September 2008
Sigma Xi Emeritus Member Newsletter
Welcome to your Emeritus Member eBlast. This communiqué depends on your news and views. So e-mail us now at development@sigmaxi.org. We always welcome your contributions.
N.B.: Dates in parenthesis after Members' names denotes their year of induction into Sigma Xi.
IN THIS ISSUE
DAVID SCHOONMAKER NAMED EDITOR OF AMERICAN SCIENTIST
After a year at the helm as acting editor of American Scientist magazine, DAVID R. SCHOONMAKER has been named editor of Sigma Xi's flagship publication. His appointment follows a 15-year tenure as managing editor of the magazine. In all, Schoonmaker has 35 years of experience in magazine production that includes serving as executive editor of Rodale's Men's Health Newsletter and technical editor for Mother Earth News. He has also written or edited seven books.
"I am not a scientist," Schoonmaker said, "but I have a deep and abiding love for and interest in science. Growing up with a geologist father, I could tell a syncline from an anticline by age six. Working for American Scientist is the best job any editor could hope for. I am privileged to work with talented colleagues and the world's best scientists to produce a magazine I'm passionate about-one that I believe is the best of its kind."
In making the announcement, Sigma Xi Executive Director JERRY BAKER said: "We believe that David Schoonmaker has the leadership skills and vision necessary to keep American Scientist at the forefront in scientific publishing. He has demonstrated through his extensive experiences his ability and devotion to scientific writing which will enhance our efforts to serve our members and the public with informative feature articles and coverage of emerging technologies." Visit www.americanscientist.org for more about the magazine.
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SIGN-UP REMINDER FOR AMERICAN SCIENTIST ONLINE
A reminder that you must register to take advantage of all the new features and options offered by American Scientist's new Web site, even if you were registered formerly. Visit the Welcome area to get started: http://www.americanscientist.org/about/page/welcome It only takes a minute. To assist you through the sign-up and subsequent login procedures, here's a PDF that we hope will be helpful: http://www.sigmaxi.org/amscionline/login.pdf
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ANNUAL MEETING ONLINE REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
The 2008 Sigma Xi Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference in Washington, D.C., will feature talks by Jet Propulsion Laboratory Director CHARLES ELACHI (1975), Inforex President ROBERT BOILY (2005), General Motors engineer PATRICK USORO (1979) and University of Oxford mathematician MASON PORTER (1997). The meeting will be held November 20-23 at the Marriott Renaissance Hotel. For more information: http://www.sigmaxi.org/meetings/annual/index.shtml
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SCIENCE IN THE NEWS CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARY
This year marks the 10th anniversary of Science in the News, Sigma Xi's free daily and weekly e-newsletters that provide concise roundups of science and technology news from the mainstream media. Each weekday, we survey more than 30 media outlets to select 10 top news items for the daily e-mail bulletin. The weekly version presents highlights from the previous week. Subscribers say both are time-savers, helping them to keep up with the fast-paced world of discovery. Help us celebrate this 10-year milestone by spreading the word! Teachers say Science in the News is especially useful in the classroom. Anyone can sign up by creating a free account here: http://snipurl.com/2yi1l
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VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITES
DAVID L. VENEZKY (1956) of Alexandria, Virginia, writes: "There have been several mentions of volunteer programs in the past such as RE-SEED that encourage emeritus members to assist in K-12 schools. I would like to bring a new program to the attention of members who would like to assist teachers in K-12 schools or start a volunteer program in their community. The program was developed by the Senior Scientists and Engineers group of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. There are two programs in the Washington, D.C., area in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in Maryland and Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) in Virginia. More information about the program can be found at www.aaas.org/programs/education/SSE/activities/overview. The MCPS program is in its fourth year, and the FCPS program is in its second year."
Do you know of similar programs or other volunteer opportunities in your geographic area? Let us know! We'll pass along the information in future Emeritus Member eBlasts.
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EMERITUS MEMBERS' NEWS
ANNIE LAURA SMITH (1963) of Huntsville, Alabama, has been writing stories, articles, curriculum and test materials, and books for young readers since her retirement from university teaching (University of Florida and University of Texas at Dallas) and the computer industry. Living Waters Publishing Company will publish her young adult novel, "First Place, Love," later this year. The story is set on the Gulf Coast of Florida and centers around a high school science fair. She continues to visit classrooms to discuss her WWII historical trilogy, "The Legacy of Bletchley Park," "Will Paris Burn?" and "Saving da Vinci," and speaks at writers' conferences about writing historical fiction.
Many scientists find it difficult to retire. After spending more than 45 years as a pharmacologist in industry and academic institutions, ALEXANDER SCRIABINE (1981) of Guilford, Connecticut, edited and published two scientific journals (Cardiovascular Drug Reviews and CNS Drug Reviews) for another 12 years, and now, after a second retirement at 81, he started a new venture (www.pharmexperts.com), a Web site devoted to video interviews with colleagues on the subject of drug discovery and development. This occupation keeps him busy at his own pace and helps him to stay in touch with new scientific developments in the area of his expertise. He recommends that other retired colleagues consider starting similar Web sites in other scientific disciplines.
ELMER EISNER (1959) of Houston, Texas, is on a physics quest. "Quite a few years ago, I read an article by V. Fock in which he rederived Special Relativity using the requirement which Einstein had not mentioned, that timing required a discontinuity. In addition to the Lorentz transformations, he found a nonlinear Moebius transformation that also satisfied his axioms. Since it had no associated less than c velocity, he regarded it as non-physical, but did mention it in his book "Space, Time and Gravitation." Recently, wondering if this might be of interest with regard to entanglement, I contacted some of those who I thought would be familiar with this. Not a one knew of this item, or expressed any interest. I do not question their judgment, but I am puzzled that no one I contacted was aware of this result. It occurred to me that a posting in the Emeritus Member News might uncover someone who knew of this work."
In our last issue, FRANK R. TANGHERLINI (SX 1956) wrote that since retiring from teaching physics and the history and philosophy of science, he has "continued to urge the complete conversion of the U.S. to the metric system." He proposed that the lengthening of our high school, college and university football fields to 100 meters would be an important step in this direction.
That prompted a poetical response from HAL HOUSER (1959) of Tucson, Arizona: "As with weight measures, the British system lends itself to much more imaginative use of volume measures than the metric system. I will illustrate this by reciting a nursery rhyme I'm sure is familiar. 'Kinky Carl collected a kilogram of corned chipotle; a kilogram of corned chipotle kinky Carl collected. If kinky Carl collected a kilogram of corned chipotle, where is the kilogram of corned chipotle kinky Carl collected?' It doesn't strike a chord? Suppose I replace this metric system alliteration with the following: 'Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers; a peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where is the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?'"
Houser continues, "It seems to me that peck has a clear advantage as a unit of measure over kilogram and also seems to have more character. To illustrate further, can you imagine saying to your loved one 'I love you 29 liters and 7 1/4 liters.'? 'I love you a bushel and a peck' has a much better ring to it and won't elicit a response like 'What, are you a number freak?' I rest my case in favor of the British-American system and would not hide my light under a 29 liter pail when a bushel was available."
In July, STEPHEN C. Y. LIU (1958) of Potomac, Maryland, professor emeritus of microbiology and molecular biology at the University of Michigan, traveled by invitation to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. "First, I spoke in a workshop for 50 some professionals from Southeast Asia on their role in worldwide Christian services. As we know, there are many restricted countries which do not allow Christian missionaries or clergymen to serve in their professional fields. Yet, due to the fact that these countries in the Third World have been developing their educational/scientific/social/religious work, they do need well-trained professionals. In fact, advertisements from time to time either in professional magazines or news media ask for professionals irrespective of their religious convictions to come. The Chinese professionals are very much welcome, with good salaries and other benefits. So, the Chinese professionals in either U.S. or Southeast Asia should take advantage of the opportunities. On July 28, through the arrangement by SinChow Daily Newspaper and The Research Society of Malaysia Bible Seminary, I conducted a Seminar on 'Embryonic Stem Cells for Cloning Humans: Controversies and Challenges,' with 200 some attendants. With illustrations I presented a simple yet comprehensive review of where we stand in the U.S. pertaining to embryonic stem cell research and their application in therapeutic cloning. The response was overwhelmingly enthusiastic. At the end, so many questions were asked by the participants. I personally thought that this was a profitable and useful dissemination of scientific knowledge. By way of Taiwan, I returned to Potomac, Maryland, on August 1. The trip was short in terms of time, and long in terms of miles traveled."
DANIEL C. O'CONNELL (1953) of St. Louis, Missouri, professor emeritus of psychology at Georgetown University, and his European co-author, Sabine Kowal (linguistics, Technical University of Berlin), have a book coming out in September titled "Communicating with One Another: Toward a Psychology of Spontaneous Spoken Discourse" (New York: Springer). Internet descriptions, as well as order blanks, are available at Amazon and Springer.
R. VANETTE HAMILTON (1988) writes: "I read nearly all the articles in American Scientist and subscribe to the online Emeritus Member News. Gone, but not to science, until they pry the rock hammer out of my cold dead hands. (I'm a geologist.)"
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OTHER SIGMA XI MEMBERS IN THE NEWS
WILLIAM A. TRAMONTANO (1979) has been named Brooklyn College's new provost and vice-president for academic affairs.
WILLIAM "BUD" BAESLACK (1999) has been appointed provost at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He currently serves as dean of engineering at Ohio State University.
ALLEN SESSOMS (1968) has been named president of the University of the District of Columbia. He currently serves as the president of Delaware State University.
JAN YARRISON-RICE (1991), professor of physics, has been named Miami University's Sigma Xi Researcher of the Year for 2008. Her research focuses on the physics of nanostructures, investigating the fabrication and optical characterization of nanostructures and devices.
MICHAEL P. TOGLIA (1977) retired August 31 after 30 years on the faculty of SUNY Cortland. He is considered to be at the forefront of research in the fields of human cognition and information processing. Toglia will earn the designation of professor emeritus of psychology. He plans to move to Jacksonville, Florida, where he will chair the Psychology Department at the University of North Florida.
JEFFREY SCOTT VITTER (1983) has been named provost and executive vice president for academics at Texas A&M University.
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SIGMA XI'S WATER BLOG-A CALL FOR PAPERS
If you have a background in water research, please share your expertise by writing a white paper (1,000 words max) that can be posted on the Sigma Xi Web site and possibly disseminated to other audiences. A list of suggested topics, author guidelines and deadline information is available online: http://water.sigmaxi.org/?page_id=68
And while you're on the water blog site, listen to our fourth podcast for Sigma Xi's Year of Water, an interview with PETER GLEICK, founder and president of the Pacific Institute (http://water.sigmaxi.org). Gleick will be a guest panelist Saturday, November 22, at the 2008 Sigma Xi Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference in Washington, D.C.
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SIGMA XI AWARD NOMINATIONS DUE OCTOBER 1
Just a reminder that October 1 is the nomination deadline for prestigious annual Sigma Xi awards that recognize excellence in research and communication. For award guidelines, a list of past recipients and other information, visit: http://www.sigmaxi.org/programs/prizes/index.shtml.
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EMERITUS PIPELINE ONLINE
The newly launched Emeritus Pipeline provides an interactive online forum for our emeriti members. Join in the conversation! And by all means let us know if we can improve the Emeritus Pipeline in any way by sending your suggestions to development@sigmaxi.org.
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SEND US YOUR SPARK?
Keep those Sparks coming! We continue to receive anecdotes about what initially sparked your interest in science or engineering. We plan to share these stories and perhaps create some new sparks for the next generation of researchers. The Sparks collection will be updated again later this fall. So it's not too late to submit yours. Please send your stories, to: development@sigmaxi.org
The third version of What Was Your Spark? is now available at:
http://www.sigmaxi.org/member/newsletters/spark-ver3.pdf
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WHAT'S YOUR NEWS?
We always welcome your contributions to the monthly eNewsletters. Send your newsletter contributions to: development@sigmaxi.org
Interim Editor: Charles Blackburn
cblackburn@sigmaxi.org
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