Vol. 1, Issue 1
November 2007

Sigma Xi Member Newsletter

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

Thanks to those members who wrote in with suggestions for a title for the Newsletter, rather than just Member Newsletter. We're still contemplating, thus if you too have any suggestions, do let us know, at kgreenaway@sigmaxi.org.

IN THIS ISSUE

• Member Spotlights
• Commentary: From Activist Parent to Expert Witness: Fighting Intelligent Design Creationism, by Barbara C. Forrest (1998), Ph.D.
• Member Notes & Announcements
• Other Sigma Xi Members in the News
• Got Advice for your Fellow Members?
• Got Advice for your Student Members?
• What's Your News?

Susannah L. Clary (2006), an Associate Member, was invited by the new Library of Alexandria in Egypt to present a paper at its October "Women in Science" conference, designed to highlight the importance of the role of both rural and urban women in science. Clary was the only non-graduate level woman invited to the conference, and may well be Sigma Xi's youngest member in the U.S. When she was inducted in 2006, she was 15 years old and had four published papers and a patent to her name.

Carol Masheter on the summit of Cayambe (18,700 feet), Ecuador, January, 2005.

What does it take for a woman, age 61 years, to climb Everest? Ten years of building a high-altitude mountaineering resume, intense curiosity and a lot of fitness training between now and this coming spring. Carol Masheter (1989), Ph.D., currently an epidemiologist for Utah Department of Health, has been accepted as a member of the Adventure Consultants Everest Expedition 2008, an international team of climbers from Europe, New Zealand, North America and Nepal. The expedition members will meet in Kathmandu on March 30, 2008 and expect to return home in early June. Summit day probably will be during the third week in May, weather and conditions permitting. Dispatches during the expedition's progress will be available at www.adventure.co.nz. Dr. Masheter has been a chemist in basic research at universities and medical schools, a university professor in social science, and now is in public health. She benefited from a Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research (GIAR) during her graduate training in the 1980s. Science and the outdoors, two forms of exploring, have been her twin passions since childhood. We'll be avidly watching her progress!

Alexander (Sasha) G. Rabchevsky (1988), Ph.D., an associate Professor of Physiology and holder of the endowed SCoBIRC chair at the University of Kentucky writes that "at the end of this past June I went to an event in Squaw Valley, California called the No Barriers Festival 2007 www.nobarriersusa.org/festival-2007.html. As I am a complete T-5 paraplegic, my talk about my FES implants was well received… and that was my intention! Without a doubt the festival changed my life and I agreed to keep in touch with the folks at No Barriers USA. Surprisingly, the interactive clinics were not something I had anticipated getting into… but then there I was climbing and dangling from a 250ft cliff edge over Donner Lake near Tahoe. I was truly humbled by the extraordinary number of individuals with disabilities ranging from dual upper or lower amputees, blindness, deafness, CP, MS and para/quaraplegia, all dealing with life and facing obstacles head on. Life in my lab is calm, which is good. I have one graduate student, three post docs and one technician… oh, yes, and young undergraduates who volunteer to work in my lab. I've got solid funding but always hunting for more. There are never enough publications based on the amount of work we do, but it is a good group of folks."

COMMENTARY

From Activist Parent to Expert Witness:
Fighting Intelligent Design Creationism
By Barbara C. Forrest (1998), Ph.D.

In 1998, I was elected to membership in Sigma Xi, Louisiana State University chapter, in recognition of my pro-science activism. My activism began in 1994 when a New Orleans creationist group, the Origins Resource Association, asked the Livingston Parish, LA, School Board to adopt its creationist curriculum guide. In a parish of 77,000 people, with 17,000 public school students, I was the only parent who tried to prevent the adoption of this curriculum guide. Fortunately, one biologist at Southeastern Louisiana University, where I teach philosophy, and a small group of scientists and graduate students from Louisiana State University, all of whom lived in other parishes, came to my assistance. I also received help from the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), on whose board of directors I now serve. While critiquing the curriculum guide, I first encountered the term "intelligent design."

As my successful campaign to quash the curriculum guide wound down, I learned of a new creationist organization, the Center for Science and Culture (CSC), originally the Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture, established in 1996 by the Discovery Institute, a conservative Seattle think tank. These new creationists called themselves "intelligent design theorists." One thing quickly became clear: ID creationists were now leading the attack on evolution. So I began monitoring ID activities. Fortunately, my doctoral dissertation, Naturalism in Education: A Study of Sidney Hook (Tulane University, 1988), prepared me to address the issue this time as a scholar. A philosopher and activist himself, Hook championed science, public education, critical inquiry, and secular democracy. Studying his work prepared me for a role that, in 1996, I had no idea I would assume: expert witness for the plaintiffs in Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District (2005), the first legal case involving ID.

My scholarly research on the ID movement produced the book I co-authored with scientist Paul R. Gross, Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design (Oxford University Press, 2004, 2007). The book documents the CSC's execution of its "Wedge Strategy," a plan to market intelligent, i.e., supernatural, design to the public as science. Gross and I wrote the book knowing that a lawsuit would eventually result from the CSC's relentless promotion of ID. Unsurprisingly, CSC creationists have produced no science, but lucrative donor funding has enabled them for more than a decade to execute an extensive PR campaign and to cultivate religious and political supporters at the local, state, and national levels.

The first lawsuit was filed less than a year after publication of Creationism's Trojan Horse. In December 2004, eleven parents in Dover, PA, sued their school board over a policy requiring Dover High School biology teachers to read a statement to students presenting ID as a scientific alternative to evolutionary theory. Through an off-the-books financial transaction, the board also purchased sixty copies of a creationist textbook, Of Pandas and People, for the school library. The plaintiffs were defended by the Pepper Hamilton law firm, the ACLU, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Joining five other scholars and scientists, I was called as an expert witness because of my work on Creationism's Trojan Horse. Clearly concerned about the thoroughness of my research, which documented the fact that ID proponents at the CSC themselves define ID as a religious belief and have referred to themselves as creationists, the defense tried unsuccessfully to remove me from the case.

Through the (pro bono) efforts of the plaintiffs' attorneys, expert witnesses, and the NCSE (pro bono consultant), the plaintiffs won a powerful ruling from Judge John E. Jones III, Middle District of Pennsylvania, on December 20, 2005. Judge Jones declared the teaching of ID in public school science classes to be unconstitutional. But after a well-earned celebration, the plaintiffs now had another task: repairing the damage that creationists had done to their community.

The "Dover trial" story will air on PBS' NOVA on Tuesday, November 13, in a two-hour documentary entitled "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial." This is an especially important program for academics to watch. Dover has produced—so far—the only ID legal case, but Dover is by no means the only community to be ripped apart by the ID issue. Scientists—and philosophers—are not merely teachers and researchers. We are parents and American citizens with a responsibility to protect our children's schools and our Constitution. We must come to the aid of our fellow citizens, the non-academics who step forward to defend public schools, because from their families and their schools come the future practitioners of our own disciplines. I am honored to have had an opportunity to help the eleven parents from Dover. And I think Sidney Hook would be pleased to see how his work made mine possible.

Barbara C. Forrest (1998), Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy in the department of history and political science at Southeastern Louisiana University. She joined Sigma Xi in 1998, with the Louisiana State University chapter. She can be contacted at: bforrest@selu.edu.

MEMBER NOTES & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Mark A. W. Andrews (1987) has been honored as one of the 100 nationally invited attendees for the AOA's Medical Education Summit II "Growth and Osteopathic Graduate Medical Education: Framing the Future," to be held in Chicago in November. He was also elected this past June as a member of the AACOM-Society of Medical Educators Steering Committee, and elected secretary of this group, dedicated to directing the educational programs at AACOM (American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine). In addition, Andrews is a member of the planning committee for the joint 2008 AACOM-AODME meeting in St. Louis. In July he was inducted as a member of the Board of Directors for the International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE), the organization representing medical education professionals, and helping the direction of medical education throughout the world.

Edward J. (Ben) Anthony (1994), with Natural Resources Canada, writes that "the achievements of this year include our first publication on oxy-fuel fired FBC with full flue gas recycle (a commercial project has been announced for New York State). I believe only we and VTT in Finland are capable of doing this type of work, and we should have our larger pilot plant (40cm, 1MWt) working by November. This definitely will be a unique facility. We also have our pressurized gasifier working (30kg/h, 1600C and 15 bar), and we gave our first paper on the results at the Pittsburgh Coal Conference (PCC). This unit is the only such that I am aware of not in the hands of a vendor, which is capable of doing tests at pressure to simulate IGCC operation. Finally, we had our first demonstration of an atmospheric pressure Ca Looping cycle for (hot CO2 scrubbing) on a continuous basis and the results were presented again at the PCC in Johannesburg. Personally, I was asked to give a key note address at the International Coal Science and Technology Conference in Nottingham, UK; I chaired the Global Climate Sessions at the Pittsburgh Coal Conference, and I am giving a key note address on gasification at the 57th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference."

Joan W. Bennett (1967) writes that "after 35 years on the Tulane University faculty, and the experience of having my home flooded after Hurricane Katrina, I have become part of the Katrina diaspora and moved to Rutgers University, where I am now an associate vice president, heading a new initiative for the Promotion of Women in Science, Engineering and Mathematics."

Sarah B. Berenson (2007) has been appointed the Yopp Distinguished Professor of Mathematics Education at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. She is also adjunct professor of mathematics education at North Carolina State University.

Daryl J. Boness (1981) will be the new editor in chief of the Society for Marine Mammalogy's journal Marine Mammal Science, from December 2007.

In a one-week period at the end of June and the beginning of July, Sigma Xi member Alfred B. (Fred) Bortz (1986) (Carnegie Mellon University chapter) received authors' copies of two very different books for two very different audiences. Physics: Decade by Decade (Facts on File, 2007) is part of a 20th-century history of science set for high school, college and public libraries. It includes a series of scientist of the decade profiles, which Bortz is using as the basis of a public talk. Details are at: www.fredbortz.com/Physics20thCent.htm. Astrobiology (Lerner, 2008) is part of the 'Cool Science' series for middle grade readers. Bortz has developed a school visit and library talk based on this book called 'The Truth About Space Aliens.' The book was featured on the NASA Astrobiology Institute Web site. Details are at www.fredbortz.com/Astrobiology.htm. Bortz is also a regular reviewer of popular science books for major metropolitan newspapers. He archives his reviews along with a few others at The Science Shelf (www.scienceshelf.com). He maintains a mailing list associated with that site, and Sigma Xi members are welcome to subscribe by following the link on the Science Shelf homepage.

Nirmal K. Bose (1967), HRB-Systems professor of electrical engineering at Penn State, was recently selected to receive the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) Circuits and Systems Society Education Award. He was cited for "pioneering contributions to education and research in multidimensional systems theory in the circuit theoretic context via publications of seminal texts, special issues, monographs and guest lectures, and inspiring a community worldwide." Bose received the award, which included a check for $1,000, in May at the 2007 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems in New Orleans. A Fellow of the IEEE, Bose also received the IEEE Third Millennium Merit Medal in 2000 and has served as editor of IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems. The IEEE promotes the engineering process of creating, developing, integrating, sharing, and applying knowledge about electro and information technologies and sciences for the benefit of humanity and the profession.

Andrew (Andy) C. Boston (1971) retired September 1 after 18 years with Purdue University's Cooperative Extension Service. He's now enjoying a non structured life style, volunteering to help others and trying to track his family tree.

Michael R. Brown (1995), professor of physics in the department of physics and astronomy at Swarthmore College, writes that "I was awarded the 2008 APS prize for Faculty Research at an Undergraduate Institution. This is a pretty big national prize ($10K and a fancy award ceremony next spring). I think it's very exciting news for Swarthmore and all my students." Brown's citation reads: "For his outstanding contributions to plasma physics made possible by his development of a world-class spheromak laboratory at Swarthmore College, and for his energetic mentoring of undergraduate students."

Gustavo Caetano-Anolles (1992), associate professor of bioinformatics and affiliate with the Institute of Genomic Biology in the department of crop sciences at the University of Illinois writes that "an article of ours was recently published in Genome Research ahead of print in which we describe origins and evolution of protein architecture and the organismal world. The article will be published in the November issue of the journal and we have the cover. You can find a press release describing our findings at: www.news.uiuc.edu/NEWS/07/1001tripartite.html. A number of other sites have already picked-up the story. These research developments follow a recent paper of ours that was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA where we describe origins of modern metabolism. More can be found at: www.news.uiuc.edu/news/07/0517metabolism.html

Michael T. Caley (1994) from Edmonton, Alberta writes that "in February 2006, I accepted the position of Associate Editor of the Trumpeter, a journal of ecosophy. The second special issue celebrating the life and work of Paul Shepard, the American philosopher of ecology, will be on-line within a month. I am also developing leadership programs based in the ancient Chinese art of qigong. My American Scientist hardcopy still goes to Arctic College in Canada's Nunavut region. I am still aging, which is probably a good thing. www.policychannel.com/AVideos/caley/iframe1.php

James H. Case (1967) writes that "my new book COMPETITION: The Birth of a New Science (Hill & Wang, July 2007) is in the stores."

John J. Carvalho (2007), Ph.D. has been appointed tenure-track assistant professor of biology at California State University Dominguez Hills in the fall of 2007, where he is continuing his research on reoviruses and the relationship between the spread of viruses and third world health issues. Carvalho has just published two articles with regards to his research work in these areas.

Robert E. Cone (1967) is a professor in immunology at the University of Connecticut Health Center. He writes that "I just received a new three-year grant from the National Eye Institute on 'ocular regulation of autoimmunity'. Needless to say I was surprised and pleased to receive it. Our work on the eye's response to injury and immunization is proceeding very well (thanks to the NEI)."

William (Bill) J. Cooper (1970), director and professor of UC Irvine's Urban Water Research Center, writes that "here at UCI we are developing a major December 2008 International Water Conference in conjunction with UNESCO, IAEA and the first major industrial sponsor Haley and Aldrich, Inc. We hope to bring together 750 - 1000 people to discuss all of the aspects of water scarcity, impacts of global change (climate, population, demographics) and then the often overlooked resource - responses in groundwater management." More information can be found here, www.uwrc.uci.edu/documents/SCARCE-WATER-BROCHURE-Final.pdf, and Bill can be contacted direct at: wcooper@uci.edu.

Huseyin Denli (2007) writes that "I have been working in the geophysics group at Los Alamos National Laboratory since July 16th, 2007, as a postdoctoral research associate. My work is briefly based upon monitoring CO2 linkage along geophysical faults. I am currently at stage of theoretical modeling of elastic wave propagation in geophysical media accommodating faults. This modeling will lead us to obtain higher resolution images in order to monitor geophysical attribute changes in and around the faults."

Rutledge M. Dennis (1980), professor of sociology and anthropology at George Mason University, was the recipient of George Mason University's Fenwick Fellowship for 2005-06. His project title was The Making of Black Intellectuals. Dennis was also the recipient of the Du Bois-Johnson-Frazier Award, presented by the American Sociological Association. The award is given to the sociologist whose research and writings follow in the tradition of the sociologists W.E.B. Du Bois, Charles Johnson, and E. Franklin Frazier. In 2007, Dennis was awarded a College of Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty Development Grant for his project, The Socialization of Black Intellectuals and Black Entrepreneurs: A Comparison.

Since joining the IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) at its inception in December 2003, Pamela Ebert Flattau (1972), Ph.D. has examined a variety of policy issues in the areas of the social and behavioral sciences and education, including a look at the National Defense Education Act of 1958 (see www.ida.org/stpi). In June, Flattau attended the second OECD forum on 'Statistics, Knowledge and Policy' (www.oecd.org/site/0,3407,en_21571361_31938349_1_1_1_1_1,00.html) as a member of the U.S. delegation, and expects to extend her work in innovative data presentation through STPI.

N. Joseph Espat (2007), M.D., M.S., F.A.C.P., has been appointed chief of surgical oncology and vice chairman, department of surgery at Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence, Rhode Island, a Boston University affiliate. Espat completed a surgical oncology/hepatobiliary fellowship at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and has dedicated his career to complex cancer and benign surgeries of the liver, bile ducts and pancreas. He is an active researcher with an extensive list of publications. Previously, he was interim chief of surgery and chief of hepatobiliary surgery and director of regional hepatic therapies at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Leonard Evans (1979) writes that "I've been on professional business in Iran and UAE (and other places) in the last year or so. And in the few previous years in Israel and Egypt. Lots of photographs here www.scienceservingsociety.com/photos.htm."

James D. Froula (2005) writes that "I had an incredible raft/rowing (no motors) trip down the Grand Canyon (world-heritage site) in August." An article on the trip can be found at: www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/oct/14/colorado-river-trip-peels-back-layers-of-time/.

Wayne McCrady Forbes (2007), assistant professor of Biology at Slippery Rock University, writes that "I received a grant entitled, 'Inactivation of Strongyloides stercoralis infective (L3) larvae in vitro by crude extracts of Eclipta alba,' from the Office of the Provost at Slippery Rock University (SRU). And a colleague and I recently submitted a patent application to the US Patent and Trade Office for protection of findings arising from research work done at SRU."

Jiang Huang (2007) writes that "I am engaged in cutting-edge research in the area of synthetic organic chemistry, especially in the development of novel synthetic methodologies and the total synthesis of complex natural products that have potent biological activities. During my Ph.D. study with Professor Richard Hsung at the University of Minnesota, my research was focused on the development of asymmetric [4 + 3] cycloaddition reactions of nitrogen-stabilized oxyallyl cations via epoxidation of allenamides, and the synthesis and applications of ynamides, such as tandem enyne ring-closing metathesis. This research brought me a lot of fun and credits. I developed the first tandem ene-yne-ene metathesis of ynamides, and then successfully achieved the first intramolecular [4 + 3] cycloaddition reaction of allenamides and the first Lewis-acid catalyzed asymmetric [4 + 3] cycloaddition reaction. Those results were published in Organic Letters and Journal of the American Chemical Society. As a post-doc fellow in Professor Yoshito Kishi's group at Harvard University, I'm presently involved in the synthesis of the complex anticancer molecules halichondrin B and its active analogues. Halichondrin B is a macrocyclic polyether found in the sea sponge Halichondria okadai. It was selected by National Cancer Institute as an anti-cancer drug candidate for further development in 1992 after its extraordinary activities against a number of cancer cell lines was found. Recently, the Eisai Research Institute's synthetic halichondrin B analogue (E7389) has currently entered the Phase II study for prostate cancer and sarcoma, and Phase III study and Subpart H Application for breast cancer. However, the further study and application of halichondrin B and its analogues were limited by their scarcity from natural sources. It is more practical to access them through chemical syntheses. I'm currently engaged in this important and challenging project, practical total synthesis of halichondrins. I hope my contribution in this project will improve the health of people."

Timothy R. Johnson (1995) writes that "my news is that after 17 years with Purdue University as a dairy cattle nutritionist, my position was eliminated by Reduction In Force (RIF). Now I realize I should have taken the one tenure track position I was offered at Oregon State University in 1990. So after several large research grants at Purdue, one for $450K, one use patent with neonatal pre-weaned calves, and now a disabling disease multiple sclerosis, I am hanging on, now at 50 years old, with my head full of ideas and not a lot of intellectual stimulation."

H. Price Kagey (1965) has been elected to senior fellow at Lockheed Martin in San Diego, California.

Jamil A. Khan (1982) has joined Lianda Corporation as vice president for the company's North American business. Khan has extensive experience in the Elastomers, TPOs, TPEs and Poly Olefins materials; related to the automotive, lube oils, adhesives, roofing and the construction industries. In his career, Khan has worked for a number of FORTUNE 500 and multi-national chemical companies. Before joining Lianda he was working for EniChem/Polimeri Europa, part of the ENI group of companies, as director of sales for North America.

John Z. Kiss (1994), professor of botany at Miami University Ohio, writes that "I have been doing spaceflight research with NASA - and my group has received awards from NASA and ESA (European Space Agency)." The awards were given for the research team's outstanding accomplishments in spaceflight research. Honored with Kiss was a true Sigma Xi team—Richard E. Edelmann (1986), director of Miami's electron microscopy facility, and Prem Kumar (2005), postdoctoral fellow in botany. Also honored were Kiss's former post-doctoral associates who had worked with him on space flight research: Melanie J. Correll (2002), assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering at the University of Florida, and Jack Mullen, research scientist in the department of bioagricultural science and pest management at Colorado State University.

William (Bill) R. Klemm (1963) D.V.M., Ph.D., hot on the heels of his book on Texas' armadillos, has published a new book, Core Ideas in Neuroscience (www.neurosciideas.com). Klemm is a neuroscientist with over 45 years of research and teaching experience in neuroscience. And what's different about the book is that it's a modular, hyperlinked ebook summarizing 75 core ideas in the form of a printable pdf file. But larger text and formatting features make it easy to read on-screen. Each idea is generally treated as a 3-5 page module in which the idea is succinctly stated and explained, with key terms defined. Then, a couple of examples are given, followed by contemporary and classic references. The book has 174 study questions, 96 figures, 545 references (including 306 citation classics) and 566 pages. It costs only $11.95; that's just 16 cents per idea.

Petter N. Kolm (2002) joins the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences - Kolm is a clinical associate professor of Mathematics and deputy director of the Mathematics in Finance M.S. Program. Previously, he worked as a financial consultant in New York City and in the Quantitative Strategies Group at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Read more about Kolm at www.cims.nyu.edu/~kolm.

Richard J. Komp (1965), president of the Maine Solar Energy Association, is currently in India working to bring photovoltaics (PV) as a cottage industry to remote villages. He writes that "we are now in Mysore and are resting on Saturday after a busy week. We've now arranged the hands-on PV module assembly course, which will take place starting about the 15th of November (this will give time for the people here to organize the workshop). We are working with the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM) www.svym.net/ out in the countryside, and will have a group of about 10 young Dravidian tribal youths as the students. The Youth Movement has a very interesting Montessori type school where the tribal children go through the equivalent of high school and learn English, as well as science and math; but they very poor employment opportunities when they get out. This should be an interesting course in an interesting area. The school is right next to the Bandipur National Park and lots of wild animals roam the area, which is quite remote. The Youth Movement also operates several hospitals. We stayed at the biggest one but will be giving the workshop at a smaller, more remote one. All the places already have PV electricity for lighting and back-up for the wonky utility grid, solar water heaters, biogas generators and 100% rainwater catchment with solar powered water pumping. We will start by building the usual 60 watt PV modules and have already sold at least six of them before the project even starts. Yesterday I gave two seminars, the first was at the Youth Movement's outreach building here in Mysore and the second was at the National Engineering Institute (NEI), also here in Mysore. Mangesh is an alum of NEI and we received quite a welcome, going around to be introduced to everybody of importance and being taken out to lunch, etc. when we arrived. They already have a large renewable energy program and a renewable energy park. Shamasundar, the director of the program, gave a paper at the Dresden conference in September of 2006, about Marco Antonio's new encapsulation system. He wants to work closely with us and already has strong contacts with SVYM so we are getting a great deal of support. We have already shopped for all the parts needed to build the PV modules and somebody from NEI will order and pick up all the material needed before we come back here from Mumbai in November. Two groups of NEI students will be doing their senior thesis (monograph) projects on subjects I will be overseeing: the PV-hot water hybrid and the photovoltaic-still. I've been wishing to get more R&D work done on these for years now, and these two groups (four students each) will actually be building the next prototypes. All these people expect me to come back to Mysore again next year and to continue working with them. Tomorrow afternoon (Sunday) we leave on the train for Delhi, changing in Bangelore. We arrive in Delhi on Tuesday morning if the train isn't late. I'll write again from there."

Donald H. Kraft (1971), a professor in the department of computer science at Louisiana State University, has won the American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIST) Award of Merit, its highest award. The award consists of a Revere Bowl and a Certificate. The purpose of the award is to recognize that individual deemed to have made noteworthy contributions to the field of information science. Such contributions may include the expression of new ideas, the creation of new devices, the development of better techniques, or substantial research efforts which have led to further development of thought or devices or applications, or outstanding service to the profession of information science, as evidenced by successful efforts in the educational, social, or political processes affecting the profession.

Clifford (Cliff) M. Krowne (2001) and his friend Y. Zang have recently edited the book Physics of Negative Refractive and Negative Index Materials: Optical and Electronic Aspects—Diversified Approaches and Structures, from Springer-Verlag (ISBN 98-3-540-72131-4).

Albert A. Kruger (1974) has accepted a position with the US Department of Energy in the Office of River Protection. In his capacity of Facility Area Engineer for the High-Level Waste (HLW) Facility, he is responsible for the progress of the design of the vitrification facility of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant Project. Additionally, he is responsible for the glass formulation work in the HLW and Low-Activity Waste Facility. His collateral duties include interface with the Environmental Management staff at DOE-HQ and staff of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. Kruger comes to this most recent challenge from a career in the private sector that began after graduate school with Bell Telephone Laboratories, 3M Central Research Physics and Materials Laboratory, and Saint Gobain Recherche in the Parisian suburb of Aubervilliers France. Kruger has published extensively in the area of glass surfaces, corrosion/tensile strength relationships and the role of the glass surface in determining bulk physical properties. He holds numerous patents in the area of glass surface treatments.

James J. Leary (1978), professor of chemistry at James Madison University writes that "Professor William H. Ingham (1968) and I are both quite excited about our recent paper titled E=mc^2: An Intuitive Derivation that just came out in the Journal of Chemical Education (Oct. 2007). Though rote memorization may be adequate to set some lowest level of competence on standardized exams, as scientists we should emphasize logic and understanding. Under the heading of "liberal education in science" it would be nice to see the most famous algebraic equation in science moved beyond a final result that is memorized and probably misunderstood."

Robert A. Lewis (1969), Ph.D., writes "What's new with me that's legal? I am currently nearing completion of my ?teenth book, three volume library edition, to be published by John Wiley & Sons, Lewis' Dictionary of Contemporary Chemistry. It's due out next year."

Qi Li (2007), Ph.D., assistant professor in Western Kentucky University's department of computer science, writes that "an achievement of mine this year is one co-authored paper "A two-stage linear discriminant analysis via QR-decomposition", which was recognized as a fast breaking paper in the engineering field by Thomson Scientific in April 2007."

Yin Li (2007), Ph.D., is a research associate in the Department of Plant Science at North Dakota State University. He is a young cereal scientist. Last week he received a national award from AACC (American Association of Cereal Chemists), the 2007 AACC International Bruce Wasserman Young Investigator Award. The purpose of this award is to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of a young scientist whose research has contribute to enhance knowledge of cereal functionality or improved cereal production or utilization. Each year only has one awardee. Li received his Ph.D. from the School of Biotechnology at Southern Yangtze University in Wuxi, China, in 2006, working on research in the area of cereal biotechnology. He has published 24 papers in international peer-reviewed journals. Four of his articles were selected by ScienceDirect.com as the top 25 hottest articles within Biochemical Engineering Journal, Enzyme and Microbial Technology, Process Biochemistry, and Journal of Toxicology in Vitro. Li also serves as a reviewer for ten journals in cereal and food science and as an editorial board member for five prestigious journals. His current research projects are directed toward the improvement of nutrition and antioxidant activity of cereal grain, development of processing technologies to enhance sensory characteristics or shelf life of cereal food, and the production of microbial enzymes for food and feed industry.

Lorie M. Liebrock (1995), Ph.D., associate chair for undergraduate affairs in the department of computer science at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, writes that she "has added a new position, as education development leader for the New Mexico Computing Applications Center (www.aaas.org/spp/rd/forumbowles.pdf). The new center will promote computing, modeling and simulation in the state of New Mexico for education, economic development, and research."

Susan L. Lindquist (2007), winner of the William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement for 2006, and her lab group have recently published a high-profile paper on cancer and the heat-shock response in the journal Cell. The title is "Heat Shock Factor 1 is a Powerful Multifaceted Modifier of Carcinogenesis." The article received extensive media coverage, some of which can be found on the lab's Web site: web.wi.mit.edu/lindquist/pub/Headlines.html. Lindquist is on sabbatical this year at the Eli and Edythe Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. She was also named one of Harvard's 100 most influential alumni by 02138 magazine (Sept/Oct 2007 issue): www.02138mag.com/magazine/article/1481.html.

In recognition of his executive leadership and his contributions to science and technology, Asad M. Madni (2007), Ph.D., was elected a Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Previously he was the recipient of the 2004 UCLA Engineering Alumnus of the Year Award (the school's highest honor), a recipient of the Institution of Electrical Engineers' (UK) 2006 Achievement Medal, and was the recipient of the Marconi Medal", the highest honor granted by TCI College of Technology.

John O. Matson (1976) retired in May from San Jose State University's biology department.

The 2007 Floyd Andre Award was presented to Terry E. Meyer (1981) for his service to agriculture at the Iowa State University Alumni Association awards ceremony on October 19. The award was established in 1978 to honor an Iowa State University alum who has made an outstanding contribution to production agriculture, agricultural business, or is in a position to have a significant influence on Iowa agriculture.

Edna Negron-Martinez (2006), Ed.D., M.S., is currently a member of the Council of Higher Education Consultative Board to evaluate and certify the Master of Sciences in Environmental Sciences of the Interamerican University located in San German, Puerto Rico. After the site visit she submitted the Institution a comprehensive report of all her findings for their review and response. Recently, she has successfully completed the American Society for Microbiology ASM Scholars-in-Residence (ASMSiR) Program July 2006- June 2007. One of the goals of this program was to conduct evidence-based research on microbiology education. Negrón-Martinez conducted a pilot study to measure the effectiveness of an environmental microbiology course online discussion to improve students learning of scientific concepts. Her research was presented in a poster session during the ASM general meeting held in Toronto, May 21-25, 2007. Another outcome of this ASMSiR residency was the publication of a Web site review in the 2007 Summer Issue of Focus on Microbiology Education (FOME). FOME is an online newsmagazine in ASM's MicrobeLibrary.org (www.MicrobeLibrary.org). Negrón-Martinez has also been involved in community service as an active member of the Public Policy Focus Area Committee of the Puerto Rico Department of Health State Asthma Plan (SAP). The role of this committee is to advocate the implementation and regulation of the asthma plan in joint collaboration with other agencies to improve the quality and life expectancy of asthma patients. Law 56 - Treatment of Students who suffer asthma - has been impelled by the SAP's Public Policy Focus Area Committee.

Gary M. Olson (1970), Paul M. Fitts Professor of Human-Computer Interaction School of Information at the University of Michigan, has a new book in press, Scientific Collaboration on the Internet (Olson, G.M., Zimmerman, A., & Bos, N. (Eds.) (2008). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press). And has a new grant to continue the work described in the book: Olson, G.M. (PI), & Olson, J.S. (Co-PI). Successful Collaboration at a Distance. Army Research Institute, Sept. 1, 2007 to Aug. 31, 2010, worth $649,100.

Robert (Bob) B. Pickering (1989), deputy director for collections and education at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming, is taking some of the American West to Germany in a trip scheduled for October 22 - November 2. Pickering is traveling to several German cities in a speaking engagement as a guest of Dietmar Kuegler, founder of Tatanka Press, a German publishing house that focuses on topics of the American West. Kuegler's company published Pickering's book Sitting Bull's Pipe: Separating Myth From History, Re-Discovering the Man; Correcting the Myth, a volume he co-wrote with Kenneth Tankersley (1982).

Mason Alexander Porter (1997) writes that "I joined the applied mathematics faculty at University of Oxford in October 2007. I am a University Lecturer (the equivalent of assistant professor) in the Mathematical Institute and a Tutorial Fellow of Somerville College in Oxford.

Robert (Bob) M. Ross (1981) writes that "this summer (June 2007) I retired as research ecologist from U.S. Department of Interior after 19 years of service, first and foremost with Fish and Wildlife, then National Biological Survey, then National Biological Service, then U.S. Geological Survey. When I joined Sigma Xi, I studied coral reef fish behavior and ecology, first in Micronesia then in Hawaii. Since then my career has gone in interesting directions, from university/college-level teaching (University of Hawaii and Thiel College) to anadromous fish restoration-related research (USFWS), to heron and cormorant diet studies, to at-risk eastern hemlock forest communities (both aquatic and avian), to large-river fish/benthic community restoration methods after decades of dams and mine drainage problems. I am still engaged in restoration research for Appalachian streams impaired by agriculture and abandoned mine drainage, but it is nice to be able to do this on my own schedule and pace. I remain active at the state level as chair of the Pennsylvania Biological Survey's Ornithological Technical Committee, which advises the state Game Commission on non-game species' conservation status. Along these lines I am co-editor and a chapter author for the in-progress book Avian Ecology and Conservation: a Pennsylvania Perspective to be published in 2008 by the Pennsylvania Academy of Science. These activities should keep me busy and fulfilled, while enjoying the best of two worlds: spring through fall seasons living in the mesic forests of Appalachian Pennsylvania and winters in the southern California desert."

Richard L. Schilsky (1984), professor of medicine in the biological sciences division at the University of Chicago, writes that "I have been elected President-elect of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and will begin a one-year term as President in June 2008.

Sanford L. Segal (1958) writes that "the revised edition of the mathematics book that I published over 20 years ago has recently appeared: Nine Introductions in Complex Analysis. My translation of a book in the History of Mathematics (from the French) should appear this year, and the book that I published four years ago (Princeton University Press), Mathematicians Under the Nazis, will perhaps appear in paperback next year."

David H. Sliney (1968) writes that "I have recently retired after 42 years at the US Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine."

Winston P. Smith (1993) writes that "my position in Southeast Alaska was abolished by the PNW Research Station in November 2007 because of declining budgets and the research I did was not as high a priority as that perceived by the program manager of Ecosystem Processes. In June, the PNW Station created a new position in a different program (Managed Disturbance Regime) and I was reassigned to the Forestry and Range Sciences Lab in La Grande, Oregon, from 1 October 2007. I will report to my new duty station 13 November 2007, as my new supervisor graciously allowed me to wrap up some field work with a Ph.D. student before reporting to my new duty station. This had to be done after 1 October because my previous supervisor forbade me from going into the field while I was on his research team. The position description of my new position is similar to the previous position in Southeast Alaska, except that I will be focusing my efforts on issues related to interior PNW forests and rangelands rather than the Tongass National Forest."

Alvin J. Smucker (1971) writes that "I completed a three-year Alexander von Humboldt Research award in Kiel, Germany. This sabbatical plus multiple sources of funding have contributed to our pursuit of terrestrial C sequestration. Publications included intra-aggregate pore quantification of synchrotron microtomographic images of soil aggregate interiors."

Orestes N. Stavroudis (1967) writes that "I still work and live in Leon, GTO, Mexico at Centro de Investagaciones en Optica. In December of last year they retired me, but I still come to work nearly every day. I had a book published (my third) a year ago, The Mathematics of Geometrical and Physical Optics. The Optical k-Function, by John Wiley & Sons, Berlin. The title is theirs, not mine."

Alberto S. Taylor (1960) writes from Panama City that "I'm thinking of retiring (partly, that is… if my wife accepts this!) next year... at present I'm completely occupied, glued to the PC for the upcoming 8th International Conference on Cycad Biology... you know, those so-called living plant fossils that are mostly encountered around the globe in tropical and subtropical forests, also some warm temperate climes. They look like ferns or palms, but are gimnosperms... many interesting topics, including the relationships between these plants and their insect pollinators (weevils in most cases). I'm also looking towards taking up or following up on language studies (German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian... all read in my field of comparative plant morphology and ecology of various plant groups). If you want to see more of what I am doing, please go to: www.igc.up.ac.pa/vice-ip/cycad_vip.htm - there is a Spanish and an English entry. Maybe someone reading this might care to come to the conference... after all, the shield of Panama states "Pro Mundi Beneficio".

Bruno M. Vittimberga (1954) writes that "I have been working on a new reaction. In a few words as possible, I will give you one example: I take the molecule 4-cyanobenzophenone and I can cause a photoreaction to occur either on the carbonyl with the formation of benzpinacol, or I can make the reaction occur on the cyano group with the same photoconditions."

Ernst L. Wall (1966) writes that "The best way I can give an idea of what I'm up to is to give you a link to my Web site: www.tachyonmodel.com. I hope to get back into physics before much longer. Also, I am currently doing my own investigation of the physics of global warming. I work for Lockheed, and I do aircraft and missile tracking, or whatever else that I find to be interesting that they are willing to pay me to do. Ultimately, my thing could be summarized as computer diagnostics, signal processing, and algorithm development; the algorithm development being the more important of the whole lot. They won't pay me to do physics, so I do that for fun."

Richard F. Weir (1994) writes that "our group at the Biomechatronics Development Laboratory of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago were part of the Revolutionizing Prosthetics team that recently won a Breakthrough Innovation award from Popular Mechanics (www.ric.org)." Weir and his team at the RIC BioMechatronics Development Laboratory developed the "intrinsic" hand system, the Proto 2 myoelectric arm, with Otto Bock based in Vienna and JHUAPL. It includes 18 motors enclosed within the hand and an additional three motors in the wrist, allowing 18 different degrees of freedom in the hand and fingers alone. This functionality allows a patient to move individual fingers and control a variety of hand grasp patterns. Now, patients wearing the arm are able to use great control that allows them to pick-up pennies off a table or wave using all of the mechanical fingers.

Kentwood D. Wells (1973) has a new book recently released, on The Ecology and Behavior of Amphibians, from the University of Chicago Press. Synthesizing 70 years of research on amphibian biology, Wells' book is a celebration of the diversity of amphibian life and the ecological and behavioral adaptations that have made it a successful component of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Mary K. Wickston (1977), at Texas A&M University, writes that "Belosepiids were cuttlefish-like cephalopods largely confined to the Eocene. Usually, all one finds of these animals are highly mineralized structures that look like squid beaks. Recent discoveries by colleague Chris Garvie in central Texas show that the hard parts represent only part of a chambered internal skeleton similar in structure to that of living cuttlefishes. A fragile chambered area, usually not preserved, projected anteriorly. Traces of soft tissue suggest that the animals could reach total length of more than 15cm. Colleague Tom Yancey of TAMU and I speculate that the most distinctive feature of the hard skeleton, a posterior projection we call the prong, may have been used in digging into the muddy sea floor. We will present our findings at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America."

J. Michael Williamson (1994) writes that "after 36 continuous hours of travel and 24 hours flying time, I experienced something this summer that I thought I would never see. I was standing on a beautiful beach with not one piece of plastic, not one cigarette butt, not a single can or piece of litter in sight. I was standing on a pristine beach in Exmouth, Western Australia."

Jeffrey (Jeff) A. Witmer (1987) continues to serve as acting dean of Arts and Sciences at Oberlin College.

William A. Yost (1970) is now Chair and Professor of Speech and Hearing Science at Arizona State University after spending the past 30 years with the Parmly Hearing Institute at the Loyola University of Chicago.

Hongzhi Zhang (2007) writes that "the Utah Surrogate Mechanisms developed by me during the last five years has been selected by the US Air Force in July, 2007 for their supersonic, liquid-fueled Scramjet project. The Utah Surrogate Mechanisms is a reaction set of common components in liquid fuels. The mechanism includes 30 to 40 subsets of chemicals that are used as surrogate species in combustion simulation. The Scramjet project is to develop a vehicle flying at up to mach 15 for theater response, cheap space-lift and global-reach aircraft."

SIGMA XI MEMBERS IN THE NEWS

Visit our Web page that chronologically lists Sigma Xi members who have been highlighted in the media.

GOT ADVICE FOR YOUR FELLOW MEMBERS?

Guoqiang Cai (2007) writes that "I am working at the Baylor College of Medicine to purify a protein complex. For me, it is new research area. I must get the high pure, intact, nuture protein complex. I need advice really." If you have any advice for Gouqiang, please e-mail him at gcai@bcm.tmc.edu.

Wayne McCrady Forbes (2007), assistant professor of Biology at Slippery Rock University writes that "My research specialty is chemotherapy studies against parasites of humans and animals. So, where's the best place to apply for grants in this specific area of research?" If you have any advice, please e-mail Wayne at: qi.li@wku.edu.

Qi Li (2007), Ph.D., assistant professor in Western Kentucky University's department of computer science, asks for grant advice: "As a young faculty, I am very interested in where is the best place to apply for a grant. My research areas include pattern recognition, computer vision, data mining, and multimedia retrieval." Li can be contacted at: qi.li@wku.edu.

Neena Philips (1988) Ph.D., an associate professor in biological sciences at Fairleigh Dickinson University, asks for any advice re possible funding sources for "skin aging, wound healing, extracellular matrix, gene regulation, cosmetics?" Please contact her at: nphilips@fdu.edu.

Howard C. Van Woert (1984) is currently studying at Sungkyunkwan University in Suwon, South Korea. He's looking for research grants in the areas of physical-organic chemistry, materials and nanotechnology, specifically using ballmilling, NMR and oscillating reactions. He can be contacted at: hcvwiv@yahoo.com.

GOT ADVICE FOR YOUR FELLOW STUDENT MEMBERS?
We recently launched a newsletter for the student population of Sigma Xi membership. We asked them if there was any advice they sought to help them with their studies and future careers. The returns are coming in, and we sincerely hope you may have some words of wisdom you can pass on to them. Here's the first in what we hope will be a regular column in this newsletter. Feel free to contact the student direct, and I'd appreciate you cc'ing me (kgreenaway@sigmaxi.org) on your e-mail as well. Also, please include SIGMA XI in the subject line of your e-mail, so it doesn't end up as spam. In advance, thank you for supporting the next generation of researchers!

Michelle R. Darrah (2006) writes that "I am concerned about the Physics GREs and getting in to a good grad school. Classical physics was neither my favorite nor my best subject, yet I have to take the Physics GRE for Astronomy or Astrophysics grad school. Does anyone have any study advice? Or is there a way to connect to professors at schools who may also be Sigma Xi members?" Michelle also asks if there are Sigma Xi professors or those in the academic world who can aid students such as herself in the quest for grad school. If there is any good advice or tips on GREs, getting recommendations, writing purpose statements etc.? "Surely someone who is an active Sigma Xi member sits on a committee somewhere and has advice about what to or not to say or ask or do." Michelle can be contacted at: mdarrah@gmail.com

Ellyn M. McFadden (2007) writes that "I have been working on getting my research on tropical glaciers published. Although I have not submitted my article yet, I am planning on submitting work on equilibrium line altitudes in the Cordilleras Huayhuash and Raura in Peru to the Journal for Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research in the near future. My hopes are to send the first draft of my research paper to the journal within the next month so my publication can occur before I am accepted to graduate school. I am also currently looking for graduate opportunities in the glacial field. I have an extensive background in the glacial field with my research on Peru and I would like to obtain my Master's degree in the next few years. Therefore, I am now looking for graduate advisors to start my work either in the summer or fall of 2008. If any information could be passed my way regarding graduate research opportunities, that would be incredibly helpful (emm204@lehigh.edu).

Devu Manikantan Shila (2007) writes that "I am a first year PhD student at the Illinois Institute of Technology. My stream is computer engineering specializing in wireless mesh networks. Currently I am working with network layer protocols and security. I would like to know the best place to get grants for my area and how to apply." Devu can be contacted at: dmanikan@iit.edu.

Frank S. Archibald (1979): general section to find contacts for collaboration for proposals/research.

This might be especially important for new/post doc researchers.

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