Name: Jane Gilman

Present Position: Professor of Mathematics
Organization: Rutgers University

Chapter Affiliation: Membership-at-Large

Candidate's CV

Candidate's Statement: A strong scientific community is important for the health of our country, but science does not enjoy the public esteem which it once did. Sigma Xi must continue play a significant role in supporting scientific research, science education and advocating for the scientific community. My perspective on the role of science has been shaped by my role as a researcher, an administrator and an educator. I have led the development of the Rutgers-Newark Mathematics Department, been elected to national office in the American Mathematical Society, and served as an NSF program officer. I have also been involved in education reform, served as a Sigma Xi distinguished lecturer and subsequently on the Sigma Xi committee to select lecturers. Having grown up in a household where American Scientist arrived regularly, I was honored to be invited to be a Sigma Xi Distinguished lecturer and would likewise be honored to serve as the Membership at Large's representative on the Society's Committee on Nominations. As a member of the nominating committee, I would work to identify scientists with a broad range of perspectives.

Name: Henry Godfrey

Present Position: Professor and Director, Ph.D. Program in Experimental Pathology, Department of Pathology
Organization: New York Medical College

Chapter Affiliation: Membership-at-Large

Candidate's CV

Name: Deborah Hutchinson

Present Position: Assistant Professor of Biology
Organization: Coastal Carolina University

Chapter Affiliation: Membership-at-Large

Candidate's CV

Candidate's Statement: I am seeking election to the Committee on Nominations at Sigma Xi for several reasons. I have been a member of this society since graduate school and I have always valued the fact that membership is granted only to those with established publication records or promise of future productivity. I have volunteered to review applications for membership on two occasions and I enjoyed those activities. I am currently a junior faculty member at Coastal Carolina University and I am scheduled to apply for tenure next fall so adding additional types of professional service to my CV would be advantageous to me as well. I hold Sigma Xi in high regard and I would like to help ensure that its future will be secure.

Name: Vijay Kowtha

Present Position: Electronics Engineer
Organization: Naval Research Laboratory

Chapter Affiliation: Membership-at-Large

Candidate's CV

Biographical Information: Dr. Vijay Kowtha is an Electronics Engineer employed at Naval Research Laboratory located in Washington DC since 1995. He received his graduate degrees from New York University and Rutgers University with a postdoctoral fellowship in computational neuroscience at NIH. He volunteers with the local Sigma Xi chapters and runs multiple science cafes in the neighborhood.

Name: Raj Rajagopalan

Present Position: Dean of Faculty & Founding Faculty Fellow
Organization: Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology

Chapter Affiliation: Membership-at-Large

Biographical Information: Professor Raj Rajagopalan is currently a Founding Faculty Fellow at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (SkTech) in Moscow, the Russian Federation, and will be taking over shortly as the Dean of Faculty at SkTech. SkTech is a new graduate-level university being established by the Skolkovo Foundation and the Russian Government in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. At maturity, SkTech will have 200 faculty members, 1200 graduate students, and about 300 post-doctoral researchers and will establish 15 or more international research centers focusing on research, innovation and entrepreneurship, with each research center jointly directed by SkTech, a Russian university and a foreign university.

Prior to assuming the position at SkTech, Prof Rajagopalan was the Chair of the Chemical & Pharmaceutical Engineering Program in the Singapore-MIT Alliance, a research-driven, graduate educational initiative between MIT and Singapore. He was also a professor of chemical & biomolecular engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Before moving to Singapore in 2003, he held tenured faculty positions in New York, Texas, and Florida for over 25 years in chemical and biomolecular engineering, with joint or courtesy appointments in environmental science and engineering, physics, chemistry, and materials engineering. He has also served as a Program Director and an Expert Advisor to the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and on a number of government and university visiting panels and advisory committees (e.g., for NSF, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the University of Toronto, the Florida State University, Imperial College of London, etc.). He has also held a number of administrative leadership positions at NUS, including the Headship of the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and the Division of Environmental Science and Engineering, the Deputy Executive Directorship of the NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering, and the Directorship of the Office of Middle East Affairs (coordinating research interactions between NUS and Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates). During his time as the Head of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, he established or directed international, joint educational and research programs with MIT and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, and set up the biomolecular engineering program. The Department is currently rated as one of the top-10 in the world by the Times of London Higher Education Survey of world universities.

Prof Rajagopalan's research activities have included transport phenomena, statistical thermodynamics, colloid and polymer physics, and biophysics and have been recognized internationally through a number of research and education awards, fellowships and leadership positions by professional organizations and universities (e.g., the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Association of Environmental Science and Engineering Professors, American Chemical Society, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Society for Engineering Education, Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers, Institution of Engineers, Singapore, and University Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India, among others). In addition to publishing in archived journals, he is a co-author of three books, one of which is a textbook on colloid and surface chemistry, widely used as a textbook in a number of disciplines in North and South America, Europe, and Asia.

Prior to his appointments at SkTech, Professor Rajagopalan has been involved in a number of similar university start-up initiatives and advisory capacities. He was closely associated with the formative stages of the new, graduate-level King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, and served for four years as the Director of Special Academic Partnership between KAUST and NUS. He has also served as a member of the International Advisory Board of the new Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan, the Chancellor's International Advisory Committee of the Universidad del Turabo, Puerto Rico, the Research Assessment Exercise for the University Grant Commission of Hong Kong and the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and as the Chair of the TechScan Research Panel of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research and the Science and Engineering Research Council of Singapore. He also initiated research interactions between NUS and the Qatar National Research Funds.

Professor Rajagopalan is a Naturalized US Citizen and currently lives in Singapore with his wife Tina Yap.

Name: Alfred Skolnick

Chapter Affiliation: Membership-at-Large

Candidate's Statement: I have not actively participated over the years of my membership in our Society's affairs, but, have always kept up with Sigma Xi publications and readings while I met my primary career duties and assignments. I am interested in contributing at this time with a definite purpose in mind. As a professional "engineering scientist" it has appeared to me during my more than fifty years as a member that the Society could improve and strengthen its attention to the engineering sciences. To assure that issue is fully discussed at the Nomination Committee's future sessions with an eye toward focusing on any possible improvements that might be feasible in that regard, I pledge to carry forward this consideration throughout my term, if elected, and advocate for appropriate nominees to form a balance in Sigma Xi that allows suitable representation and consideration for the engineering sciences.

Biographical Information: Dr. Alfred Skolnick provides independent engineering consulting services to government on issues of national interest.  Prior to his naval service and noteworthy career as an accomplished program manager, he was an aero-physicist in the design of the Navy’s Regulus missile system at Chance Vought Aircraft, Dallas, TX.  As an engineering duty naval officer, he served at Applied Physics Laboratory/The Johns Hopkins University in missile development, aboard USS Boston (CAG-1) the Navy’s first operational missile ship, played leading roles in several weapon system developments (Terrier, Tartar, Talos, Standard missile), inertial navigation (Polaris), deep submergence (rescue vehicle) and advanced ship designs (Director of Technology, surface effect ships project).  After promotion to Captain, he was director, Combat System Integration, Naval Sea Systems Command.  He then led the Navy’s High Energy Lasers and Directed Energy Weapons development efforts for eight years.  After his naval service, he was vice president, advanced technology at Operations Research, Inc., then vice president, maritime engineering (advanced submarine technology) at Defense Group, Inc.  He served on DOD’s Independent Review Team for Space Based Lasers and has been a core member on the Navy-ONR teams carrying the free-electron laser (FEL) and the sea-base connector (T-Craft) concepts to fruition as Innovative Naval Prototypes (INPs).

Dr. Skolnick holds a B.S. in mathematics and economics, Queens College, an M.A. in mathematics and philosophy, Columbia University, an M.S. in electrical/aeronautical engineering (with distinction), U.S. Naval Postgraduate School and a Ph.D. in System Science (electrical engineering and applied mathematics) from (now) Polytechnic Institute of New York University.  He is the author of many published papers on engineering design issues, source selection procedures and large-scale complex technology problems.  He also actively supports the ONR-National Naval Responsibility for Naval Engineering (NNRNE) program.

Dr. Skolnick taught mathematics, physics and management sciences at University of Virginia and Marymount University.  For over forty years, he was Adjunct Professor of Mathematics at Northern Virginia Community College.  He was elected and re-elected president of the American Society of Naval Engineers and remains active today in ASNE affairs.  He has received prestigious awards for his technical contributions and management leadership in both directed energy and advanced ship designs [Navy Commendation Medal, Navy League Parsons Award, ASNE Gold Medal, ADPA (now NDIA) Gold Medal, Navy Legion of Merit, ASNE Saunders Award]; was designated Engineer of the Year by the DC Council of Engineering and Architectural Societies and inducted as a Fellow in the Directed Energy Professional Society (DEPS). He is a member of Sigma Xi and is active in advancing national efforts to improve the teaching of mathematics and science in our elementary and secondary schools.

Name: Marija Strojnik (Scholl)

Present Position: Senior Professor, Optical Sciences
Organization: Optical Research Center

Chapter Affiliation: Membership-at-Large

Candidate's CV

Candidate's Statement: My interest in serving on the nominating committee arises from my perceived need to make the Sigma Xi society more adapted to the internationalization of science and take leadership in the evolution of the international science. The National Science Foundation reports generated within the last few years indicate that the research in the countries ouside North America is increasing while that of the USA (and Europe) is decreasing. It is good to know that the developing cuntries are finding more funds for the science. Last year in North Carolina, our Annual Meeting focused on ethics with presentations about different perceptions about ethics in research. It was clear that the old European concepts of what constitutes good science, the scientific ethics, and the publication practices are slowly evolving. At the same time, even in the USA the prestige of science is sometimes secondary to the power. The president of our Society is the face that the world associates with our Society and our values of Zealous Research. I would like to contribute to Sigma Xi with my time and experience in discussions with my Companions in Zealous Research about the person who represents the future leadership directions of the Society. My previous relevant committee experience includes membership oon the Optical Society of America Fellows Committee, and International Society for Optical Engineering Awards Committee.

Name: Peter Wiernik

Chapter Affiliation: Membership-at-Large

No information provided by candidate.

Name: Yu Yuan

Present Position: Research Staff Member
Organization: IBM Research - China

Chapter Affiliation: Membership-at-Large

Candidate's Statement: As a member of the Membership-at-Large Constituency, I am looking forward to contributing substantially to the community. If elected, I will commit to serving as an efficient channel between members and the Committee. It will be my great honor and pleasure to be of service to you. Thank you for your kind consideration.

Biographical Information: Dr. Yu Yuan is a Research Staff Member at IBM Research - China. He is a veteran researcher in the areas of Vehicular Technology, Intelligent Transportation Systems, Consumer Electronics, and IoT (Internet of Things). Dr. Yu Yuan is experienced in the patent process and invention development. He has filed numerous patents and received many IBM Invention Achievement awards and IBM High Value Patent awards. As the Invention Development Co-Chair of IBM Research - China, he evaluates disclosures, mentors new inventors, and helps them incubate invention ideas. Dr. Yu Yuan has published extensively in referred conferences and journals, and he has served on the program/organizing committees of many major conferences. An enthusiastic participant in professional communities, he is currently serving as an IEEE-SA Standards Board Member, the chair of Vehicular Technology Committee in IEEE Consumer Electronics Society, the chair of IEEE Technical Committee on Software Infrastructure in IEEE ITS Society, the publicity chair of Land Transportation Division of IEEE Vehicular Technology Society, the chair of IFAC Working Group on Connected Vehicles, and an associate editor of IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine. He is also serving on the TRB Standing Committee on Urban Transportation Data and Information Systems (ABJ30), the TRB Standing Committee on Information Systems and Technology (ABJ50), the TRB Standing Committee on Vehicle-Highway Automation (AHB30), the IFAC Technical Committee on Automotive Control (TC 7.1), the IFAC Technical Committee on Transportation Systems (TC 7.4), and the IFAC Technical Committee on Intelligent Autonomous Vehicles (TC 7.5). Dr. Yu Yuan is a senior member of IEEE and a senior member of ACM. He is also a member of Sigma Xi, AAAS, ASME, ITE, and SAE.