The U.S. Army Natick chapter 222 of Sigma Xi has 54 active members and Associates, 11 Emeritus members and 4 Life members. The current 2010-11 officers are
President: Steve Fossey
President-Elect: Lynne Samuelson
Treasurer: Christopher Doona
Secretary: Diane Steeves
Immediate Past President: Ramanathan Nagarajan
Program Committee Members: Bill Porter (in spirit), Ramanathan Nagarajan, Ann Barrett, Louis Bandaret
Executive Committee Members: Gina Adam, Michelle Richardson, Carole Winterhalter, Leif Hasselquist, Ann Barrett
Chickie Feeherry
Admissions Committee Members: Mike Blaha, Diane Steeves, Ramanathan Nagarajan
Outreach Chair: Phil Gibson, Heidi Schreuder-Gibson
For information on chapter activities and membership you can contact any of the above listed members.

Historical Roots of the Natick Chapter
Sigma Xi was founded in 1886 at Cornell University as an honor society for scientists and engineers comparable to Phi Beta Kappa in the humanities. In 1947 a group of Sigma Xi members established the Research Society of America (RESA) to encourage scientific research in government and industrial laboratories in the same manner that Sigma Xi did in academia. In 1974 the two societies merged into Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society of North America and then a few years later the "of North America" portion was dropped to arrive at the current name, "Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society."

On 26 March 1957 the RESA chapter of the Army Quartermaster Research and Development Command at Natick Massachusetts was given its charter. In 1974 the Natick chapter of RESA became a charter member of the merged national organization of Sigma Xi.

The original mission of Sigma Xi was expanded at a national meeting in 1989 to "... honor scientific accomplishments, to encourage and to enhance the worldwide appreciation and support of original investigation in science and technology, and to foster worldwide a creative and dynamic interaction among science, technology, and society".

On 25 April 1997, the 40th anniversary of the Natick Chapter was celebrated. The featured speaker was Dr. Elsworth Buskirk, one of the charter members, whose distinguished career has included many Federal Advisory Appointments as well as outstanding research accomplishments. Dr. Edward Josephson, first president of Sigma Xi in 1957, was honored during the program.

Sigma Xi has concentrated efforts at improving undergraduate science education with a recent emphasis on K-12 science education. Members of the Natick Chapter, from both the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Center (NSC) and the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM) have long participated in the local schools as science fair judges and classroom lecturers. This program was formalized in 1986 when the NSC Director appointed a member of Sigma Xi as POC for the Natick's "Science Outreach" program. As the Army became more interested in community outreach, formal partnerships were established, first between NSC and the Framingham public schools, and, then more recently, between USARIEM, NSC and the Natick and Ashland public schools.

Sigma Xi's mission is also directed toward supporting scientific research. With the current downsizing of DOD and in particular the DOD laboratories, there is concern among researchers about the current and future position of research within Natick's mission areas. In an attempt to clarify the vision behind administrative decisions and to define the future of scientific research in Army labs, the Natick chapter of Sigma Xi continues to establish channels of communication between management and researchers. To help foster communication among different areas of science and society, the Natick Chapter of Sigma Xi sponsors presentations by speakers on a wide range of scientific topics of general interest.

For more information on the Natick Soldier Center and the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine please visit the following Web sites:

http://www.natick.army.mil/

http://www.usariem.army.mil/

22/10/2001