The following new Directors were elected at CUAHSI's annual membership meeting on December 7, 2010:

• David Freyberg — Stanford University
• Brian McGlynn — Montana State University
• Jim McNamara — Boise State University
• Todd Rasmussen — University of Georgia
• Ying Fan Reinfelder — Rutgers University

Congratulations to the new Board members. And thanks to those who also participated in the elections and to those whose terms are ending (Patricia Maurice, University of Notre Dame; Kenneth Potter, University of Wisconsin; and Claire Welty, University Maryland). We appreciate all your time, effort, and support.

For additional information about CUAHSI governance, please go to the Board of Directors page.

The CUAHSI membership, at their annual meeting on Decmber 7, 2010, approved amendments to the CUAHSI ByLaws. In brief, the amendments to the ByLaws concerned the following three areas:

1. Expansion of representatives from member Universities from one to three representatives;
2. Establishment of procedures for recurring dues for member Universities; and
3. Establishment of procedures for the inclusion of corporate affiliate members (i.e., for-profit entities).

Additional detail is provided below and a more robust announcement will be forthcoming after the Board of Directors meeting during the first week of January 2011.

1. Each Member University will be represented by up to three individuals rather than the current one. By expanding the number of reps, we seek to empower multiple disciplines to actively participate in CUAHSI. The new representation structure will take effect on January 1, 2011, and the newly expanded pool of representatives will be eligible to run for the Board in the December 2011 elections. Regardless of the number of representatives a Member University appoints, each Member will receive three votes in elections. The representatives decide the allocation of those votes. The primary intent of having multiple representatives is to enable a diversity of disciplinary viewpoints to be expressed and to better promote the distribution of information between CUAHSI and University faculty and students with interest in water. It is hoped that representatives will be chosen from distinct disciplines within the earth sciences, engineering, ecology, geography, social sciences, limnology, and other relevant disciplines which study water. We also encourage that diversity of career stages, gender, and ethnic background be considered when appointing Representatives.
2. Membership dues are currently a one-time charge of $2000 for Member Universities and $500 for Affiliate and International Affiliate members. These funds are considered "unrestricted" because they are not subject to the restrictions of federal funds we receive under our Cooperative Agreement with the National Science Foundation. These funds are used primarily to maintain our membership roster, and to hold elections of Directors and Officers of the corporation; these activities cannot be funded by federal grants. Our total expenditure of unrestricted funds is roughly $15,000 per year.

   Clearly, with a steady outflow of funds and a relatively stable number of members, our capital has been steadily shrinking, especially given the very low interest rates of recent years. The Board has recommended a two-pronged approach to stabilize and to increase the Consortium's capital. First, modest annual dues of $200 will be assessed on each Member University. Non-profit and International affiliate members will continue to pay a one-time membership fee of $500. Annual dues were also recommended by the CUAHSI Audit Committee in its last report to the Board. Second, Corporate Affiliates will be permitted into the Consortium on a sliding scale of initiation fees and dues.

3. The primary mission of CUAHSI is to promote hydrologic science within academic and not-for-profit research institutions. However, for-profit entities have expressed interest in CUAHSI's activities and would like to play a role in the Consortium. Furthermore, considerable expertise exists in for-profit entities that may contribute to informatics, sensor design, and water infrastructure.

   The dues arising from Corporate Affiliate membership can be used by the Board to undertake new initiatives more easily and without the restrictions of federal funds. For example, CUAHSI could represent the academic water research community on Capitol Hill for educational purposes, or other activities, such as marketing studies or international engagement.

   In the approved amendments to the Bylaws, Corporate Affiliates will have no vote in the membership meetings of the Consortium nor would they be able to propose motions. Corporate affiliates were allowed under the previous iteration of the ByLaws, but no Corporate Affiliates were elected to the Consortium because they had been extended voting privileges. The amendments, as approved by the CUAHSI membership, remedies that situation.

For a complete set of the CUAHSI Bylaws, please go to the CUAHSI Bylaws page.

CUAHSI held its annual Fall AGU reception at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on Tuesday evening, December 14. Approximately 200 people attended. The attendees were welcomed by Rick Hooper, CUAHSI's Executive Director. Opening remarks by Jun Abrajano of the National Science Foundation were followed by a "State of the Consortium" presentation by Larry Band (University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill), CUAHSI Board of Directors Chair.

This year, in addition to the theatre-style town hall meeting, we had display tables set up in rooms adjacent to the reception area with folks on hand to discuss various CUAHSI project areas:

• Catchment Comparison Exercise 2010 — Jim McNamara (Boise State University)
• Critical Zone Observatories — Mark Williams (University of Colorado, Boulder) and Tim White (Penn State University)
• CTEMPS & Distributed Temperature Sensing — Scott W. Tyler (University of Nevada, Reno) & John Selker (Oregon State University)
• HydroGeoPhysics Facility — Ty Ferre (University of Arizona)
  • IRIS PASSCAL — Bruce Beaudoin
• Informatics: HydroDesktop — David Maidment (University of Texas, Austin), Dave Tarboton (Utah State University), Ilya Zaslavsky (San Diego Supercomputer Center)
• "Let's Talk About Water" — Linda Lilienfeld (LTAW Project Coordinator)

Many attendees commented that it was extremely beneficial to have the tables staffed by people managing or directly involved in the projects; the ensuing conversations were, as a result, particularly instructive.