University of New Mexico Chapter
University of New Mexico Chapter
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SIGMA XI NEWSLETTER THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO
SPRING 2003 EDITOR: JACKIE ERICKSEN
OUTSTANDING CHAPTER The UNM Chapter was awarded the Sigma Xi Certificate of Excellence for outstanding chapter activity during the year ending June 30, 2002. Certificates are awarded for exceptional chapter activity and innovative chapter programs, particularly those that address the four major issues at the foundation of the Society's mission: honor in science and engineering, science education, science policy, and the public understanding of science. The award was accepted by Chapter delegate Walter Gerstle at the Sigma Xi annual meeting in Galveston. Two years ago, our chapter was awarded the prestigious Chapter Program Award. YOUNG SCIENTISTS TO BE HONORED For the third year, Junior Division winners from the Northwest New Mexico Regional Science and Engineering Fair will be honored at a special free Lodestar Planetarium show at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History. Members of the UNM Chapter and their families are invited to join the honorees, their teachers, and their families at this free event. Be sure to express your gratitude to the Lodestar Planetarium and the Museum for joining with the UNM Chapter to sponsor this event. These young people are the future of science.
2000 UNM Chapter Sigma Xi Young Investigator Award winner Professor Anne C. Stone, Anthropology, has been nominated for the national Young Investigator Award by the Southwest Region. She received a $1000 prize from our chapter. YOUNG INVESTIGATOR AWARD Nominees are now being solicited for the 2003 UNM Chapter Sigma Xi Young Investigator Award. The recipient will deliver a research lecture, and will receive a certificate of recognition and $1000. The award is patterned after the Sigma Xi Young Investigator Award, and the recipient of the UNM Award will be submitted to the Southwest Regional Director as our nominee for the National award. The prize is for distinguished research in Science or Engineering for a researcher within 10 years of his/her highest degree. Nominees must have been an active member of the UNM Chapter for at least three years (returning members are eligible if they reactivate membership by March 31, 2003.) Research should be published in first-rate refereed journals in the nominee's field. Excellent speaking skills are a plus. Nominators must be Sigma Xi members and are responsible for nominee support documentation: letter of nomination, resume, optional support material. No more than five confidential letters of reference from national and international experts shall be sent independently to : Professor H.S. Ahluwalia Deadline: March 31, 2003 CHAPTER AWARDS Annually the UNM Chapter honors an Outstanding Graduate Researcher and a Superior Undergraduate Student. Please nominate your outstanding students for these honors, which also include monetary awards. The honor benefits your department as well as the worthy student. Additionally we honor an Outstanding High School Science and/or Math Teacher. Please send nominations for all these awards to Prof. David Dunlap, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy.
ANNUAL AWARDS BANQUET The annual joint Sigma Xi - IEEE Awards Banquet will be held in Rm C, UNM Conference Center, on Monday, May 19, 2003, 6 - 9 PM. You will receive an advance reservation form by mail. It is important for our membership to attend the banquet in support of new initiates and awardees. Your show of support and participation in Chapter activities will serve to encourage the new members to maintain active membership and keep the Chapter finances healthy. MEMBERSHIP NOMINATIONS SOUGHT It's membership drive time again! The financial health of our Chapter depends on active membership. Please look around and identify eligible colleagues and/or students. Some may be inactive members, or have never thought to change affiliation to the UNM Chapter. Let them know the great things our award-winning Chapter is doing, and encourage them to join our special group. Membership can be reactivated and Chapter affiliation readily changed via the www.sigmaxi.org Web site. Nomination forms for new members can also be downloaded from the same site. SIGMA XI EXCHANGE Active members can now exchange announcements regarding conferences, funding opportunities, internships, job listings, obituaries, and publications at http://exchange.sigmaxi.org. DON'T BE LEFT OUT Important! Please keep your address up-to-date. As the vast majority of our Chapter membership has internet access, we will send all announcements of Chapter activities, including the Newsletter, electronically. We use the listserve at National Headquarters. Please verify you e-mail address in your personal profile at www.sigmaxi.org, under "member services." You will need your member ID, which can be found on your membership card, or above your first name on the mailing label of your American Scientist. 2002 FORUM AND ANNUAL MEETING I arrived in Galveston on the evening of Wednesday, November 13, 2002, and stayed at the Moody Gardens Hotel and Resort, the venue for the meeting. On Thursday and Friday, I attended the forum, entitled "Changing the Face of Science and Engineering". This forum consisted of talks and panel discussions on attraction and retention of under-represented minorities into the science and engineering workforce. One talk that was very interesting was on "Attracting Non-traditional Science Students Through Computational Techniques", By David Joiner, Robert Panoff, and Kent Robertson of the Shodor Education Foundation. But in general, I found most of these talks to be relatively dry, consisting mostly of bar charts and platitudes on attracting minorities into science and engineering careers. For me, the highlight of the Forum was the talk on Friday by Nobel Prize winner Mario Molina on the Impact of Human Activities on Atmospheric Ozone. On Thursday evening, following the reception, I had dinner in Galveston with Francois Amar, a Chemistry Professor from Maine, who is striving to re-establish a Sigma Xi Chapter at the University of Maine. The Annual Meeting started at 1:00 PM on Friday. I hung our Chapter Poster up on a bulletin board at the Poster session. I attended all assemblies of delegates and Constituency Group meetings. The UNM Chapter is in the constituency group: "Research and Doctoral Universities", and in the regional group "Southwest Region". Each of these groups met once per day on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In these group meetings, balloting took place, as well as discussions on the activities of each of the groups. In the Southwest Regional Group, I was elected to a three-year term as chair of the Nominating Committee. In the Research and Doctoral Constituency Group, Bill Klemm was elected Associate Director. He will serve for a 3-year term. Tony Iacopino is the current director. A proposal for a Grants-in-Aid program was approved, in which a program to be proposed to the Board of Directors of Sigma Xi would authorize competitive grant funding ($5-10K) to encourage joint-chapter initiatives to help implement on or more of the three mission statements of RDU. A summary statement of the three mission statements and their rationale were presented. The mission statements address: (1) nurture and strengthen RDU Chapters; (2) promote public awareness and appreciation of research; and (3) facilitate effective partnerships with government and industry. This program, if approved by the Board of Directors, could be useful for collaboration between New Mexico Sigma Xi Chapters. On Friday Evening, I went to the Reception and Banquet, and heard a talk by Benoit Mandelbrot on Fractals. Saturday evening, I had dinner after another reception with Doug Merkle and his wife, Francois Amar, and Tom Cairns. Interesting people all. On Sunday morning, in the Assembly of Delegates, I accepted on behalf of the UNM Chapter of Sigma Xi, an Excellent Chapter Award. Congratulations, UNM Chapter! I returned to Albuquerque on Sunday, November 17. It was a very worthwhile trip, I learned a lot about Sigma Xi, and I think the University of New Mexico Chapter was well represented at the meeting. I appreciated the opportunity to go to the convention, and thank the UNM Chapter of Sigma Xi for allowing me to represent them. CHAPTER BOARD MEMBERS
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