Junior Liaison Committee

The Junior Liaison Committee is a standing committee of the American Scientific Glassblowers Society. The chair is appointed by the President and approved by its Board of Directors. Consistent with the mission statement of the ASGS, the goal of the Junior Liaison Committee is to help assure that junior members beginning their scientific glassblowing careers will have the opportunity to receive professional and quality instruction that might not otherwise be available for them. The Committee provides the needed support to the Society's Junior Members and helps answer their many questions. The Committee tries to teach the juniors the basic and intermediate skills necessary to become truly well-rounded and knowledgeable scientific glassblowers. This has been the approach for more than a decade and the program has been very successful. We try to aid the Junior Member in such a way as to make them truly enjoy scientific glassblowing. By teaching many different basic techniques, the hope is to make scientific glassblowing easier and fun for the junior member. When an individual chooses the profession of scientific glassblowing it is generally a lifetime career choice. Anytime you spend that amount of years at something it should be enjoyable and rewarding. The Committee also hopes that by this commitment it will help provide quality, knowledgeable, and experienced scientific glassblowers for science and industry well into the 21ST century.

ASGS Junior Member Statement

The objectives of the Society are to further the professional careers and education of its Junior Membership through the gathering, promotion, and dissemination of technical and scientific information, concerning all aspects of scientific glassblowing.

Membership

The ASGS has over 600 members and affiliate members. These members are divided geographically between eleven regional sections throughout USA and Canada. There are also International Memberships throughout the world. Members are urged to join the section closest to them and to attend their section meetings. Junior Member status may be granted to those who actively engage in scientific glassblowing with less than five years experience. There are currently about 30 Junior Members in the ASGS. Junior Members are eligible for, and share, all the rights of membership available to Regular Members.

Joe Gregar instructing Junior Members in 2005

Junior Members are eligible to participate in the annual Junior Member Workshop Seminar program held in conjunction with the annual ASGS Symposium and Exposition. These are two day, hands-on workshops where the junior attendees receive the very best basic and intermediate training to help lead them toward developing the correct skills to become highly professional and accomplished scientific glassblowers. The committee chair recruits experienced scientific glassblowers who are specialists in their fields to help as instructors for the seminar workshop program. All the instructors are volunteers. The two day seminars are not nearly enough time to teach in-depth, but they do provide the junior members with the basic information necessary to continue and practice on their own. The next program will be held at the ASGS 51st National Symposium and Exposition to be held at Manhattan Beach, California in June, 2006.

Dan Edwards instructing Junior Members in 2002

Memorial Award

Junior members are eligible to be nominated for the coveted Memorial Award. This award is presented annually to a junior member who has contributed the most to the ASGS either at the section and/or national levels. They must be nominated for the award on the correct petition form, be a member in good standing and be the nominee who receives the most votes from the Society officers and the Board of Directors. The fortunate winning candidate will receive an expense paid trip to the next ASGS national symposium. Their name will also be inscribed on the Memorial Scroll, which is on display at the national symposia.

In each issue of the Society's professional journal publication Fusion, there is a column written by the Junior Liaison chair for the junior members. These columns try to be informative and give some information on national Society affairs that are related to Junior Members. The column also gives advanced information on the next Junior Member Workshop Seminar program to be held at the national symposium. Information on the topics to be taught and background on the instructors can be found there. Also every issue includes a helpful hint. This is a small tip or hint to increase the junior's knowledge and hopefully help them make their scientific glassblowing life easier and more enjoyable.

Lending Libraries

The ASGS maintains two lending libraries. These consist of many reference books on the art of scientific glassblowing. There is also a video library. These videos contain valuable workshop demonstrations on many different topics. The techniques shared in these videos are invaluable to both the beginning and accomplished scientific glassblower. Both these lending libraries offer their resources free to members in good standing. The only cost to the members is the postage to return the materials to the committee chairs. I hope this web page has been helpful and informative to all that have viewed it. It is the goal and commitment of the Junior Liaison Committee to help increase the scientific glassblowing knowledge of its junior members and at all times make them feel wanted as ASGS members.

Please feel free to contact the current Junior Liaison Committee chair, Joe Gregar, if you have any questions about becoming a Junior Member of the ASGS.

Junior Liaison Committee Chair

Contact Us | Disclaimer | WebMaster

©2006 The American Scientific Glassblowers Society