Vera Alexander
Retired Dean of the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and Professor of Marine Science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks
Vera Alexander retired as Dean of the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and Professor of Marine Science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and now holds the title Professor of Marine Science and Dean Emerita at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She also serves as the Director of the University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute and of the Pollock Conservation Cooperative Research Center, and as Assistant o the Provost for Fisheries and Ocean Science Policy. She was born in Budapest, Hungary, grew up in England and came to the United States in 1950, to enter the University of Wisconsin as a freshman. Originally planning to study chemistry, she became deeply interested in the biology of lakes, and received B.A. and M.S. degrees in zoology in 1955 and 1962 respectively. After a few years, which included time at the University of Kentucky and the University of Pittsburgh, she moved to the University of Alaska. A new Marine Science Institute had been started, and she was accepted as the first marine science graduate student. She received her PhD in marine science in 1965. She became a U.S. citizen in 1980.
Her research interests include the biological oceanography of high-latitude sea-ice impacted areas, with emphasis on ice biology, primary production and nitrogen dynamics, and high-latitude limnology. She was a pioneer in the use of nitrogen-15 in the detection and measurement of nitrogen fixation natural waters, ultimately extending the work to arctic and alpine tundra terrestrial systems as well. In this regard, she has worked in the Canadian high arctic and also in Lapland.
After a career on the faculty, she eventually became Director of the Institute of Marine Sciences, and then Dean of the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1987; she continued to hold a tenured position as Professor of Marine Science as well. The School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences is an unusual entity, with responsibilities for research in the ocean and freshwater sciences, and in fisheries as well as seafood science and technology, instruction at all levels from the baccalaureate to doctoral, and extension services through the Marine Advisory Program. Faculty members are based at more than 10 distinct sites, separated by many hundreds of miles.
She is a member of numerous professional organizations, and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow of the Arctic Institute of North America, and also a Fellow of the Explorers Club. She became a member of Sigma Xi in 1974. She has served on the National Research Council's Ocean Sciences and Polar Research Boards, and has chaired the advisory Committee for the Ocean Sciences Division of the National Science Foundation. In 1999, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Hokkaido University in Japan.
She currently serves on the United States Marine Mammal Commission, the International Scientific Steering Committee for the Census of Marine Life, and the U.S. National Committee for the Census of Marine Life, and is serving second two-year terms as Chairman of the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) and President of the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States. She also currently chairs the Sigma Xi International Committee
Candidate's Statement - Vera Alexander
Sigma Xi is an organization with a clear and focused mission of supporting scientists and scientific research. I am convinced that it is the premier society in promoting and enhancing scientific careers at all levels, while also fostering science in the national and international spheres. It reflects the high standards of its leaders and members, while embracing young, promising scientists into its ranks. There can be no more important mission today than nurturing young scientists. The demands on scientific research and for scientific knowledge are increasing, and while this is good, the expectations also are often too optimistic. Science is viewed as a solution to pragmatic questions, and yet results are sometimes questioned when they do not support a political agenda. Scientific results must be able to withstand scrutiny and science must produce the understanding needed as a basis for action. It is disturbing, though, to find politicians trivializing scientific results because they do not support their particular agenda.
In my own field of marine science, scientists are wrestling with the definition of a politically dictated approach to fisheries management - that is, ecosystem-based management. A tremendous challenge is presented in designing and carrying out the extremely complex (and expensive) systems scientific research that is required to support this approach, and as a result in many cases the management actions are ecosystem-based in name only and not really supported by the results of scientific research. While scientific research has an enormous role to play in addressing such real and urgent problems of society, at the same time the opportunities for exploring the limits of knowledge have become vast. It is an exciting time, given the tools and techniques available for the most basic and fundamental research as well as for studying the oceans, atmosphere and space.
I am very interested in promoting an appreciation and love of science at all levels of education. A scientifically literate population is important not only because understanding will foster support for science, but also because such literacy is needed in support of effective government and policies. Similarly, international cooperation is critical in the modern world. As an oceanographer, I have faced the impossibility of unilaterally studying processes in a region where currents flow across national boundaries, and where marine animals migrate across as well. These two areas are already being addressed by Sigma Xi, and will be among my emphases, if elected President of Sigma Xi.
The Chapters of Sigma Xi must play the primary role in promoting scientific education and literacy. It is important that we continue to promote and support them. They are the backbone of the organization. The national incentives and programs also are critical, as is the increasing international focus.
In closing, I want to congratulate the Society for its high quality journal, the American Scientist. There is no other general scientific publication that comes near to covering the range of topics with such high quality articles. It truly reflects the excellence of the organization. I would be proud to serve as President.
James W. Porter, Ph.D.
Josiah Meigs Professor of Ecology, Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia
I received my B.S. with Honors in Biology from Yale in 1969. My undergraduate focus was on high altitude insect populations (at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Crested Butte, CO). After a summer of field work at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, I switched my research emphasis to the ecology and physiology of marine invertebrates. I now work subtidally, on the one environment on earth without insects. At Yale I received the John Spangler Nicolas Award for Yale's Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation (1973).
My first academic appointment was as an Assistant Professor of Natural Resources (1973) at the University of Michigan. This appointment helped me to learn the intimate connection between science, policy, and preservation. In 1977 I moved to my present position in the Institute of Ecology at the University of Georgia. While at Georgia, I have served as the Associate Director for Academic Affairs, Graduate Coordinator, and Curator of Invertebrates in the Georgia Museum of Natural History. In 2004 I became Meigs Professor of Ecology.
I have been a life member of Sigma Xi since 1972 and currently serve as President of the University of Georgia Chapter. I have received both the University of Georgia's Creative Research Award (1983) and Outstanding Teaching Award (2004). This year I received the Ecological Society of America's 2005 Eugene P. Odum Award. From 1975 to 1980 I served as Editor of Ecology and Ecological Monographs; this experience should help in the president's leadership role with our premier journal, American Scientist.
Because I view communication as one of the cornerstones of science, I spend a considerable amount of time sharing my research findings with the general public and with elected officials. Our discovery of a fecal coliform bacterium as the causal agent of coral disease in the Florida Keys was widely reported and has influenced the upgrade of wastewater treatment facilities throughout the Florida Keys. I have testified before Congress (1992, 1998, and 2004) and have given on-camera interviews to ABC World News Tonight, CBS Sunday Morning, and PBS's Jim Lehrer News Hour. I am an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Naturalists, and an active member of the Explorers Club.
In 1985, I helped to organize the Fifth International Coral Reef Symposium, in Papeete, Tahiti, and I am an official organizer of the Eleventh International Coral Reef Symposium, which will be held in Boca Raton, FL in 2008. I am on the Board of Directors for Reef Relief, in Key West, and from 1982 - 1983, served as Director for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature / World Wildlife Fund's Marine Campaign. If elected, I will almost certainly be the only Sigma Xi President to have logged over 4,000 scuba dives and be mixed-gas certified.
I am currently working on the population biology and disease ecology of reef-building corals. My recent books include: J.W. Porter and K.G. Porter, (Eds.) 2002. The Everglades, Florida Bay, and Coral Reefs of the Florida Keys. CRC Press; Boca Raton; and Porter, J.W. (Ed.) 2001. The Ecology and Etiology of Newly Emerging Marine Diseases. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.
Candidate's Statement - James W. Porter
Science needs a strong voice to articulate the power of the scientific method. Our society needs to help the public understand what science is. By emphasizing what we do best, Sigma Xi can dispel myths.
Viable societies need to be about the future, not the past. The Board of Directors agree that Sigma Xi is a global society, a society that fosters scientific ideas among all scientists, regardless of national identities. Sigma Xi is a society united by scientific agendas, not national or political agendas. As described in the March-April, 2005 issue of American Scientist, Sigma Xi has agreed to help the United Nations empanel a scientific working group focused on global climate change. I embrace Sigma Xi's willingness to articulate a scientific perspective on global challenges. I teach ecology annually in Costa Rica, a country that, for the most part, has recognized the intimate relationship between economic health and environmental health. All countries on earth must do this.
U.S. science education is at risk. The assault on what may and may not be taught in schools and what may and may not be printed in text books strikes at the heart of the next generation's ability to lead in an increasingly technological and globalized society. Sigma Xi should be viewed as a leader in promoting quality science education. This year I won the Ecological Society of America's Eugene P. Odum Award for Excellence in Teaching. Two of my undergraduate students have won Rhodes Scholarships, one is a full professor at Harvard (Dr. Colleen Cavanaugh), one is a professor at the University of Michigan (Dr. John Lehman), and another is at University of Georgia (Dr. Cathy Pringle). The Odum Award was the end result of a life time of dedication to the next generation of scientists who will affect the biotic and cultural resources of our planet. A sustainable future means having a future. Sigma Xi should be a strong voice for promoting quality science instruction, and the welfare and wellbeing of science teachers everywhere.
Our Society needs to address its declining membership. Vibrant chapters produce steady enrollment. At the University of Georgia, where I am the current President of our Chapter, we have an active and growing membership. I believe that this is due to the sponsorship of well attended public lectures, an emphasis on undergraduate and graduate student activities, and a highly visible involvement in the state science fair. Visibility on the global stage could also increase Sigma Xi's membership.
Integrity and honesty are the hallmarks of science. It's how we tell fact from fiction. Sigma Xi should promote the highest ethical standards in the conduct of science. Sigma Xi may also have a societal role to play in reminding the public that facts matter. The right to vote is touted as the core freedom of a democracy. Actually, it is the right to know. When the line between science fact and science fiction is intentionally blurred, we do not have a democracy. The issues are serious; Sigma Xi's response should be too.
If knowledge can create problems, then it is not through ignorance
that we will solve them.
Asaac Asimov
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