Report of the International Committee
for the Year ending June 30, 2005
The Committee met on September 17-18, 2004 at the Sigma Xi Center, Research Triangle Park, NC. Following introductions and the approval of the minutes of the previous meeting, Evan Ferguson gave an overview of the history of The Society's international efforts, including the roles of and interactions between the International Committee and the Canadian/International Constituency Group.
The committee placed a high priority on communications with current, inactive and potential international Sigma Xi groups, and in particular, assigned committee members responsibility for maintaining contacts with the former Packard networking groups. The intent was to maintain the momentum afforded by the Packard Grants.
There was considerable discussion about the role of Sigma Xi in the international arena. The goal of Sigma Xi is to be the global honor society of science and engineering. It is important to define what this means, and what Sigma Xi has to offer. As the discussion pursued these questions, the Committee became aware of a discrepancy between the role of the Committee and the Canadian/International Constituency Group. Although these roles had been clarified at the March 2002 meeting of the International Committee, the present division of effort does not appear to be working, and the number of truly active international chapters and partners is declining. As a result, the Committee came up with a recommendation to be presented to the Sigma Xi Board of Directors:
"Appoint the Chair of the International Committee as an ex officio member of the Canadian/International Constituency Group."
For future action, the Committee decided that before focusing on the formation of new chapters, the problem of inactive international chapters should be addressed. Possible factors include:
- Lack of a critical mass of motivated leaders
- Lack of clear value/benefit to international groups
- Being seen as an "American" organization.
Antonio Pita pointed out that the success of the Swiss Chapter is a result of leadership, dedication to interdisciplinary interaction and regular Saturday bi-monthly Science luncheon-lecture meetings that take place at different Universities throughout Switzerland.
Thanks to the efforts of International Committee members, Sigma Xi staff and officers, as well as several members, there has been progress in establishing new chapters, and in at least starting to revitalize existing chapters. (It should be noted that following action at the Sigma Xi Board of Directors meeting in November 2004, this latter responsibility also rests with the International Committee). In this regard, the following activities have been undertaken:
Mexico - President Francisco Ayala has been dedicated to expanding Sigma Xi activities in Mexico, and has personally promoted the formation of Chapters in Mexico. The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) submitted a petition to form an International Chapter in May 2005 and the Centro de Investigación de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (CINVESTAV) in June 2005. We appreciate the excellent and hard work on the part of Ana Baharona and Marlene de la Cruz in promoting this. John Kelley of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Sigma Xi Chapter has continued to maintain contact with the Sigma Xi Moscow International Partner that was installed in May 2004. The International Committee Chair also has been corresponding, and assisting the new International Partner in the preparation of its Constitution. The UAF Sigma Xi group covered Sigma Xi Moscow's $100 initiation fee and is now working towards establishing an International Partner in India. International Committee member Magdalena Navarro had discussions in August 2005 with Mr. Salvador Echevarría from the Centro Nacional de Metrología (CENAM) about the possibility of establishing a Sigma Xi Chapter in CENAM, Querétaro, Mexico. CENAM is the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) counterpart in Mexico. In addition, Ms. Navarro briefly discussed in May 2005 with Dr. Stanley Abromowitz and Mr. Dov Hershberg, Executive Director of the Bi-National Industrial Research and Development Foundation, the opportunities of starting a chapter in Jerusalem, Israel. A follow-up meeting will take place in December 2005 with a formal presentation.
International Committee member Seng-Lai Tan paid a visit to Sungai Petani, Malaysia. He spoke with colleagues at AIMST (Asian Institute for Medicine, Science and Technology), a newly established university. There may be an interest in starting a chapter there, as a means for networking by students with the scientific community. This is in the very preliminary stages.
Former International Committee chair James Baur made side trips to Bangkok, Thailand and Seoul, Korea to chair meetings of interested Sigma Xi members in those locations. There are about 100 members in South Korea, but there is no chapter there. Seng-Lai Tan has been assigned as the International Committee contact for the Korean members.
Dr. Jack Sommer hosted a reception in Beirut, Lebanon, with support from the Ambassador Program. The reception itself was not a success due to the time of the year. It fell right on final exam times for several individuals, and for others, especially higher ups, it was a time when they were out of the country at international conferences. That said, some good contacts have been made and there was an interest in following up on this initiative. There is interest here in the US among Lebanese and Lebanese American scientists in helping with this effort.
Antonio Pita had a meeting with the President, Dr. Geza Gordos and Secretary, Dr. Peter Baranyi, of the Hungarian Chapter during a visit to Budapest in June. The purpose of the visit was to get the Chapter back on track. Basically the members are not renewing, so the membership has declined down to 11 members. Although for the last two years they have sent the fees for new initiates, the annual dues paid are not correct and there is no paperwork, so the Society has no idea as to who they are electing. These issues were openly discussed and advice was given as to how to quickly file the online nomination forms, find the proper annual dues that have to be paid and make individual payments via credit card through the Society's secure Web site. Both officers offered to quickly resolve the paperwork and payment issues and they also mentioned that in the next few months they were going to file the new nomination forms of the new members that had been proposed and elected, which would raise the Chapter membership back to more than 20 members. Information was also given as to the activities of the Swiss Chapter and an invitation was extended to attend any of the future meetings and/or do networking with the Swiss Chapter members.
International Committee Member Michael Crosby has been in discussion with colleagues at the Inter-University Institute for Marine Science (Eilat, Israel), Marine Science Station (Aqaba, Jordan) and Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (Aqaba, Jordan) on potential for developing a Gulf of Aqaba Chapter of Sigma Xi. All parties are enthusiastically supportive, and Dr. Crosby is planning on visiting Eilat and Aqaba in July 2005 to facilitate continued discussion.
As part of the assigned responsibility given to the various members of the committee for maintaining contacts with the former Packard networking groups, Antonio Pita has been following the Romanian Ad-Astra virtual network. This group has expressed its intention of becoming an International Partner and the Society's Committee on Qualifications and Membership has elected into Sigma Xi, 21 of its 30 members. Since Ad-Astra is a virtual network of scientists and all come from different institutions, it recently sought advice as to how to proceed with the letter of support that has to accompany the Request for Authorized License. This issue was openly discussed via e-mail with all the committee members. It is likely that these institutions would not want to write a letter supporting the network when only one of their members belongs to the same. The committee has not found a precedent concerning previous "virtual chapters" and has looked at this case from different perspectives, but it has decided to review this issue during its Annual Meeting that will take place November 19-20, 2005. The committee should come up with a formal recommendation to revise the application criteria so that Sigma Xi can accommodate Ad-Astra and similar organizations in the future.
The Committee developed several objectives, (see Appendix I) and several of the Year 1 objectives have been achieved. Many have not, however. The Committee has a great deal of enthusiasm, but is frustrated by the limited financial resources available to it. Only one meeting can be held per year, for example. However, the Committee will explore the feasibility of interim videoconferences.
The Committee recommended that a revised International Partner Brochure be prepared. This has been done. The list of benefits was expanded to include the low-bandwidth archive of American Scientist content, individual access to American Scientist Online for each member, the International Newsletter an International Resources Web site.
The Committee asked the Chair to request time at the November 2004 Annual Meeting to present three recommendations to the Board of Directors (See Appendix I). The Board endorsed the first two, but approved a voting membership for the Chair of the International Committee in the Canadian/International Constituency Group. The suggestion that the name of Sigma Xi be changed will require further consideration.
The International Committee has established a direction for future actions, and, because more time is needed to fully develop and execute these, the request was made to reappoint those members with expiring terms. This was approved and done.
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
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