October 2008
Sigma Xi Emeritus Member Newsletter
Emeritus Member eBlast is a monthly companion to the twice-yearly printed Emeritus Member News. We always welcome your contributions. And many thanks if you have elected to receive Emeritus Member News as an e-mailed PDF to help us save a few trees! You can make this request by e-mailing development@sigmaxi.org.
N.B.: Dates in parenthesis after Members' names denotes their year of induction into Sigma Xi.
IN THIS ISSUE
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES ADDRESS SCIENCE POLICY ISSUES
Sigma Xi is proud to be a part of Science Debate 2008, which called for the major presidential candidates to address the state of American science. Fourteen questions about science and the future were submitted to John McCain and Barack Obama. Read the questions and the candidates' responses online at:
http://www.sciencedebate2008.com
Back to top
SIGMA XI SCIENCE SESSIONS FOCUS ON GLOBAL WATER ISSUES
Saturday science sessions November 22 on the global water crisis will be a highlight of the 2008 Sigma Xi Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference in Washington, D.C. A panel discussion from 9-10 a.m. will feature PETER H. GLEICK, president of the Pacific Institute; ANDRAS SZOLLOSI-NAGY, director of UNESCO's Division of Water Sciences; PETER THUM, founder of Ethos Water; and THOMAS G. MATTIA, senior vice president of the Coca Cola Company. The panel will be moderated by MICHAEL CROSBY (1989), executive director of the National Science Board and interim vice chancellor for research at the University of Hawaii.
Afternoon workshops will be led by JON C. COOPER (1973), a scientist, lawyer and senior manager with 25 years experience in environmental conservation; VERNON MASAVESVA, executive director of Black Mesa Trust and a chief in the Hopi Tribe; COLLIN WALKER, senior environmental scientist, Geo and Hydro Environmental Management P/L; and MARK A. SHANNON (2008), James W. Bayne Professor and director of the Center for Advanced Materials for the Purification of Water with Systems, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Visit link for details: http://sigmaxi.org/about/news/2008AMSRCsat.shtml
Back to top
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
Back to top
ORGANIZATIONAL ADVANCEMENT SERVES AND SUPPORT MEMBERS
Under the leadership of Sigma Xi's executive director, the Society completed a restructuring this summer that consolidated those work areas that provide distinctive services and support to members into a single unit called Organizational Advancement. This new structure combines both domestic and international chapter and leadership development, membership qualification and benefits, philanthropic and volunteer promotion, and programs that advance eminence and excellence of the scientific endeavor including awards, lectures and ethics. Each of these programming areas requires continuous engagement and relationship building effectiveness with all segments of Sigma Xi's membership.
In announcing the restructuring, Executive Director JEROME F. BAKER (1990) said: "This new department unites these critically important autonomous functions that have one single mantra: Connect, Support and Empower all our Members." The staff in this new unit has the most direct contact with the largest pool of Sigma Xi's organizational and ad hoc volunteers including the committees on Qualification & Membership, Awards, Lectures, Education, Public Understanding of Science, Development, International, and Diversity.
"Organizational Advancement also handles non-American Scientist scheduled publications including membership specific e-newsletters, annual reports and monitoring online resources," Baker continued. "Possibly most important, these staffers do the daily communications with individual members in organizing meetings, supporting collaboration among members and problem solving on the widest range of issues facing members."
Most members of the Organizational Advancement staff have given more than 10 years, some more than 20 years, of dedicated service, Baker noted. In choosing the name for the new department the word "Organizational" was selected to reflect the administrative office's commitment to achieving greater operational efficiency and measurable outcomes for all Sigma Xi's constituencies.
PHILLIP K. CATES has been named director of organizational advancement for Sigma Xi. Visit http://sigmaxi.org/about/news/2008cates.shtml for more about him.
Describing his approach at Sigma Xi, Cates stated: "Increasing the professional and personal benefits of membership is a logical strategy for improving membership retention, but the Society's future isn't the simple balancing of a cost/benefit equation. For some it will seem cliché, but the approach I believe will advance the whole organization is to excite and empower ever widening circles of members to model the highest ethical standards, conduct the most effective research, and collaboratively expand the public's understanding that science is the pursuit of truth."
Among the challenges facing the Organizational Advancement unit will be to assist members in "sharing the honor" of membership with their protégés and peers. Sigma Xi currently inducts two members for every three that allow their membership to lapse. At present nearly 50 percent of the Society's members are 10 years away from retirement or already retired, while student membership is at a historic low.
"Both membership surveys and conversations I have had with members consistently reflect a belief that their membership has both personal and societal benefit," said Cates. "But the greatest enthusiasm and dedication to professional excellence I have found is from those that acknowledge the role of 'companionship' and hands-on work to collegially improve 'the human condition.'"
Back to top
EMERITUS MEMBERS' NEWS
ARTHUR I. SCHULMAN (1959) writes: "I retired ten years ago from the Psychology Deptartment at the University of Virginia after 33 years of service. My first book, "Websterisms" (with Harvard historian Jill Lepore), will be published by Free Press on October 14, two days before Noah Webster's 250th birthday. As a cognitive psychologist at UVA, I taught regular courses on imagery, memory and the mind of the puzzler (I am a long-time member of the National Puzzlers' League and have contributed crosswords to the New York Times for more than 50 years). Students in my courses were asked to keep journals of observation and critical commentary, and the best of these-20 years' worth-have been deposited in Special Collections at the UVA Library, where future scholars will be able to discover how undergraduates of this generation were thinking. I have not yet found a home for hundreds of my reviews of articles submitted for journal publication; I believe that archives of such material should be available to future historians of science."
MAURICIO GOIHMAN-YAHR (1963) passes along this news item: "The Colegio Ibero Latino Americano de Dermatología (Ibero-Latin American College of Dermatology) includes dermatologists from Spain, Portugal and the whole of Latin America, including Brazil and Mexico. It has biennial Congresses, and the next one will be held in Quito, Ecuador, in October. The College has decided to name as "Masters in Latin American Dermatology" a small group of 11 individuals. Those selected are from Peru, Spain, El Salvador, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and I from Venezuela."
G. DAVID THAYER (1959) of Sarasota, Florida, notes in response to a posting by ELMER EISNER (1959) that he too had never heard of Vladimir Aleksandrovich Fock and his work on Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity. But that a Google search turned up no less that 16,800 "hits" (over 30K if the quotation marks around "Special Relativity" are omitted). "It seems that Dr. Fock and his theories have attracted considerable interest among scientists in general, and physicists in particular," he says. "I am indebted to Elmer Eisner for drawing my attention to Fock's work on Relativity theory, a subject in which I have long been interested."
In ongoing consideration of the metric system, FRANK R. TANGHERLINI (1956) waxes poetic: "This is in part a reply to the amusing response of HAL HOUSER (1959) of Tucson, Arizona, arguing against metric conversion (that I advocated in a previous Emeritus Member eBlast) on poetic grounds, which contained a quote from Mother Goose about Peter Piper. It so happens, as a grandparent, one of the books I took with me from Worcester to San Diego, following my retirement from Holy Cross in 1994, was a wonderfully illustrated copy of "The Real Mother Goose." [Rand-McNally & Co. 54th Printing 1970]. I thought it would therefore be fun as a counter to Hal Houser's commentary, to go through the poems looking for ones that measured distances in British units and see if I could rewrite the lines in the metric system, without doing too much harm poetically. Here are the results. For brevity I give only the page number, title of poem and relevant lines, together with the rewrite. p.14, MONEY AND MARE. "Lend me thy mare to ride a mile."/"She is lamed, leaping over a stile." Rewrite: "To ride a kilometer lend me thy mare."/ She is lamed, leaping over a bear." p.57, TO BABYLON. How many miles is it to Babylon?--/Three score miles and ten. Rewrite: How many kilometers to Babylon?--/ Sixty kilometers and ten. p.64 THE DERBY RAM. This ram was ten yards round sir;/ indeed, he was no more; …The tail that grew from his back, sir/ was six yards and an ell. Rewrite: This ram was a decameter round sir: /indeed, he was no more: …The tail that grew from his back, sir/ was six point six meters, do tell. p.83 DAPPLE GRAY. I lent him to a lady/ To ride a mile away. Rewrite: I lent him to a lady/ A kilometer to ride away. p.102, THE CROOKED SIXPENCE. There was a crooked man, and he/ went a crooked mile, / He found a crooked sixpence be- /side a crooked stile. Rewrite: There was a crook named Peter, and he/ went a crooked meter, /He found a crooked sixpence and/bought another liter."
"Needless to say," TANGHERLINI continues, "I am not suggesting one should go out and write The Metric Mother Goose. But rather I am trying to point out we can accommodate metric conversion and indeed science, without harm to poetry. For example, in 2004 I brought out a little book of poetry entitled, "Love Is Not Always Commutative." Although it doesn't refer to the metric system, it does have some math and science in it, and indeed solves a differential equation that appeared at the heading of a poem that had appeared earlier in the The New Yorker. This morning (9/5) in the San Diego Union Tribune there was on the editorial page an article by Andres Oppenheimer of the Miami Herald entitled, What Finland Could Teach the World. And one of the facts he pointed out of relevance to the discussion here is that while Finland is No.1 in the world in 15-year old students' standardized test scores in science; the United States ranks 29. It is my hunch that making the conversion would help to improve our standing, and, as a start, as mentioned previously, I have suggested converting our football fields from 100 yards to 100 meters, for example, in a letter that was published in the American Scientist in 1996, and reported on and discussed by Beverly Orndorff of the Richmond Times-Dispatch in October 31 of that year. Regrettably, in my opinion, when 100 university presidents recently called for lowering the drinking age to 18, they failed to call for lengthening America's football fields from 100 yards to 100 meters, and thereby improve the education of our students--significantly and with very minor cost.
"On another note, with regard to the question raised by ELMER EISNER (1959) in the paragraph preceding Hal Houser's comment concerning Fock and a non-linear transformation he found that has velocities only greater than c, I should mention a much earlier work by C. Burali-Forti and T. Boggio, in Espaces Courbes, Turin (1924) who gave a LINEAR transformation analogous to the Lorentz transformation to a frame moving relative to the rest frame, but for which only speeds greater than c are allowed. However, it has some paradoxical properties."
JONATHAN GRESSEL (1962) became chief scientific officer of a new biotechnology start-up TransAlgae Ltd., devoted to developing transgenic algae for the large-scale production of biofuels and other products, while continuing to be Review Editor for the journal Plant Science, as well as lecturing widely on transgenic biosafety.
THAD P. ZALESKIEWICZ (1961) reports: "I am currently professor emeritus of physics on the Greensburg Campus of the University of Pittsburgh. One of my major accomplishments while teaching there was to co-develop a team-taught integrated science (biology, chemistry, physics) course which endeavored to make science meaningful to the non-science major. In recognition of my work at Pitt-Greensburg, I was presented the university-wide Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award. Although retired from classroom teaching, I remain active as a consultant in matters involving physics education. I am currently in my eleventh year as the elected president of the Contemporary Physics Education Project. CPEP is an organization of physics teachers, educators and researchers dedicated to bringing the excitement of contemporary physics into the introductory (high school and college) classroom. (visit: www.cpepweb.org) In recognition of my two decades of service to CPEP, I was named a FELLOW of the American Physical Society (APS) in 2007. I remain active in the APS. I am a member of the Division of Plasma Physics (DPP) National Education/Outreach Committee-the group which organizes the Teachers' Day and Plasma Science Expo associated with each annual DPP meeting. CPEP has presented
workshops at Teachers' Days since the early 1990s. Topics have included: Plasma Physics Inquiry Based Activities ,The History and Fate of the Universe, and The Sun and the Solar System. Other ongoing education activities include being physics consultant to the Math & Science Partnership of Southwest Pennsylvania. This group holds an $18 million NSF grant and is charged with enhancing the interface between high school college instruction in math and science. In addition, I have recently reviewed the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study's new online professional development course based on their text 'BSCS Science: An Inquiry Approach,' for which I was physics reviewer in 2007."
Back to top
OTHER SIGMA XI MEMBERS IN THE NEWS
XIAODONG (SHELDON) WANG (2006), associate professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the New Jersey Institute of Technology reports the recent publication by Elsevier of his book,
"Fundamentals of Fluid-Solid Interactions: Analytical and Computational Approaches." For more information: http://snipurl.com/3wsac
http://www.shodor.org/
YASUNORI MIURA (1988), with the Institute of Earth and Planetary Materials at Yamaguchi University in Japan, reports publication of a paper titled "Meteorite hazard with sick people by two explosions at the Carancas Meteorite Impact to Peruvian Highlands." The paper focuses on the much-publicized meteorite impact on September 15, 2007, after which about 30 people became ill. Miura's research indicates that immediately following impact, the hot meteor's contact with ground water caused a second explosion that released chlorine gas, and that's what made people sick.
Physics professor ROBERT PANOFF (1987), president of the non-profit Shodor Education Foundation in Durham, North Carolina, was recently profiled in the Philanthropy Journal. The article talked about his work to help educators effectively use computing technology in the teaching of math and science. The foundation's online resources receive 3 million to 4 million hits per month. For more information, visit:
http://www.shodor.org/
SHYAM S. YADAV (2006) writes: "I have been appointed chief scientist at National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) in Papua New Guinea. This is an international senior level position, which reports directly to the director general. My book, titled "Lentils: An Ancient Crop of Modern Times," has been published by Springer, The Netherlands. This is an international reference book that includes the work of more than 70 contributors from the world over. It includes a foreword by Edward Knipling, administrator, USDA-ARS. The Web link for the book is: http://www.springer.com/life+sci/plant+sciences/book/978-1-4020-6312-1
JEFF G. HOLMQUIST (1991), an associate research scientist at the University of California White Mountain Research Station, passes along the following announcement about a regional research symposium:
Climate, Ecosystems and Resources in Eastern California
Tri-County Fairgrounds, Bishop, California, November 5-8, 2008
http://www.wmrs.edu/projects/CEREC/
Increases in greenhouse emissions and other factors are bringing about climate change on a scale unknown in recorded human history. Wild land ecosystems are being directly and indirectly affected, and changes seem to be accelerating. Mountain environments of the Sierra Nevada and western Great Basin ranges serve as key but threatened water towers that provide for downhill uses near and far. Because ecosystem services are necessary for activities such as tourism, outdoor recreation, water export and agriculture, the human economy of East-Central California will probably be profoundly affected. What form will climate change take in this region? What will be the nature of ecosystem responses to climate change? How will particular plant and animal species respond? How will ecosystem changes affect services on which the human economy depends? How can resource managers and local governments deal with these changes?
These and related topics will be the subject of a three day symposium to be held November 5-8, 2008 in Bishop, California. We hope to share current research and thinking, so that scientists, resource managers and the public will gain a better understanding of what is happening and why. The symposium will include three broadly defined plenary sessions: climate and water, ecosystem responses and adaptation & mitigation (management & policy). The morning plenary sessions will be followed by 10-15 concurrent sessions organized around themes relating to the central topics. There will be an opportunity for contributed talks as well as a poster session. Field trips may be offered, either before or after the symposium, and a keynote address will be open to the public free of charge.
Four Sigma Xi members were among the 25 MacArthur fellows recently announced by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation: ANDREA GHEZ (2000) is a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California at Los Angeles. Her work has opened important windows of galactic observation by overcoming previous limitations of ground-based instruments. JOHN OCHSENDORF (1998) is an associate professor of architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a structural engineer and architectural historian who works to preserve historic structures and to reinterpret ancient technologies for contemporary use. ADAM RIESS (1992) is a professor of physics and astronomy at the Johns Hopkins University. His observations are taking us to the edge of the universe, telling the story of both its beginning and its end. MARIN SOLJACIC (1997) is an assistant professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His work on several aspects of electromagnetic waves holds implications for understanding fundamental principles of optical physics and for developing devices like switches for optical computers and wireless power transmitters.
GRACE ANN SPATAFORA (1982) in the Department of Biology at Middlebury College has been elected to the Vermont Academy of Science and Engineering.
STEPHEN H. SCHECK (1979), dean of liberal arts and sciences at Western Oregon University, will receive an alumni achievement award from the Fort Hays State University Alumni Association for his outstanding, unselfish contributions in service to the community both through his career and through philanthropy.
MARTEN DENBOER (1982) has been named provost and vice president for academic affairs at Cal Poly Pomona (formally California State Polytechnic University Pomona).
PETER SALOVEY (1985) has been named provost of Yale University effective October 1.
DIPANJAN PAN (2008), Research Instructor of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis recently received a four-year, $308,000 Scientist Development Grant from the American Heart Association to study detection and quantification of ruptured plaque with fibrin-specific contrast agents and CT based molecular imaging technique.
ROBERT BOILY (2005) has been invested as a Knight of the Order of the Pleiade by the Parliamentary Assembly of French-Speaking Nations, an international institution representing over 40 countries and regions. The official presentation ceremony of the Knight's insignia was held on July 5th 2008 at the Frontenac Castle, in Quebec City, in the presence of dignitaries from Canada, the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia. The honor was given for distinguished contribution to the development of a scientific culture in the society.
JAMES E. SMITH (1975) is a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor at West Virginia University and a director for WVU's Center for Industrial Research Applications. In March of this year, Smith was nominated as the president of SAE International for the calendar year 2009. Smith was also named a Fellow by both SAE International and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He has published on a variety of topics, including engine mechanism design; dynamics and analysis; flight vehicle development; and machine vision for several medical-related applications. Smith has also been granted 25 patents in the United States, numerous foreign patents, with 30 applications pending.
This past summer, ABUL B. KAZI (2005) , associate professor of chemistry at the University of Arkansas Pi9ne Bluff, and two chemistry undergraduate students, Kirt Durand and Amanda Lyles visited the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington under the National Science Foundation sponsored Faculty Student Team (FaST) Program. The UAPB FaST team spent ten weeks at PNNL and was engaged in cutting-edge research on hydrogen production by ethanol steam-reforming and aqueous phase reforming of biomass derived feedstocks. Ethanol steam-reforming and aqueous phase reforming are developing into promising alternatives for production of hydrogen that can be used as a renewable and environmentally friendly source of energy, reducing our dependence on fossil fuel.
Research was focused on the preparation, characterization, and testing of zirconia and zinc oxide supported cobalt and cobalt-zinc catalysts for ethanol steam reforming. Several cobalt and cobalt-zinc catalysts were prepared for this research. The FaST team also prepared a group of platinum/rhenium catalysts with varying zirconia loading to observe the effect of zirconia promoter on the performance of these catalysts.
Besides doing state of the art research, FaST students were required to attend various workshops and seminars designed to train and motivate them in continuing research and pursuing careers in areas of science and technology. "This summer experience at PNNL has been very exciting, inspiring, and rewarding for our participating students," says Dr. Kazi, "This has motivated them to continue participation in this kind of program in the future and pursue graduate or professional studies in an area of science and technology."
Back to top
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.
Back to top
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
Back to top
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
919-547-5212, or 800-243-6534, ext. 212
Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
PO Box 13975
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
www.sigmaxi.org
P.S. Want to reactivate your lapsed membership? Click here
P.P.S. If you don't wish to receive this eBlast from Sigma Xi, please e-mail us back and let us know.
Back to top | Privacy Policy | Copyright ©2013. All Rights Reserved.
