Newsletter, Winter 1998
Editor: Anne S. Evans
| Farewell, Editor Ahluwalia |
| UNM Professor of Physics Harjit S. Ahluwalia founded the chapter newsletter and has edited it since 1986. With this issue, Assistant Professor of Biology Ann S. Evans has taken over the editing duties. Professor Ahluwalia is thanked for his years of service to the chapter. Bryant Furlow, a recent graduate from the University of New Mexico, served as writer and co-editor for this issue. |
| National Meeting |
| Jackie Ericksen, chapter Treasurer, attended the 1997 national meeting
of the Society in Washington, D.C. this past November. Ericksen reported
that the meeting included presentations ranging from how to effectively
lobby Congress for science funding (optimally, a delegation of five
well-informed people with facts in hand, including individuals from the
representative's district) to emerging technologies. She attended the new
officer's orientation and lectures on scientific ethics presented by the
National Institutes of Health's Office of Research Integrity.
William Curtis, executive producer and host of the television science show "The New Explorers," was inducted as a new honorary member of Sigma Xi. The former CBS anchorman spoke to attendees about communicating scientific concepts and advances to the general public. "The real highlight" of the meeting, Ericksen reported, was Philip Morrison's Proctor Prize address. Morrison, Professor Emeritus of Physics at MIT, a respected theoretical astrophysicist, student of Oppenheimer, and participant in the Manhattan Project, spoke of how innovations at the close of the 20th Century are setting the stage for dramatic advances in the next millennium, just as breakthroughs in the late 1800s prepared the way for advances in this century. In 1896, Morrison reminded the audience, Roentgen first showcased his radiographic x-ray imaging techniques and its medical utility. One hundred years later, in the midst of computerized three-dimensional imaging based on Roentgen's discoveries, astronomers reported the "wobbling" motion of star 47 Ursa Majoris--the first evidence of planets orbiting stars other than our own sun. Advances in micro-scale carbon engineering and the decline of global human population growth as a percentage of total population--important aspects of the next century of human development--were also discussed. Ericksen savored the breadth of topics covered as much as any one discussion at the meeting. "I enjoy the cross-disciplinary approach," she explained. "You have people in different cubicles all over the country working on different aspects of the same wheel," she said. "When they get together and communicate, things blossom." "Nothing at the meeting would bore a scientist or confuse a high school student," Ericksen remarked about the broad appeal of the meeting. The business meeting was unlike any other Ericksen has experienced--"a very articulate group of very opinionated people" discussing the Society's direction and needs. An increase in membership dues was approved (see page 3), after initial confusion about the provisions of the proposed increase. Some members were concerned that the vote would usher in automatic annual cost-of-living related inflation of membership fees. However, the modest increase will not be automatically replicated in future years. "This increase is not automatic," Ericksen stressed. "It has to be voted upon year by year." The next vote on increases will be held in two years, and members will be notified and their input on the matter will be sought at that time. Other Society changes included the scrapping of "provisional" status and the three-year probationary period for new chapters.. The chapter's activities in New Mexico were presented at the meeting. |
Ericksen was inducted as a member of Sigma Xi while a student at UNM. After she located and inducted an old science teacher, Professor Ahluwalia convinced her to get more involved in the Society. ("His marvelous English goes away when you don't go along with what you should do," she smiled.) Though she left academic physics for industry after graduate school, she has kept up with scientific advances in the intervening years. "You don't stop being a scientist," she explained. "You just don't. You're born with it."
| National Meeting |
| Jackie Ericksen, chapter Treasurer, attended the 1997 national meeting
of the Society in Washington, D.C. this past November. Ericksen reported
that the meeting included presentations ranging from how to effectively
lobby Congress for science funding (optimally, a delegation of five
well-informed people with facts in hand, including individuals from the
representative's district) to emerging technologies. She attended the new
officer's orientation and lectures on scientific ethics presented by the
National Institutes of Health's Office of Research Integrity.
William Curtis, executive producer and host of the television science show "The New Explorers," was inducted as a new honorary member of Sigma Xi. The former CBS anchorman spoke to attendees about communicating scientific concepts and advances to the general public. "The real highlight" of the meeting, Ericksen reported, was Philip Morrison's Proctor Prize address. Morrison, Professor Emeritus of Physics at MIT, a respected theoretical astrophysicist, student of Oppenheimer, and participant in the Manhattan Project, spoke of how innovations at the close of the 20th Century are setting the stage for dramatic advances in the next millennium, just as breakthroughs in the late 1800s prepared the way for advances in this century. In 1896, Morrison reminded the audience, Roentgen first showcased his radiographic x-ray imaging techniques and its medical utility. One hundred years later, in the midst of computerized three-dimensional imaging based on Roentgen's discoveries, astronomers reported the "wobbling" motion of star 47 Ursa Majoris--the first evidence of planets orbiting stars other than our own sun. Advances in micro-scale carbon engineering and the decline of global human population growth as a percentage of total population--important aspects of the next century of human development--were also discussed. Ericksen savored the breadth of topics covered as much as any one discussion at the meeting. "I enjoy the cross-disciplinary approach," she explained. "You have people in different cubicles all over the country working on different aspects of the same wheel," she said. "When they get together and communicate, things blossom." "Nothing at the meeting would bore a scientist or confuse a high school student," Ericksen remarked about the broad appeal of the meeting. The business meeting was unlike any other Ericksen has experienced--"a very articulate group of very opinionated people" discussing the Society's direction and needs. An increase in membership dues was approved (see page 3), after initial confusion about the provisions of the proposed increase. Some members were concerned that the vote would usher in automatic annual cost-of-living related inflation of membership fees. However, the modest increase will not be automatically replicated in future years. "This increase is not automatic," Ericksen stressed. "It has to be voted upon year by year." The next vote on increases will be held in two years, and members will be notified and their input on the matter will be sought at that time. Other Society changes included the scrapping of "provisional" status and the three-year probationary period for new chapters.. The chapter's activities in New Mexico were presented at the meeting. |
| Ericksen was inducted as a member of Sigma Xi while a student at UNM. After she located and inducted an old science teacher, Professor Ahluwalia convinced her to get more involved in the Society. ("His marvelous English goes away when you don't go along with what you should do," she smiled.) Though she left academic physics for industry after graduate school, she has kept up with scientific advances in the intervening years. "You don't stop being a scientist," she explained. "You just don't. You're born with it." |
| Interdisciplinary Studies | |||||||||
| New Membership Fees | |||||||||
| For more information, please check the Sigma Xi home page: http://www.sigmaxi.org
(You may obtain nomination forms for new members at this URL address as well.) |
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| Professor Emeritus of mechanical engineering William Gross urges members
to support the interdisciplinary studies proposal currently under
consideration in the faculty senate.
In the Nineteenth Century, Otto von Humboldt, the architect of the modern university system, arranged Germany's institutions of higher learning into disciplinary departments to meet his nation's economic needs. The academy still uses this organizational blueprint today. But for universities to take full advantage of new opportunities in the coming century, UNM Professor Emeritus of mechanical engineering William Gross believes, strict departmentalism must be re-engineered to encourage a meeting of minds from diverse academic backgrounds, allowing a more interdisciplinary approach to emerging challenges not as well addressed within traditional academic departments. " The Twentieth Century," Gross says,"was characterized by Newtonian and Einsteinian laws, electromagnetics, and so forth. Major developments in the coming century will be qualitatively different." Different, because they will not flow from single departments. Others agree with that assessment. At the annual meeting of the National Academy of Engineers last year, for example, Gross noted an emphasis on the importance of biological interdisciplinary research, such as the promise of bioengineered medicines and improved artificial organ designs. Such technologies, Gross believes, will have the greatest impact on human well-being in the 21st Century. Several obstacles to permitting a more widespread interdisciplinary approach to graduate education exist, however. Salaries, promotions, tenure and administration positions tend to be awarded on the basis of narrow disciplinary research. Gross noted that departments tend to set a number of subdisciplinary proficiency standards for doctoral candidates. Students interested in interdisciplinary research must first master subdisciplines required by the degree-granting department before advancing to candidacy. In addition, the complexity of the higher education system works against fundamental change of any sort. "Committee after committee," Gross said, "joins regents, commissions, and academic and state funding bureaucracies" to slow change. "Think of the person-hours involved," Gross pointed out. "The total energy required to get new things started is overwhelming." Nevertheless, UNM may be in a unique position to make an early shift to an interdisciplinary graduate orientation. A strong demand for interdisciplinary degree programs exists and that demand is growing; the graduate division receives queries each month from prospective students interested in interdisciplinary opportunities. Last year, the graduate division responded to this demand by raising the question of creating new multidisciplinary avenues of study. An ad-hoc committee chaired by Fred Sturm (Department of Philosophy) studied the issue, and the faculty senate's graduate committee accepted the ad-hoc committee's proposal to create a study subcommittee. The subcommittee, after much study, proposed a restricted trial program. The pilot program would be arranged around a one-department degree, with dissertation committee members being chosen from two or three departments. Some departments have offered this kind of arrangement for years; the proposed trial program would encourage other departments to participate as well. The graduate committee and senate have yet to make a final decision on the proposed trial program. "It puts a heavy load on the chair of home department and on the student," Gross explained. Departments' sub-disciplinary proficiency requirements will still have to be met. The final form of the project will depend upon collective faculty opinion. Gross emphasized that UNM's Sigma Xi membership can contribute importantly to the process at faculty graduate committee meetings, and urged members to get involved. By addressing this need soon, Gross argued, the University of New Mexico can "contribute to the development of effective processes which nurture excellent interdisciplinary research." The promise of a new interdisciplinarianism is not limited to the sciences, Gross was quick to point out, but would contribute in the humanities and arts as well. Overall, Gross believes, UNM would offer a superior breadth of graduate programs to students of any research interest. Fostering such inter-expertise familiarity may inspire more mutual respect within the academy, as well, since people tend to underestimate the complexity of other fields. "Chances are, we'd have more outstanding research at UNM, lending prestige to the institution and to all degree-granted graduates," Gross said.
For more information, call Asst. Dean of Graduate Studies Ed Desantis (277-7393).
Friday, March 20: "How bats get bugs," Dr. William L. Gannon, Museum of Southwestern Biology, UNM. Thanks to Dr. Gannon for a good talk. We look forward to seeing him next year!
Thursday, April 9: "Prehistoric Human Diet," Prof. Margaret J. Schoeninger, University of Wisconsin, Madison WI.
Thursday, May 7: "Antarctica: Past, Present, and FutureAnd Why It Matters," Prof. Molly F. Miller, Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN. Monday, May 18: "Psychics and Scientists," Prof. Ray Hyman, University of Oregon, Eugene OR. (Professor Hyman's talk will begin at 8:00 p.m. in Room C of the UNM Conference Center, during the Awards Banquet, which lasts from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.) The Science and Society series is co-sponsored by the Sigma Xi Headquarters, the Office of the Associate Provost for Research, the Offices of the Vice Presidents for Health Sciences and Student Affairs, the Colleges of Arts & Sciences, Education, Engineering, and Pharmacy, the New Mexico Engineering Research Institute (NMERI), the Centers for Radioactive Waste Management and High Technology Materials (CHTM), the General Honors Program, the Department of Physics & Astronomy, the Division of Continuing Education, Phi Kappa Phi and the Albuquerque Section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. These organizations are thanked for their continuing support
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