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Mathematicians: Real-World Applications Are Key To Increasing The Field's Appeal
Marcia Clemmitt | | 7 min read
Strong academic-industry links are deemed essential to the resuscitation of math's ability to attract and retain top-notch students Mathematicians are looking at the numbers, and some don't like what they see. Despite a spate of recent reports and studies urging greater support for the mathematical sciences and math education, academic funding levels and student retention rates are still far below what math practitioners believe is warranted. A follow-up study to a 1984 National Research Cou

Immunoassay Advances As Tool For Environmental Testing
Rebecca Andrews | | 6 min read
Immunoassay technology, a quick and cost-effective method of detecting and measuring minute quantities of substances in the human body, has now transitioned from the clinical and biological research arenas to environmental investigations. The technique, which exploits the capacity of a mammalian antibody to latch onto a particular chemical with great specificity, is used in at-home pregnancy tests, workplace drug-screening programs, and AIDS testing. Within the last year, however, several immun

People Briefs: Lennart Carleson
| 2 min read
Lennart Carleson Lennart Carleson, a professor of mathematics at Sweden's Uppsala University and at the University of California, and John G. Thompson, the Rouse Ball Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, England, have been chosen to receive the 1992 Wolf Prize in mathematics. They will share the $100,000 prize, one of several awarded annually in various fields by the Israel-based Wolf Foundation. The president of Israel will present the awards on May 17 i

New CEO Envisions A Broader Role For New York Academy
Barbara Spector | | 4 min read
The newly appointed chief executive officer of the New York Academy of Sciences says he hopes to guide the academy to a leadership role in the national and international arenas as well as locally. "One of the academy's central functions must continue to be serving the science and engineering community itself," says Rodney W. Nichols, named to the CEO post late last month. "But the function of serving society, which has always been tacit, really has to rise to equal priority." Nichols, a forme

Notebook
| 3 min read
Table of Contents Science Publishing Is Not Perishing Computers Say The Darnedest Things But Only If They Travel First Class Turning Dan Quayle Into A Genius? They Just Might Make It, After All Global Warning Two bimonthly science journals debuted last month. Current Directions in Psychological Science, a publication of the Washington, D.C.-based American Psychological Society, brought out its first issue in February. Also bowing was Surgical Oncology, an international journal coedited b

Western Science Learns From Native Culture
Rebecca Andrews | | 3 min read
As American Indians continue to join the ranks of U.S. scientists, many seek to remind their peers that native cultures have been contributing to Western science for half a millennium. "Indians were first-rate geneticists and agronomists," says Hopi tribal member Frank Dukepoo, an associate professor of genetics at Northern Arizona University. "If we'd been able to evolve [without European contact], we'd have had Indian scientists," he argues. "But as they evolved into being scientists, they

Bush Budget Would Reduce Number Of New NIH Grants
Jeffrey Mervis | | 6 min read
Sidebar: Wrong Number, Please Try Again The president's request for 1993 specifies more science support overall but dims hopes for some individual researchers WASHINGTON--On the surface, the 1993 budget that President Bush submitted to Congress January 29 should look very familiar to researchers: A lot more for the National Science Foundation, a little more for the National Institutes of Health, and large increases to pay for the continuing construction of the superconducting supercollider an

Gay And Lesbian Scientists Seek Workplace Equality
Barbara Spector | | 10 min read
Sidebar: How AIDS Has Changed the Nature of Research Sidebar: Security Clearance Delays Hamper Gays' Careers While more institutions move to accommodate homosexual researchers, many gay activists still complain of bias Last September, the business world focused its attention on Lotus Development Corp. when it became the first large firm to offer health and other benefits to the "spousal equivalents" of its gay and lesbian employees. "The intent is to make us the employer of choice," says Rus

Turmoil Besets Wistar In Wake Of Koprowski's Ouster
Jean Wallace | | 10+ min read
The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia marks its 100th anniversary this year, but the mood at the nation's oldest independent biomedical research facility is hardly jubilant. The institute has been in turmoil for the last year, after the abrupt ouster of longtime director Hilary Koprowski, the famed virologist and immunologist who transformed Wistar from a dilapidated museum into a world-renowned research center. The commotion recently was stirred up further, when the 75-year-old Koprowski file

Funding Briefs
| 1 min read
The U.S. Army Research Office's Young Investigator Program offers three years of support to young university faculty members pursuing research projects relevant to Army interests. Eligible candidates must hold tenure-track positions at U.S. institutions and have received their doctoral degrees within five years of applying for the award. Research areas of interest include biotechnology, polymer chemistry, kinematics, atmospheric sciences, artificial intelligence, materials science, and condensed

Funding Briefs
| 1 min read
The Burroughs Wellcome Fund offers the $350,000 George Herbert Hitchings Award for Innovative Methods to a scientist or group of scientists investigating novel approaches to drug design and discovery. Hitchings, who served as president of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund from 1971 to 1990, pioneered several important concepts in drug design. The award is intended to support investigators embarking on new lines of drug research who are not yet eligible for more traditional grants. Eligible projects

Funding Briefs
| 1 min read
Navy Sponsors Postdocs The Office of Naval Technology sponsors a postdoctoral fellowship program at naval research and development centers and laboratories across the United States. The fellowship program provides approximately 40 new postdoctoral appointments each year in fields such as aerodynamics, acoustics, biotechnology, computer science, material sciences, and oceanography. To be eligible, scientists must be U.S. citizens and have received research doctoral degrees within seven years of













