News: AAAS News & Notes
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SCIENCE
POLICY
Swiss Fellowship Program Follows Lead of AAAS
 Norman Neureiter (right) and John Holum (left), Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security. |
Encouraged by AAAS and other major organizations that represent the nation's scientists and engineers, the U.S. Department of State has created the position of Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State, and named Norman Neureiter, an organic chemist, to the post.
"This is a major opportunity for the scientific community to provide advice and insight on everything from collaborative scientific agreements to the latest foreign policy issue," said AAAS President Mary Good, who advised the State Department in its search for candidates. "Dr. Neureiter has a broad range of experiences in business and international affairs, and is as close to ideal for that job as you could get."
On 20 September 2000, Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright announced the appointment of Neureiter, a former vice president of Texas Instruments Japan and member of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. In a statement released by the State Department, Albright said Neureiter would work to make sure agency officials have the proper training and access to necessary expertise, and would serve as the department's "principal liaison with the science, engineering and technology community…"
"He is eminently qualified to help the Department carry out the critical mandate that I have set forth of ensuring that science, technology and health issues are fully integrated into U.S. foreign policy," Albright said. "I am delighted to welcome him to my leadership team."
Frank Loy, the Under Secretary for Global Affairs, who led the recruiting process for the three-year appointment, noted that the scientific community had complained loudly in recent times over personnel changes and other indications that the agency was not adequately prepared to address issues of science and technology in foreign policy. It was a question of limited resources, said Loy, through whom Neureiter will report to Secretary Albright.
The issue became more pressing, however, with the release of a National Research Council report in late 1999 that recommended the State Department beef up its science staff, starting with the appointment of a science adviser, and listed the many areas of foreign policy requiring special expertise. Produced at Albright's request, The Pervasive Role of Science, Technology, and Health in Foreign Policy: Imperatives for the Department of State, noted in its executive summary that science, technology, and health (STH) considerations "are often central to the Department of State's bilateral and multilateral interactions…"
"STH aspects
play a large role in discussions of such critical topics as
nuclear nonproliferation, use of outer space, population growth, adequate and
safe food supply, climate change, infectious diseases, energy resources, and
competitiveness of industrial technologies," the report said.
In addition to recommending the creation of Neureiter's position, the NRC report suggested the State Department add new components to training programs for foreign service officers, and educate current foreign service officers about aspects of science and technology relevant to their work. It suggested also that opportunities for advancement be established for staff with scientific expertise.
Neureiter says he hopes to build "a solid market" among his foreign service colleagues, so that they will be willing to go outside the State Department for scientific and technical advice.
"We need to show that we can make a difference in helping them to deal with issues that are critical to relations with the countries for which they are responsible."
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AWARDS The Board of Directors of AAAS has named the recipients of four annual awards with which the association honors scientists and engineers for outstanding achievements. The awards will be presented in a ceremony at the AAAS Annual Meeting in San Francisco on 17 February 2001. The recipients of the 2000 awards announced by the AAAS Board are as follows: Leon M. Lederman, Pritzker Professor of Science, Illinois Institute of Technology, will be awarded the AAAS Philip Hauge Abelson Prize. This award is bestowed on a public servant for exceptional contributions to advancing science, or to a scientist or engineer for a distinguished career of scientific achievement and service to the community. Kenneth Bridbord, Director of the Division of International Training and Research, the John E. Fogarty International Center for Advanced Study in the Health Sciences at the National Institutes of Health, will receive the AAAS Award for International Scientific Cooperation. This award recognizes an individual or group of individuals in the scientific or engineering community who work together to make an outstanding contribution to furthering international cooperation in science and engineering. Vaclav Smil, Distinguished Professor of Geography, University of Manitoba, will receive the AAAS Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology. This award is bestowed on working scientists and engineers to recognize their outstanding contributions to the popularization of science. Howard Schachman, Professor of the Graduate School and Professor Emeritus, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, will receive the AAAS Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award. This award honors scientists and engineers whose exemplary actions, often taken at significant personal cost, have served to foster scientific freedom and responsibility. |
EDUCATION
NSF Funds Coalition to Improve Teaching in D.C. Schools
Inés Cifuentes, a seismologist who works for the Carnegie Institution
of Washington, has seen a teacher cry when confronted with her lack of knowledge
about science and mathematics.
"She wanted to know why she did not get a good education herself, and why she had not been taught the things we are offering to teach her now," said Cifuentes, who runs the Carnegie Academy for Science Education (CASE). "At the same time, though, she was trusting us enough to say, 'I need help.' "
The District of Columbia public school teacher is one of dozens of teachers in D.C. public schools who have agreed to participate in a program that has just received $4 million in funding from the National Science Foundation. AAAS, the Carnegie Institution, and the District of Columbia Public Schools make up a coalition called DC ACTS, which will implement the program in 21 D.C. schools: two high schools, four middle/junior high schools, and 15 elementary schools.
The staff at these schools signed an agreement last spring to attend professional development courses in science, math, and technology, and to take steps to increase student performance in those areas. To further this goal, they agreed also to increase the number of 8th graders taking Algebra I, and to bolster the enrollment in advanced courses in science and mathematics.
Teacher training is only one piece of the program, however. To reform the science and math education, DC ACTS will take a "whole school" approach.
"We are also talking about school reform," Cifuentes said. "Even though the focus is on math, science and technology, we've got to look at everything. We're looking at the structure of a school so that we can make instruction the focus."
The DC ACTS program will be managed by Joan Abdallah, program director in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources. The directorate provides quality programs in science, mathematics, and technology education for K to 12 teachers and works to increase participation of minorities, women, and people with disabilities in science and engineering and improve public understanding of science and technology.
"It is imperative that science-based organizations form partnerships with school systems to reform education in science, mathematics and technology," said Shirley Malcom, Director of the AAAS Directorate for Education and Human Resources Programs. "We've got to work through this together."
As part of the DC ACTS program, advisers from AAAS and Carnegie will work with school staff to: (i) build the infrastructure to support high quality science, mathematics, and technology education; (ii) work with teachers to implement standards-based mathematics and science curricula in the classroom; (iii) coordinate additional resources to support science, mathematics, and technology education; (iv) foster support among parents, policy-makers, universities, business and industry, and foundations; and (v) collect and analyze a variety of data, including Stanford-9 Achievement test scores, to measure increasing student achievement. Other organizations, including the Challenger Center, America Online, Texas Instruments, Howard University, Daimler Chrysler, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, have agreed to provide additional support and resources for DC ACTS. AAAS obtained a $750,000 grant from Intel for training, laptop computers, and other technology equipment for teachers. The District of Columbia will provide each school with resources for implementing the program.
COMMUNICATIONS
AAAS Web Site:News and More
Where can you get the latest news about AAAS and its activities? Sign on to www.aaas.org.
The purpose of the newly refurbished site is to put a face on the organization and to capture the breadth of the involvement of AAAS in the world of scientific research and science policy.
Most recently, the site has summarized the work of two AAAS forums—one that explored whether scientists should take a "Hippocratic oath," and the other that discussed the impact of the federal government's steps to protect national security at laboratories and universities. And in September, a debate between representatives of the two presidential candidates was provided live in a Web cast linked to the site.
The AAAS site also provides an "Of Note" section that alerts members to upcoming dates for voting in AAAS elections, as well as providing information about the AAAS Annual Meeting.
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ART
Visitors who enter AAAS at 12th and H streets will encounter at the entrance a sculpture of gold and granite, the recent gift of a scientist-turned-artist. David Bakalar, a physicist with degrees from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), donated the piece of sculpture in September for permanent display at AAAS. Entitled "Renaissance," the work reflects the artist's love of science and art. Bakalar founded the Transitron Electronic Corporation, which he led for 30 years. During his tenure at the company that specializes in transistor design and manufacturing, Bakalar became enamored of art and began creating his own sculptures. Other Bakalar sculptures are on view at MIT, the Massachusetts College of Art, Brandeis University, Columbia University Law School, and other universities, as well as at the Marine Biology Laboratories at Woods Hole and the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston. An exhibit of Bakalar's work is being shown in the AAAS first floor Atrium and Gallery, and will run through 28 February 2000. |
