Report of the Committee on Nominations
for the Year Ending June 30, 1999

At the November 1998 Annual Meeting in Vancouver, four new members (Harjit Ahluwalia, Southwest Region; C. W. Comer, Southeast Region; Richard W. Schwenz, Northwest Region; Paul K. Wason, Northeast Region) were elected to the Committee on Nominations and one member (Charles B. Smith, North Central Region) was reelected. Clarence J. Murphy (Mid-Atlantic Region) was the only continuing member. The three Past Presidents on the Committee were Robert A. Frosch, C. Kumar N. Patel, and Frederick C. Robbins.

The Committee met twice by telephone conference call to select two candidates for the office of President-elect. At the first meeting on March 2, 1999, the Committee reviewed the procedures for the Committee on Nominations established by the Executive Committee in January, 1998. The Committee discussed and confirmed the agreement reached by the Committee in 1997 that only full, active members of Sigma Xi could stand as nominees for the office of President-elect. The Committee also discussed means of soliciting nominations for the office of President-elect. Nominees were solicited from the membership through the Regional Directors, the Directors-at-Large, American Scientist, The Intercom, and the Sigma Xi web site.

Prior to the second meeting of the Committee by telephone conference call on May 10, 1999, the Committee received biographical materials on twenty-three individuals whose names had been placed in nomination for the office of President-elect. Included were the name(s) of the nominator(s), and a record of each nominee's prior participation in the activities of Sigma Xi at the local, regional, national and international level. At the second meeting of the Committee, Past President Thomas F. Malone took the place of C. Kumar N. Patel, who was unable to be present. At this meeting each of the twenty-three nominees was discussed. No voting took place at that meeting, but, as agreed upon by the Committee and in accord with the procedures established by the Executive Committee, an iterative, weighted ballot, executed by email, was used to select the two nominees to be presented to the 1999 Assembly of Delegates. The Committee decided that after each vote the top ranked candidate should be approached by the President of the Society and by any member of the Committee who might be personally acquainted with the candidate. This process was repeated until two nominees had agreed to stand as candidates for election at the November 1999 Annual Meeting.

From the list of outstanding nominees, the Committee chose Jared Cohon (Carnegie Mellon University) and Marye Anne Fox (North Carolina State University) as candidates for election to the office of President-elect by the 1999 Assembly of Delegates.

The Committee expresses its deepest appreciation to Sigma Xi Deputy Executive Director Evan R. Ferguson for the outstanding support that he provided the Committee.

Respectfully submitted,
Charles B. Smith, Chair, Committee on Nominations, North Central Region
Harjit Ahluwalia, Southwest Region
C. W. Comer, Southeast Region
Robert A. Frosch, Past President
Thomas F. Malone, Past President
Clarence J. Murphy, Mid-Atlantic Region
C. Kumar N. Patel, Past President
Frederick C. Robbins, Past President
Richard W. Schwenz, Northwest Region
Paul K. Wason, Northeast Region