2003 Assembly of Delegates:
Comprehensive Colleges & Universities Constituency Group Director

November 13-16, 2003
Hyatt Regency Los Angeles at Macy's Plaza
Los Angeles, California

In conjunction with the Sigma Xi Forum, Science and Engineering: Keys to International Understanding, November 12-13
And the Sigma Xi Student Research Conference, November 14-15

Name: Ernest Henry Gilmour

Present Position: Chair/Professor
Organization: Eastern Washington University

Address: Department of Geology
Eastern Washington University
Cheney, WA 99004
USA

Telephone: 509-359-7480
FAX: 509-359-4386
E-mail: EGilmour@Mail.ewu.edu

Chapter Affiliation: Eastern Washington University-Spokane

Candidate's Statement: With my past experience at the national level of Sigma Xi, and my lifetime of teaching and conducting research at a comprehensive university, I believe that I can be a strong advocate for the Comprehensive Colleges and Universities Constituency Group on the Board of Directors. The problems confronting faculty who enjoy and want to conduct research at comprehensive colleges and universities need to be addressed by our constituency group. Also, the increasing university demands placed on new faculty for obtaining grants and publishing in order to obtain tenure are major issues for our group.

Sigma Xi and Other Activities: I have served as President (1971-72; 1977-80) and Vice-President (1971-73; 1994-present) of the EWU-Spokane Chapter. At the national level, I have served as Northwest Regional Director (1980-86), The Committee on Regions, The Board of Directors, The Executive Committee, National Committee on Membership-at-Large, National Committee on Qualifications, and the National Committee on International Affairs. I was a founding member of the Montana Tech Chapter and I am a Life member of Sigma Xi.

Biographical Information: B.S. Geology, Univ. Southern California 1960; M.S. Geology, Univ. Montana 1964; PhD Geology, Univ. Montana 1967. U.S. Geological Survey 1964-65; Montana Tech 1965-67; Eastern Wash. Univ. 1967 present. Graduate Dean and Director of Research at EWU 1987-89; Interim Provost at EWU 1989-91. U.S. Nat. Acad. Science/U.S.S.R. Acad. Science Exchange Scientist 1974; U.S. Acad. Science/Polish Acad. Science Exchange Scientist 1975; Fulbright Lecturer and Research Scholar at Peshawar University, Pakistan 1980-81; Visiting Scholar at University of Otago, New Zealand 1992. Thirty-one refereed articles, fifty-one conference presentations, and numerous invited presentations. Major research interest is Carboniferous and Permian fossil bryozoans. Field research has been conducted in Russia, Poland, Pakistan, China, New Zealand, Mongolia, and much of the western United States. Recipient of research or education grants from NSF, HEW, Smithsonian Institution, Petroleum Fund Amer.Chem. Soc., and Eisenhower Education Funds.

Name: Kasiviswanathan Muthukumarappan

Present Position: Professor of Food and Biomaterials Engineering
Organization: South Dakota State University

Address: Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
South Dakota State University
AE225/Box 2120
Brookings, SD 57007
USA

Telephone: 605-688-5661
FAX: 605-688-6764
E-mail: muthukum@sdstate.edu

Chapter Affiliation: South Dakota State University

Candidate's Statement: I would be honored to serve as the director of the comprehensive colleges & universities constituency group. My experience as an active officer of SDSU chapter has given me both broad view of multidisciplinary research activities in different chapters in the region. I was instrumental in nominating a record number of 13 new members to our chapter this year. I will continue to work to promote better communication between Sigma-Xi and our constituency group members. I would seek to expand the extremely effective Grants-in-Aid Research program of Sigma-Xi. I promise to give my new role all my strength, energy and experience by attending all the meetings and conferences.

Sigma Xi and Other Activities: Pres (2002-03), Pres-Elect (2001-02), Sec/Treas (1999-01), Prog Chair (1998-99) of SDSU Sigma Xi chapter; Sigma Xi's Northwest Regional Nominating Committee Member (2003-05). Chair-Elect (2002-04) of ASAE-FPE 701- Physical Prop of Agri Products committee; Chair (2002-03), Chair-Elect (2001-02), Sec (2000-01) of ASAE - FPE 703 - Food Processing committee; District 5 dir to Membership Develop Coun of ASAE. Pres (2000-02) and Vice Pres (1998-00) of Great Plains Subsection of IFT; Ed (2003-), Assoc Ed (1999-01) and Memb-at-large of Food Eng Div of IFT (2000-03). VP of Educ and Fac Adv (2000-03), Univ Toastmasters.

Biographical Information: Education: Ph. D. Agri Eng, Univ of Wisconsin-Madison, 1993; M.Eng. Agri and Food Eng, Asian Inst of Tech., Thailand, 1988; B.E (Ag). Agri Eng, Tamil Nadu Agri Univ, India, 1986; B.S. Math, Madras Univ, India, 1981. Employment: Assoc Prof, SDSU, 2001-; Asst Prof, SDSU, 1997-01; Teach Assoc & Assoc Res, UW-Madison, 1993-97; Grad Res Asst, UW-Madison, 1989-93; Res Asst, AIT, Bangkok, Thailand, 1987-89. Memberships: Am Soc of Agri Eng (1989-); Inst Food Technologists (1991-); Inst of Biol Eng (2000-); Sigma Xi (1994-); Gamma Sigma Delta (1993-); Alpha Epsilon (1989-); Soc of Rheology (1997-2000); Toastmasters Intl (1998-). Honors: Gamma Sigma Delta Res Award (2003); Sigma-Xi Res of Year Award (2001); Outstanding Agri Eng Grad Student Award, ASAE (1993); Hisamatsu prize, AIT, Thailand (1988); Netherlands Merit Scholarship, AIT, Thailand (1987); Outstanding Proj Award, Premier Irrigation Gold Medal, B.M. Lakshmipathi Medal, G.R. Varadharajulu Mem Medal, Associated Agencies Medal, TNAU, India (1986); TNAU Merit Scholarship (1982). Research: structure-function characteristics of food and biomaterials, value-added processing, food quality evaluation, and food rheology.

Name: Mary Elizabeth Strasser

Present Position: Department Chair
Organization: California State University, Sacramento

Address: Department of Anthropology
CSUS
6000 J Street
Sacramento, CA 95819-6106
USA

Telephone: 916-278-6452
FAX: 916-278-6339
E-mail: strasser@saclink.csus.edu

Chapter Affiliation: California State University at Sacramento

Candidate's Statement: At the last annual meeting of the Sigma Xi, I accepted the nomination to be the Director of the Comprehensive Colleges & Universities Constituency Group for two reasons. First, it was clear that our constituency group members enjoyed similar expectations and responsibilities and I wanted to support this venue for discussion. Second, as the current Associate Director of our group, I felt compelled to lead by example as I was also asking fellow group members to volunteer to serve the Society. I truly believe that the constituency groups are going to provide important input at all levels of our Society and am happy to be part of the ground-breaking of this reorganization.

Sigma Xi Activities: Chapter: Treasurer, (1992-present). Society: Associate Director, Comprehensive Colleges & Universities Constituency Group (2002-2003). Member, Nominating Committee of the Southwest Region of Sigma Xi (1996-1999). Chair, Nominating Committee of the Southwest Region of Sigma Xi (1997-98). Teller, Annual Meeting of Sigma Xi (1997).

Biographical Information: Education: BA (1977) and MA (1980) from University of Pittsburgh, Ph.D. (1989) from City University of New York. Honors and Fellowships include: CUNY Mina Rees Dissertation Award in the Sciences (1984); Pre-doctoral Fellow, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian (1984-85); Post-doctoral Fellow, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (1989-1990); Research Associate, American Museum of Natural History (1993-present); Research Associate, UC Davis (1991-98). Review research proposals for the National Science Foundation, The Leakey Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, among others. Regularly review manuscripts for publication in leading journals in field or for publishing houses. Research interests include: vertebrate evolution, evolutionary biology of primates, systematics and taxonomy of primates, functional morphology of locomotor system, locomotor behavior and ecology of non-human primates.