The new class of 84 members elected to the National Academy of Engineering is, not surprisingly, an illustrious one, including such well-known figures in the engineering world as supercomputing wizard Steve Chen and Hewlett-Packard Co. chief executive officer John Young. Unfortunately, another unsurprising fact is that the group of new inductees includes 83 men and only one woman: Union Carbide Corp. researcher Edith Flanigen.
Want to reach the masses on a hot issue of the day? David Jarmul, head of the op-ed service at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., would be happy to hear from you. Since 1983 the academy has mailed out to newspapers across the country a weekly, 750-word commentary from a noted scientist. The average piece gets picked up by some 30 to 40 papers of varying sizes, says Jarmul, who has coordinated the project since its inception. Topics have included child care ...
