2009 Sigma Xi Annual Meeting
November 12-15, 2009

The Woodlands Waterway
Marriott Hotel
The Woodlands, Texas
(Houston area)

Each November, Sigma Xi leaders and highly motivated college students gather to share ideas, information and camaraderie at the Sigma Xi Annual Meeting and International Research Conference. Delegates from Sigma Xi chapters decide key governance questions of the Society and attend sessions on leadership, chapter management and major issues facing the research enterprise. Concurrently, undergraduates from institutions around the world present their research, attend career-focused workshops, meet graduate school recruiters and network with Sigma Xi members.

Photos from the Annual Meeting and International Research Conference

• Conference Program
  • Policy and Research Initiatives of the European Community in Energy
  • Science and Human Rights Coalition Workshop
  • Diversity Matters: A Twenty Year Tale of Minority Faculty Participation at the University of Michigan
  
  

• Energy Symposium The following plenary speakers have been invited to address science and public policy concerns regarding the critical issue of Energy on Saturday, November 14.
  • John Ahearne (Moderator), Executive Director Emeritus of Sigma Xi, former chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Energy and Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense;
  • Christine A. Ehlig-Economides - Professor of petroleum engineering at Texas A&M University and founder of the Center for Energy, Environment and Transportation at the Crisman Institute;
  • Michal Moore, Senior Fellow, Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy, University of Calgary in Alberta;
  • Hans B. Püttgen - Energy Systems Management Chair and Director of the Energy Center at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. Georgia Power Professor Emeritus of the Georgia Institute of Technology.
  • Vernon Roan - Director, University of Florida Fuel Cell Laboratory and Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Florida.

• Society Business
  • Assemblies and Caucuses provide essential time for chapter delegates to discuss issues impacting the research enterprise and to vote on matters of Society business.

• Research Presentations
  • Student Research Conference showcases some of the premier student research in the world, and connects senior researchers with students. (November 13-14, 2009)
  • Professional Research Poster Presentations - career scientists and engineers share their research with colleagues and students through poster presentations. (November 13-14, 2009. Designated discussion period on November 13).
  • Science Sessions maintain Sigma Xi's mission to enhance the health of the research enterprise and to promote public engagement in science. Formats include workshop, seminar, panel, roundtable and lecture.

• Networking and Social Activities include informal roundtables, poster presentations, organized group dining and catered receptions—all of which offer opportunities for collegial exchange as researchers, leaders and colleagues.

• Film Viewing - Naturally Obsessed: the making of a scientist
  Naturally Obsessed Film - Mixing humor with heartbreak, Naturally Obsessed tells a profoundly real yet intensely dramatic story about life in molecular biology lab. The film follows three graduate students and their mentor for over three years and documents their acculturation into science, the emotional ups and downs of research, and finally, their discovery of the molecular mechanism of the AMPK protein -- a hot target because of its potential for treatment of type two diabetes and obesity. The film will be shown as part of the Sigma Xi Café.

Featured guests include:

William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement
	Deborah Jin, fellow of NIST and fellow of JILA, University of Colorado
John P. McGovern Science and Society Award
	David Michaels, professor and interim chairman of environmental and occupational health in the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services
Walston Chubb Award for Innovation
	Timothy Phillips, food safety scientist, Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University
Young Investigator Award
	Brandt F. Eichman, assistant professor of biological sciences and biochemistry, Vanderbilt University
Honorary Members
	Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, Mythbusters, the Discovery Channel

E-mail: meeting@sigmaxi.org