Approval of the recommendations and proposals received from the President and the Executive Board and voting on nominations for membership, forwarded to the SOC by the chair of the Election Committee (see below).
  • Approval of changes to the Statutes and By-Laws

For deliberation on any item in the SOC meeting, there should be a minimum of 1/3 of current SOC members attending the meeting. The recommendation, after deliberation, is approved if the majority present is in favor. If a bona fide SOC member cannot be present at the biennial SOC meeting, he or she may designate an alternate to take their place by an email or written note to the President of the Association.

Membership on the SOC will expire, if the member misses two consecutive SOC meetings, (and does not designate an alternate), unless otherwise voted by the active SOC members.  Active PORSEC Association members can be re-nominated to the SOC at any time. There is no time limit on the membership in the SOC for active participants.

6.3  The Executive Board of the Association The Executive Board consists of the President and Vice-President(s), the Treasurer, Outreach & Membership coordinator and the Executive Secretary. Chairpersons of Committees participate in the governance as issues relate to their duties, as stated in articles 6.4. Past and elected President and Vice-Presidents participate ex officio. The Executive Board oversees the overall functioning of the Association. It implements the association activities, policies and views approved/recommended by the SOC and other committees.

Committee Chairs are nominated by the President, often by suggestions from other PORSEC members, and in consultation with the Vice-President and past-president. The Election Committee investigates the eligibility and interests of the candidates and presents the nomination for new Executives, to the SOC via email. Changes in the Executive Board are reported to the General Assembly (full membership) via the PORSEC Newsletter/bulletin and is posted on the PORSEC web-site.

6.3.1 President and Vice- President

The President recommends the Treasurer and Executive Secretary and gets the approval from the SOC by email.  The President can nominate the 5 SOC members to balance the regional / organizational representations. The President serves as chairman of the SOC meeting and general assembly and represents the PORSEC Association to the outside world.

The Vice-President assists the President, shares in general his/her responsibilities and implements the president’s role either in absence of the President or as the representative of the President.

The outgoing President or Past-President is an important part of the association. He or she will serve as direct adviser under the new President who may request of him/her specific functions as needed or under recommendation of the SOC.

6.3.2 Treasurer

The treasurer administers the PORSEC budget and submits the financial report to the SOC. The treasurer is independent from the Financial Committee which plans the budgetary requirements and audits the Association´s financial statements.

A bank account in the name of the PORSEC Association shall be open with two executive officers of the association being the signatories of the bank documents: i.e. the president, vice-president, executive secretary or treasurer. The treasurer shall be the charge of all spending by the association in consultation with the president.

The treasurer has a duty term of 4 years. The same period as the President and Vice-President.

6.3.3 Executive Secretary. The Executive Secretary  coordinates the overall functions of PORSEC in association with the President and has the following responsibilities/duties in  cooperation with the full Executive Board: The Executive Secretary is

► Responsible for implementation of the Association’s policies and                          views recommended by committees and approved by the SOC.

► Reviews all PORSEC notifications related to the association’s function.

► Forwards the recommendations/proposals from committees/                    commissions to the SOC for approval and to the General Assembly for ratification.

►  Presents the reports of the PORSEC activities to the SOC and the General Assembly that have been submitted to the president since the previous plenary sessions of the SOC and General Assembly.

The Executive Secretary has a duty term of 4 years.

6.3.4 Membership & Outreach coordinator. The Membership & Outreach coordinator  coordinates the overall membership, outreach activities and capacity building functions of PORSEC in association with the President and with the full Executive Board.

The Membership & Outreach coordinator has a duty term of 4 years.

6.4.  Committees:

Committees are an important  part of the Executive Board. The Chairpersons are nominated by the President in consultation with the Vice-President and Past-President. In turn, the Chairman plans, requests the participation and appoints the members who will comprise the corresponding Committee.

PORSEC has the standing committees concerned with the following issues: editorial, program at the next conference, training and education, public affairs, international affairs finance, elections and the statues and by-laws (considers needed revisions to these documents), and awards.  The President may appoint chairs of additional committees as the need arises.

6.4.1 Editorial

The editorial committee is responsible for the quality of the association’s publications.

6.4.2  Program

The program committee is responsible for reviewing the ongoing large-scale global projects on climate and environment and makes recommendations for special sessions at the up-coming conference. It is important for the Association to participate in promoting the global scientific programs such as for instance GOOS, CLIVAR, GODAE, etc.

6.4.3 Conference Organization

The Local Organizing Committee is responsible for hosting and organizing the biennial conference of the Association and the chairman of the PORSEC program committee works closely with the chairman of Program Committee

6.4.4 Training and Education

The committee for training and education is responsible for organizing events to  improve the awareness of ocean remote sensing among the end users and public, for the benefit of environmental monitoring and sustainable use of ocean resources. This could be in terms of promoting awareness and training for using the voluminous remote sensing data and its potential to address environmental issues in developing countries.

  • Public Affairs

The committee for promotion of science is responsible for one of the main objectives of the Association: the promotion of ocean sciences in general. A priority for the committee will be to foster science interest and capability in developing countries. The committee will also be responsible for the publicity of PORSEC and its role in the community.

6.4.6 International Affairs

The committee for international affairs has the responsibility to review the Associations relationship to international bodies, especially the national space agencies, who are the most important sponsors of PORSEC. This committee brings to the attention of the Association ocean remote sensing issues arising from global participation in large-scale international environmental programs. These issues concern both scientific and political level concerns and addresses measures for removing the bottlenecks involved in such operational programs.

            6.4.7   Finance Committee

The finance committee has responsibility for the financial management of the Association. It reviews the Treasurer’s report and actively pursues sponsors for the Association’s activities

The income is supplied by annual fees, registration fees, and the grants of sustaining members, space agencies, governmental sponsors, various international organizations, Local Organizing Committees and the local government of the hosting country.

The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) will submit a budget plan to the Association’s Treasurer before each PORSEC for approval.  The budget for a PORSEC shall be planned to project more income than expenditure. Any surplus funds acquired by the PORSEC Association, and therefore not belonging to the hosting University or Agency that remain after all the expenses of a conference have been paid, revert to the PORSEC General Fund, administered by the Treasurer, whose report is reviewed by the finance committee and approved by all of the SOC at its biennial meeting.

               6.4.8 Specialized Appointed Committees

As the science and interests of the PORSEC Association membership change, additional committees can be formed with a chair appointed by the President to work on timely issues. Any member of PORSEC Association may propose such a committee.

Article 7. Elections

The election committee has the responsibility to conduct the election for the President and Vice-President position of the Association and to review nominations for membership on the SOC. The committee has to prepare a slate of candidates in advance of the General Assembly meetings held with the biennial conferences.

The President and Vice- President are elected by the SOC. For that purpose the Election Committee will open nominations one year before the corresponding SOC assembly for a fixed period of six months; after this period the Committee will request of the nominated persons whether they accept  the candidacy and will present the final list of candidates to the SOC either in advance of or at the SOC meeting, held during the conference.

Nominations for President and Vice- President candidates should be submitted to the Election Committee by no less than three  members.

The President and Vice-President will have a duty term of 4 years. After their term they remain on the Executive Board ex officio (without vote) for another period of 4 years. They can be re-elected for a second 4 year period.

A future President and Vice-President (the President-elect and Vice-President elect) should be nominated and voted on at the PORSEC Conference held mid-way during a president’s and vice-president’s 4 year term.(They can, if the there is no quorum at the biennial SOC meeting, be elected by secret email ballots, solicited from the whole SOC. 50% returned votes will be sufficient for a binding election.) The selected President-elect and Vice- President-elect then have a two year period of overlap with the active President and Vice-President and will be members of the Executive Board—ex officio, being kept informed of the current concerns of the PORSEC Association up to the time when they take over as President and Vice-President. (The nomination of these President-elect and Vice-President–elect should occur before the conference in 2006, and then again in the year 2010, 2014 etc, so that they are elected at those conferences and have two years to become familiar with the Association’s work.  The turning over of the responsibility of the Association to these two elected officers occur in the years 2008, 2012 etc.)

Article 8, Awards

PORSEC has constituted two awards for the promotion of science and service. The award committee is responsible for selecting eligible scientists for such awards. Each PORSEC meeting can award one (or no) science award and one (or no) service award. The committee shall consist of at least 4  members of PORSEC, who are previous recipients of the awards. The chair will be appointed by the President, in order to start the process each 2 year cycle

 

By-Laws

By-Law 1. Voting Rules.

  • No active ordinary member can represent or vote in place of other member.
  • Voting for President and Vice-President will be secret. Nominations for President and Vice-President candidates should be submitted to the Election Committee by no less than three active members.
  • Voting for SOC members and other members will be taken by a show of hands and by a simple majority of votes cast. Email ballotting may be substituted between the biennial meeting with all of the SOC members offered participation.
  • The duty term of PORSEC Association officers including the President and Vice-President  is 4 years, with possible one term re-election. The duty term of individual SOC members may be extended for several periods if requested by the President and/or the SOC assembly.

By-Law 2. Details about PORSEC Awards

  1. The PORSEC Awards Committee shall provide a report to the President 6 months prior to each PORSEC Meeting. The full Executive Board reviews the slate of nominees and votes on the approval or not of this slate.
  2. The PORSEC Awards to be given at that PORSEC Meeting in the Plenary Sessions or at the Banquet (a choice of the Local Organizing Committee). There shall be no more than one award in each category unless unanimous approval from the Executive Board is given for a joint award
  3. The PORSEC Awards Committee shall exercise diligence in making its recommendations. It shall seek advice and suggestions from members of the PORSEC-SOC Committee and may take external peer assessments and advice.

a). The PORSEC Distinguished Service Awards Rules.

  1. The PORSEC Distinguished Service Award may be awarded at each biennial Conference Meeting by the Administrative Executive Board on the recommendation of the PORSEC Awards Committee.

The Awards Committee may recommend that no PORSEC Distinguished Service  Award be made.

  1. The PORSEC Distinguished Service Award shall be awarded for distinguished service within the PORSEC organization or relevant to PORSEC interests.
  2. The PORSEC Distinguished Service Award will normally be presented in the concluding session of the General Assembly meeting.
  3. The PORSEC Distinguished Service Award shall consist of a commemorative medallion and a citation.

b). The PORSEC Distinguished Science  Award.

  1. The PORSEC Distinguished Science Award may be awarded at each biennial PORSEC Conference Meeting by the Administrative Executive Board.

The Awards Committee may recommend that no PORSEC Distinguished Science Award be made.

 

  1. The PORSEC Distinguished Science Award shall be awarded for distinguished scientific contributions relevant to PORSEC

All basic and applied science contributions are eligible for consideration and special notice shall be taken of the international context of the work, and of work presented at PORSEC Conferences.

  1. The PORSEC Distinguished Science Award will normally be presented at a Plenary Session at the PORSEC Conference Meeting and the recipient will be invited to present a Plenary Paper at the conference meeting.
  2. The PORSEC Distinguished Science Award shall consist of a commemorative medallion and a citation
c). The PORSEC Distinguished Awards  Medallion.

The PORSEC Distinguished Awards Medallion is a commemorative medallion struck in bronze to represent the achievements of mankind, and presented with blue trimmings to represent the colour of the oceans and atmospheres of the planet Earth as seen from space. The medallion is based on the PORSEC logo, which is an image of the landmasses of the Pacific Rim projected onto a circle five centimetres in diameter with the words PORSEC DISTINGUISHED AWARD embossed across the centre. The reverse side of the medal is left plain for engraving.

The “Distinguished Service Award” has those words engraved on the top semicircle and underneath is the name of the recipient and the year in which it was awarded.

The “Distinguished Science Award” has those words engraved on the top semicircle and underneath is the name of the recipient and the year in which it was awarded.