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

This year the Committee on Nominations was required to select at least two nominees each for the offices of President-elect and Treasurer to be placed before the November 2001 Assembly of Delegates. The individual elected by the November 2001 Assembly for the office of President-elect would serve one year from 1 July 2002 and would then serve as President of the Society for the year beginning 1 July 2003. The individual elected as Treasurer by the November 2001 Assembly would serve a four year term from 1 July 2002.

In accordance with the Society's Bylaws, a Treasurer's Search Committee was appointed by the Society's President, Dr. Jack Gibbons, to conduct a search for nominees for Treasurer and to make its recommendations to the Committee on Nominations. The Treasurer's Search Committee consisted of Dr. David Morrison (Chair), Dr. Harjit Ahluwalia, Dr. Jaleh Daie, and Dr. Robert Zand. Nominees for Treasurer of Sigma Xi were solicited from the Society's membership, notices to chapter officers, and from Sigma Xi's Board of Directors. Three highly qualified nominees for Treasurer were received by the Committee, all of whom had experience in financial areas and in Sigma Xi. On 20 March 2001, the Committee met by telephone conference call and selected two of these individuals as nominees for Treasurer and forwarded their recommendation to the Society's Committee on Nominations.

The Committee on Nominations met twice by telephone conference call to select nominees for the offices of President-elect and Treasurer. At the first meeting on 13 February 2001, the Committee reviewed the procedures for the Committee on Nominations established by the Executive Committee in January 1998, including the procedures for the Treasurer's Search Committee and its interactions with the Committee on Nominations. The Committee discussed and reconfirmed the agreement reached by the Committee each year since 1997 that only full, active members of Sigma Xi could stand as nominees for officers of the Society. 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 20 April 2001, the Committee received biographical materials on fifteen individuals whose names had been placed in nomination for the office of President-elect. The Committee also received the recommendation of the Treasurer's Search Committee on the two nominees for Treasurer and appropriate biographical information on the nominees. 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, fourteen of the nominees were discussed (one nominee was withdrawn from consideration by the nominator), and the Committee accepted the recommendation of the Treasurer's Search Committee on the two nominees for Treasurer. No voting took place on the nominees for President-elect during this 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 for President-elect to be presented to the 2001 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 a member of the Committee, or other individual within the Society, 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 2001 Annual Meeting.

From the list of outstanding nominees, the Committee chose D. Allan Bromley (Yale University) and Peter Raven (Missouri Botanical Garden) as candidates for election to the office of President-elect by the 2001 Assembly of Delegates.

Also, the Committee accepted the Treasurer's Search Committee recommendation that Raymond P. Lutz (University of Texas at Dallas) and Richard L. Meyer (University of Arkansas at Fayetteville) be the nominees for Treasurer to be placed before the November 2001 Assembly of Delegates.

The Committee members are deeply appreciative of the outstanding support provided by Dr.Evan Ferguson during their deliberations.

Respectfully submitted,
Harjit Ahluwalia, Chair, Southwest Region

David D. Cass, Canadian/International
Peter O. Cervenka, Mid-Atlantic Region
Paul A. DeYoung, Baccalaureate Colleges
Robert A. Frosch, Past President
Meredith M. Garcia, Southeast Region
James D. Haynes, Northeast Region
John J. Kelley, Northwest Region
John A. Knesel, Comprehensive Colleges & Universities
Raymond P. Lutz, Membership-at-Large
Lee A. Meserve, Research & Doctoral Universities
John H. Moore, Past President
David L. Morrison, Area Groups, Industries, State & Federal Laboratories
Frederick C. Robbins, Past President
Charles B. Smith, North Central Region