Notebook

NBS Chief Named Scientific `Genius' Recognized Mentoring By Mail Global Publishing Senate Support Inventive Minds H. Ronald Pulliam, a professor of ecology at the University of Georgia in Athens, has been appointed the first director of the United States Department of Interior's National Biological Survey (NBS). Pulliam, 48, replaces F. Eugene Hester, the acting director of the new agency, which has a staff of more than 1,800. The survey--the first federal agency whose sole purpose is to inventory and monitor U.S. biological resources--was created by a consolidation of seven Interior agencies (K.Y. Kreeger, The Scientist, Feb. 7, 1994, page 1). Educating Congress and the public about the survey's mission has been one of his first tasks, Pulliam says. "There's a general misconception that NBS is all about one giant survey. The survey is one small part of what we do," he says. Pulliam adds: "The real hard task at NBS is not [gathering] the baseline information; rather, it's understanding and predicting trends [in that information] and providing information to decision-makers." Pulliam received his ecology doctorate in 1970 from Duke University. The search to fill the position was led by the National Academy of Sciences at the request of Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt. Four scientists were among the 20 new fellows named by the Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation on June 13. The unrestricted grants, known informally as "genius awards," are five-year fellowships ranging from $235,000 to $375,000- -depending on the recipient's age--plus full health insurance. Israel M. Gelfand, 80, a mathematician and biologist currently serving as a distinguished visiting professor at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J., is the founder of the university's Gelfand Outreach Program in Mathematics Education, a program to foster mathematical excellence in high school students by bringing them in contact with university professors and researchers. Peter E. Kenmore, 41, an entomologist who is currently regional program coordinator of the Manila, Philippines-based Integrated Pest Management Program of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, headquartered in Rome, manages a project to reduce the amount of pesticides used in rice farming. Donella Meadows, 53, an independent environmental writer and scientist as well as an adjunct professor at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., researches complex ecological-economic systems and sustainable development. Jack Wisdom, 41, a physicist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, studies the dynamics of Earth's solar system. How do kids get excited about science? Science-By-Mail, an outreach program organized by the Boston Museum of Science, has been addressing that question since 1988. Educators at the museum team children with volunteer scientists in problem-solving exercises, distributed in the form of "science challenge packets" to fourth- to ninth-graders in school, scouting, and family groups. The packets contain stimulating problems for the young people, who send their solutions to the volunteer scientist assigned to their group. After reviewing solutions to the challenges, these researchers respond to the students with notes of encouragement and guidance. Scientists usually correspond with up to five groups (with two to four children in each group) at least three times a year. This year's challenges are on the science behind weather, magic, and garbage. During the last school year, more than 25,000 children and 2,000 researchers participated. The museum staff is looking for volunteer scientists for the 1994-95 school year. Researchers from all disciplines and from graduate students to retiring professors are invited to participate. For more information, contact Monica Parker at (800) 729-3300. Fax: (617) 589-0474. E-mail: mparker@acs.bu.edu. This fall, publishers in more than 50 countries will simultaneously issue the first three volumes in a new series entitled The Science Masters Sampler, books by noted researchers that present cutting-edge science in language comprehensible to lay people. "For a long time I've wanted to do a series of science books for . . . people who didn't `get' science from ordinary science teachers but who understand the importance of scientific literacy in today's world," writes Susan Rabiner, editor of New York-based Basic Books, the United States publisher of the series. To be issued in October are The Last Three Minutes by Paul Davies, a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Adelaide, Australia; The Origin of Humankind by Richard Leakey, former Kenyan director of wildlife management and conservation; and The Origin of the Universe by John D. Barrow, a professor of astronomy at the University of Sussex, England. Authors of future books in the series include Mary Catherine Bateson, a professor of anthropology at George Mason University; Stephen Jay Gould, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University; and George Smoot, a cosmologist at the University of California, Berkeley. As expected by the backers of a proposed new environmental agency, Sens. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), Barbara Mikulski (D- Md.), and Jim Jeffords (R-Vt.), along with seven other cosponsors, introduced legislation to create the National Institute for the Environment (NIE) last month. This follows a similar bill introduced in the House by Reps. George E. Brown, Jr. (D-Calif.) and Jim Saxton (R-N.J.) last August. Daschle said in a statement that he intends "to move legislation to accomplish that objective [establishing NIE] swiftly through Congress." Supporters lobbying for creation of this institute say it will be an independent funding agency with four areas of responsibility: sponsoring research, assessing current environmental knowledge, sponsoring environmental education, and creating information-sharing services (K.Y. Kreeger, The Scientist, May 16, 1994, page 1). However, to control costs and maintain independence, NIE will not operate its own laboratories or have regulatory or resource-management responsibilities. Five scientists from Dow Chemical Co. in Freeport, Texas, have been presented with the 21st annual National Inventor of the Year Award from Intellectual Property Owners (IPO), a Washington, D.C.-based association that represents companies and inventors who own patented inventions. Researchers Pak- Wing S. Chum, George W. Knight, Shih-Yaw Lai, James C. Stevens, and John R. Wilson were honored for their creation of a new family of plastics that "significantly expands plastic processing and performance options," according to IPO. Last year's Inventor of the Year honors went to a team from Merck and Co. Inc. in Rahway, N.J., that developed Proscar, the first drug to treat benign prostate enlargement.

Notebook

The Scientist Staff

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of