Report of the International Committee
for the Year ending June 30, 2008

Introduction
The membership of the International Committee is shown in Appendix 1.

The Sigma Xi International Committee has not proposed any major changes during this year, pending decisions vis-à-vis the recommendations made last year. In particular, the Committee still views the restructuring of the International chapters into constituencies a key to expansion, and that changes in periodic meeting location would also help. Much of the Committee's focus has been on developing a workshop or round table addressing the international issues surrounding water, in the context of the impending crisis.

Committee Meetings
The Committee was not able to hold a face-to-face meeting during the past year, and had to be satisfied with a teleconference mode of operation. A teleconference meeting was held on June 17th, 2008. The Agenda follows:

Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
Conference Call of the International Committee
Tuesday June 17th, 2008 at 12:30 Eastern Time

Chair: Vera Alexander
Satyajit (Sat) Bhattacharya
Michael P. Crosby
George J. Hammons (Absent)
Zara Khatib (Absent)
Antonio Pita
K. Venkatesh Prasad
Robert A. Schwartz (Absent)
Staff Contact: Kathy McLane
Guest: Jerome Baker, Executive Director

Agenda
I. Welcome and Introductions II. Role Call III. International activities report (international partners and chapters) IV. Report on news from HQ V. Action on previous recommendations VI. The Water Symposium Program Planning Funding status

Dr. Baker promised to follow up on the previous meeting session, several potential funding sources or ways of securing travel support for speakers were presented, and the discussion also addressed various options for using distant communication.

Recommendations from FY2007
At its meeting held February 27th, 2007, held at Sigma Xi Headquarters, the International Committee had discussed and debated the issues surrounding the steps that should be taken to advance the Society into achieving its vision of being "the global honor society of science and engineering".

In doing so the Committee addressed the issue of "What does it mean to be an International Society" and what added values could it offer to its International Members. During its discussion it handled the basic questions, as well as the suggestions that were brought forth in the round table discussion that had been convened at the Society's annual meeting of 2006 in Detroit. The revised issues were brought before the membership at a round table held at the Annual Meeting in 2007. Appendix 2 presents the material provided to the participants.

The Water Initiative
The International Committee decided to pursue the idea of holding a session at the Sigma Xi Annual Meeting to be held in Washington, DC in November, 2008, having decided that this was the most critical upcoming global issue Dr. Zara Khatib and Dr. K. Venkatesh Prasad agreed to chair the planning., and they developed a draft program agenda. More recently, Dr Michael Crosby and Dr. Satyajit Bhattacharya were added to the planning group. The draft agenda for the workshop is presented in Appendix 3, but speakers have not as yet been contacted, pending the availability of funds. In this regard, alternative ways of holding the session were discussed. At present, it is scheduled for Saturday, November 22nd.

International Partners and Chapters
The Romanian Partner was installed on October 10th, 2007 by Dr. Antonio Pita, Director of the Canadian/International Constituency Group. This Partnership is in essence the first Virtual group that the Society has established. It is not associated with a particular University or Research Center, but with Ad-Astra, a web based association of Romanian Scientists that are located in many Universities and Research Centers throughout the world. They have the same basic mission as Sigma Xi and publish their own online scientific magazine.

The Partnership was installed with 30 local members and the ceremony took place at the National Institute of Physics, with 70 people attending, among which were professors and graduate students from various universities.

The Installation Agenda covered a presentation on Sigma Xi, given by Dr. Pita, as well as a presentation of Sigma Xi Romania, given by Dr. Alexandru Dan Corlan, who made a short review of the history of Ad-Astra's relationship with the Romanian research community and described the future plans of the Romanian Partner. In asking how Sigma Xi could help the new Partner, he mentioned that Romania had entered the European Community in January 1st, 2007 and that since then the government had opened an important program on grants for research in Science and Engineering. However, the peer review committees were short of qualified members, so he mentioned that that this would be a good opportunity for engaging the expertise and interdisciplinary nature of Sigma Xi in order to help in this effort. Finally, Dr. Roxana Bojariu, from the National Administration for Meteorology gave a Lecture on Science and Society. The installation ceremony ended with a gala dinner.

International Committee Members

Dr. Vera Alexander, Committee Chair, (Fisheries & Ocean Sciences; Univ of Alaska)
Dr. Michael P. Crosby (The National Science Board)
Dr. George J. Hammons (Philander Smith College)
Dr. Satyajit (Sat) Bhattacharya (Pres & CEO Harlem Children Soc)
Dr. Robert A. Schwartz (Dermatology Dept MSBH)
Dr. K.Venkatesh Prasad (Ford)
Dr. Zara Khatib(Shell Oil Co.)
Dr. Antonio Pita (Dir. Canadian/International Constituency Group)

Appendix 1
Appendix 2

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