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News and Notes - 20 December 2002
PROFILE
New President of AAAS Renowned Physician-Scientist
Mary Ellen Avery--a neonatologist and the new president of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)-- is best known for her
discovery in the 1950s that a lack of surface active agents in the lungs of
newborn babies led to respiratory distress and caused many of them to die.
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2003 AAAS President Mary Ellen Avery
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Avery, who went on to develop life-saving treatments for newborns at risk for
respiratory disease, "represents the best of what we want in a clinical
investigator," according to Julius Richmond, U.S. Surgeon General under
President Jimmy Carter and Averys colleague at Harvard Medical School.
"She has two important attributes," said Richmond, Professor of Health
Policy Emeritus in Harvards Department of Social Medicine. "She showed
remarkable creativity in identifying the best scientific approach for dealing
with the question of why so many premature babies were dying of lung disease,
and she persevered until there was a solution in sight. It was a great leap
forward."
One of four women in the class of 1952 at Johns Hopkins University Medical
School, Avery was inspired to become a pediatrician while an undergraduate at
Wheaton College in Norton, MA. She says that her research as a faculty member
at Johns Hopkins, and later at McGill University and at Harvard, showed her
the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to science and science policy,
an awareness that makes her value AAAS and the professional diversity of its
members.
"I drew on the work of basic scientists--molecular biologists and
others--and we went into it in depth," said Avery, who was physician-in-chief
at Childrens Hospital from 1974 to 1985, as well as Thomas Morgan Rotch
Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard. "I jumped disciplines
very readily and we created an unlikely merger of interests. I did have a goal,
and not just to gain new knowledge. I wanted to see what could be applied in
the treatment of newborns."
As she begins her presidency of the Association in 2003, Avery hopes to encourage
the organizations role in bringing scientific and technological solutions
to bear on the worlds most intractable problems.
In an interview posted on "Childrens Online," a publication
of Childrens Hospital in Boston, Avery noted that her background as a
leader in child and maternal health will affect her leadership style at AAAS.
"I certainly have beliefs and prejudices, and they will show," she
said. "Women, children and newborns will not be ignored."
She noted that her agenda goes beyond pediatrics. "My priorities are to
support studies of global issues such as the increase in pollutants, efforts
to have multilateral reduction in nuclear and microbial weapons, and the ever
increasing socio-economic disparities in the world."
Avery, who will take office at the close of the AAAS Annual Meeting on 19 February
2003, has been a council member of both the Institute of Medicine and the National
Academy of Sciences. In 1991, President George Bush awarded her the National
Medal of Science for her work on respiratory distress in newborns.
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2004 AAAS
President Shirley Ann Jackson
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AAAS
Shirley Ann Jackson AAAS President in 2004
The membership of AAAS has elected physicist Shirley Ann Jackson to become
president of AAAS in February 2004, following the term of Mary Ellen Avery,
who will serve as president in 2003.
President of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, Jackson has
served in positions of leadership in both the public and private sectors. She
was Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1995 to 1999, and
a professor of physics at Rutgers University from 1991 to 1995. From 1976 to
1991, Jackson worked as a theoretical physicist at the former AT&T Bell
Laboratories. She has conducted research in optical physics and in theoretical,
quantum, and solid-state physics.
Jackson graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, becoming
the first African-American woman to receive a doctorate from that institution,
and one of the first two African-American women awarded Ph.D.s in physics in
the United States. The recipient of numerous awards, Jackson was recently named
one of the Top 50 Women in Science by Discover magazine.
AAAS
Public Welfare Medal for AAAS Official
Shirley M. Malcom, director of the AAAS Directorate for Education and Human
Resources, will receive the National Academy of Sciences prestigious Public
Welfare Medal, according to a recent announcement by NAS officials.
"Dr. Malcom has been a tireless advocate for the empowerment of the general
public through science and technology, viewing such an education as a necessary
ingredient for social progress," said NAS President Bruce Alberts. "She
has also been at the forefront in making science available to those normally
underrepresented in science careers, dedicating her life to making sure that
everyone has a chance to succeed."
Malcom, who has worked at AAAS almost 23 years, has authored and co-authored
a number of landmark publications, including the 1998 report, "Losing Ground:
Science and Engineering Graduate Education of Black and Hispanic Americans,"
which pointed to an "unwelcoming environment" for underrepresented
minority graduate students as a result of policy changes affecting minority
education. Malcom will receive the NAS award during a ceremony in April.
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Results of the 2002 Election
of AAAS Officers
Following are the results of the 2002 election. Terms begin on 19 February
2003.
General Offices
President-Elect: Shirley Ann Jackson. Board of Directors:
Rosina M. Bierbaum, Peter J. Stang. Committee on Nominations: Wendy
Baldwin, David A. Hamburg, Stanley B. Prusiner, Judith P. Swazey.
Section on Agriculture, Food, and Renewable Resources
Chair-Elect: Per Pinstrup-Andersen. Member-at-Large:
Elizabeth W. Sulzman. Electorate Nominating Committee: Sue DeNise,
Ronald Sederoff. Council Delegate: Sue A. Tolin.
Section on Anthropology
Chair-Elect: Emilio F. Moran. Member-at-Large: David G. Anderson.
Electorate Nominating Committee: Anabel Ford, R. Brook Thomas.
Section on Astronomy
Chair-Elect: Stephen P. Maran. Member-at-Large: S. Alan Stern. Electorate Nominating Committee: Bruce Balick, C. Robert O’Dell.
Section on Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Sciences
Chair-Elect: Jim Coakley. Member-at-Large: Anne M. Thompson. Electorate Nominating Committee: Mary Anne Carroll, Amanda H. Lynch.
Section on Biological Sciences
Chair-Elect: Barbara A. Schaal. Member-at-Large: Nancy A. Moran.
Electorate Nominating Committee: Karen L. Bennett, Marlene Zuk.
Section on Chemistry
Chair-Elect: K. N. Houk. Member-at-Large: F. Fleming Crim. Electorate Nominating Committee: Carolyn R. Bertozzi, William L. Jorgensen.
Section on Dentistry and Oral Health Sciences
Chair-Elect: Barbara D. Boyan. Member-at-Large: Margarita Zeichner-David.
Electorate Nominating Committee: Floyd E. Dewhirst, Paul H. Krebsbach.
Section on Education
Chair-Elect: Julia V. Clark. Member-at-Large: Ann C. Howe. Electorate Nominating Committee: Jerry A. Bell, Joseph S. Krajcik.
Section on Engineering
Chair-Elect: Jose B. Cruz, Jr. Member-at-Large: James L. Merz. Electorate Nominating Committee: Sandra C. Greer, Paul C.
Jennings. Council Delegates: James G. Harris, C. D. Mote Jr.
Section on General Interest in Science and Engineering
Chair-Elect: Susan E. Cozzens. Member-at-Large: Gloria J. Takahashi.
Electorate Nominating Committee: M. Lee Allison, Fred J. Brenner.
Section on Geology and Geography
Chair-Elect: Lucy E. Edwards. Member-at-Large: Emi Ito. Electorate Nominating Committee: John T. Andrews, Thomas T. Veblen.
Section on History and Philosophy of Science
Chair-Elect: Phillip R. Sloan. Member-at-Large: Philip J. Pauly.
Electorate Nominating Committee: Cathryn Carson, James R. Fleming.
Council Delegate: Sally Gregory Kohlstedt.
Section on Industrial Science and Technology
Chair-Elect: Cary Gravatt. Member-at-Large: Laura A. Philips. Electorate Nominating Committee: Ray H. Baughman, Helena L. Chum. Council Delegate:
Tina Kaarsberg.
Section on Information, Computing, and Communication
Chair-Elect: Christine L. Borgman. Member-at-Large: Paul B. Kantor.
Electorate Nominating Committee: Lewis M. Branscomb, Robert F. Sproull.
Section on Linguistics and Language Science
Chair-Elect: Mark Aronoff. Member-at-Large: Judy Anne Kegl. Electorate Nominating Committee: Stephen R. Anderson, Annie E. Zaenen.
Section on Mathematics
Chair-Elect: Jean E. Taylor. Member-at-Large: Tamar Schlick. Electorate Nominating Committee: Willard Miller, Cora Sadosky.
Section on Medical Sciences
Chair-Elect: Elaine S. Jaffe. Member-at-Large: Patricia G. Spear.
Electorate Nominating Committee: Harriet L. Robinson,
Judith L. Swain. Council Delegates: Arleen D. Auerbach, Lynn W. Enquist,
Gary J. Nabel, David H. Perlmutter, Noel R. Rose, Jack A. Roth.
Section on Neuroscience
Chair-Elect: John G. Hildebrand. Member-at-Large: Robert C. Malenka.
Electorate Nominating Committee: Hollis T. Cline, Mary E. Harrington.
Section on Pharmaceutical Sciences
Chair-Elect: John T. Slattery. Member-at-Large: Jessie L.-S. Au.
Electorate Nominating Committee: K. S. Pang, David Ross.
Section on Physics
Chair-Elect: Julia M. Phillips. Member-at-Large: Jeremiah D. Sullivan.
Electorate Nominating Committee: Susan N. Coppersmith, Gloria B. Lubkin.
Section on Psychology
Chair-Elect: Jeffrey R. Alberts. Member-at-Large: Michael Davis.
Electorate Nominating Committee: John T. Cacioppo, Patricia K. Kuhl.
Council Delegate: Robyn M. Dawes.
Section on Social, Economic, and Political Sciences
Chair-Elect: Charles Hirschman. Member-at-Large:
David L. Featherman. Electorate Nominating Committee: Bradford
H. Gray, T. Paul Schultz. Council Delegate: Linda G. Martin.
Section on Societal Impacts of Science and Engineering
Chair-Elect: Sheila S. Jasanoff. Member-at-Large: Sheldon Krimsky.
Electorate Nominating Committee: Catherine (Kitty)
Jay Didion, Jeremy Sugarman.
Section on Statistics
Chair-Elect: Robert E. Kass. Member-at-Large: Joel B. Greenhouse.
Electorate Nominating Committee: Mitchell H. Gail, John E. Rolph.
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