Name: Robert Zand
Present Position: Professor of Biochemistry, Professor of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, and Research Scientist (Biophysics)
Organization: University of Michigan
Address: 930 North University Ave
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1055
USA
Telephone: 734-764-5138
FAX: 734-764-3323
E-mail: rzand@umich.edu
Chapter Affiliation: University of Michigan
Candidate's Statement: I am requesting your vote for the position of Associate Director of the Research and Doctoral Universities Constituency because I am committed to pursuing an increasingly strong visibility of Sigma Xi within the university community and the public domain. This goal is especially important today when the members of the research community are focused on their special interest areas. Academic scientists are frantically attempting to secure funding to support their research, to pay for the tax that the university assesses for laboratory space, and to maintain their faculty status. Additionally, most faculty members have no knowledge of how their university defines tenure. And, the public is unaware that many universities are instituting policies that prevent the researcher from applying to private foundations for grants because they typically pay only 10 to 20 percent for overhead; whereas, government grants pay of the order of 50 percent in overhead. While the various media report on scientific discoveries, there is no public awareness that these advances are accomplished by the faculty and their students who face serious financial and material problems in achieving these discoveries. Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, is in a unique position to become the advocate for those researchers upon whom the advancement of knowledge and technological breakthroughs depend. The excellence of the research carried out in this country is an essential resource that is slowly being eroded by a lack of funding in the U.S. in contrast to increased funding in countries like Japan, Ireland and France. I do not want to neglect our international members, but their funding mechanisms are quite different from those in the U.S. Where once the most capable foreign students strove for admission to U.S. universities, they now apply in large numbers to the universities in the above noted and other countries. Membership in Sigma Xi keeps declining each year. I attribute this in part to a lack of visibility on and off the campus. Our members need to feel that Sigma Xi is their advocate in the battle for research dollars and laboratory stability, and public recognition. Our national headquarters must raise its visibility to the general public. The Chapters must raise their visibility within their geographic community. The significance of Sigma Xi as an organization whose members are elected because of their significant contributions to the advancement of science must be revitalized. I will work to help this constituency and the national office speak out forcefully to the state and federal legislative bodies in order for them to realize that research is the foundation for the economic and scientific well-being of our country. To continuously reduce support for education and research is equivalent to the eventual destruction of an essential national resource. This constituency within Sigma Xi can assist in promoting the revitalization that will ultimately lead to its elevation rather than slow elimination from the group of honored research organizations. Therefore, I ask you to consider these issues and address your vote to me.
Sigma Xi and Other Activities: He has served as a Regional Director, and as a Director at Large. He also served on the Committee on Regions, The Board of Directors, The Executive Committee, The Search Committee for the Executive Director, The Committee on Awards, and The Committee on Membership and Qualifications. He was the primary mover in getting the Sigma Xi Board of Directors to commit to participate in the International Science and Engineering Fair.
Biographical Information: Dr. Zand earned a B.S. degree with majors in chemistry and physics, an M.S. at the Polytechnic University of New York, and after service in the army returned to graduate school and received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Brandeis University. He received an N.I.H. post- doctoral fellowship for studies in the Biochemistry Department at Harvard Medical School and, after two years, joined the newly formed Biophysics Research Division, directed by his postdoctoral mentor, at the University of Michigan. His current appointments at the University of Michigan are: Professor of Biochemistry in the Medical School, Professor of Macromolecular Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering, and Research Scientist in the Biophysics Research Division. He was elected to Sigma Xi by the Harvard-Radcliffe Chapter and, since his arrival at the University of Michigan, has held positions in the Michigan Chapter of Sigma Xi as a Council member, Chapter Secretary, Vice President and President. He has been active at the Societal level for the past 20 years with appointments on the Committee on Nominations, Committee on Membership, Committee on Qualifications, Committee on Awards, and the Committee on Programs. He was elected to serve two terms as North Central Regional Director, and two terms as Director-at-Large and in those capacities served on the Board of Directors and also served a term on the Executive Committee. In 2001-02 he served as a member of the Search Committee for the Society's new Executive Director.
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