Report of the Executive Director
for the Year ending June 30, 2001

Introduction and Summary
This is the final annual report to the Assembly of my term as Executive Director of the Society. While it serves as an update on the Society's recent activities, it also provides me an opportunity to express my appreciation for the support of so many in the Sigma Xi community #150; officers, board members, committee chairs and members, chapter officers, many individual members, and, last but by no means least, the outstanding management, program, and administrative staff #150; all of whom together have laid the groundwork for a very promising future for the Society. Indeed, as my tenure as Executive Director of Sigma Xi concludes, I am very gratified by what the Society has accomplished over the past five years. The long list of accomplishments serves both as a testament to the staff who have contributed above and beyond the call of duty time after time, and to the many dedicated volunteers that are part of Sigma Xi's leadership community who have helped shape the Society's agenda for the future. I am confident you all will be as supportive of my successor as you have been of me during my tenure as Sigma Xi's Executive Director.

In this report, I recap many of the exciting developments of this past year and provide a glimpse into the future. Some of the highlights of this year's activities, for which more detailed summaries are included later, include the following:

• Governance Transition. Sigma Xi is in the third and final year of its transition to a new, more streamlined and efficient governance structure and process. Initiated in July 1999 and implemented over a three-year period, the new structure has promise of enabling the Society to focus on and draw upon its unique strengths of a multidisciplinary, grass-roots infrastructure of scientists and engineers.
• American Scientist. This past year articles the Society's flagship publication earned two journalism awards. The magazine continues to be a jewel in the crown of the Society's activities.
• Engineering Education Program. A key bequest from the estate of long time Sigma Xi member, Leroy Record, has provided for major new additions to the Society's longstanding Grants-in-Aid of Research endowment as well as a new program aimed at enhancing engineering education.
• Electronic Communication. Once again this year as last, the continued advances in the Society's developing electronic infrastructure have facilitated better and more extensive communications among chapters and members and have enabled new program efforts to marshal the energies and involvement of chapters and members. Nearly all the Society's chapters now do business with the management and administrative offices via electronic mail and other internet services. The Society's major web sites have experienced exponential growth in traffic over the past year.
• International Science Networking Initiative. This year Sigma Xi continued its Packard Foundation-sponsored program aimed at promoting communication and collaboration among scientists in developing countries and research colleagues around the world. The goal remains to have 30 new international chapters install at the end of the three-year effort.
• New Ethical Issues in Science and Technology Chapter Workshop Series. Last year's forum, New Ethical Challenges in Science and Technology, kicked off a new chapter-based workshop program on ethics issues. Last year the National Science Foundation has awarded Sigma Xi a grant to host the planning meeting and to organize a pilot workshop to initiate the series.
• Science Advocacy and Science Polling Programs. Two years ago Sigma Xi initiated the Society's science advocacy program, pioneered by the Society's Michigan chapters, which is designed to facilitate meetings between academic and industrial members of Sigma Xi chapters and Members of Congress in their home districts. This year a new dimension is being added to science advocacy program as well, aimed at surveying the science community and the public on key issues. The project is being carried out cooperatively with the Washington-based organization, Research!America. The project is to develop surveys of the science community regarding key issues and compare the results with similar surveys of the general public. Comparisons of the two surveys on the same issues are expected to reveal important challenges for the science community in improving its efforts to enhance the public's understanding of science and to reveal key differences in how issues are perceived.
• Public Understanding of Science. The Media Resource Service (MediaResource), operated by Sigma Xi since 1996, continues as a vibrant and important Sigma Xi service in supporting an improved public understanding of science. MediaResource assists journalists in finding experts to enhance the coverage of science and associated issues. In addition, MediaResource administers Sigma Xi's daily Science in the News e-mail service to over 10,000 subscribers. The daily e-mail includes links to science and technology news stories reported by major media outlets on their Web sites that day. Members can subscribe at any time at Sigma Xi Web site.
• New membership and chapter support activities. This year a broad range of new activities were initiated to provide additional support for chapters. These include support for relocating members, model chapter activities, and "road show" chapter workshops.
• Sigma Xi Center. The path toward development of the long-awaited Sigma Xi Center made important progress this year as well, both in terms of the character and substance of programs building on the Society's mission that will be managed by the Center and in establishing a facility for housing those programs and the administrative offices of the Society. New Center program initiatives include several mentoring pilot programs, including a collaborative agreement with Discovery Communication.

Taken together, these activities have helped position the Society to take a much more prominent role in shaping the future of the science and technology enterprise as new programs develop and the traditional ones are sustained. In my five years in Sigma Xi's management, I continue to be inspired by the vision and energy of many members and friends of the Society and especially to the commitment and dedication of the very hard-working and talented Sigma Xi staff who continue to make enormous efficiency gains in the Society's operations.

Finally, despite the many positive trends in the Society's activities and programs, there continue to be some worrisome trends, such as in the continued decline in sustaining membership and, just as disturbing, an almost bi-modal distribution of many chapters with very active programs and many with few or no activities. While this experience follows a trend in recent years of many professional as well as honor societies, the hopeful sign is that the steep rate of decline in sustaining membership experienced between 1991 and 1998 appears finally to show signs of leveling off. And while the Society is still functions under a very austere operating budget, through operational efficiency gains, a healthy investment portfolio, and successful new development efforts and have led, once again, to a balanced operating budget. Also, the Society's net worth continues to grow appreciably. The growing portfolio of programs will be key in revitalizing chapters and reactivating members, but that alone will not be enough. A re-energized commitment from chapters and members is vital to realizing a bright and sustained future. My successor will welcome the ideas as well as pleas for help from delegates to help our chapters build that future.

Final Resolution of Governance Changes
The transition being concluded this year, approved by delegates at the November 1998 Annual Meeting, reduces the size of the Society's Board of Directors to 17 members, nearly one-half its size in 1998, and provides that all voting directors elected by delegates or members. The vote on the governance changes came after a process of deliberation over nearly two years by the Executive Committee and the board with broad input from all across the Sigma Xi community. When the transition is complete at the end of this fiscal year, the new board will be comprised of the four officers (president, president-elect, immediate past president, and treasurer), six directors elected by chapters grouped according to geographic region (one per region), six directors elected by chapters of the newly-instituted constituency groups based on the type of institution hosting the chapter (one per group), and the executive director as an ex officio member without a vote. The newly-established constituency groups include:

• Four constituency groups (with one elected director each) for chapters in the United States and its territories, based on the type of institution hosting the chapter, currently designated (1) research universities, (2) baccalaureate colleges, (3) comprehensive universities, and (3) industrial or government laboratories or area chapters.
• A Canadian/International constituency group for chapters outside the United States and its territories.
• A constituency group representing the members-at-large.

All voting directors are now elected directly by delegates or members. The director for the membership-at-large is elected popularly by the members-at-large (i.e., those members not currently affiliated with a local chapter), while the remaining 15 directors are elected by the delegates designated by chapters to serve with the annual Assembly of Delegates.

Sigma Xi and Other Scientific Societies
Sigma Xi remains a unique organization in many respects. As noted earlier, Sigma Xi remains among the largest scientific societies. Sigma Xi is principally a confederation of chapters with a very small administrative staff - #150; 40 full time staff. Many members may not know, for example, that Sigma Xi has by far the smallest administrative staff size relative to the Society's membership of any major programmatic scientific society. On one hand, that may not seem surprising since the Society is chapter-based and many of the Society's activities are initiated in the chapters and much of the Society's communications are through its chapters. On the other hand, the small staff size in light of the range and size of activities administered by that staff is in itself a testament to their dedication and professionalism.

Sigma Xi Committee Activities
In addition to the wide-ranging activities of Sigma Xi's chapters, many of the Society's programs and operations are administered through the Society's 16 standing committees. Most members of these committees are appointed annually by the President and are charged with key responsibilities. This year, in the wake of the governance changes that began in July 1999 and are being concluded this year, the Society's Executive Committee asked the Committee on Long-Range Planning (now called the Committee on Strategic Planning) to review the overall committee structure of the Society. A number of changes were recommended to the Board of Directors and were subsequently implemented by the Board.

Some of the Society's standing committees are statutory committees of the board, including the board's Executive Committee and the Committees on Nominations, Finances, and Audit Review. Other committees are charged with maintaining essential standards of the Society's membership on behalf of the board, including the Committees on Qualifications and Membership, Diversity, Regions, and Meetings. Some of the Society's committees are policy advisory bodies for the board, including Strategic Planning and Deve-lopment that are charged with preparing for the Society's future. Finally, many committees are working program committees that administer and oversee, with help from the staff, both long-standing and emerg-ing programs of the Society, including Publications, Awards, Grants-in-Aid of Research, and Lectureships.. These program committees, in particular, 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.

Many committees had very active agendas this year, and I invite you to review the committee reports located on the Society's Web site (www.sigmaxi.org) 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
In this section I recap progress in many of the traditional programs of the Society, such as American Scientist, the Forum and Annual Meeting, and Development activities, as well as a number of new activities aimed at enhancing the support of chapters and membership.

American Scientist
A major redesign of the American Scientist Web site was unveiled this year with publication of the January-February 2001 issue. The redesign has been well received and has contributed to the increased Web traffic being experienced on the Society's Web site - #150; a substantial fraction of the Society's Web site traffic travels through the American Scientist pages.

This year two American Scientist articles earned writing awards given by scientific societies:

• The Mathematical Association of America's prestigious Chauvenet Prize for 2001, given for an outstanding expository article on a mathematical topic, went to Carolyn S. Gordon and David L. Webb of Dartmouth University, authors of "You Can't Hear the Shape of a Drum," published in the January-February 1996 issue. It was only the second time in its 77-year history that the Chauvenet Prize was given for a magazine article.
• The American Astronomical Association awarded the Solar Physics Division Popular Writing Award to Paul Bellan of Caltech for "Simulating Solar Prominences in the Laboratory," which appeared in the March-April 2000 issue.

Sigma Xi Forum and Annual Meeting
Last year's forum is still having impact on the design of new program activities and this year's forum is shaping up to be an exciting set of activities and events.

2000 Forum: New Ethical Challenges in Science and Technology.
The Proceedings for the 2000 Forum, convened last November in Albuquerque, have been published on the Sigma Xi Web site and the printed version will follow in several months. This Forum has led to a series of NSF-sponsored chapter-based workshops focusing on ethics in science issues (these are discussed in more depth in the "Sigma Xi Center & Programs" section below).

2001 Forum: Science, the Arts and the Humanities: Connections and Collisions.
This year the annual Sigma Xi Forum will focus on Science, the Arts and the Humanities: Connections and Collisions. The forum will offer a panorama of the influences, both historic and contemporary, of science on the arts and the humanities, and vice versa. Nobel Prize-winning chemist Roald Hoffmann of Cornell University will present the annual John P. McGovern Lecture. Other plenary speakers scheduled to date include George Bugliarello, chancellor of Polytechnic University, Catherine R. Stimpson, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Science at New York University, and Henry Petroski, professor of Civil Engineering and of history at Duke University.

2001 Annual Meeting.
This year's annual meeting will include many traditional activities along with a number of innovative events such as an all-day symposium of poster presentations that will be judged by a panel of Sigma Xi members. Each winner will receive a certificate and a cash award. Workshops will focus on supporting and nurturing chapter activity, program development, and explore the latest activity in program areas such as international science networking, education and ethics.

Development Activities
Fiscal Year 2000-2001 has been a very productive one for Sigma Xi's development efforts. In particular, in addition to expected record years in annual giving and new foundation program support, the Society received a number of major bequests from members during the fiscal year. Some details of these activities include the following:

Annual Giving.
Last fiscal year's total of $238,000 was the best year yet for unrestricted giving in Sigma Xi's 10-year-old annual giving program, and this year's total promises to surpass it. As of May, annual giving totaled $237,000.

Gift of the Leroy E.
Record Estate. Leroy E. Record, a long-time contributor and member of Sigma Xi, passed away in August 2000. Mr. Record had established trusts to benefit Sigma Xi. Since his death, Sigma Xi has received approximately $262,000 for a Grants-in-Aid of Research fund named in his honor. His trusts have also provided a similar amount of funding for the Sigma Xi Center project. In addition, Mr. Record also designated a substantial portion of his estate to Sigma Xi to "assist students in any field of engineering." An informal working committee, headed by Treasurer and Past President John Prados, was charged by the Executive Committee to provide recommendations on developing Center program ideas within the framework of this remarkable bequest for review by the Executive Committee and the Board.

New Member and Chapter Support Activities
Over this past year a variety of new initiatives were implemented by Sigma Xi committees and staff to improve support of chapters from the Society's management and administrative offices. Some features of this reconfiguration include the following:

Relocation Support.
A program is being implemented to notify relocating members of the chapter[s] near their new location, and simultaneously to notify officers of those chapters that the member has moved nearby, with an accompanying encouragement to invite the member to chapter functions.

Case Studies.
Now as a matter of routine, case studies are compiled of successful chapter activities, for reference by chapters in search of new ideas. Initial case studies were presented in the Chapter Tool Kit distributed at the 2000 annual meeting and formed the basis of a chapter activities workshop at that meeting.These case studies will be added to the Web site as a reference resource.

Chapter Vitalization Efforts.
Several struggling chapters received additional support during the 2000 annual meeting. The support consisted of extra workshops with chapter staff and the support of a mentor from a strong chapter. The chapter staff have continued to support those chapters during the past year and most of them are doing much better.

Staff-Led Workshops.
The chapter staff plan to visit between two and four major cities, as resources permit, during FY2002 to work with specific chapters in each of those areas. Weekend workshops will be scheduled with the goal of strengthening chapters. Activities will include a review of available chapter resources, planning time utilizing a planning grid developed by the chapter staff, and one-on-one time with chapter staff to discuss opportunities and challenges. An additional goal will be to have chapter officers in close geographic areas become better acquainted and supportive of each other's chapter activities.

Chapter Annual Reports.
An improved annual report for chapters is available on-line for chapters to complete. This report will allow chapters to complete a portion of the report and return to it at a later date. We hope this will allow chapters to provide a more comprehensive report. The annual reports serve as the basis for the Chapters of Excellence Award.

Sigma Xi Center & Programs Update
A key objective of the Sigma Xi Center is to serve as an incubator for program initiatives that build on the Society's strengths, traditions, and mission of supporting and nurturing the research enterprise. In many cases the Center's program portfolio includes activities that build on and leverage the activities of Sigma Xi'snetwork of chapters and members. In all cases the Center portfolio is aimed at engaging chapters and members in the Society's activities. The current Center programs focus on the areas of science education, public understanding of science, assessing and promoting the value and impact of scientific research in society, evaluating and promoting the highest of ethical standards in scientific research, and monitoring and enhancing the health of the research enterprise. The following are updates on the early projects in the Center's core program areas:

Undergraduate Science Education Reform
Based on the experience gained from NSF-sponsored activities in undergraduate education reform over the past several years, including the follow-on activities from the 1999 Forum, Reshaping Undergraduate Science and Engineering Education: Tools for Better Learning, efforts to expand the Society's activities in this area continue. A series of chapter-based workshops coupled with cooperative activities with the Council on Undergraduate Research and Project Kaleidoscope staff have built a solid base for continuing programs. Discussions with NSF's Division for Undergraduate Education are centering around a proposal for a five-year program to sponsor Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (SMET) undergraduate education reform and improvement activities on 30 campuses, with a focus on major research universities. Sigma Xi's network of 520 chapters offers a grass-roots structure with a proven record of catalyzing institutional activity.

Ethics Program – Support for Six Chapters
Also with support from the National Science Foundation, six Sigma Xi chapters have been awarded support at the level of $2000-3000 to organize ethics workshops. Among workshop goals are the promotion of dialogue about developing and refining institutional capacity to deal with ethical issues and showcasing methods of introducing ethical considerations into instructional programs. A complete summary of the chapter activities will appear in Sigma Xi Today in the July/August issue of American Scientist. The workshops will build on discussions at the 2000 Sigma Xi Forum, New Ethical Challenges in Science and Technology, and seek to involve the university community in consideration of ethical issues while helping the chapters establish a strong presence in their institutions. All of the workshops will take place during the 2001/2002 academic year.

International Science Networking Update
Sigma Xi's International Science Networking initiative, sponsored by the Packard Foundation, reached a key milestone this month with the signing of the first Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and delivery of the first support check to a budding chapter in Buenos Aires.

The current mechanism in the Packard Initiative is for scientists and engineers in developing countries to form groups to examine their global networking needs and the possibility of meeting these needs by forming a Sigma Xi chapter. The first formal step in this process is the signing of an MOU between the group and Sigma Xi. The MOU states the intentions of the group to organize and what items and activities a grant of US $2500 would be used to support. Overall, the goal of the Packard Initiative is to fund 30 organizing groups in developing countries. To date, inquiries have been received in relation to 24 countries, and approximately six groups are actively forming.

Science Advocacy Polling Project Update
The Science Advocacy Project at Sigma Xi traces its roots to the Society's Michigan chapters who continue to successfully use a model that seeks to establish a network of science advice for federal and state legislators and executive agency representatives at the grass-roots level.

At the national level, Sigma Xi's current advocacy effort is a polling project of the Sigma Xi membership that focuses on science policy issues (e.g., outreach, education, and funding for R&D). During the past year pilot surveys were sent via e-mail to members in Alaska, Delaware, Texas and Ohio. To make these data even more useful, Sigma Xi has allied with Research!America, a non-profit advocacy group for science research that has been polling the general public about similar policy issues through random-digit dialing. Data analysis from this pilot project is currently underway and will incorporate responses for similar questions and issues from over 2000 Sigma Xi members (AK, DE, TX, OH) and 2600 members of the general public (AK, TX, OH). Results should help facilitate and enhance communications between scientists/engineers and the general public and summaries will be made available to chapters to incorporate their outreach and advocacy programs. In addition, members will be able to access survey data via the Sigma Xi Web site.

Middle School Mentoring Program - #150; Collaboration with Discovery
Sigma Xi is in the final stages of negotiating a partnership with Discovery Communication Incorporated (The Discovery Channel) to develop a middle school mentoring program. The primary elements of the program would be the inclusion of featured scientists (Sigma Xi volunteers) on the Discovery Web site, an "Ask the scientist" electronic bulletin board, and the partnering of middle school students from Discovery's Young Scientist Challenge with mentors from Sigma Xi membership. The North Carolina State University Chapter plans to pilot a mentoring project with a middle school located on its university campus. This project aims to allow each student involved to learn what a scientist does, how the scientist's work impacts society, and how the individual became interested in a scientific career. The hope is to develop a model program that can be replicated by chapters throughout the Society.

Conclusion
Sigma Xi continues to build on its core mission and expand its portfolio of activities in support of that mission. The Society's ability to build upon and draw from the local chapters' perspectives and energy is crucial to the Society's future. As I move on to new adventures, I will always recall fondly my term as Executive Director in helping prepare the Society for the future and working with the dedicated staff and all in the Sigma Xi community. Indeed, as a life member of the Society, I look forward to working with you in the coming year in my new role as a volunteer.

Peter D. Blair, Executive Director
July 2001

Appendix to the Executive Director's Report