Report of the Committee on Awards
for the Year ending June 30, 2007

During the year ending 30 June 2007, the Committee on Awards met to make recommendations to the Society's Board of Directors in regard to recipients of Sigma Xi awards for the year beginning 1 July 2007.

A meeting of the Committee took place on Thursday, 2 November 2006, during the Society's annual meeting in Detroit. During this meeting, the Committee agreed on its recommendations.

For the 2007 William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement, the Committee recommended and the Board approved, that the award should go to Duke University professor and conservation biologist Stuart Pimm. For the 2007 John P. McGovern Science and Society Award, the Committee recommended and the Board approved Conservational International president Russell Mittermeier. For the 2007 Young Investigator Award, the Committee recommended and the Board approved Lise Abrams, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Florida. For the 2007 Walston Chubb Award for Innovation, the Committee recommended and the Board approved Stan Ovshinsky, president, chief scientist and technologist of Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (ECD Ovonics).

The Committee was also pleased to recommended for election to Honorary Membership in the Society Rosalind Reid, editor of American Scientist magazine as well as K.C. Cole, author and visiting professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School.

The Society Awards and Prizes will be presented at the 2007 Sigma Xi Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference in Orlando, Florida.

Details for all Sigma Xi awards can be found on the Sigma Xi web page (http://www.sigmaxi.org/programs/prizes/index.shtml) or from local Sigma Xi chapters.

Nominations for Sigma Xi awards are welcomed by the Committee on Awards and can be forwarded to the Committee at the Society's administrative offices. The Committee urges that chapter leadership and regional directors take a stronger role in the coming years in nominating potential awardees, particularly for the Proctor Prize. Kevin Bowen can be contacted at the Society's administrative offices for additional information about Sigma Xi's awards and nomination procedures.

As Chair of the Committee on Awards, I would like to thank the Directors who worked with me on the Committee. It has been a pleasure working with them and I thank them for their willingness to serve the Society as a member of the Committee.

The members of the Committee on Awards for the year ending 30 June 2006 were:

Ernest H, Gilmour, Chair
John Kelley
Donald McGraw
Linda K. Meadows
Antonio Pita-Szczesniewski