The Annual Meeting officially begins at 3:30pm on November 29 with the Opening Plenary session followed by our reception. Breakfast on Thursday, November 30, will be available starting at 7:00am, and the NSF plenary session featuring Vivek Paul begins at 8:00am. Thursday concludes at 5:30pm, and the evening is yours. Friday, December 1, breakfast also begins at 7:00am, with the program beginning at 8:00am. The Annual Meeting will adjourn no later than 2:15pm on Friday afternoon.

Engineering Education for All
The third breakout session on Thursday will focus on how to attract a diverse student body to engineering: from RETs and undergraduates to multicultural teams of researchers. All staff may choose from 1 of 3 sessions in this area, while Administrative Directors will have their own session providing feedback to NSF on the data collection and reporting system.

Introducing the Class of 2006
Five new centers joined the ERC program this year, and you will meet them and learn about their research foci in the Annual Meeting plenary sessions. Please see the press release on the naming of these centers, and look forward to meeting your new colleagues.

Post-Meeting for the New ERCs
All staff of the five new centers are invited to attend a post-meeting session with NSF program management staff and “veteran” ERC staff representatives to discuss any issues and answer any questions the new ERCs may have. At the same time, Administrative Directors and Financial Managers from the new ERCs will meet with the NSF evaluation and data collection team to learn about procedures and expectations in these areas. New ERCs: please indicate your attendance on your registration form.

Student Retreat
The 2006 ERC Student Retreat will be held on Wednesday, November 29, from 8:00am to 3:00pm. We thank the organizers of this year’s retreat from the CASA ERC at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst: Kathleen Rubin, Co-Director for Education and Outreach, and Brian Donovan, CASA SLC President. (Please note that posters will not be requested this year.) We also welcome all of you students to register and stay for the Annual Meeting, and are providing programming that we hope will help you strengthen and grow your SLCs.

Working Meetings by Staff Function
For many years, the Center Directors, Administrators, Educators, and ILOs have held their own working meetings (“closed meetings”) on the first day of the Annual Meeting to focus on items specific to their center role. In 2005, a similar workshop was added for Research Thrust Leaders that was well received. In addition to these sessions, this year we are also developing Friday’s working lunch as an facilitated discussion opportunity for like center staff to share their questions and insights into “How to Succeed as an ERC: Lessons Learned.” We hope that these staff-focused sessions will continue to help you contribute to your Center’s success and longevity.

Anything else?
If you have any questions regarding the annual meeting agenda, please contact Court Lewis at 321-253-0153. If you have any questions about meeting logistics or your registration, feel free to contact Kate Ryan, Ann Becker and Associates, Inc., at direct telephone 920-564-2490 or by fax 920-564-2605.