Vol. 2, Issue 1
January 2008

Sigma Xi Member Newsletter

Welcome to the monthly Member Newsletter. This communiqué depends on your news and views. So e-mail us now, at kgreenaway@sigmaxi.org. We always welcome your contributions.

And a very happy New Year from all of us here at Sigma Xi!

IN THIS ISSUE

• Looking Ahead to 2008 for Sigma Xi
• Member Spotlight
• Members' News
• Got Advice for your Fellow Members?
• Social Networking via Facebook and LinkedIn
• Career Upheaval: What Can We Learn?
• Commentary: A Lesson in Humility, by Shalabh Goyal (2007), Ph.D.
• What's Your News?

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2008 FOR SIGMA XI

We will be sharing exciting changes throughout the year with you.

We have instituted a Bylaw task force that will recommend changes to our Society's bylaws. This will be one of the most important accomplishments of our times, for our bylaws have some anachronistic constraints that keep us from adapting to changing environments and from conducting Society business in the most efficient manner. The Task Group is large and will work in small groups to accomplish the changes. The group encompasses all constituencies as to achieve a fair representation for the Society membership. Kelly O. Sullivan (1996) is chairing the group.

As we begin the New Year, we will move forward with a call to action from our members: BRING CRITICAL SCIENCE ISSUES INTO THE CONVERSATION AT ALL LEVELS - school, media, public, legislative, personal, economic - pay attention to the science of science policy! Apply the principles of scientific integrity to the communication of science!

Your responses (7,000!) to the member survey have given the Society a powerful direction to use the talents of its outstanding scientists and engineers. Click this link for an overview of the survey.

In 2008 we will focus on what many consider the most critical issue in science today—WATER. The science, policy, and ethics aspects are monumental but Sigma Xi is up to the challenge.

Look for:

• White papers on the Sigma Xi Web site that will be widely disseminated
• High profile science cafes, for the benefit of the public
• A blog site
• An issue of American Scientist highlighting water issues
• Podcasts
• A Web space for member writings and presentations on the topic
• Student research posters on water at the annual student research conference
• A forum sponsored by the International Committee on water issues
• The Annual Meeting in D.C. in November will be theme based around water
• And a bonus: a student science film competition on water that will be screened at the annual meeting and posted on the Web site!

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MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Chemists Journey to Colombia

Last semester, Illinois State University (ISU) professors Marjorie A. Jones (1986) and David L. Cedeño (2003), department of chemistry, and bone scholar student Mark W. Wirtz (2005) visited Universidad de Caldas in Manizales, Colombia. Jones and Cedeño were invited by Amalia Rios, the director of research and the graduate program in chemistry at Universidad de Caldas, to provide training in biochemistry and quantum chemistry to their graduate students and faculty. Twenty graduate students and faculty attended short, intensive, specialized courses.

David Cedeño, Amalia Rios, Marjorie Jones and Mark Wirtz

Jones emphasized practical laboratory applications of biochemical concepts. She was assisted by Wirtz, who also served as a translator. Cedeño emphasized the practical uses of quantum chemistry (spectroscopy and computational chemistry). Additionally, each presented a seminar to the faculty and students of the chemistry department. Wirtz presented: Leishmaniasis in Mankind; Jones presented Coproporphyrinogen Oxidase: A Very Interesting Enzyme; and Cedeño presented Properties and Applications of Novel Porphyrinoid Compounds. The visit also served to discuss two current research projects funded by the vice president of research at Universidad de Caldas and the ISU College of Arts and Sciences (via the Program of Excellence Award on photodynamic enhancement of compounds). The synthesis of compounds will be carried out by collaborators in Colombia, while preliminary testing against Leishmania will be carried out in ISU laboratories during the 2008 year. Leishmania are protozoan parasites that infect a variety of hosts ranging from reptiles to humans leading to leishmaniasis, a disease that affects the skin, mucosa and/or internal organs. Approximately 1.5 million new cases are documented each year, and there is a critical need for better therapies. Finally, Jones, Cedeño and Wirtz visited with the president of Universidad de Caldas to discuss the benefits of an inter-institutional agreement and participated in the production of a short documentary that Universidad de Caldas is putting together emphasizing the prospective outcome of this international collaboration.

Who's in Your Stamp Collection?
Four titans of 20th century American science, and all of them members of Sigma Xi, are due to be celebrated in stamps issued by the U.S. Postal Service in April. Due for self-adhesive glory are physicist John Bardeen (1929), inventor of the transistor; astronomer Edwin Hubble (1917), who showed that the universe contains galaxies other than our own; molecular chemist Linus Pauling (1925), who charted the chemical bonds linking atoms to molecules; and biochemist Gerty Cori (1932), without whom we would never have known how cells convert food into energy (can you catch the problem with the equation on her stamp?). An earlier edition of the series honored geneticist Barbara McClintock (1924), mathematician John von Neumann (1933), physicist Richard Feynman (1939) and thermodynamicist Josiah Willard Gibbs.

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MEMBERS' NEWS

Urbano Fra (1998) of the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, has joined the Spanish Scientific Committee of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP).

Crystal R. Icenhour (2006), Ph.D., has been elected to serve as chair of the board of directors of the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA). Her two-year term of service on the NPA Board began January 1, 2008. Icenhour is president/director of research for Phthisis Diagnostics, located in Charlottesville, Virginia. She also serves as executive director for Marafiki Foundation, also located in Charlottesville. Icenhour has been a member of the NPA Board since 2005, and served as vice chair in 2007. She conducted postdoctoral research at Duke University Medical Center between 2005 and 2006, and in the thoracic diseases research unit at the Mayo Clinic from 2002-2005. She has contributed to other postdoctoral associations, including the Duke University Postdoctoral Association (chair of membership committee) and the Mayo Research Fellows Association Executive Committee (president). Icenhour received her Ph.D. in pathobiology and molecular medicine from the University of Cincinnati Medical School of Graduate Studies in 2002. "As chair of the 2008 NPA board of directors, my goal is to provide strong leadership as the NPA facilitates implementation of postdoctoral policies that promote positive change in the U.S. postdoctoral experience and research enterprise," Icenhour noted. "We have made tremendous strides toward this goal since our inception in 2002, and I look forward to leading the way as we move forward."

Farid G. Mitri (2007) has been awarded the Lebanese National Order in tribute to his numerous accomplishments and contributions in both medicine and science and for his work at the Mayo Clinic at the College of Medicine. Mitri received the award at Lebanon's Baabda Presidential Palace by the president of Lebanon, General Emile Lahoud.

Anna B. Nagurney (1982), a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has received a Fulbright grant to serve as a senior specialist in business administration at the University of Catania in Italy in March. Nagurney is the John F. Smith Memorial Professor of operations management at the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst and director of the Virtual Center for Supernetworks. During her two weeks at the University of Cataniah, Nagurney will give graduate and undergraduate lectures, conduct a workshop and evaluate curricular and educational materials, including datasets. The theme of her project is Complex Networks and Vulnerability Analysis: From Innovations in Theory to Education and Practice. Nagurney will address a variety of applications, including congested urban and other transportation networks, electric power generation and distribution networks, supply chains, financial networks and the Internet.

John E. Page (2006) writes: "I have a broad and diverse scientific background due to the wide variety of interests that I have in science, from earth science to the life sciences. Astronomical science and all that it entails is also of great interest to me. I think that as we gain more in-depth knowledge of these individual areas of science, that ultimately we will be forced to consider these separate fields as functioning as one body, if you will, in order to continue to discover e.g., new drugs (natural and synthetic), drug development strategies, interactions between human and wildlife and that one depends on the other, etc... I started my career in science in the field of veterinary medicine, working with small domestic animals and then progressed to an interest in genetics (more specifically, genetic engineering) and cancer research. I spent a total of about 14 years in various aspects of cancer research, from genetic toxicology to chemical carcinogenesis, working on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with the National Cancer Institute. As events unfolded in my life's pursuits, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to bring my love of wildlife and molecular biology together into one job which saw advances in species (mainly mammalian) identification and classification as well as novel techniques in 'ancient' DNA acquisition. My current position is with the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), working on certain biological agents. I am also in the process of establishing a business partnership that consults and does research in the areas of wildlife conservation and ecotoxicology."

Bilal A. Ramay (2003), Ph.D., M.B.A., Eur.Chem., C.Sci., C.Chem., F.R.S.C., Mu Kappa Tau, has recently joined the Addis Pharmaceutical Factory (APF) at Adigrat, Ethiopia, as general manager. Ramay has 32 years' experience in research, as a senior lecturer, general manager, operations director and technical director in the pharmaceutical industry for marketing and plant operations. His new responsibilities include planning and controlling activities of all areas of the company. The APF is one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in Ethiopia, producing all type of dosage forms as per international/pharmacopeia standards. Ramay can be contacted at drbilalramay@yahoo.com.

Robert C. Titus (1971), of the Hartwick College geology department, has published his third book on the geology of the Catskills and Hudson Valley. The Other Side of Time is an anthology of selected articles that he has published in the popular press over the past 17 years. Titus regularly writes popular geology columns for local newspapers and magazines. He has chosen 39 of his favorites for this book.

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GOT ADVICE FOR YOUR FELLOW MEMBERS?

John E. Page (2006) asks: "What groups/organizations award grants for wildlife toxicology/ecotoxicology and disease transmission?" If you have any advice for John, please e-mail him at: john.page6@us.army.mil.

Carolyn B. Black (1970) asks: "Who do you know that might be interested in two environmentally oriented projects in China? A friend has patents on: 1) devices to snuff out coal mine fires in China that have been burning as long as 200 years, and on 2) biofitration of water systems. He is looking for investors. These both seem like worthy causes." If you have any advice, please contact Carolyn at: cbblack27@aol.com.

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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, co-workers and others sharing professional interests. Both networking groups can be accessed online.

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CAREER UPHEAVAL - WHAT CAN WE LEARN?

Last month, D. Curtis (Curt) Deno (1975), a scientist with St. Jude Medical in St. Paul, Minnesota, e-mailed with an excellent suggestion. "I would encourage a mix of the informative career vignettes, with short but polite versions of career upheaval stories." Deno believes he would "feel better connected with the body of scientists in this way." He also thought that many of us could learn not from, say, others' misfortunes, but from lessons learned from a career upheaval. We asked you to send your career upheaval stories to us.

Alfred B. (Fred) Bortz (1986) (www.fredbortz.com) was the first to respond. He wrote: "I understood the risks when I set out on the path that would upset my career 10 years later. As a Ph.D. physicist, I knew that success in the traditional academic sense depended on becoming expert in a narrow area and pursuing that to the ultimate degree. But I also knew that was not for me. My interests then, as now, were broad. Once I reached a comfortable level of expertise on a topic, to me it became a well-enough-solved problem, and I had little interest in exploring its arcana. That attitude led me in mid-career to an academic staff position. I became a liaison to sponsors and provided public outreach in an important research center of a major university. When that center's work provided the topic of my first book for young readers, it was natural for me to move toward pre-college outreach. On one hand, my work in that area was valued by the university, but on the other hand, it cost money. I needed to go after outside grants, and that placed me in competition with some tenure-track faculty. I soon recognized that I was going too far out on a limb for that university, and I started looking for a safe haven when that limb would break, as it inevitably did (with some help from a Machiavellian colleague). I was able to land a research faculty job in a nearby school of education--only to discover that my patron, the dean, was besieged by his faculty. When he got caught in an indiscretion, he was justifiably forced to resign his position. At age 52, I found that my job was evaporating. Fortunately, I had been thinking for some time about how I might become a full-time writer. I had also been preparing financially. Our life circumstances were such that we could scale down and survive on much less income. I started drawing earlier than ideally on my retirement funds, but I was able to preserve enough for a modest but comfortable life. At 63, I'm still writing and joyfully able to choose what I work on. The only lesson I can see here is financial. I realized, as some people do not, that my high mid-career earnings might not continue. I had set enough aside so that when the two-step upset happened to my career, I was able to leave academic politics behind and create a life that has been very rewarding in non-financial ways."

What's your story?
If you have a "short but polite" version of your own career upheaval story you could share as a learning experience, please e-mail Kristen at kgreenaway@sigmaxi.org, and we'll publish your stories in upcoming newsletters.

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COMMENTARY

A Lesson in Humility
by Shalabh Goyal (2007), Ph.D.

There I was, plunging into my seat after a grueling day at a conference that I'd attended in Kolkata, India, in December of 2005. The seat was not quite commodious, but I was satisfied because my flight was on time. Luckily, I had the window seat and was praying that no one would sit beside me. The sight of a bearded, elderly man making himself comfortable in the seat next to me was not enticing. As the plane taxied towards the runway, I thought that I would rather have a young engineer sit next to me. I was not perspicacious enough to realize that it was going to be one of my most memorable flights.

As I was trying to recapture one of the research papers that were presented in the conference, I was stunned when the old man asked me what I was reading. I was astonished by his interest in the conference as much as I was by his use of extensive vocabulary. I was quick to realize that I was having company quite different from what I initially thought. Within no time, a question related to my educational background took our conversation to Banaras Hindu University (BHU). I could see a delightful smile emerging on his face when I told him that I studied metallurgy at the prestigious Institute of Technology - BHU for a year. In stark contrast, the smile on my face almost vanished as he told me that he had served as head of department and vice chancellor of that university.

Half an hour past the clouds, I asked his name. I could remember seeing his name, Dr. T. R. Anantharaman, written at the top of a list of professors in the department of metallurgy at IT-BHU. I knew that he pioneered metallurgical research in India and is a world renowned professor of physical metallurgy and material science. He had served as a visiting professor of metallurgy in more than 10 countries including Germany, U.K. and the U.S., and received numerous international awards. However, I had never actually seen him, and this was my chance.

The next hour was one of the most inspirational of my life. To my surprise, he did not talk about metallurgy. Rather, he delved into more complex things, ranging from spirituality to the meaning of life. He asked me to look beyond career goals to unearth the purpose of life. I was amazed to learn that he had opened a yoga ashram, Atmadeep. During our flight he told me a lot of things that I could not fully comprehend; maybe I was too much in awe. However, I was happy that I grabbed a few pointers towards leading a better life, and I can still feel the reverberations of that one hour in my life from time to time.

The flight was on time, and this time I was not very delighted about it. As he was departing, I could not help but stand there and let my eyes follow his trail. Only now, I could realize how lucky I was to have the company of such a great person. As is said, 'Life is a long lesson in humility.'

Shalabh Goyal (2007), Ph.D. works in DCS Test Development with National Semiconductor in Santa Clara, California. He is an alumnus of IT-BHU and the Georgia Institute of Technology.

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WHAT'S YOUR NEWS? WHAT'S IMPORTANT TO YOU?

We always welcome your contributions to the monthly newsletters!

Editor: Kristen Greenaway
kgreenaway@sigmaxi.org
919-547-5210, or 800-243-6534, ext. 210
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