Report of the President
for the Year ending June 30, 2002

The year during which I had the opportunity to serve as President of Sigma Xi may best be described as a year of transition - both for the Society and also for society as a whole, within which the scientific and engineering community continues to play a vital role. For Sigma Xi, the year of transition involved the Society's search for a new Executive Director when Peter Blair left Sigma Xi on 31 August 2001 to assume his new responsibilities as Executive Director of the Physical Sciences and Engineering Division at the National Research Council in Washington, DC. Evan Ferguson, Sigma Xi's Deputy Executive Director, served as Acting Executive Director from 1 September 2001 until the arrival of the Society's new Executive Director, Patrick Sculley on 3 June 2002.

On a broader scale, the terrifying events of 11 September 2001 shocked the world and Sigma Xi and caused the world community and Sigma Xi to re-evaluate its roles within a new world order. When faced with such transitions, one from within and one from without, organizations can either choose to maintain the status quo until the situation improves, or they can continue to move forward and adapt to the changing environment. To its credit, Sigma Xi during the year ending 30 June 2002 did the latter and in this report I hope to outline only a few of these accomplishments.

One of the highlights of the year was certainly the November 2001 forum, Science, the Arts, and the Humanities: Connections and Collisions, which provided an incomparable opportunity for stimulating intellectual discussion. Through plenary and concurrent sessions, the November 2001 forum provided an excellent opportunity to close the gap in mutual understanding between the humanistic and scientific views of the world which can cause conflict but also can enrich discourse and promote insight. Clearly the 2001 forum was a clarion call for scientists and humanists to work together in a powerful confluence of ideas, consilience as it is called by E. O. Wilson, that not only can enhance the richness of what an educated person might be expected to know, but also address the significant challenges of the post-September 11 modern world, such as environmental sustainability, economic inequity, and social instability. As an outgrowth of the 2001 forum, it seems clear that Sigma Xi and the entire research community needs to provide a platform for what we have called "the engaged arts and humanities" and work together to address, and solve, the issues that require input from a common approach to scholarship.

A particularly illustrative example of a common approach to scholarship in the November 2001 forum was the drama of science communicated through a fascinating play, Oxygen, written by two world-class chemists, Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffmann. The play's themes address both a definition of discovery and the very human emotions involved in establishing scientific "ownership." The interplay of honor, credit, collaboration and competition frames a thought-provoking piece that probes the nature of scientific discovery. As one of the true highlights of the November 2001 forum, Oxygen provided a wonderful example of the fusion of science and the arts that presented science drama in a new genre.

Also during this year of transition, Sigma Xi culminated nearly two years feasibility studies which resulted in the Society entering into a business relationship with 4Lane Digital, a subsidiary of the publisher of the magazine, 4Lane Press. Throughout the year, the Society's Committee on Finances, along with other committees of the Society, continued to examine the business, publication, and potential membership aspects of this potential partnership that would provide an online presence for American Scientist. In April, the Society's Board of Directors unanimously approved a recommendation from the Committee on Finances that Sigma Xi enter into a profit-sharing arrangement with 4Lane Digital that would provide a substantial online presence of the magazine, including recent archives of the magazine's articles and a variety of other potential online benefits to the Society's members and readers of the magazine. The Board's action was a bold new step for the Society and brought the Society's magazine to the forefront of electronic publishing. In a year of transition, to undertake such action was a clear indication that Sigma Xi was more than willing to continue to move ahead into a new future, rather than simply maintaining the status quo.

Another significant accomplishment for the Society during the past year was its ability to find the resources to re-establish two formal meetings of its Board of Directors. Since the early 1990s, in an effort to contain costs, the Board of Directors had met only once each year at the Society's annual meeting to review the operations and activities of Sigma Xi, although on occasion a second meeting of the Board was convened for special purposes. With the final transition to a smaller Board of Directors during the past year, as a result of the Society's governance changes in 1998, the Board was able to convene both in November 2001 and in April 2002 to review the Society's activities, operations, and proposed plans. Re-establishing two meetings of the Board of Directors should enable the Board to stay more involved with the wide variety of activities within the Society in the future.

Much of the first half of last year was consumed with the Society's search for a new Executive Director to replace Peter Blair. From September 2001 through February 2002, the Society's Search Committee, composed of 8 members of the Board of Directors, with assistance from a professional search firm, conducted a wide-ranging search to find the right candidate to lead the Society. In February 2002, the Board of Directors approved a recommendation from the Search Committee that Dr. Patrick Sculley be named the Society's new Executive Director. On 3 June 2002, Dr. Sculley assumed his new position in Sigma Xi and brings to the Society wide experience in strategic planning, budget management, and administration. With the hiring of Dr. Sculley, Sigma Xi seems poised to continue its transition into the 21st Century.

In reflecting back on my year as President of Sigma Xi, it sometimes seemed chaotic with the variety of changes, and potential changes, that confronted the Society both from without and from within. However, it now seems clear that, despite these influences, Sigma Xi was once again able to move foreword and confront many of the issues that faced it during this transitional year, only a few of which have been outlined in this report. All of this made my year as President both an exciting and rewarding experience and I was glad to have had the opportunity to play a part in this effort. I look forward to the continued success of Sigma Xi under the fine leadership of Dr. Frank Gilmore as President, and Dr. Patrick Sculley as Executive Director, in the next year.

Marye Anne Fox
President

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