Operating Procedure

Membership and Terms of Service

1. A full committee shall nominally consist of eighteen regular members, with each member to serve for three years. Under special circumstances, the number of members can be expanded to more than eighteen through voting of the MSD committee.

2. A member may serve no more than two consecutive three-year terms and may not be re-elected within two years after expiration of the term.

3. If a member misses three consecutive MSD meetings the membership is terminated unless extenuating circumstances are presented to the committee and the committee approves continuation of the membership by a majority vote.

4. The Committee chairperson shall be an ex-officio member of the committee, with vote, for two years after completing that term office.

5. Officers shall serve a complete two-year term of office as voting members of the committee even if such service extends beyond the end of their normal term of committee membership. If a portion of the three-year term, to which an officer was elected as a committee member, remains at the completion of the term of office, it shall be finished as a regular committee member.

Election of New Members

1. Each year, before or during the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition, the committee chairperson shall appoint a nominating committee chairperson and, at most, two other members. The chairperson of this nominating committee shall be a member of the MSD; the other members need not be members of the MSD.

2. The Nominating Committee shall consider potential new members and present a list of at least five nominees to the chairperson at least six weeks prior to the ASME Spring Design Conference (SDC) or by February 15 if no SDC MSD meeting is held.

3. Election of new members shall be accomplished at the SDC MSD meeting or before the end of April of the same year if no SDC MSD meeting is held. The new members shall take office on July 1 following their election. Each member of the MSD, except the chairperson, shall have one vote. The nominees with the largest number of votes shall be considered elected. The chairperson shall cast a tie-breaking vote, in case of any tie.

4. Elections of new MSD members and/or officers shall normally be held at a meeting of the ASME in which the MSD is involved. However, at the discretion of the chairperson, elections may be held by mail ballot.

5. If a MSD member cannot complete the full term of membership or if removed from membership for attendance reasons, then the chairperson shall appoint a replacement to serve the remaining portion thereof.

Officers

1. The committee shall be governed by a chairperson, vice-chairperson, and recording secretary.

2. The term of office for each officer shall be two years, extending from July 1 of an even numbered year until the end of June two years later.

3. Officers shall be elected from among the committee members, by the committee members. Elections shall be held as soon as possible after election of committee members.

4. Election shall be accomplished by plurality of the votes cast.

5. If the MSD chairperson cannot complete the term of office, then the vice-chairperson shall become chairperson and the recording secretary shall become vice-chairperson for the remainder of the term of office. Whenever the office of recording secretary is vacant, the chairperson shall appoint a new recording secretary from the MSD membership.

6. A sitting committee secretary or vice chair may stand for election of a higher office even if their current membership term has expired.

Subcommittees

1. The Chairperson of the MSD has the authority to establish subcommittees, and shall appoint the chairperson of each such subcommittee.

2. The members of the subcommittees need not be members of the MSD. The chairperson of each subcommittee must be a member of the MSD, except in such special cases where a majority of the members of the MSD vote to accept a non-committee member as subcommittee chairperson.

Ratification and Amendments

1. These rules become effective upon ratification.

2. Amendments to these rules require two-third vote of all regular members of the MSD.