Report of the Committee on Development
for the Year ending June 30, 2001

The generosity of members and friends made this an extraordinary year for Sigma Xi's development efforts. In addition to record totals in annual giving and program support, the Society received the largest bequest in its history.

Sigma Xi's overall fund-raising efforts continue to provide vital programming and operations support, with grants, contributions and bequests to the Society totaling more than $3.9 million in cash received for the fiscal year that ended on June 30. This included contributions of more than $247,000 from 4,072 Sigma Xi members and friends in the Society's 2001 annual giving program. This was the most generous expression of support in the 11-year history of the annual giving program. Eighty-five gave at the Companions Club level of $500 or more. Unrestricted contributions to annual giving help further the work of the Society by providing seed money for new initiatives and supporting operations.

This year we learned of the outstanding legacy created by long-time member and benefactor Leroy E. Record, with the notification of his bequest to Sigma Xi totaling approximately $3.5 million. (In May, Sigma Xi received $2.7 million from the estate. The remaining payment is expected in the fall.) Mr. Record requested that the money be used to support engineering education with consideration given to assisting gifted, needy and motivated students in engineering. An advisory committee, headed by John Prados, treasurer of Sigma Xi, will make recommendations on the Society's use of the bequest in support of engineering education. The bequest followed separate gifts this year of $262,000 for Grants-in-Aid of Research and for the Sigma Xi Center project, made from trusts established by Mr. Record.

Leroy Record was born on October 5, 1902, in Tribune, Kansas, and graduated from the University of Kansas in 1929 with a degree in electrical engineering. He then took a position with General Electric in Schenectady, New York. While at GE he was instrumental in the development of vacuum tubes that were used in early radar systems and held many patents in this field. Mr. Record was inducted into Sigma Xi by the GE Electronics Lab Branch in 1951. He later worked for Hughes Aircraft in Los Angeles and Tektronix, Inc. in Portland, Oregon. Over the years he made a series of contributions to a Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research endowment fund established in his name. He was an early member of the Companions Club, making gifts to the Society's annual giving program which was established in 1990. Mr. Record died in Portland on August 6, 2000, at the age of 97.

The Leroy Record bequest helped to make this one of the most successful years ever for the Grants-in-Aid of Research program. The National Academy of Sciences also renewed its commitment of support for the Sigma Xi grants program. During the fiscal year, Sigma Xi received contributions totaling $434,000 for Grants-in-Aid. Through voluntary donations to the program, established scientists and engineers have provided a helping hand to more than 25,000 young researchers since the program began in 1922. Intense competition for research funds, especially among beginning researchers, continues to make this program an important investment in the future of science.

More than $318,000 was received in cash gifts during the fiscal year in support of plans to build the Sigma Xi Center in Research Triangle Park.

The Society continues to attract grant support for new and continuing programs:

• National Science Foundation grants totaling $93,000 supported Sigma Xi chapter-based programs in science education reform and ethics and values in research.

• Sigma Xi received more than $51,000 in support of the 2000 Forum New Ethical Challenges in Science and Technology from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the U.S. Department of Energy and Sandia Corporation.

• The Communities Foundation of Texas added a grant of $8,000 to underwrite the John P. McGovern Award for Science and Society, the latest in a series of grants from the Foundation for this purpose. The McGovern Lecture has been one of the highlights of Signa Xi's annual meeting since 1984.

• With a gift of $20,000, The Greenwall Foundation of New York endowed a prize to recognize articles in American Scientist dealing with interdisciplinary connections involving biology, society and machines.

As in previous years, many members of the Sigma Xi staff were also among the Society's financial benefactors. On behalf of the Society, I would like to express our gratitude and also thank members of the Sigma Xi leadership community who contributed during the year. It is vitally important to our fund-raising efforts to have this expression of support from the Society's leadership.

Sigma Xi's development efforts are an indispensable source of support for the Society's programs and operations. The ongoing support of members and friends will ensure that Sigma Xi continues to play a unique and increasingly important role at the interface of science and society.

George Bugliarello
Chair, Development Committee

Lawrence M. Kushner
William A. Lester, Jr.
William F. Little
Raymond P. Lutz