2026-04-01 - OpenCI ACO Leadership Meeting Agenda & Summary

Decisions made during the meeting:

Agenda/Notes

1. Most Recent EC Meeting Debrief

   1. 2026-03-31 - ACCESS EC Meeting Agenda & Summary

   2. John thinks we are good for exhibitor costs are good at PEARC - we do this at SC already - we should be able to pay out of ACO funds

      1. John will get a note back to the EC on this that the ACO can cover it

      2. Someone should reach out to Burke and let them know that “sponsorship” is problematic language - John says they are working on it - it just has not been reflected on the web yet

      3. Shannon - fill out exhibitor form and get this started

   3. Dina got good info from Leslie / Tom / and JP

      1. doesn’t know what machine people are good contacts for - this is next step with Tom M

         1. Mostly works with technical staff

      2. Dina should work with Eric and Virginia - Shannon is doing the monthly staff audit with them this month

   4. Concerned that there was not much input on Bruno’s Section 5 questions - these are serious topics that should be addressed

      1. Dina has been talking to Bruno about this and the need for communication - she is concerned that he has not gotten back to her with info because he feels that there was no decision made

      2. John will email EC

   5. Sharon asked for

2. Review Action Items
   ACO Member To Do Items
   
   

   Open

   

3. Select Spotlight Topic for Monday’s NSF meeting - we meet Apr 6, 2026

   1. NSF Meeting Project Spotlight Topics

   2. Moving to a once every two weeks cadence

   3. Topic Picked: what does NSF want to talk to us about, we do not have anything at this point

4. Quarterly Report

   1. Give blackout dates to Sharon - give her dates from April 16 to end of June dates - looking like May at the moment

      1. Blackout Times: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fyQNVpIvUCyu-vuClxca8ctTrTDFmdLSIZD7H9xkHLU/edit?gid=0#gid=0

      2. Chuck, Misha, Kim, Cindy, Lisa

   2. Need 2 hour time frame

   3. 2 hour meeting - 20 mins for us talking about what we did last year - 40 mins for what plans are for PY 5 and an hour of discussion

      1. Could use the 40 mins for YR5 to talk about things that might not be needed

5. Updates

   1. @John Towns

      1. NSF has been instructed that they are not allowed to do Supplements anymore - so we probably will not have a costed or a no-cost extension supplement after ACCESS ends.

      2. Costed extension for 6 1/5 months may work

      3. John talked to Shava - asked about how much she could take and still spend it - he needs to get her a firm number

   2. @Chuck P

      1. EAB meeting summary sent to ACO - waiting for review and discussion (potentially) on April 7.

         1. asked to put discussion on next week’s agenda

   3. @majumdar

      1. has been working on surveys

   4. @Cindy Wong - vacation March 17 - April 2

      1. absent

   5. @Dina Meek

      1. Newsletters are delayed due to a payment issue with Constant Contact; was resolved this meeting

      2. PY5 Plans

         1. Comms in final review with Comms team; next to EC

         2. Web in first review with Web team

   6. @Kimberly Bruch

      1. Cool new story

      2. StarNet Story

      3. SC26 - very helpful about getting students from Alaska to be able to go

   7. @Misha Shah -

      1. Ill

   8. @Shannon Bradley - vacation Apr 6, 2026 - Apr 10, 2026

      1. Quarterly Report

      2. First PEARC planning committee meeting

      3. Sponsoring Students at PEARC: working on it

         1. (from above) John talked to Shava - asked about how much she could take and still spend it - he needs to get her a firm number

         2. TL;DR

         3. Leslie is checking out: The other idea I had is to see if PEARC can register students on their end and send us one invoice for all of the registrations that lists all of the student names. So we would just pay one invoice and Cheryl wouldn’t have to meet virtually with each student to register them.

         4. Info Leslie got from Spa: I will mention for both of your information that ACCESS Operations is sitting on a chunk of unspent participant support funds. I reached out to Sarah Lorbiecki at SPA to inquiry about allowability of using some of those funds for students to attend PEARC as a member of the student program. She informed me that  we CAN do this but not as a lump-sum payment. We would have to book the travel/registrations through our system and retain receipts in Emburse (see her response below). Cheryl doesn’t have the bandwidth to book all the travel for a bunch of extra students, so I am planning to offer to PEARC that ACCESS Operations could fund flights for a number of students (maybe all of the student participants depending on how many there are), and we’ll have them go through our university travel agent. Cheryl will still have to reconcile all the charges on her card, but the amount of work will be much less. I’m waiting for Janet to let me know if Cheryl’s pcard limit can be increased enough to allow for this. The other idea I had is to see if PEARC can register students on their end and send us one invoice for all of the registrations that lists all of the student names. So we would just pay one invoice and Cheryl wouldn’t have to meet virtually with each student to register them. She doesn’t have time for that. Again, waiting to find out if her card limit can be increased enough for all of this before I respond to Tabitha/Shafaq/Shava about what we can do.

            All that is to say, Shannon, if you’re supporting students, someone in your office will have to book their travel unless John is paying for it with non-grant funds. Big sigh.

            Similar questions about using lump-sum payments or stipends to cover travel expenses have come up in the past, and I had the opportunity to review this with SPA leadership.  Unfortunately, because NSF (and most federal sponsors) issue awards on a cost reimbursement basis, we cannot charge stipends or other lump-sum amounts in lieu of documenting and charging actual travel costs. 

            You can agree to pay student travel “up to” a specified amount.  However, for any expenses to be charged to an award, we must retain receipts and document allowable costs in Emburse.  This means registration and travel would still need to be processed as direct charges or reimbursements rather than through a lump-sum donation to the conference’s student program.   
            
            Alaine has had problems with this: We have an NSF grant from PEARC25 - specifically to fund student participation in the conference and the student program. And ACM arranged the hotels, managed the registrations, and handled the flight reimbursements on our behalf. And sent us a single invoice to pay for that with grant funds. And I am still fighting to get that invoice paid. We are finding a way to make it work though, and from Sarah’s response it reads like they are trying to nail down a process to say no before we try to do it again. Which is frustrating because SDSC, Purdue, and other universities managed to do it without an issue. So Sarah is probably right to discourage you.
            
            She is checking on this: So ACCESS could potentially contribute funds to support the Student Program. Last year we accepted support money from SDSC ($10k) and Purdue ($20k), which contributed to program costs for hotel rooms and registration. That could allow the Student Program to accept more students (which is what happened last year), but ACCESS would not have a say over the selection of the students, and those students would have to attend the program and the conference. But yes, they could invoice for a total of $16k. 

            I can ask about an ACCESS-sponsored student travel grant, which ACM PEARC may be able to run using those funds - similar to the student program. I’ll ask Brian about the feasibility of that, because I know he does all the management of those funds and reimbursements. Maybe it can be framed as ‘you didn’t get into the program, but if you just want to attend the conference’ kind of thing. 

            I’ll see what I can learn, and get back to you tomorrow late afternoon. 
            
            

      4. Amit is also working on student support plans as well - 1 time contribution to PEARC student program

   9. @Lisa Kaczmarczyk

      1. Lisa will submit her appendix by this Friday

         1. Plan to include the sharable list of findings

         2. What will she be doing next year - writing summative final report, will there be a funded extension

Next Meeting: Apr 8, 2026

Reference

ACO Vacation SchedulePreview