Proponent: eastman@astro.umd.edu (Tim Eastman)
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,sci.physics,sci.physics.fusion
Date: 8 Apr 1994 15:39:29 -0400

Newsgroups line:
sci.physics.plasma	Plasma Science & Technology community exchange.


CHARTER (Proponent)

   The NEWSGROUP for Plasma Science and Technology is intended as a
community forum for sharing new developments and bringing researchers
together for potential new collaborations. During 1994, the focus of
this NewsGroup will be a community-wide dialogue to formulate a Plasma
Science and Technology Initiative which would deliver big-science
value with a medium-scale investment.  Participation in this dialogue
will involve primarily researchers in plasma science and technology
although qualified researchers in all related fields are
welcome. Executive committees for the Division of Plasma Physics of
the American Physical Society (APS) and the Nuclear and Plasma
Sciences Society of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers) have given formal approval for this network dialogue.

   The Plasma Science and Technology research community seeks an
increased dialogue among its multifarious constituencies.  Plasmas are
as rich as any other state of matter in terms of distinct processes
and they encompass distinguishable scales ranging from the atomic to
the galactic. Opportunities in plasma science and technology reflect
this breadth in phenomena and scales; one recent list contains 135
subject areas and 65 applications areas including thin-film diamond
deposition, toxic waste disposal, plasma arcs for steel processing,
laser self-focusing, fusion for energy production, gas and arc lamps,
cutting and welding, and semiconductor production.

   In its initial implementation, Dr. Tim Eastman will be the PLASMA
NEWSGROUP moderator. He is a Faculty member of the Institute for
Physical Science and Technology at the University of Maryland [ph:
301-405-4829, fax: 301-314-9363, email: eastman@astro.umd.edu].
Dr. Barry Ripin of the Naval Research Laboratory will be an alternate
moderator.  The APS and IEEE Executive Committees will renew or
replace the moderator on a yearly basis.

NOTE: The NewsGroup name "sci.physics.fusion" already exists
and is appropriate for the subset of Plasma Science and Technology
which focuses on plasmas for energy production (i.e., fusion).  
The proposed NEWSGROUP for PLASMA is intended to complement the 
"fusion" group and will primarily orient itself to issues of 
Plasma Science and Technology other than fusion.


Why the NewsGroup for Plasma Science & Technology is needed and should pass:

Representatives and members of the Plasma Science and Technology research 
community have long recognized a need to communicate information and issues
that affect the broader community in addition to the several email groups
that currently exist at the local level or sub-field level (e.g., the Plasma
Etch User's Group in the Bay area).  Formal support for setting up this
NewsGroup has now been given (as of Nov. 1993) by the key Executive 
Committees representing this broad multi-disciplinary field.  In order to
focus the discussion during the NewsGroup's first year, we will encourage
a community-wide dialogue to formulate a major Plasma Science and Technology
Initiative.  The NewsGroup would then complement a Workshop on this topic
at the International Conference in Plasma Science in June, 1994.  Even after
this initiative is formulated and is no longer a focus of discussion, the
NewsGroup will provide a valuable service to the community by encouraging
contacts and research coordination that might otherwise never develop.
Use of the NewsGroup will be encouraged through scientific meetings and
through timely announcements of job opportunities, research opportunities, 
and funding options.




Date: 2 May 1994 15:36:58 -0400

				RESULT
	   moderated group sci.physics.plasma passes 143:17