Report of the Executive Director
for the Year Ending June 30, 1998

As we approach the new millennium, many fields of science and engineering are experiencing sweeping change. Advances in the basic understanding of nature and the availability of new technology have improved the efficiency of research and dramatically expanded its scope. New capabilities, such as an ability to manipulate materials at the molecular level, have brought with them a pace of scientific discovery and its applications that has been breathtaking. Sigma Xi, as one of the largest interdisciplinary scientific societies and one whose mission is rooted in the honor of scientific achievement, must be diligent in monitoring the character of these sweeping changes as they affect the future of society and of science itself. In recent years Sigma Xi has adapted well to the changing landscape, and its new activities fit well with helping shape the future, both of the Society and of the scientific enterprise.

Nonetheless, while change in a 113-year-old organization is not easy, this year illustrates that it can be done, and it can be done with very positive results. For example, this year the assembly will consider a major change in the governance structure of the Society brought forward by the Board of Directors. The aim of the proposal is to restructure the board to make it smaller, more effective, and more representative of the Society's constituencies as well as to streamline the process of governance to enable the Society's focus to be more on substance.

This year the long-awaited Sigma Xi Center has begun to take shape, both in the character and substance of programs building on the Society's mission and in establishing a facility for housing those programs and the administrative offices of the Society.

Also this year the developing electronic infrastructure for facilitating communications among chapters and members has begun to bear fruit, ensuring that new program efforts are aimed at marshaling the energies and involvement of chapters and members. For example, in the course of the recent project to deliver the first Sigma Xi membership directory in many years, 29,000 members expressed interest in participating in a mentorship program for young scientists that will be developed over the next several years.

The worrisome decline in membership since 1991 has begun to abate somewhat this year and, for the first time in a number of years, the Society has proposed a balanced budget.

I am very pleased with the progress the Society has made in my first two years in the management, and I am very grateful for the vision and energy of many members and friends of the Society and especially to the very hard working and committed Sigma Xi staff who have literally transformed the operations of the staff in two years. I am excited, especially, about this coming year as many new ideas from members and staff will get implemented. In this report, I'd like to recap many of the exciting developments of this past year.

Committee Activities
Much of the character of the Society's programs and operations come from the standing committees of the Society. These committees, most members of which are annually appointed by the President, preside over the Society's operations and programs. Some are statutory committees of the Board including Nominations, Finance and Audit Review; others perform key functions on behalf of the Board such as Development, Diversity, International, Long Range Planning, Meetings, Publications, Regions, and Membership; and still others are working committees that actually administer with help from the staff long-standing programs of the Society, such as Awards, Grants-in-Aid, Lectureships, and Programs (Science Education Grants and McGovern Science and Society Awards). These committees provide the working interface between chapters, members, staff, and the programs and activities of the Society. I am particularly grateful for the tireless efforts of many committee chairs and members in carrying out these very important functions for the Society.

This year, the Committees on Long-Range Planning, Membership and Qualifications, Diversity, and Development, especially, were focused on the dimensions of change in Sigma Xi. I invite you to review the committee reports in this volume to get an appreciation of the scope and scale of activities of the Society. Taken as a whole, it is indeed an impressive collection.

Sigma Xi Programs and Other Activities
Sigma Xi's long-standing programs continue to be central to the Society's overall mission. In many cases, however, these programs are finding new sources of strength in the growth of a communications network among the Society's chapters and members. In addition, some newer programs are building on Sigma Xi's mission that capitalize on this new infrastructure. The following are sketches of the status of current activities and programs highlighting changes.

American Scientist
At a time when science publishing is a field in turmoil, American Scientist has succeeded very well by establishing a stable formula of articles, departments and overall content (see Committee on Publications report). These efforts were rewarded once again this year by a first-place award in the annual Excel Awards competition sponsored by the Society of National Association Publications. There continue to be evolutionary changes within the successful formula, however. Redesign of the "Scientists' Bookshelf" and the acquisition of more articles in the dynamic area of molecular biology are examples.

American Scientist has also enjoyed modest increases in individual subscriptions and newsstand sales this year. In addition commitments for new advertising contracts promise higher advertising revenues next year. The magazine's overall circulation remains close to 100,000 annually with the decline in member subscriptions continuing to be offset somewhat by single-copy and other subscription sales. Efforts to increase American Scientist's royalty income is also meeting with some success in that revenue from royalties and permissions increased some 40 percent, augmented by income from a new arrangement with the Copyright Clearance Center allowing "repertory licensing" to organizations that regularly make photocopies of American Scientist articles. Finally, this spring Sinauer Associates published two collections of articles from the magazine: the second edition of its best-seller, Exploring Animal Behavior, and a new volume, Exploring Ecology and Its Applications.

Among the most intriguing developments at American Scientist this past year has been the redesign of the magazine's Internet World Wide Web site. The new site <http://www.amsci.org> includes on-line book discussion group, a new graphical format with improved navigational tools, and a moderated on-line discussion, the "AmSci Forum," of a selected article topic from each issue which was introduced with support from the Committee on Programs. The "AmSci Forum" is a vehicle for Sigma Xi members and other readers of the magazine to interact intellectually with each other. The site now offers an expanded array of links to Internet resources for the exploration of articles by readers. It even challenges the reader with a regular "Puzzler" created by the magazine staff. Much of the traffic on Sigma Xi's Web server is generated by American Scientist pages. An impressive number of visitors spend a considerable time at the site, more than 10,000 "hits" per day with average user sessions of almost nine minutes. Moreover, much of this traffic is from overseas, and the magazine handles a significant volume of reprint-permission requests from people from overseas who have learned about it by visiting its Web site.

Science Advocacy Program
Sigma Xi's Science Advocacy Program is a nascent program designed to facilitate meetings between both academic and industrial members of Sigma Xi chapters and members of Congress in their home offices. This program was pioneered by the Society's Michigan chapters and coordinated there by Sigma Xi board member Loran Bieber. By all accounts the program so far has been a remarkable success. The Michigan chapters are now in their second round of meetings with Congressional members and have in some cases become informal science advisors to those members.

In various committees such as Long-Range Planning and the Programs committees, members and staff are considering ways to replicate the Michigan experience in other states. A complete description of the project is included on the Sigma Xi Web site at <www.sigmaxi.org/ncregion/michigan.htm>. We have polled the chapters regarding which states might be interested in participating in the next phase of this program and have worked with AAAS to collect state-specific data that will be of use in such meetings.

Sigma Xi Forum
The November 1998 Forum on International Cooperation in Science and Technology will be the first Sigma Xi Forum convened outside the United States and we look forward to advancing the international dimension of the Society's mission, especially with our Canadian colleagues, many of whose achievements are highlighted in the Forum program. Some additional innovative features of this Forum include invitations of a number of Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturers to address the Forum as well as a follow-up annual meeting workshop to consider more carefully among the delegates potential roles for Sigma Xi in addressing the issues and opportunities raised in the Forum.

Prizes and Awards
Sigma Xi continues its time-honored tradition of honoring scientific achievement through its major prizes and awards, most of which are detailed in the report of the Committee on Awards.

In brief, the 1997 William Proctor Prize for scientific achievement was awarded to MIT Physics Professor Emeritus Philip Morrison. The 1998 Prize will be awarded to Stanford Professor Carl Djerassi. Each year, the winner of the Procter Prize has the privilege of naming a young colleague to receive a $5,000 Grant-In-Aid of Research from the Procter Prize Fund. Dr. Morrison chose William Mphepeng Lesame, a mathematician at the University of South Africa. Dr. Djerassi has nominated Dr. Jose Giner, Assistant Professor of Organic Chemistry of Syracuse University, who was Dr. Djerassi's last Ph.D. student.

In November 1997 Bill Kurtis, executive producer and host of "The New Explorers" TV series and a news anchor for WBBM-TV in Chicago, and David Ansley, science editor for Consumer Reports magazine, were inducted as honorary members. In 1998, the Board of Directors approved the nomination of Maurice F. Strong as an honorary member of Sigma Xi. Mr. Strong is recognized worldwide for his activities towards securing a global plan for sustainable development of humans and the environment (Earth Summit).

Sigma Xi's first Young Investigators Award goes to Dr. John D. Gillaspy, a member of the Atomic Physics Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Media Resource Service
The Media Resource Service (MediaResource), operated by Sigma Xi since 1996, assists journalists in finding experts to enhance the coverage of science and associated issues. It is an important component in the Society's mission in supporting an improved public understanding of science. The service's database includes scientists and engineers who have agreed to provide expert commentary to journalists on short notice. Users of the service include major media outlets and small town newspapers, such as ABC, American Health, The Associated Press, BusinessWeek, CBS, Chicago Tribune, CNN, Hartford Courant, Los Angeles Times, Mansfield (OH) News Journal, McCall's and others. The MediaResource home page <www.mediaresource.org> added two new features in the past year designed primarily for journalists, but which are also useful to anyone interested in science and technology. "SciStacks" is a reference library of links to reliable information on such subjects as biology, chemistry and physics. "In the News" is a guide to online science stories, with links to related sites. This year MediaResource received a grant of $25,000 from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund for new equipment and a computer database update.

Grants-in-Aid of Research
This year the Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid or Research (GIAR) Program celebrated its 75th anniversary. Since its beginning the GIAR program has encouraged and facilitated research among young investigators by awarding grants to more than 25,000 researchers. In addition several innovative new features are being added to the GIAR Program. Discussions are underway with the Houston Advanced Research Center regarding a GIAR Program link with the Mitchell International Young Scholar Prize for Sustainable Development wherein Sigma Xi would forward a list of GIAR winners in appropriate fields each year as nominees for the Mitchell prize. Thus GIAR winners become eligible for consideration for an additional award through the Mitchell Prize in the amount of a $1,000 stipend and expense-paid trip to attend a conference and a dinner in their honor. In addition, the Consortium for Plasma Science is sponsoring a special fund within the GIAR program focusing on research to advance the safety of the world's blood supply through research and development of methods to inactivate non-enveloped viruses and prions in human blood. Up to five Sigma Xi-Consortium for Plasma Science Research Grants will be awarded annually, of up to $5,000 each, to graduate students and postdoctoral associates.

Other Chapter Programs and Activities
Sigma Xi's 514 chapters carry out a wide range of program activities. Each year the chapters file annual reports with the Society's management offices. I refer you to the Society's Annual Report which I invite you to review as an illustration of the richness and variety of activities in which our chapters are engaged. The Appendix to this report is a summary of chapter activities excerpted from the Annual Report.

Information and Communications Systems
The role of technology in expanding the ability of members and chapters to communicate and in improving the efficiency of the Society's basic operations continues to become more prominent. Examples include pervasive use of electronic mail for correspondence, a greatly enhanced Sigma Xi World Wide Web site, much more efficient and cost-effective distribution of information to chapters through Internet services such as member mailing lists, program information, officer newsletters, and some new features such as e-mail forwarding and Internet discussion groups (e.g., the AmSci Forum). Two years ago at the management offices we began electronic communications with very few e-mail addresses for members on file and virtually no correspondence by e-mail. We now have 52,000 member e-mail addresses, virtually all chapter officers communicating extensively via the Internet, nearly a hundred chapter WWW sites inter-linked with the greatly enhanced Sigma Xi Web site, and many committee activities use the Internet (including the Board and Executive Committee).

Many administrative operations enhancements have been made possible by using new technology as well, including much more efficient document preparation through modern office software (word processing, databases, spreadsheets, and graphics), more timely and accurate accounting information, more comprehensive, flexible, and accurate annual budgeting, more cost-effective distribution and processing of members' dues notices and annual giving solicitations, more sophisticated and cost-effective graphics in American Scientist and a more useful database of our members. While these changes involve more than just new technology, on the horizon are additional improvements as well, and I am convinced that the future of the Society rests in part on how well we utilize this technology.

The Sigma Xi Center
Five years ago, Sigma Xi's Board of Directors initiated the Campaign for Sigma Xi with a goal of $22.5 million. The campaign was designed to provide funding to construct the Sigma Xi Center which would house the administrative offices of Sigma Xi and expanded programming of the Society, to provide seed money for expanded programming and operations, and to increase support for the Society's Grants-in-Aid of Research program. While the transition in leadership at Sigma Xi in recent years affected the schedule for the campaign, there has been important progress in the past year.

The Campaign
In conjunction with the move of Sigma Xi's management and administrative offices to North Carolina, land for the Sigma Xi Center was provided by the Triangle Universities Center for Advanced Study, Inc. (TUCASI). The site is located adjacent to the National Humanities Center and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in the heart of the Research Triangle Park. Early support to build the Sigma Xi Center was provided by Research Triangle Foundation. Major gifts have also been made by individual Sigma Xi members, including the late David Packard and Roland Queneau. To date we have received commitments totaling nearly two-thirds of the campaign goal. This fall the Development Committee will initiate the public stage of the campaign with a general appeal to our members as well as to organizations that have supported Sigma Xi.

The Program
In addition to the administrative offices of Sigma Xi, the new Sigma Xi Center will house a research institute—a portfolio of programs that build on the Society's strengths and mission. The programs, designed to draw on Sigma Xi's network, that resonate well with funding organizations are those that support and nurture the research enterprise, including ethics in research, improving the public's understanding of science and science education, and monitoring the health of scientific research. The institute—which refers to programs, rather than the Sigma Xi Center, which refers to the building—will sponsor programs expanding, in many cases, on activities initiated in the Society's chapters and designed to address critically important issues of science and society.

You may notice that these topics overlap heavily with the Long-Range Planning portfolio (see Long-Range Planning Committee Report), with recent and prospective forum topics and, in some cases, with other new activities (such as the Media Resource Service or the science advocacy effort initiated by the Society's Michigan Chapters). Many of the likely activities in these areas will be designed to engage the chapters and the membership. The grass-roots structure of the society is widely recognized as a comparative advantage for Sigma Xi.

The Building
As many members may recall, the design concept for the Sigma Xi Center was developed by the noted architectural firm of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. The Sigma Xi Center architectural design concept was reviewed by the Board in 1991 and initial cost analysis was completed in 1992. The transition in leadership at Sigma Xi has created some delay in the completion of the campaign, which will likely increase the cost of the Center building project and the campaign goal. Nonetheless, I am very optimistic that we can successfully complete the campaign and build the Center in the next three years. A site survey has just been completed in preparation for construction.

Sigma Xi's land lease with TUCASI calls for the Society to complete construction of the Sigma Xi Center by the end of 2001. My hope is that we can hold an open house and celebration in conjunction with the 2001 Forum and Annual Meeting, which likely will be held in Raleigh, very close to the building site. To meet this goal, we will complete the building design and specifications by the end of this year, focus on securing additional funding commitments, and plan to break ground in 1999.

There has been much tireless work behind the scenes to move the Sigma Xi Center closer to a reality and I am very excited about the progress we have made this past year.

Conclusion
The programs and activities I've described build on Sigma Xi's traditional mission and represent in many cases an expansion of our goals building on past efforts. The Society's ability to build on and draw from the local chapters perspectives and energy is crucial to the Society's future. I look forward to working with you in the coming year.

Peter D. Blair, Executive Director
August 1998