Sigma Xi Members in the News for August 2010

Hans Conrad (SX 1955), a professor emeritus in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at North Carolina State University, was featured by the Raleigh News and Observer for his ongoing work. He recently co-authored two papers that, according to the report, "could revolutionize the manufacture of ceramics." At 88, he is one of the world's oldest working scientists.

Tzu-Yang Yu (SX 2007) , an assistant professor in the Structural Engineering Research Group, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell, has been elected 2010 Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and invited to visit Japan in 2011 to receive the award. While there, he will give a series of talks on his research about far-field airborne radar nondestructive testing technique and dielectric modeling of cementitious composites.

Honorary member David Perlman (SX 1989), science editor for the San Francisco Chronicle, has been honored with a lifetime achievement award for a journalism career that spans seven decades. The Society of Professional Journalists awarded Perlman, 91, the 2010 Helen Thomas Award for his service and contributions to the profession.

Honorary member Paul Raeburn (SX 1997) has won the 2010 Media Award for Print Coverage of Family Issues from the Council on Contemporary Families, an academic research organization, for his story "The Father Factor," which appeared in Scientific American Mind.

Sigma Xi Members in the News for July 2010

George D. Bennett (SX 2000) has been promoted to professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois.

Marilyn W. Waite (SX 2006) has published a new book titled Sustainable Water Resources in the Built Environment (IWA Publishing, 2010), which covers elements of water engineering and policy-making in the sustainable construction of buildings, with a focus on case studies from Panama and Kenya. The book provides comprehensive information based on case studies, experimental data, interviews and in-depth research. A civil and environmental engineer, Waite has worked, studied and conducted research in over eight countries across five continents. She currently resides in France, where she continues to work on sustainability issues.

Sigma Xi Members in the News for June 2010

Nadrian C. Seeman (SX 1984), the Margaret and Herman Sokol Professor of Chemistry at New York University, has been named the co-recipient of the 2010 Kavli Prize in nanoscience. Seeman discovered that DNA could be used to construct an assortment of molecule-sized devices and machines. In a recent study published in Nature, he and others showed how they built from DNA a functioning assembly line of molecular robots.

A book by Stephen J. Morewitz (SX 2000), called Death Threats and Violence. New Research and Clinical Perspectives (New York: Springer Science+Business Media, LLC), has been nominated for the Edwin Sutherland Book Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems (Law & Society Division). The book will be discussed in an Author Meets Critics session at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting in San Francisco in November.

Stephen C. Brown (SX 2004), district agricultural agent at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, reports that on May 9 he successfully climbed 20,320-foot Mt. Mckinley (Denali) following a 12-day expedition starting on the Kahiltna Glacier. "Our five-member team was the first American team to summit for the 2010 climbing season," he says. "Summit temperature was a brisk -60 below zero."

Kevin C. O'Kane (SX 1974), professor of computer science at the University of Northern Iowa, has a new book out, Omaha, dramatizing the dangers to privacy, the infrastructure and national security posed by today's highly interconnected electronic culture. It's available in ebook format.

Robert H. Posteraro (SX 1987), assistant professor at Texas Tech University HSC School of Allied Health Sciences, was voted the recipient of the Outstanding Faculty Award by students in the Clinical Practice Management Program.

Lawrence P. Seidman (SX 1966) has been ordained as a rabbi by the Academy for Jewish Religion-California. He is particularly interested in connecting religion with scientific thinking. He is also writing a weekly column on religion for the Orange County Register.

Brian C. Hart (SX 2002), an astrophysicist in Madison, Alabama, has started work on his second Ph.D., this time in electrical engineering. "I am doing this because I believe that one should never stop learning!"

Gerald Sonnenfeld (SX 1979) has been named vice president for research at Clemson University.

Laurence M. Demers (SX 1981) Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Pathology and Medicine at Penn State University's M.S Hershey Medical Center, has been selected by the American Association of Clinical Chemistry as the recipient of the 2010 Morton K. Schwartz Award for Significant Contributions in Cancer Research Diagnostics.

Harry E. Nursten (SX 1962) and his late colleague, James Rothwell, recently published The University of Reading, Department of Dairying, the History of an Unusual University Department Over Its First Hundred Years. Copies can be obtained from him, £10.00 UK, £12.00 from overseas, including postage.

Harold M. Farrell (SX 1969), an emeritus research chemist at the USDA's Dairy Processing and Products Research Unit (Eastern Regional Research Center), has received the California Dairy Research Foundation's William C. Haines Dairy Science Award in recognition of his contributions to the field of dairy science.

Sigma Xi Members in the News for May 2010

Sastry G. Pantula (SX 1982), president of the American Statistical Association, has been named director of the National Science Foundation Division of Mathematical Sciences in the Mathematical and Physical Science Directorate. His appointment will become effective in September. Pantula has been head of the Department of Statistics at North Carolina State University since 2002.

Martin Weinstein (SX 1958) of San Antonio, Texas, renowned metallurgist, business leader and former vice chairman and chief executive officer of Sequa Corp., has received the prestigious Davies Medal for Engineering Achievement from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Engineering.

Sherry J. Yennello (SX 1997), professor of chemistry and associate dean for faculty affairs in the College of Science at Texas A&M University, has been selected by the Texas A&M Women's Faculty Network as the recipient of its 2010 Outstanding Mentoring Award. In 2000, she received Sigma Xi's Young Investigator Award.

Diana A. Lados (SX 2001), assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and director of the university's Integrative Materials Design Center, has received the Robert Lansing Hardy Award from The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society. She also recently received the 2010 Sigma Xi Outstanding Junior Faculty Researcher Award at WPI.

Frederick C. Berry (SX 1990) has been appointed vice president of academics at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. Berry will begin July 1, and succeeds Roger Frankowski, who is retiring after 42 years of service to the university.

Renato Aguilera (SX 2003), professor of biology and director of the graduate program in biology at The University of Texas at El Paso, will be the recipient of the 2010 William A. Hinton Research Training Award from the American Society for Microbiology.

Daniel J. Simons (SX 1991), with co-author Christopher Chabris, has published a new book called The Invisible Gorilla (Crown, 2010), described by one reviewer as "a surprising guide to everyday illusions and the trouble they can steer us into." It's a thought-provoking book about perception, memory and faulty thinking. Simons and Chabris were creators of the famous "Gorillas in Our Midst" experiment, which showed that we can fail to notice something glaringly obvious-even when it is right before our eyes. Simons is a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and Chabris is an assistant professor of psychology at Union College in Schenectady, New York.

John H. Manhold (SX 1955), former professor of pathology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, writes: "At 90, I have very little to do with science these days. However, old scientists never really stop working, so they write novels. My first two were award winners, and my third, LOBO, a Civil War story, has just been published. Details are available on my Web page www.johnmanhold.com."

Harold A. Geller (SX 2006), an astrobiologist at George Mason University, was quoted in the latest edition of GamePro magazine in an article titled "The Real Science of Mass Effect 2."

Clarence R. Hickey (SX 1981) has a new book out on a 19th century physician and Civil War surgeon in Maryland called Send for the Doctor: The Life and Times of Dr. Edward E. Stonestreet. He offers portrayals and reenactments about this doctor, while explaining the improvements in medicine and the practice of medicine in the 19th century and its relation to medicine today. The book was published by the Montgomery County Historical Society.

Sigma Xi Members in the News for April 2010

Louise Evans (SX 1952) of Beverly Hills, California, Diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology, received the 2009 Corann Okorodudu International Womens' Advocacy Award from the Society of the Psychology of Women (Division 35) at the American Psychological Association's annual convention.

Anthony Blose (SX 1979) will become provost and vice president for academic affairs at Angelo State University (San Angelo, Texas) in July. He has worked as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Lake Superior State University (Sault Sainte Marie, Minnesota) since 2007.

Edward Harwood (SX 1991), CEO and founder of Aero Farm Systems, LLC, received $500,000 in seed funding to value engineer and begin distribution of aeroponic systems that grow without sun and soil using a cloth media. A portion of the funding was used to create a one-of-a-kind LED array to determine plant responses to light quality that would optimize commercial production of leafy greens. Collaborators in this research include the Cornell University Department of Horticulture and RPI's Lighting Research Center.

Michelle R. Stem (SX 2008) has been named recipient of the 2010 Novo Dux Engineering Prize in recognition of her research and leadership potential. The award included a large collection of the extremely rare inorganic, organometallic and semiconductor material specimens that she needs for her materials science and engineering research. She will research these specimens for the development of multiscale optoelectronic materials and components for many applications, such as: energy and data storage, energy and data transfer, phononic and photonic guides, and photochromism. This will be highly interdisciplinary research that will provide opportunities for student researchers and faculty collaborations. Stem graduated in 2009 from the University of Texas at El Paso with a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering.

Stephen J. Morewitz (SX 2000) was appointed a San Jose State University Scholar Series presenter for the Spring 2010 semester. He presented a lecture about his book, Death Threats and Violence. New Research and Clinical Perspectives (New York: Springer, 2008).

Harold Harris (SX 1970) has been named 2010 Educator of the Year by the St. Louis Academy of Sciences. He is a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Division of Teaching and Learning at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Joel K. Kearns (SX 1985) was named vice president for solar research and development at MEMC Electronic Materials in St. Peters, Missouri. He was most recently Transition Manager at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. In October 2009, Kearns was awarded the Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive for work at NASA.

Daryle Gardner-Bonneau (SX 1986), principal of Bonneau and Associates in Portage, Michigan, was named a Fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society in October, 2009. During her 30-year career as a human factors engineering specialist, she has contributed to ergonomics R&D in many domains, including aviation, telecommunications and health care. She is a recognized leader in international standards development in ergonomics and chairs the U.S. mirror group to ISO TC159 -Ergonomics. She has also been appointed to the National Academy of Sciences study committee on the "Role of Human Factors in Home Health Care" and is a co-editor and chapter author (Home Health Care) of the Handbook of Human Factors and Medical Device Design (CRC Press, 2010, in press).

Bassam Z. Shakhashiri (SX 1967) of Madison, Wisconsin, was awarded an honorary doctorate from Lebanese American University (July 2009), celebrated his 40th Christmas Lecture www.scifun.org (December 2009), was voted by the American Chemical Society Council as one of two candidates for ACS president-elect (March 2010) and urges all members to vote in the Fall election. Bassam and John W. "Jack" Sommer (SX 1985) of Cornelius, North Carolina, continue their efforts to reactivate the Sigma Xi chapter at the American University of Beirut.

James E. Trosko (SX 1962) is on a two-month Research Leave of Absence from Michigan State University. He was recently awarded a World Class University Distinguished Visiting Professorship to do research and lecture at Seoul National University. Trosko is in the Department of Veterinary Public Health in the College of Veterinary Medicine, where he is doing human stem cell research as it relates to both cancer and aging. In addition, as a former student of global bioethics under the late Van R. Potter (the man who coined the term), he is also giving lectures on bioethics to veterinary and human medical students. His goal is to use "comparative medicine" to stimulate research to benefit both human beings and non-human animals.

Roy Weinstein (SX 1953) writes: "I have recently been surprised by the largest spate of publicity since I received the Phi Kappa Phi National Triennial Scholar Award, circa 1983. I submitted a rather basic patent application, on a new type of superconducting magnet, on February 20, 1990. The Patent and Trademark Office took some time to make a decision, but the patent was finally issued on February 23, 2010, just 20 years and three days later." The Houston Chronicle featured the story March 25 on its front page.

Life Member Carl L. Johannessen (SX 1952), professor emeritus of geography at the University of Oregon, and John L. Sorenson, professor emeritus at Brigham Young University, have recently published a monumental work detailing the biological evidence for pre-Columbian Transoceanic Diffusion between tropical civilizations. World Trade and Biological Exchanges Before 1492 is available from iUniverse in both hard and soft cover formats. "We have discovered, through exhaustive literature reviews from the last 150 years that many researchers in various fields have postulated extensive interaction between the far-flung tropical cultures of the world long before the Europeans began their ocean journeys. We have not only compiled this evidence but spent many years traveling around the world to confirm the validity and accuracy of the published work and discover further avenues of ancient tropical civilizations' interactions with one another. We are, simply put, reassessing the very way in which the Western world teaches world history."

Guy Metcalfe (SX 1991), principal research scientist in fluid mechanics at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) of Australia, has won the inaugural 10xE Chemical Engineering/Entrepreneurship Challenge sponsored by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). The award was presented at the Energy Efficiency plenary by Amory Lovins, chief scientist of RMI, at the AIChE Spring Meeting in San Antonio, Texas. The challenge sought radically energy efficient designs of processes, devices and materials and honored the "elegant frugality" of processing by chaotic advection embodied by Metcalfe's RAM technologies for mixing and heat exchange of viscous materials.

Richard LaRosa (SX 1944) writes: "There is a worldwide inadequacy of precipitation on mountains. Scientific literature suggests that aerosols may be contributing too many cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) so that the condensed moisture is distributed on too many CCN and the droplets or ice particles are too small to coalesce and precipitate. I have suggested on www.sealevelcontrol.com that rafts of solar-heated evaporator panels moored in coastal waters may be able to increase the humidity of air passing over mountains so that the condensation particles are larger and have an increased probability of precipitating. Evaporator construction and deployment methods are suggested on the website. If these ideas can be successfully implemented, drought relief agencies will have more water available where it is needed."

Dave Calkins (SX 2007) was interviewed for a report in March by Discovery News titled "Glaucoma Starts in the Brain." Calkins is director of research at Vanderbilt University's Eye Institute. He leads a research team that has found that glaucoma starts with an injury in the brain.

Paul L. Nunez (SX 1985), emeritus professor at Tulane University, has a new book, Brain, Mind, and the Structure of Reality (Oxford University Press, 2010), on the easy and hard problems of consciousness. Some view human consciousness as 1) Nothing but a byproduct of sensory, moto and memory information processing, essentially saying that the hard problem is just an illusion. 2) Something mystical that lies beyond scientific purview, implying that the hard problem is just too hard to deal with. 3) Explained by flaky ideas, pseudo quantum mechanics, or appeals to fuzzy theology. By contrast, Nunez's new book aims for a proper balance between knowledge and ignorance.

Sigma Xi Members in the News for March 2010

Francisco J. Ayala (SX 1964), an evolutionary geneticist and molecular biologist at the University of California, Irvine, who has vigorously opposed the entanglement of science and religion while also calling for mutual respect between the two, has won the 2010 Templeton Prize. Ayala is a past president of Sigma Xi and received the Society's 2000 William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement.

Rita R. Colwell (SX 1960), distinguished professor at the University of Maryland and John Hopkins University, has been named the 2010 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate. She will receive the prize at a royal award ceremony September 9 during the 2010 World Water Week in Stockholm. Her pioneering research on the prevention of waterborne infectious diseases, especially cholera, has helped protect the health and lives of millions. Colwell is a past president of Sigma Xi and former director of the National Science Foundation.

Naiqian Zhang (SX 1988), professor of biological and agricultural engineering at Kansas State University, will spend four months later this year as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of the Philippines Los Banos. Zhang will teach and continue his research in sensors for precision agriculture.

Sue B. Clark (SX 1991) , a Washington State University professor and past chair of chemistry in the College of Sciences, has accepted the post of interim dean of the College of Sciences and will serve in that position beginning July 1, in the event that a new permanent dean is not on site by that date.

Aaron M. Podolefsky (SX 1994), president of the University of Central Missouri, has been named president of Buffalo State College.

Shankar Mahalingam (SX 1989), chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Riverside, has been named dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He will formally join the university in August.

Donald G. Burkhard (SX 1949), professor emeritus of physics at the University of Georgia, writes: "It is known by direct observation that stars in their galaxies have been and are accumulating to the outer fringes of their galaxies at a constant acceleration within the galaxy. The current speed reached by the stars in the Milky Way is 200km/sec. Likewise, the universe of galaxies are collectively receding from their point of origin at constant acceleration and also repelling one another with a constant acceleration of the same value as that of the stars within the galaxy. Scientists have attributed the phenomena to forces produced by so-called dark matter and energy. This fairytale account is wrong. A believer in dark matter today is similar to the believer in mysticism in the Middle Ages. The correct explanation is given at the Web site www.donaldgburkhard.com

Gerard Voland (SX 2001), dean at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, as provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Michigan-Flint.

Urbano Fra Paleo (SX 1998) at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain has edited the book Building Safer Communities. Risk Governance, Spatial Planning and Responses to Natural Hazards (IOS Press, 2009). The text deals with proactive policies of governance to deal with natural hazards and mitigate the impact of disasters.

Michael. Lewis (SX 1963) of New Brunswick, New Jersey, received the 2009 Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contributions to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society from the American Psychological Association's Developmental Psychology section. Lewis received the award and gave an address at the 2009 APA conference in Toronto last August.

Raymond S. Nickerson (SX 1959), retired senior vice president of BBN Technologies and research professor at Tufts University, has just published his eighth book, Mathematical Reasoning: Patterns, Problems, Conjectures and Proofs (Psychology Press, 2010). His other recent books from Psychology Press were Aspects of Rationality: Reflections on What it Means to be Rational, and Whether We Are (2008) and Cognition and Chance: The Psychology of Probabilistic Reasoning (2004).

Michael J. Stillman (SX 1992) of Framingham, Massachusetts, is now doing business as DendWrite Communications, offering medical and scientific writing/editing services for white papers, abstracts, poster/oral/slide presentations, manuscripts, Web sites and other formats.

Charles J. Amlaner (SX 1987) is now vice president for research and dean of the Graduate College at Kennesaw State University. In his 23 years in higher education, Amlaner has served as chair of four departments at two universities, the University of Arkansas and Indiana State University, and served two years as an administrative fellow for research and graduate studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana State University.

John W. "Jack" Sommer (SX 1985) of Cornelius, North Carolina, reports that the New Zealand Association of Scientists has released the 2008 Survey of New Zealand Scientists and Technologists there, which he led. The genesis of this project, now 15 years old, lay in 1986 and 1988 surveys of New Zealand scientists that Sommer conducted for Sigma Xi. He says that a 1996 survey was an important source of information for policy-makers in Wellington, and the 2008 survey promises to be a valuable follow-up.

Max J. Seel (SX 1991) has been named provost and vice president for academic affairs at Michigan Technological University. Seel has been serving as interim provost since January 2009. A native of Germany, he taught and did research in quantum chemistry and computational physics at the University of Erlangen-Nurnberg until joining the Michigan Tech physics faculty in 1986.

Henry Petroski (SX 1968), Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and professor of history at Duke University, is featured on the cover of the February issue of Civil Engineering. The magazine contains an excerpt from his new book, The Essential Engineer: Why Science Alone Will Not Solve Our Global Problems. Petroski is also the author of an invited chapter on engineers and bridges in the recently released book, Seeing Further: The Story of Science and the Royal Society, published on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society. He writes the monthly "Engineering" column for American Scientist magazine.

Timir Banerjee (SX 1973) of Louisville, Kentucky, received the 2009 Compassionate Physician Award from the Jewish Hospital and St. Mary's Foundation and has been selected to receive the 2010 Humanitarian of the Year Award from the American Association of Neurosurgeons, which will be awarded May 5 in Philadelphia.

Nagib M. A. Nassar (SX 2006) , a geneticist, botanist and plant breeder at the University of Brazil, recently published a Letter to the Editor of SciDevNet titled "Indigenous cassava key to tackling malnutrition." Genetics and Molecular Research also published a homage to him celebrating his 50 years of teaching and research.

Park S. Nobel (SX 1960), the world's leading authority on the ecophysiology of agaves and cacti, has just published his 16th book, Desert Wisdom/Agaves and Cacti: CO2, Water, Climate Change. The book describes the current uses of these plants and provides predictions on their responses worldwide to future climates. In particular, both agaves and cacti conserve water and produce well in arid and semi-arid regions, in large measure because they employ Crassulacean Acid Metabolism with nocturnal stomatal opening. Both can cope with increasing temperatures and changing rainfall patterns and actually benefit from increasing atmospheric CO2 levels. Check it out on his website, www.eeb.ucla.edu/nobel

Leon L. Combs (SX 1968) of Marietta, Georgia, professor and head emeritus of chemistry at Mississippi State University and professor emeritus and chair of chemistry and biochemistry at Kennesaw State University, has published a Christian science fiction book titled A Search for Reality that is available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The story is about a scientist's search for reality, which results in his becoming a Christian at a time when acknowledging such an allegiance would result in his being subjected to a "brain wipe" and thus loss of his career. The search by the scientist leads him through various theories of reality and involves virtual reality modules used by the government to mold citizens away from religion and toward acceptance of government's model of reality.

Sigma Xi Members in the News for February 2010

Jonathan B. Gressel (SX 1962) of the Weizmann Institute of Science has won the Israel Prize for Agricultural Research, regarded as the nation's highest honor. An internationally renowned expert on plant biotechnology, Gressel is also chief scientific officer for TransAlgae Ltd. The citation noted that he has carried out "breakthrough studies in the molecular mechanisms that allow the extermination of weeds in agriculture."

Eduard Muljadi (SX 1990), a researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, has been elected a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering for his "contributions to wind turbine control and integration of wind power in the power system grid."

Sigma Xi Members in the News for January 2010

The Natick Chapter of Sigma Xi has instituted an Annual William L. Porter Memorial Sigma Xi Lecture, in honor of a long-time chapter member who was very active on the program committee, organizing many lectures. Porter died last year at age 91 after a long, productive career with the U.S. Army Natick Research, Development and Engineering Center in Natick, Massachusetts.

Lucy Shapiro (SX 1962), director of the Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine at Stanford University, will receive the 2010 American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Abbott-ASM Lifetime Achievement Award for her work on understanding the life of a cell. Sponsored by Abbott Laboratories, this is ASM's premier award for sustained, remarkable contributions to the microbiological sciences. Shapiro's three decades of work on Caulobacter cresentus has provided the most thorough understanding of the cell cycle in bacteria.

Patrick R. Murray (SX 1976) will receive the 2010 American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Founders Distinguished Service Award for his more than 25 years of service to the society. An ASM member since 1974, Murray's most visible leadership role has been as the editor-in-chief of four consecutive editions of the Manual of Clinical Microbiology, a premier ASM publication. He also served for 15 years on the editorial board and as an editor of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

Jennifer C. Shieh (SX 2003) has co-authored Guide to Research Techniques in Neuroscience (Elsevier/Academic Press, 2009), an introduction to the wide range of methods used to study the nervous system, from fMRI and electrophysiology to Western blots and confocal imaging.

Richard J. Komp (SX 1965), director of the Maine Solar Energy Association (MESEA), recently wrote a report on his solar energy work in Rwanda, which is available on the association Web site. At last report Komp was in Nicaragua working with the Grupo Fenix and the Solar Women of Totogalpa. Last year these women were one of five groups in the world to win the important United Nations SEED Award, and Komp got to be at the UN headquarters in New York as one of the people representing them to receive the award. Also in 2009 he worked in Pakistan. He will return to Rwanda in April, with a stopover in Mali to check on how the Afriqpower group of orphans are doing in their solar company.

William Z. Lidicker, Jr. (SX 1955), professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, was elected to a second term as president of the International Federation of Mammalogists at the 10th International Congress of Mammalogy held in Mendoza, Argentina, in August 2009.

John Chrysochoos (SX 1978), professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Toledo, Ohio, has recently published a non-fiction book called In Reason We Trust, about politics, U.S. government and current affairs. It is available online and in some bookstores (www.RoseDogbookstore.com, Amazon.com, www.Borders.com and other online sites. His other books, Beyond the Blue Ikarian Sea (non-fiction) and Elusive Dreams (fiction on public education), are also available online. Contact him at: jchryso@utnet.utoledo.edu

Sigma Xi Members in the News for December 2009

Karthik Bodhinathan (SX 2009) was awarded the 2009 Alec Courtelis Award by the University of Florida International Center. The award was presented at the International Student Academic Awards Ceremony. The award was presented “in recognition of Karthik Bodhinathan academic excellence and outstanding contribution to the university community”.

Theodore L. Brown (SX 1955) has published two new books: Imperfect Oracle: The Epistemic and Moral Authority of Science, Penn State University Press, 2009 and Bridging Divides: The Origins of the Beckman Institute at Illinois, University of Illinois Press, 2009.

Frank R. Tangherlini (SX 1956) reports that his 1958 Stanford Ph.D. thesis, "The Velocity of Light in Uniformly Moving Frames," (Prof. Sidney D. Drell, thesis advisor) is now available on the Internet courtesy of The Abraham Zelmanov Journal. See: http://Zelmanov.ptep-online.com/issues.html. The thesis will appear later this year in Volume 2 of the journal. He says this came about due to interest in the thesis expressed several years ago by Dr. Gregory B. Malykin, of the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Nizhni Novgorod. "The thesis is preceded by a 2009 preface by me that indicates how it came to be written, going back to some ideas I developed when I was a graduate student at the University of Chicago in the early 1950s, before completing my graduate work in the late 1950s at Stanford," Tangherlini says. It is followed by a brief article explaining in further detail one of the chapters of the thesis that deals with Maxwell's equations. There is also a lengthy article by Dr. Malykin and his son Edward G. Malykin (an assistant prof. of mathematics) commenting on the significance of the thesis, and its relation to other contributions to the subject of a similar nature, which is accompanied by numerous references to the literature.

Wilber E. Goll (SX 1953) of Shawnee, Kansas, recalls that at the time of his induction into Sigma Xi he was working with a group of colleagues on a classified project involving the development of "flash suppressors" for a number of military weapons. Several patents were eventually granted involving Midwest Research Institute in Kansas City, Missouri.

Tzu-Yang Yu (SX 2007) writes: "After graduating from MIT in June 2008, I joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell in September 2008. I have a book entitled "Damage Detection of GFRP-concrete Systems Using Electromagnetic Waves" recently published by Lambert Academic Publishing, Koln, Germany. I am working on a research project sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), regarding the dielectric properties of cementitious composites."

Yu Tong Jade Morton, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Miami University, was named 2009 Researcher of the Year by the Miami University-Ohio Chapter of Sigma Xi. His award lecture was on "The Global Positioning System: Past, Present and Future."

Sigma Xi Members in the News for November 2009

Sheila S. Emmett (SX 1968) has been named "Professional of the Year" by Cambridge Who's Who for showing dedication, leadership and excellence in all aspects of secondary education.

Paul W. Bosland (SX 1986) at New Mexico State University recently received the 2009 New Mexico Distinguished Public Service Award. He is a world expert on chili genetics, breeding and evaluation, leading that research at NMSU. He has also headed a program that provides first-generation children of migrant farm workers the opportunity to experience agricultural research.

Natarajan Krishnamurthy (SX 1969) reports from Singapore that he has been invited to run a one-day workshop "Risk Management for Movers and Shakers" on Sunday, December 6, 2009 at the annual meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis in Baltimore, Maryland. He will also be presenting a paper with a new proposal for risk assessment at the same meeting, on the 9th. He will be giving a copy of his book, Introduction to Risk Management, as part of course material. For further details, he may be contacted at: safety@profkrishna.com

Anthony Debons (SX 1953), professor emeritus in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, is the author of a new text titled Information Science 101, designed to alert high school students and college freshman of the broad scope of Information science--its subjects and career possibilities. "Information Science's broad perspective is written to provide a frame of reference to students who are shaping their career interests," he says. The book is published by Scarecrow Press (2008).

Walter R. May (SX 1961) of SFA International, Inc. in Houston, Texas, published a book in 2008 called U.S. Energy Independence - A Plan for Energy Independence by 2020. It is available at Barnes & Noble and other bookstores, as well as on his company Web site. "The energy situation in the U.S. is critical and becoming more so with every passing day," he says.

Sigma Xi Members in the News for October 2009

William M. Manger (SX 1956) and the National Hypertension Association in New York, which he chairs, have received the Mayo Clinic Alumni Association Humanitarian Award for their efforts to prevent and combat the obesity crisis in our nation. Their VITAL (Values Initiative Teaching About Lifestyle) program, which teaches healthy eating and appropriate physical activity to schoolchildren (kindergarten through grade 2), has been enormously successful in improving lifestyle and preventing excess weight gain. "We have implemented the program in elementary schools in 11 states and Washington, D.C.," Manger reports.

Joel S. Miller (SX 1979) was honored with the prestigious 2009 Lifelong Learning and Service Recognition award by the Academy of General Dentistry recognizing his commitment to lifelong learning, volunteer services to the communities in need, mentorship to associates and new dentists and participation in organized dentistry.

Alexander Lowy (SX 1931) was a distinguished author, educator, inventor and university professor. His life (1889-1941), along with his many accomplishments in the field of science (especially organic chemistry), are now being acknowledged by his family and also by the University of Pittsburgh. Visit www.alexanderlowy.com to learn more about his contributions and how they made a difference.

Virginia Steen-McIntyre (SX 1964) reports that a new umbrells Web site called The Pleistocene Coalition brings together scientists and researchers whose data seriously question the ruling dogma, "Cave Man Dumb: Modern Man Smart." Homo erectus, at least, just may be in for a major image change!

Eugenie Carol Scott (SX 2003) has received the California Academy of Sciences' highest honor, the Fellows Medal. The medal recognizes Scott's "...many important contributions to science, education, and evolution, and for her tireless efforts to safeguard scientific integrity in public life."

Sigma Xi Members in the News for September 2009

John E. Warnock (SX 1964) was won the 2008 National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the nation’s highest honor for technological and scientific achievement, for pioneering contributions that spurred the desktop publishing revolution.

Michele G. Wheatly (SX 1985) has been named provost and vice president for academic affairs at West Virginia University.

Sigma Xi Members in the News for August 2009

John W. Prados (SX 1956), vice president and University Professor Emeritus at the University of Tennessee, received the Benjamin Garver Lamme Award at the 2009 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition. He was honored for 50 years of combined service to the University of Tennessee as well as professional and governmental organizations. Prados has served Sigma Xi for many years in a variety of capacities at the local and national levels, including multiple terms as Society treasurer.

Christopher Colenda (SX 2005), dean of medicine at Texas A&M University, will become West Virginia University's new chancellor for health sciences.

Robert C. Titus (SX 1971), professor of geology at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York, has begun a weekly column about the geology of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains in four newspapers of the Hudson-Catskill Newspaper Chain. His column "Windows Through Time" focuses on the geological history of the region.

Ana Barahona (SX 1995), a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, is the new president of the International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology for 2009-2011.

Life member A. Fred Spilhaus (SX 1961), recently retired executive director of the American Geophysical Union and only one of eight Council of Scientific Society Executives (CESSE) Leadership Award recipients, was honored in Orlando at the CESSE annual meeting in July with the renaming of the coveted award to the A. Fred Spilhaus Leadership Award.

Sigma Xi Members in the News for July 2009

Nancy L. Elwess (SX 1999), associate professor of biological sciences at SUNY Plattsburgh, has been named by President Obama as a recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. The award is designed to recognize the crucial role that mentoring plays in the academic and personal development of students studying science or engineering and who belong to minorities that are underrepresented in those fields.

Members in the News for April-June 2009

Members in the News for January-March 2009

Members in the News for October-December 2008

Members in the News for July-September 2008

Members in the News for April-June 2008

Members in the News for January-March 2008

Members in the News for October-December 2007

Members in the News for August-September 2007

Members in the News for June-July 2007

Members in the News for May 2007

Send items for Sigma Xi Members in the News to Charles Blackburn at cblackburn@sigmaxi.org

Find Out More About Becoming A Sigma Xi Member

Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
P.O. Box 13975
3106 East NC Highway 54
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
Phone: 800-243-6534 or 919-549-4691
Fax: 919-549-0090