Report of the President
for the Year ending June 30, 2008

My year as president of Sigma Xi has been one of transition for the Society as we successfully completed our search for a new executive director. In April, Jerome F. Baker began his new duties at our administrative offices in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.

A Sigma Xi member since 1990, Jerry is the former chief executive officer of the Federation of Animal Science Societies and also a former executive director and treasurer of the American Society of Animal Science. He is a recognized leader in animal genetics and has served on the faculties of the University of Georgia, Texas A&M University and the University of Nebraska. He has edited three books, written more than 50 journal articles and served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Animal Science and the Professional Animal Scientist. His research has involved collaborative projects between various state and federal agencies as well as colleagues around the world. We are delighted to have someone with his knowledge and experience in this key leadership position and wish him well in his endeavors on our behalf.

Sigma Xi has much to be proud of this year:

• The Society published an online report called Embracing Globalization: Meeting the Challenges to U.S. Scientists and Engineers, highlights of which appeared as a special insert in American Scientist. It was based on a National Science Foundation workshop for which Sigma Xi brought together 70 researchers, educators and industry representatives, along with 40 NSF staff.

• Sigma Xi joined forces with the WGBH Educational Foundation to launch a Web site at sciencecafe.org to promote the growing Science Café movement. Scientists and engineers share their expertise at Science Cafés with members of the public at restaurants, pubs, coffee shops, science museums and other friendly venues. Sigma Xi chapters are leading the way in this important movement.

• American Scientist added to its showcase of awards from the Society of National Association Publications. A feature article called "Safer Salads" and the cover illustration for the September-October 2007 issue were both honored. These add to the many awards that our magazine has received for editorial, design and illustration quality in recent years.

• Our magazine also underwent a major redesign of its Web site, which has more than 1 million visitors annually. If you haven't already registered on the new site, I urge you to do so, in order to take advantage of all the new features and options.

• American Scientist magazine awarded its first George Bugliarello Prize to three North Carolina State University researchers. The new prize honors a superior interdisciplinary essay, review of research or analytical article published in American Scientist.

• This year marked the 10th anniversary of Science in the News, Sigma Xi's free daily and weekly e-newsletters, which provide concise round-ups of science and technology news from the mainstream media, with links to the original articles.

• Sigma Xi underwent a major restructuring of its financial assets and focused on streamlining its operations. As an example, to contain costs, we have reduced headquarters staff by 15 fulltime employees in the past three years-a third of the total. We have also reduced contributions to the staff retirement program and suspended raises. Meanwhile, we continue our development and fund-raising efforts and are actively seeking new sources of funding through strategic alliances and partnerships.

• To build on our well-attended and successful annual meeting in Orlando, we introduced the idea of having a theme to our Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference this November. Our year-long focus on critical water issues has included a student film competition, solicitation of white papers on the topic and a relevant article in American Scientist have all been facets of this initiative.

These are just a few points of pride for the organization. But as outgoing president, I also want to acknowledge the extraordinary financial challenges that dog us. Squeezed between declining membership and rising costs, Sigma Xi faces unprecedented challenges that are coming at us with unprecedented intensity and at an unprecedented rate. In his seminal work, Bowling Alone (Simon Schuster; 2000), Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam identified a worldwide trend toward the decline in the health of social organizations and learned societies. Waning membership and reduced participation in group activities have become universal litanies of once seemingly invincible organizations. For Sigma Xi, the irony is that rapid and simpler means of communication in the 21st Century have not facilitated the success of our society, which is built on the communication of ideas. Understanding the irreplaceable role that societies play in the transmission of knowledge and values to the next generation, Putman calls these declines "a crisis at the heart of our civilization."

Sigma Xi's mission, to foster the discovery and communication of scientific truths to an interdisciplinary community of scientists and engineers, continues to be both powerful and relevant. As Daniel Boorstein, past director of the Library of Congress, stated, "We are drowning in facts, but we are starved for knowledge." Sigma Xi, through the activities of its chapters, its student research programs and its award-winning publications, supplies a much needed intellectual commodity and at a most needed time: it supplies wisdom.

It is impossible for me to overemphasize how acutely aware of the predicament and how fully engaged in addressing it the Sigma Xi staff and elected leadership are. We must also emphasize the need for the membership to support these efforts. We are all rowing upstream, and we are certain of at least one thing: we must all row together.

James W. Porter
President 2007-2008

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