Under new leadership, the huge science organization hopes to overcome inertia and lay claim to status as the `voice' of science
During his 19-year tenure at the helm of Brooklyn, N.Y.'s Polytechnic University, engineer George Buglia-rello took an ailing institution and made it a contender in the scientific community. Last week, when Bugliarello assumed a one-year term as president of Sigma Xi, the 101,600-member scientific honor society, he said he hopes to accomplish much the same goal in a fraction of the time.

In saying that, Bugliarello acknowledged what the administration of Sigma Xi realized four years ago, when the society turned 100 years old: Because Sigma Xi is barely visible on the radar screen of most national science policymakers, it has become dispensable to many new- generation members.

That point is evidenced by the downsizing of the society in recent times. In the last decade, Sigma Xi has lost...

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