Society Presidents' Council Mobilizes For Dynamic Role In Reshaping Science

to deepen the influence of its prestigious membership In the very near future, if things go according to plan, the traditionally low-profile Washington, D.C.-based Council of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP) will be exerting influence in the science community far greater than it has ever exerted before in its 20-year history. According to its new executive director, Martin Apple, the organization--whose membership comprises past, present, and future leaders of some 60 scientific societies--will serve as the hub of an electronic mail-based communications network linking the members not only with one another, but also with a variety of other important science community participants and observers. Establishment of the E-mail network, says Apple, symbolizes the steps the council intends to take in fulfilling the assertive role in guiding the course of scientific enterprise in the United States that organization members believe it can, and must, now perform. "We're concerned about the future of science in this country," says Apple, a20former University of California biochemist who assumed his CSSP position this past summer following six years as head of long-range planning for the science society Sigma Xi. Stating that the "shape of U.S. research in the post-Cold War world is not always working to our advantage," Apple believes that his organization is equipped to play a positive, needed part in "redeveloping the science community." If the nation's science leaders are "not more proactive," he says, "we'll find ourselves reacting to things that may be ineffective in doing what the U.S. deserves science to do." More Dynamic Apple is quick to point out that, since its creation in 1973, CSSP has consistently addressed issues of consequence to the research community-- ethics, education, government affairs, public understanding of science, environmental matters, research priorities, and so forth. "This is not new," he says. However, while the society has always been available to issue its recommendations and position papers--and has, indeed, been at the forefront in addressing some of these issues--it now intends its participation to be far more dynamic. He envisions, for example, the E-mail system's functioning as a combination bulletin board and conferencing forum for CSSP members, a tool that will encourage immediate response to events of consequence to science and then to "articulate and disseminate our visions" concerning them. Inspiration for becoming more proactive, he says, has sprung from within CSSP, but motivation has also come from the outside. For example, he says, "Congress believes we [CSSP] are uniquely qualified and is asking us to help play a role as they go about setting priorities." Association With ACS Accompanying its assumption of a more aggressive posture is a move by the society to be financially independent. Since its inception, the society has relied heavily for its sustenance on the American Chemical Society. In addition to a significant financial subsidy, the 145,000-member ACS has provided free office space and staff support to the council. But now, both groups acknowledge, CSSP has grown to the point where ACS should no longer shoulder the burden of support. While Apple declines to reveal financial details at this point, he is confident that alternative sources of support will be obtained shortly. Commenting on the separation from ACS, another CSSP official, secretary Christopher D'Elia, says, "Right now, I guess we're like a teenager leaving home." D'Elia, who is director of the Sea Grant Program in the University of Maryland system, says CSSP currently is pursuing external funding sources to support its annual budget needs. For the time being, membership and institutional affiliate dues guarantee some revenue; D'Elia, like Apple, declines to release details on other means the council is using to obtain additional funding. D'Elia is in favor of the separation, offering the notion that CSSP, during its two-decade dependence on ACS, may have been "overincubated." "It's time for us to go out on our own," he says. "It's part of the maturation process." "ACS has been very instrumental and helpful in doing far more than its fair share in providing space, staff assistance, and other expense assistance through the years," says Gordon Nelson, last year's CSSP chairman and a former president of ACS. "The reason ACS is very much interested in CSSP is because we feel that if the scientific community speaks as a common voice, we can achieve much more than if just the individual disciplines gave their opinions," says Ernest Eliel, ACS president in 1992 and a chemistry professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. "I think this change will be good for CSSP because all the organizations that belong to it need to feel that they have an equal input in the group's decisions. With the ACS, it's more a matter of principle. While we helped the organization when it started out, in the long run, it should stand on its own feet. Both organizations realize that." Eliel says that ACS will now be treated like any other CSSP member society, and he predicts that total financial independence for the organization should be established in about a year. Organizational Structure CSSP was launched in 1973 by Alan Nixon, a University of California, Berkeley, scientist who was, at the time, president of ACS. It was formed to provide an organization in which presidents representing different scientific societies could get together and talk over common interests and concerns. Today, the council is a consortium of presidents, past presidents, and presidents-elect of both large and small U.S. societies ranging in size from the mammoth ACS to the 2,500-member Estuarine Research Federation, which focuses on wetlands and ecosystems. Also represented are several societies that are not officially identified with basic scientific research, such as the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the Association for Computing, which is now working to facilitate CSSP's E-mail system. At present, the council's member societies represent well over a million members. It has a 12-member board, which appoints the executive director and other working officers, and a chairperson, who is elected for a one- year term. The current chairperson is Bonnie Brunkhorst, a science educator from California State College, San Bernardino, and immediate past president of NSTA. The excutive director's term is unspecified; in assuming that position recently, Apple became the third executive director in CSSP's history. The council creates and coordinates seminars, symposia, and invited conferences for its membership on topics--such as funding and education-- which are of concern across most scientific disciplines. It has three standing committees--government and public affairs; ethics and science; and mathematics and science education--as well as task forces on strategic planning and priorities in science. The group, and its committees, meet twice a year in Washington, in May and December, with each meeting usually carrying a given theme of interdisciplinary importance; for example, the May 1993 meeting topic was the public understanding of science. Enrichment While attendees bring their individual concerns to these meetings, they also are exposed to discussions with representatives of other societies and of guest speakers. Ivo Lindauer, president of the 7,000-member National Association of Biology Teachers, says that, over time, the meetings have "often brought to our attention additional topics we've shared with our membership." E. Gerald Meyer, president of the 5,000-member American Institute of Chemists, says that CSSP, when voicing the concerns of the scientific community, shows there is strength in numbers. "Probably the principal advantage to our organization and others is the consensus resolutions regarding various items dealing with science and engineering that are arrived at during the meetings," he says. "These can then be transmitted to Capitol Hill as representing a major segment, probably 85 percent, of all the science and engineering societies in the country. "While separate organizations could voice opinions which reinforce one another, the fact that one voice comes out lends a great deal of credibility to the positions that we all have." CSSP also presents two annual awards to outstanding scientists and administrators. One is the Support of Science Award, which was introduced in 1983 and usually goes to individuals in government. For example, the 1986 winner was Erich Bloch, then-director of NSF; the 1991 winner was Rep. George Brown, Jr. (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology; and last year's winner was D. Allan Bromley, science adviser to President Bush. The other award was initiated last year and is called the Public Understanding of Science Award. The award's first recipient was Carl Sagan, director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell University.

Society Presidents' Council Mobilizes For Dynamic Role In Reshaping Science

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