Minutes of the SSP TM meeting on 16 October 1998

Place:  ECE 202		The meeting began at 15:10
Present: J. D. Carothers, U. Fink, K. C. Hsieh, C. Lewicki, L. Schooley,
H. Tharp, K. Thome, and W. Wing
Absent:  W. Chen and E. Fasse

0. It was discovered that Hsieh failed to send the minutes of the last
meeting to all the TMs, after Tharp made the corrections.  He will send it
after this meeting to have all TMs make necessary corrections and approve
it after correction.

1. Lewicki was tied up with the Pro-E demonstration and will be late.

2. Hsieh reported on the willingness of Jim Dodge of NASA HQ to review
SSP's proposal for the approval of 1628 after the science section is
re-written.  Thome will have Dan O'Sullivan work with Krider on the
lightning section.  The re-written section on sprites will be reviewed by
Krider before being incorporated into the revised version of the
proposal. Fink will re-write the section on stellar photometry and also
contact someone he knows at NASA HQ that would do what Dodge would do
for lightning. Since STI was absent during the summer, this is the
chance to add a section on STI, under Wing's supervision.  Hsieh will
touch base with Fink, Thome and Wing on 23 October.  It is hoped that
the revised proposal will be sent out by the end of October.

3. The discussion on the preparation of a proposal to NSF's CCLI (see
minutes of last meeting) led to an extended discussion on some of the more
basic problems as seen by the TMs.  The knowledge and skill gap between
the students and the tasks requires a careful examination and begs a
solution.  This gap would necessarily require more time for each task and
thus slow down the schedule. It is agreed that Lewicki and the TLs will
produce a top-level block diagram showing all subsystems and their
interfaces as a start for the teams to define their own subsystems in more
detail.  Thome is guiding the SCI team to take the driver's role to
generate requirements and specs for the other teams to examine and
implement.  The role of more knowledgeable and skilled graduate students
is appreciated.  A solution to get such graduate students involved is
lacking.  Resulting action items:
	a.  Lewicki and TLs produce the first complete blockdiagram
	b.  Lewicki, Tharp and Hsieh generate the basis of the NSF CCLI
		proposal for the next round of dicsussion.    
	c.  Science Team provide requirements on DCH and TTC by January
		1999, so Carothers and Schooley can integrate some of the
		requirement into their design courses.
4. Lewicki reported on the latest developments in power budget, Student
Showcase participation, recruting mailing for the SCI Team, and the draft
on the announcement for the search for his successor.  He will e-mail the
draft of the announcement to the TMs and for correction and approval.  It
is hope that such a person can be found no later than the end of this 
year.  

5. There was no time for Tharp to report on his meeting with Dean
Peterson, visit to Allied Signal, and other CoEM related matter.

Meeting adjoured at 17:10.

Dear TMs,

It is time for our bi-weekly meeting again.  I hope you all can come.
This time, 15:00 tomorrow, Friday, 30 October, we shall meet in ECE 202,
as arranged by Larry.

Here is the tentative agenda.  Please feel free to modify it as you see fit.

0.  Approval of the minutes of the last meeting.

1. Status of Project Manager AO

2.  Form 1628 proposal  to NASA

3.  Proposal to NSF
	(Please bring facts, numbers and ideas!)

4.  Report from Tharp
	Meting with Peterson
	Visit to Allied Signal

5.  Other business

See you there!

With best wishes,
John