In March of this year, I was disheartened—but not surprised—to see an opinion article in the New York Times boldly excoriating “The Pointless Destruction of American Science: Labs closed. Careers Ended. Years of Research Lost.” The author wrote that Americans have traditionally loved science and revered innovation, and that even politicians have usually championed both. Only in recent times has antipathy toward science become a political weapon. As a result, the current dismantling of science has now become so widespread that many fear this downturn is likely to be much more than temporary.
Personally, I believe such pessimism is misguided. But I also believe it will not be easy over the coming years to rebuild science, its supporting infrastructure, and the trust of the American people. From my perspective, this rebuilding will have to begin by encouraging clever minds to keep asking challenging questions and helping them develop the capacity to answer them. To do so, we must ensure that the next generation of scientists—or “Next Gens”—continue to grow and be supported during this downturn.
And that is exactly where Sigma Xi can play a crucial role.
Many of you know that I am a behavioral ecologist who studies animal decision-making. I focus on how certain species build the social relationships that shape their societies, how they navigate landscapes to acquire key resources, and how they choose mates and rear offspring to spread their genes to future generations. Sadly, the horses, zebras, and wild asses that I study in Kenya often share landscapes with people who only see them as vermin. For this reason, I started a “scout program.” The goal of the program was for pastoralist herders and commercial ranchers to gain income by gathering data on the behavior and impacts of these species, while also giving them a broader picture of the beneficial roles these species play in the local ecosystem.
When the program’s first scouts shared their findings with their communities, one elected leader was so overwhelmed that he marched the scouts to the local school to share the findings with students. There, the head teacher remarked to me that his teachers knew very little about conservation, and he asked me what I suggested we do about it. That question sparked the creation of the Northern Kenya Conservation Clubs (NKCC), an after-school program focused on environmental experiential learning. The program is supported by Princeton University, Grevy’s Zebra Trust, Mpala Research Center, Laikipia Wildlife Forum, and other financial donors. NKCC is now almost 20 years old. Clubs meet once per week after school in 21 schools, reaching 996 middle and high school students in the area. Many of these students have gone on to study at universities or teachers colleges, and a number of them are now club teachers themselves or working as environmental managers.
Sigma Xi is the ideal institution for this sort of support and engagement of the Next Gen community. By supporting after-school science clubs throughout the United States and worldwide, passionate emerging scholars will be motivated to pursue science, to be idea generators for each other, and to serve as role models in their communities. Sigma Xi already showcases high school student research at our International Forum on Research Excellence (IFoRE), and we provide grants in aid of research (GIAR) for undergraduate and graduate students just launching their careers. We also are in the process of identifying promising undergraduates who have completed and shared their early research so we can induct them as associate members of the Society. All of these approaches will greatly increase the pipeline of emerging scientists.
But we can do so much more. Why don’t we encourage our chapters to bring these and other Next Gens together to create synergies that drive science forward. In today’s virtual world, for example, graduate and undergraduate science students can easily interact and inspire younger school-aged students, showing them how exciting and awe-inspiring science can be. Let this be a challenge to our chapters—many of which could be doing so much more—to capture the energy, insights, and skills of the Next Gens in their midst.
In this and other ways, Sigma Xi can play a role in making the current undermining of science a temporary hiccup, rather than the devastating blow it often seems to be. As I transition to past-president, I stand ready to assist those Sigma Xi chapters, Next Gens, and midcareer and senior scientists who want to make this vision of experiential learning across generations a reality. Feel free to reach out to me to share ideas or seek advice at dir@princeotn.edu.
Sincerely,
Daniel I. Rubenstein
Sigma Xi President