The AIAA Dynamics Specialists Conference is held alternate years in conjunction with the AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials (SDM) Conference. The purposes of the Dynamics Specialists Conference are to dedicate a meeting to significant new issues or thrusts in structural dynamics, and to provide a forum for papers focusing on structural dynamics that might not normally be presented within the scope of the SDM Conference. The most recent Dynamics Specialists Conference was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, April 18-19, 1996. The next Conference is tentatively scheduled in conjunction with the SDM Conference in 1998. Check with the AIAA for general conference information.
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Review A Guide to Organizing a Successful AIAA Dynamics Specialists Conference.
The purpose of this document is to provide the organizers of the Dynamics Specialists Conference (DSC) with guidelines to assist in planning a successful Conference. To the authors' knowledge, there are no formal procedures analagous to those of the Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials (SDM) Conference. Thus this document is based primarily on the experience of the contributors, all who have served in the capacity of either General Chair or Technical Program Chair for the Dynamics Specialists Conference.
The primary reasons for having a specialists conference are: 1) to dedicate a meeting to significant new issues or thrusts that have been identified by the structural dynamics community; and 2) to provide a forum for papers that might not normally be presented at the SDM Conference. As compared to structures, materials, and optimization, a greater percentage of the abstracts that have been submitted to the organizers of the SDM Conference have been in the field of structural dynamics. In order to maintain a reasonable balance at the SDM Conference, the acceptance rate of structural dynamics abstract was lower than in other disciplines.
The Dynamics Specialists Conference is sponsored exclusively by the AIAA Structural Dynamics Technical Committee (TC-SD). From its inception through 1990, the Dynamics Specialists Conference was held every three years, in conjunction with the SDM Conference. Since 1990, the DSC has been held every other year, again in conjunction with the SDM Conference. However, the scheduling of the DSC is strictly an ad-hoc decision of the TC-SD.
The organizing committee for the DSC officially consists solely of a General Chair and a Technical Program Chair. The General Chair is responsible for coordinating the site arrangements for the conference, and coordinating with the AIAA Meetings Manager and the General Chair of the SDM Conference.
The General Chair for the Dynamics Specialists Conference has the ultimate responsibility for the operation and success of the conference.
The General Chair is selected by the Structural Dynamics TC chair. It is recommended that the Conferences Subcommittee chair also be involved in the selection process. The person selected as General Chair should be familiar to and with the structural dynamics community, and have some knowledge or experience of working with the AIAA.
The General Chair should be selected in time to participate in the SDM planning meeting that occurs at the SDM Conference in the year preceding the DSC. For example, if the DSC is planned for 1998, the General Chair should be selected in time to attend the planning meeting for the 1998 SDM Conference that takes place during the 1997 SDM Conference.
The General Chair has the following responsibilities:
Most of the cost and arrangements issues are handled by the AIAA Meeings Manager.
The Technical Program Chair is responsible for the selection and organization of the papers that will be presented in the technical sessions at the Dynamics Specialists Conference.
The Technical Program Chair is selected by the TC-SD Chair and the DSC General Chair. It is recommended that the Conferences Subcommittee chair also be involved in the selection process. The person selected as Technical Program Chair should also be familiar to and with the structural dynamics community, and have some knowledge or experience of working with the AIAA.
The Technical Program Chair has the following responsibilities:
Since papers are often traded between the DSC and the SDM Conference, the Technical Program Chair should make an effort early on to contact with the Technical Program Chair for the SDM Conference.
Setting up the program for the Dynamics Specialists Conference is the responsibility of the General Chair. There are several constraints that must be considered. First, the DSC takes place after the SDM Conference (which runs Monday through Wednesday), so the conference is limited to a maximum of four session blocks. In order to minimize session conflicts, it is best to schedule no more than three parallel sessions in each block, giving a total of 12 sessions. Second, if the DSC is on the West Coast, East Coast travelers will want to leave the conference no later than noon on Friday, in order to get home at a reasonable hour.
The technical content of the Dynamics Specialists Conference is discretionary. It can either be for general structural dynamics topics of interest or devoted to a particular grouping of fields. In 1984, the conference placed a special emphasis on unsteady aerodynamics, flutter, and divergence. The 1990 conference focused on control-structure interaction, multibody dynamics, and other topics related primarily to large space structures. Two special sessions on the Active Flexible Wing program were organized for the 1992 DSC, and a general emphasis was placed on aircraft structural dynamic. In 1994, sessions were organized that focused on launch vehicle loads. It is recommended that planning for a DSC be an agenda item for the Structural Dynamics Technical Committee meeting at least two years prior to the conference. This planning would include establishment of the need for a DSC and a technical theme (if any), prior to the selection of the Technical Program Chair. The choice of the Technical Program Chair may influence the paper topics that are submitted to the DSC.
The timetable of events for organizing the Dynamics Specialists Conference aligns directly with the timetable for the SDM Conference. An example for the 31st SDM Conference and DSC is shown in Table 1. The most important meeting that the General and Technical Program Chairs must attend is the SDM Planning Meeting that is held in the middle of October (October 19-20, 1989 for the 1990 SDM). This is the meeting where the technical programs of both conferences are finalized.
Table 1.
31st SDM/DSC Timetable
Date Event 1989 April 3 Initial Planning Meeting at SDM Conference April 20 Final Call for Papers due at AIAA June Call for Papers appears in Aerospace America July 28 Deadline for proposal of special sessions August 11 Abstract submittal deadline August 31 Reply to special session proposals October 1 Abstract reviews due to Technical Program Chair October 19-20 Program Planning Meeting November 6 Final Program due at AIAA November 20 Author notification of acceptance/rejection December 4 Deadline for AIAA Bulletin changes December 15 Notification of session chairs 1990 January Final Program in Aerospace America February 2 Paper submittal deadline February 23 Final Program modification deadline Feb April 5-6 Dynamics Specialists Conference
As shown in the sample Call for Papers, authors should be requested to specify whether their papers can be used in either the SDM Conference or the DSC, or only in the DSC. Experience has shown that most will permit them to be used in either. Therefore, arrangements must be made to work with the SDM Technical Program Chair to arrive at a selection of papers that are appropriate for the DSC. The percentage of papers accepted for the 1982, 1985, 1988, 1989, and 1990 SDM Conferences (and DSCs, as applicable) was 82.5% (83.5%). Of the combined papers received for the 1990 SDM and DSC, only 39 were sent directly to the DSC Technical Program Chair. Of those, 32 were accepted. Based on the papers sent to the DSC, a program of 60 papers was assembled by working very closely with the SDM committee. This broke down into a total of 11 sessions, 9 of which were held in 3 parallel sessions as shown.
In 1994, an award was initiated to recognize the best written paper at that conference. The award consisted of a certificate that was presented to each of the authors.
The criteria that were used to evaluate the papers for the initial award started out being somewhat undefined. While the criteria never were formalized, the reviewers generated their own criteria during the process of evaluation. It is recommended that the criteria be formalized as the award matures, and those criteria be included in this document.
Since the DSC is a relatively small conference, the selection of the best paper from a maximum of approximately 60 papers was considered to be a tractable task. The process of selection began with the letter that the Technical Program Chair used to inform the authors which papers had been accepted for presentation at the DSC. In that letter, the authors were informed that it was their responsibility to send a copy of their paper to both their Session Chair and Co-Chair. The deadline for submittal was the same as for the camera-ready copy of their papers to the AIAA. The Session Chair and Co-Chair were then given approximately 8 weeks to review the papers that they received and send a recommendation to the Technical Program Chair. After the recommendations from each session were received by the Technical Program Chair, they were reviewed by a committee consisting of the General Chair, the Technical Program Chair, the Structural Dynamics Technical Committee Chair, and the TC-SD Conferences Subcommittee Chair. In the future, the TC-SD Awards Subcommittee Chair could be added to the selection committee. Their recommendations were collected by the General Chair, and the final selection was made.
The registration fees for conferences seems to escalate each year, invariably generating fears that the cost of the conference will limit attendance. However, experience has shown that registration fees have less impact on attendance than the cost of travel, lodging, and labor associated with attending the conference. Therefore, while the organizing committee generally tends to dwell on trying to reduce the conference costs, the data show that it is not a major factor in determining whether any particular organization will support conference attendance. However, the General Chair should pay close attention to the costs, which are negotiated by the AIAA Meetings Manager, and look for ways that saving might be achieved. Registration fees for the Dynamics Specialists Conference are usually quoted as: 1) DSC only; or 2) SDM and DSC. The cost per registrant for the 1990 DSC broke down as shown in Table 2. There are also special events, such as a luncheon or evening reception that may be scheduled for the conference. At the 1990 DSC, the cost of a luncheon was estimated at $20.00 per person. The cost of the evening reception that was held at the 1994 DSC cost $30.00 per person.
Table 2.
Dynamics Specialist Conference Cost Breakdown
Cost Item 1990 Cost 1994 Cost AIAA Staff Base Rate $130.00 Coffee Breaks $14.00 Luncheon/Reception $30.00 Proceedings $60.00 $80.00 Member (Advance) $205.00 $275.00 Nonmember (Advance) $319.00 $395.00 Member (On-Site) $254.00 $325.00 Nonmember (On-Site) $369.00 $445.00
The AIAA Structural Dynamics Technical Committee wishes to thank the following persons for their dedicated efforts
to prepare, review and maintain this guide.
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