October 2008
Sigma Xi Life Member Newsletter
Welcome to your Life 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
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
MEMBERS IN THE NEWS
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.
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."
DIPANJAN PAN (SX 2008), research instructor of medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, recently received a four-year, $308,000 Scientist Development Grant from American Heart Association to study detection and quantification of ruptured plaque with fibrin-specific contrast agents and CT based molecular imaging technique.
Back to top
SOCIAL NETWORKING VIA FACEBOOK AND LINKEDIN
Sigma Xi now has its own Facebook and LinkedIn sites. The aim of the Facebook group is to inform, educate and even entertain our fellow Sigma Xi members and science enthusiasts. The group is open, so non-members can participate. This provides a broader exposure for Sigma Xi, and helps connect all of us who are interested in science. If you join, please invite your friends and colleagues who are interested in science to join the group. LinkedIn is a professional networking site that enables Sigma Xi members to build their online network of colleagues, coworkers and others sharing professional interests. Both online network groups can be accessed at: www.sigmaxi.org/member/benefits/networking.shtml.
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.
