Minutes of 4^th Meeting of PMC of STEM Project

The fourth meeting of the Project Management Committee (PMC) of the STEM Careers Project was held in the STEM Careers Project office, HEC, Islamabad, at 1500 hours on Wednesday, 23^rd June 2004. The following members attended the meeting.

1. Dr. Abdullah Sadiq
2. Dr. Zabta Khan Shinwari
3. Dr.Khalid Ahmad Mukhtar D.G NIBGE (in place of Dr. Kausar Abdullah Malik)

Prof. Asghar Qadir, Prof. Dr. Parvez Hodbhoy, Dr. S.T.K Naeem & Dr. Kausar Abdullah Malik could not attend the meeting as they were abroad. Dr. Sohail H Naqvi, Prof. Riazuddin and Prof. Iqbal Chaudhary also did not attend the meeting because of some other official engagements.

Following is the resume of the discussions/decisions: -

Agenda Item No. 1: Adoption of the minutes of the 3^rdPMC Meeting
The minutes were adopted as circulated.

 Agenda Item No. 2: Implementation Report of earlier decisions of PMC
The Committee noted with satisfaction the progress so far made concerning the Launching of 1^st National Science Talent Contest and the earlier decisions of the Committee.  

Agenda Item No. 3: Briefing on NSTC-1
The Committee approved the new letterhead of STEM Careers Project and the certificates for NSTC-1 students with some proposed changes in Biology and Chemistry logo. It was also proposed to have an embossed seal and ribbon for certificates in future.

 Agenda Item No. 4: Certificate distribution ceremony for students screened for the  next phase of NSTC-1
The Committee approved a tentative date for certificate distribution ceremony subject to availability of Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman, during the 1^st week of July; otherwise the certificates will be distributed during the Camps to be held in August.

Agenda Item No. 5: Utilization Report of funds received

The committee was briefed about the funds receipts and expenditures made. So far a total of 18.67 million rupees have been received against a requested allocation of 8.5077 million rupees for 2003-2004, most of which has been spent or committed.

Agenda Item No. 6: Participation of Pakistani team in 35^th IPhO & of observers in IBO, IMO, IChO

The Committee was briefed about the steps so far taken in this regard. Chair STEM Careers Project informed that an observer is expected to participate in International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO). The condition for sending a team to IChO is that an observer from participating country must participate in IChO for two consecutive years. Thus Pakistani team will not be able to participate in IChO till 2006. So far, there is no progress on sending observers to IMO and IBO this year.

Agenda Item No. 7: Status of Funds: Receipts and expenditures
The committee was briefed about the launching schedule of NSTC-2. Committee also formally approved the design and contents of registration form and advised to make some poster for this purpose. The effort is being made to open online registration from 1^st week of July, 2004 and send application packages to college by 1^st week of September 2004.   

Agenda Item No. 8: Relocating STEM Careers Project office PIEAS to HEC Campus
The office of STEM Careers Project on HEC Campus is already operational and the 4^th meeting of PMC was held in this office. DDWP approved the relocation of STEM Careers Project from PIEAS to HEC with Chair STEM Careers Project as officiating Project Manager. It also agreed to allot about 1.6 million rupees for establishment of    chapters of Science Teacher Forum in Federal and Provisional capitals (Annex-I).    

Agenda Item No. 9: Status of National Engineering Competition
The committee was briefed about NEC status and informed that several major Engineering Universities have shown interest to participate in this Competition, GIK institute has already nominated three teams for participation in this Competition.

Agenda Item No. 10: Science Teacher Forum
The committee was briefed about the activities of STF in Karachi Lahore and Peshawar chapters (please see Annex-I).

Agenda Item No. 11:
(a) Any other Item with permission of Chair
Committee approved the suggestion that effort may be made to exempt the five students in each discipline from the university entry test, who will participate in International Science Olympiads. Committee also approved the suggestion to give honorarium to individuals who work for STEM Careers Project. Dr. Zabta Khan was requested to draft a working paper for this purpose.
(b): WEB Page
The committee was briefed about the activities of NSTC-2 online registration. Committee approved the suggestion that Colleges that don't have sufficient number of students, who meet the NSTC nomination criteria, may like to nominate up to five other students in each subject of NSTC, explicitly mentioning the criteria used by them. They may also nominate younger exceptionally bright & talented students for NSTC. However such students will be disqualified after two attempts.

The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to chair.