2011 IOTA Conference

IOTA Annual Meeting

July 16-17, 2011

Sierra College, Rocklin, California USA

Homer F. DaBoll2010 Award

IOTA Annual Meeting

July 16-17, 2011

Sierra College, Rocklin, California USA

Background• Concept of Award defined at the 2006 IOTA meeting

(Delaware):To recognize significant contributions to

occultation science and to the work of the IOTA • Name honors Homer F. DaBoll (1920 – 1990)

– Organizer of grazing occultation expeditions in Midwest USA beginning in late 1960’s

– Suggested the name “International Occultation Timing Association”

– Founding officer of IOTA 1975 (secretary/treasurer)– First editor of Occultation Newsletter, from 1974

through 1990• Previous awardees (2007) Dave Herald, (2008) Edwin

Goffin, (2009) Steve Preston, (2010) Hristo Pavlov

2011 Award Selection

• Nominations were solicited in early June• Award committee formed from volunteers

– Dave Herald, NSW, Australia (recipient 2007 award)– Edwin Goffin, Belgium (recipient 2008 award)– Steve Preston, USA (recipient 2009 award)– Hristo Pavlov, Australia (recipient 2010 award)– Colin Haig, Ontario, Canada– Robert Buchheim, California, USA– Terrence Redding, Florida, USA (chairman)

• Award committee goals:– select recipient of 2011 Homer DaBoll award

Eligibility (current)

Who is eligible for the award?

• Anyone who has made significant contribution to occultation science or the work of the IOTA

• Excluding sitting IOTA officers & award committee

• IOTA membership not required

Who can make Nominations?

• No defined restrictions at this time

• “Call for Nominations” made via Yahoo group effectively restricts nominators to active occultation community

Deliberations

• Total of 14 nominations received, from 8 nominators– All were excellent candidates

• All communication conducted by e-mail– private to the committee– independent of IOTA officers

• Approach was “discussion to reach a consensus” (not “majority voting”), considering:– Documentation provided with nominations– Experience & personal knowledge of the candidate’s

contributions.

Deliberations, cont.

• Past giants in the field– Separate award or alternate years

• What it means to be an international (global) award– Geographical distribution– Language and communication modes

• Objective criteria for making the choice– Recognize those that make significant contributions to

occultation science and to the work of IOTA– IOTA mission– IOTA objectives– IOTA goals

IOTA Mission and Goals

Scotty Degenhardt

2011 DaBoll Award Recipient

Scotty’s Occultation Record inOccult 4

• 2007, one event, three chords

• 2008, twelve events, 40 chords

• 2009, twelve events, 50 chords

• Mighty-Mini, Mighty-Maxi,

• Deployment planning – site selection

• Deployment execution – stamp and run

Committee Thoughts• Award Committee was effective

– Nominees considered against IOTA mission and goals• Work of the 2011 awards committee was excellent

– While consensus was not sought, it was achieved• Cycle time was OK, but process should start earlier

– Call for nominations was made ~6 weeks before meeting• Items we discussed but shelved

– How do we ensure other continent deserving individuals are considered?

– Should there be categories, or other awards?– Should we make an effort to recognize those who contributed

the most in the early years of IOTA?