The last week of October was a busy week for Sigma Xi, as board members and chapter delegates assembled for the Society’s annual business meeting. It kicked off the 2025 International Forum on Research Excellence (IFoRE), an exciting virtual gathering of student and professional scientists from across the globe to present and share ideas around the theme of “Science and Society: Crafting a Vision for a Sustainable Tomorrow.” Insightful and engaging symposia, panel discussions, and keynote presentations explored topics on energy production, greener manufacturing, AI, science policy, and more. It was inspirational to hear from “Next Gen” student scientists, as well as our many award-winning keynote speakers.
After hearing the diversity of futures, a question emerged on how we can enable Sigma Xi to translate these ideas into reality. President-elect David Allison reminded members of the board and Chapter Delegates that science is wondrous, joyful, and awe inspiring. But how should Sigma Xi cultivate these feelings to foster science for all? Like David, I too focused on 3 words that I believe could enable Sigma Xi to craft a sustainable society for all—power, inspiration, and integrity.
Inspiration and integrity are the heart and soul of the Society and are ideals that are familiar to all. Sigma Xi inspires and cares about supporting honest, ethical, and integral science, rewarding those leading the way. But I suggest that power is underappreciated. While hard power leads to change, Sigma Xi will have little clout in shaping science policy. But “soft power” can energize and give our members agency to make a difference from the bottom up. Sigma Xi can be a powerful agency to create change. But to do so, we must retain and motivate our members and find ways to financially enable our chapters to demonstrate that science and the knowledge it generates can create sustainable tomorrows.
We have often sought ways of providing benefits to active members. But we also must focus on how chapters as collectives can act to better our planet. Accordingly, I challenged the board and the delegates to excite members to act locally. To paraphrase John F. Kennedy’s famous inaugural question, “Ask not what Sigma Xi can do for you—ask what you can do for Sigma Xi to help sustain Science and Society.” My aim is to gather the activities that successful chapters are doing, share them with all chapters, and raise money so that Sigma Xi can financially and logistically help chapters make science matter in their communities. Soon I will be reaching out to our chapters to learn what is helping create a sustainable tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Sincerely,
Daniel I. Rubenstein
Sigma Xi President