Dear MDRGN,

I thought you might be interested to know the history of our very special global network. In the fall of 1985 I started as an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. During the welcome party that the school held for me (yes, we used to do things like that) an MLA student named Shane ONeill approached me and told me about his interest in microclimate and design and wondered if I would be willing to be his thesis advisor. I agreed and we started meeting regularly to discuss his progress. In addition to this, once a week we would go to the Grad Club to have a libation. I set three rules for these meetings - 1. we discuss things related to microclimatic design, 2. everything has to be said in a positive manner (no criticism), and 3. I buy the drinks. The next year some other students joined us, and within about 3 or 4 years some faculty joined us as well. We decided that we would never allow the group to get so large that we couldn't sit around one table and talk. Many thesis topics were invented during these free-wheeling discussions (remember - there was no criticism, so no idea was too outlandish to discuss) and it became a regular and welcome part of our weekly schedule.

Over the years we continued to meet in the Grad Club and the name of the group changed over time. When Rob Corry and I decided that the name should be changed to MoM (Meeting of Minds) we found out later that the students called it BRB (Beer with Rob and Bob). The Thursday afternoon meetings continued for the 31 years that I was at the University of Guelph, and when I moved to Texas A&M I brought the concept with me. My PhD advisees and I would go to the golf course clubhouse once a week and have our MoM while having a liquid refreshment and eating popcorn. Young faculty started to join us and we would often have a full table of people. But when COVID arrived we had to quit meeting in person. Instead we decided to meet via zoom. This really changed the character of the meetings as people seemed reluctant to discuss creative ideas in the stilted format of zoom. So we decided that maybe having more people involved might liven things up. And indeed this was the solution. International guests like Makoto and Wendy gave the meeting a much-needed infusion of energy, and eventually led us to formalize ourselves as the Microclimatic Design Research Group. Then as membership grew and become more international it became the Microclimatic-Design Research: Global Network (MDRGN).

It has been an incredibly rewarding journey, and after 40 years it's still a great tradition that I hope will last for another 40 years and more. I think that one of the things that has made it so special is the rule that everything has to be said in a positive manner. We have lots of opportunities to be critical in our professional lives, but the MDRGN is the one hour every week that we can share hare-brained ideas in a safe environment and know that nobody will criticize us.

I hope you are enjoying the ride.

Bob