Revision 1 – August 2011
ARTICLE I
NAME AND OFFICES
The name of the organization is the Pennsylvania Coal Ash Research Group, hereinafter PCARG or the Group.
The principal office of the Group shall be located at The Pennsylvania State University, in University Park, PA, unless otherwise designated by the Participating Members.
ARTICLE II
PURPOSE
The purpose of the Group shall be:
ARTICLE III
STRUCTURE OF THE GROUP
The Group includes generators of coal combustion productsCCPs as well as individuals, companies and Trade Organizations engaged, or who may become engaged, in the management of these materials. The University provides support to the Group through an interdisciplinary research team (Team) comprised of materials scientists and engineers from various departments and Colleges within the University. The Team will be structured into three complementary activities: Research, Agile Support Services, and Technology Assessment and Information Dissemination. The role of each of these activities will be discussed below.
The ‘Research' activity is structured around graduate education and will perform medium-to-longer term fundamental research on new and/or alternative materials, processing methodologies, characterization and laboratory and field scale demonstrations. Emphasis is placed on research and development of engineered materials systems derived from CCPs as alternative raw materials, including but not limited to, waste by-products of industrial processes and from renewable resources.
The role of the Support Services activity is to provide maximum agility in addressing short-term analysis and characterization needs of the membership. The focus of this activity is a rapid, focused assistance to the Group membership. A critical role of this activity is assessing the needs of the Group's membership and then building teams of researchers and technicians with specialized expertise to address the issues in a short-term, focused fashion. One element of this effort will be to identify and address informational gaps at PaDEP which are impeding the management of CCPs in the Commonwealth. To this end, a certain portion of the Group's funding is reserved for short-term AES activities and is subsequently applied only after concise and carefully articulated work statements are vetted to be consistent with the needs of the Group membership. The projects are intentionally defined as short-term, maximum impact efforts to rapidly solve problem for which sufficient resources or expertise is not available to the membership.
The third component of the Team's organization is ‘Technology Assessment and Information Dissemination.' The underlying focus of this activity is to effectively disseminate research findings, technology, and knowledge developed in the research and support services activities, to promote maximum exploitation and implementation by the end users. Coordination, development and maintenance of materials databases of importance to the Group's membership are another key feature of this activity.
ARTICLE IV
MEMBERSHIP
The purpose of the Group shall be:
Membership shall be for a two-year periods, beginning September 1, 2008.
The "Participating Members" and "Associate Members" may include the generators of coal combustion productsCCPs as well as individuals or companies engaged, or who may become engaged, in the management of these materials. These members will constitute the voting membership of the Steering Committee (Participating Members receive two votes. Associate Members receive one vote.) They will be charged with reviewing the programmatic objectives of the Group and directing the nature of the research needs that are brought to the committee. They will also serve in a data review capacity for the research program. These membership tiers will also receive reduced registration fees for all Group outreach activities.
Both the "Participating Members" and the "Associate Members" will share in the research data as it becomes available. Additionally, promotion of a Participating Member or Associate Member through a company description, contact information, logo and links to the company webpage will be made available on the Group's website. These memberships will share in the intellectual property and technology developed in the Group's projects.
The "Affiliate Members" may include those entities (e.g. consultants, commercial laboratories and trade organizations) qualifying that do not qualify as "Participating Members" or "Associate Members"., as well as Trade Organizations. Generators of coal combustion products cannot qualify as an Affiliate Member. This tier of membership is comprised of non-voting members of the Group who will have the opportunity to provide research topics and issues to be put forth before the Steering Committee for consideration but will receive the results of any of the Group's research activities when it is released to the public. Promotion of an Affiliate Member through a company description, contact information, logo and links to the company webpage will be made available on the Group's website.
All three tiers of membership will gain access to advanced degree candidates possessing the modern educations and skill required by the member companies.
Member Resignation
Any member may resign from membership at any time by submitting a letter to that effect to the Chairpersonman of the Group; however, such member shall be liable for dues pertaining to the entire two- year research cycle.
ARTICLE V
DUES AND CONTRIBUTIONS
The Group is financed by membership dues and contributions based on the following schedule:
Dues and contributions are payable on an annual basis and are to be submitted prior to September 1 of each year. First year dues for new members shall be pro-rated based on the month of the fiscal year cycle in which the member joins. No dues shall be refunded for any reason. Checks shall be made payable to "The Pennsylvania State University" and mailed to the following address:
Barry E. Scheetz
North American Refractory Bldg.
3127 Research Drive, Room 151
State College, PA 16801
The Group's academic staff will continue to explore the possibility of additional state and federal funding opportunities that would enhance and expand the Group's goals.
ARTICLE VI
MEETINGS
Meetings will be held on a quarterly basis. The location of the meetings will be at The Pennsylvania State University.
Members entitled to cast fifty-one percent of the total number of votes entitled to be cast at a meeting, represented in person, shall constitute a quorum at all meetings for the transaction of business. If, however, such quorum shall not be present at such meeting, the members present shall have the power to adjourn the meeting from time to time, with notice to other members, until a quorum shall be present. At such reconvened meeting at which a quorum shall be present, any business may be transacted which might have been transacted at the meeting originally notified.
ARTICLE VII
OFFICERS
The Officers of the Group shall consist of a Chairperson and a Vice-Chairperson elected by the Members. The term of office shall be two years. After the first year of office, the Vice-Chairperson will assume the position of Chairperson and a new Vice-Chairperson shall be elected. Elections shall be held at the Group meeting immediately prior to September 1.
ARTICLE VIII
FISCAL YEAR
The fiscal year of the Group will be from September 1 to August 31.