ENSENADA SECTION

OFF TO A GREAT START!

A contingent of Chapter officers and members made the trip to Ensenada last December 9^th for the belated initiation of eleven new members who are employed at several research organizations in that lovely city. They had been unable to attend the previous spring’s Initiation Banquet because it fell on Mexican Mother’s Day (which seems to be much more important than its counterpart in the U.S.). The initiation luncheon was preceded by visits to several laboratories.

President Metzger gave the welcoming address, which was followed by remarks by Canon George Hemingway, who had been instrumental in the effort to find new members within the Ensenada research community. Then Dr. Guillermo Torres Moye, Director General of Research and Postgraduate Instruction at the Rectoria in Mexicali, spoke on "International Cooperation in Science."

Later, on February 17^th, Jim Baur, Donna Perdue, and Michael Schaffer attended a planning session of the Ensenada Sigma Xi Group to offer assistance in considering the next steps toward becoming an independent Chapter. The Ensenada Group wishes to move slowly in this direction, developing a viable group affiliated with the San Diego Chapter before they submit a petition for separate Chapter status.

Dr. Hector Bustos Serrano is serving as liaison pro tempore for the current Ensenada Section of the San Diego Chapter and will continue in close contact with the Executive Committee here.

PETERSON TO TALK ON MARS

Dr. Gary Peterson of SDSU’s Geology Department will speak to us on "The Geological Case for Life on Mars" on Wednesday, April 4^th, at 6:00pm in room 101 of the Life Sciences Building on the SDSU campus

Directions to the site (and parking) can be found at:

It is possible that the event will begin with a barbeque, so check our Chapter’s website for confirmation of this added attraction.

ANNUAL INITIATION BANQUET

AND ELECTION MAY 3^RD

Thursday, May 3^rd, has been selected as the date for this Chapter’s Initiation Banquet. It will be held in the Faculty Staff Center (FSC) on the SDSU campus, beginning with a hosted-bar (beer or wine) social hour at 6:00. Dinner will commence at 6:45 and ceremonial activities at 7:30. The affair should wind up around 9:00 or 9:30. A guide to the FSC (and parking) can be found on the Internet at:

http://www.sdsu.edu//campusinfo/directions.html

The keynote speaker’s identity must remain a mystery for this issue, since he or she has yet to be selected.

Winners of the Chapter Awards from the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair will attend the banquet, receive their certificates of achievement, and display their award-winning projects for our pleasure and edification.

The only actual "business" of the evening will be the announcement of candidates for office, since balloting this year will be by e-mail.

The coupon on page 5 will enable you to make reser-vations for the evening. Parking, always a concern, will be allowed on levels 1 and 2 of Parking Structure 1, off College Avenue. The permit on page 5 will cover you.

HEMINGWAY TO RECEIVE FIRST

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD

On behalf of the Chapter’s Executive Committee, President Robert Metzger is happy to announce that Canon George Hemingway will receive the first San Diego Sigma Xi Award for Distinguished Service to the Chapter. He notes that a silver medal will be developed to be given to Canon Hemingway and to future recipients of the award. Those with ideas about a design appropriate to San Diego should e-mail them to Metzger a.s.a.p.

CHAPTER USES QUART GRANT TO BOOST SCI/ENGR FAIR

Thanks to a generous grant from Dr. and Mrs. Barry Quart, our Chapter plans to make four awards of $500 each to students whose entries in the March 28^th Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair reached the "Sweepstakes" level but did not win. We will do this again in 2002. Chapter members will assist the other judges in determining winners, two from the Junior Division and two from the Senior Division, with winners divided as evenly as possible among the life sciences, physical sciences, and engineering. In addition, one or more awards will be made from another $500 dedicated specifically to several students involved in the "Girl Power Project in Chula Vista," with decisions on these made jointly by the Director of the Project and at least two representatives of the Sigma Xi Chapter.

Recipients of the awards will be invited to attend the Chapter’s initiation banquet in May and to show their winning entries, after which they will receive their checks and certificates of recognition from the Chapter.

It is hoped that we will find additional funds to support similar efforts beyond 2002 to encourage students to continue their interest in science and engineering.

CHAPTER RECEIVES TWO NATIONAL AWARDS, WINS TWO MAJOR OFFICES

In recognition of its high level of achievement over the year that ended last June 30^th, Sigma Xi’s Committee on Qualifications and Membership gave the San Diego Chapter one of its coveted Chapter Program Awards. The award reads, "Your chapter is being honored for initiating eight full members associated with various scientific research institutions in Ensenada with the hope that they will form the nucleus to found Sigma Xi’s second chapter in Mexico."

Our Chapter was also one of ten to receive a Certificate of Excellence, apparently based on the initiation of LabNotes, the very newsletter in your hands right now. This award was accompanied by a handsome plaque that now hangs in the office of Dean Thomas Scott at SDSU.

At Sigma Xi’s annual meeting last November, former Chapter President Jim Baur was elected as Southwest Regional Director. This means the possibility of some influence on Society programs and policies for ideas from our members (after they have been articulated at local meetings and Executive Committee sessions); remember, any member is welcome to attend these sessions. Jim is also serving as chair of the International Committee until 2004, and played a big role in our encouraging the formation of a sister chapter in Ensenada.

And Past President Don McGraw was elected at the same meeting to be Associate Director of the Southwest Region, one of six in the country and composed of about 95 separate chapters.

SURVEY PROVIDES PORTRAIT OF

MEMBERSHIP

The survey of Chapter members, promised for last November and actually carried out in January via e-mail through the good offices of Lisa Rhoades in Sigma Xi’s Headquarters, drew 132 responses, or about one-third of those who were queried. We are grateful to all who participated. Here follows a brief summary of your responses.

About 20 percent of us are female, almost two-thirds are 50 or older, three-quarters hold a doctorate of some sort, half are employed in educational institutions and not quite one-third in industry, and a quarter of us do consulting work. Our highest degrees were earned everywhere, with SDSU accounting for six percent of them, UCSD four percent, and no other institution for more than two percent.

By field, not quite one-third of us are in biology-related areas, one-fifth claim an engineering specialty, about one-tenth are in physics and another tenth in chemistry, and fewer than ten percent of us are in the medical, mathematical, geological, and social sciences.

You can count on your officers’ paying close attention to the topics in which you indicated high interest, and also to exploring the new topics you were thoughtful enough to suggest.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Robert P. Metzger

In previous columns I have told you how pleased I am with the past and present officers of the San Diego Chapter. Sigma Xi headquarters, together with a host of officers of other chapters, seem to agree, in that we received two awards at the annual meeting last November. Further, two of our members, Jim Baur and Don McGraw, were elected as Director and Associate Director, respectively, of the Sigma Xi Southwest Region.

Beside these two, Canon George Hemingway has been a driving force in establishing Sigma Xi in Ensenada. He has received support not only from our new regional directors but also from Antonio Pita of the Monterrey (Mexico) chapter and from our chapter’s Donna Perdue and Michael Schaffer.

Further appreciation goes to Terry Frey, our website coordinator, and to Norm Storer, our prize-winning LabNotes editor. It was Norm, using his sociological expertise, who developed the questionnaire e-mailed to you recently. One of you predicted a low response but, contrary to that expectation, 132 members responded. A computer glitch meant that many of us had to do the questionnaire a second time, but this brought only one complaint. And before the questionnaire, I began using e-mail to make announcements about Chapter business, and this too sparked just one (justified) complaint.

Many of you answered my call for volunteers to serve as judges at the upcoming Science Fair, for which I am grateful. And even those who did not respond to the survey and e-mail are worthy of a salute for your continuing support of Sigma Xi, and us, with your dues.

We will soon contact those who said they wish to be more involved in Chapter functions. The most popular activities, according to your survey answers, will be visiting the observatory, hearing history of science talks, and learning about forensic science advances. Would the forensic archaeologist who commented contact me about helping on a possible future program? I’ll work on the other ideas.

The survey shows that only 20% of our members are less than 30 years of age, which suggests that many young scientists are not being offered the opportunity to be honored for their work and to receive the benefits that membership in Sigma Xi offers. These benefits can be expanded to include locating individuals for equipment exchanges, scientific or technical collaborators, and even employment opportunities. About 60% of you are in touch with potential new members–nominate them, please, for their sake and for the future health of our society. Information on criteria for membership and the necessary forms can be found at:

http//:www.sigmaxi.org

Fill them out and send them to me, for there is still time for new members to be installed at the May 3^rd Initiation Banquet.

A chapter with a large number of members spread over the huge area of San Diego and Imperial Counties offers a real challenge in terms of communications and planning events. It is easy to lose sight of the benefits the society can bring to small groups. I really learned about this when visiting some of the new members of the Ensenada chapter-to-be, for Sigma Xi can serve them simply by bringing members from different institutes together to meet socially and perhaps to set up programs to promote science. I look forward to great things from our Ensenada colleagues and want to investigate the possibility of additional chapters in other Mexican cities within our sphere of influence, such as Mexicali and Tijuana. Who wants to help?

LOCAL M.A. CANDIDATE

AT S.I.O WINS AWARD

Word has just been received that Janette Holtz, a Masters Degree candidate at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography working under the direction of Dr. Marie Simovich of U.S.D., has been awarded a Grant-in-Aid by Sigma Xi’s Headquarters.

Ms Holtz’s project will be "A life history of the San Diego fairy shrimp Branchinecta sandiegonensis: growth and fecundity under different temperature regimes."

Congratulations

NOMINATIONS NEEDED!

The majority of our members are in contact with people who have a record (or promise) of research that can quality them for election to Sigma Xi. Now is the time to act. Scientists and engineers who have published research findings are eligible for Full Membership, and those who show promise of future productivity (grad students in particular) are eligible for Associate Membership.

Belonging to Sigma Xi is definitely an honor, and candidates know this. How does one nominate one or several candidates?

If you do not have a seconder handy, one of the officers can serve that function. Nominations should be sent to President Metzger by April 23rd.

There’s not much point in an Initiation Banquet if we don’t have new members to initiate—and that responsibility is yours.

PLANS AFOOT TO OFFER MEMBERS

CHANCE TO HELP KPBS DRIVE

Dr. Robert P. Metzger Office: 619-594-6801

Dept. of Chemistry FAX: 619-594-4634

San Diego State University

San Diego, CA 92182-1030

Dr. Terrence Frey Office: 619-594-6756

Dept. of Biology FAX: 619-594-5676

San Diego State University

San Diego, CA 92182-4614

Dr. Joanne M. Bell Office: 858-646-2224

Quintiles CNS Therapeutics FAX: 858-799-3167

10201 Waterbridge Circle

Dr. Donald J. McGraw Office: 619-260-4553

Associate Provost FAX: 619-260-2210

University of San Diego

San Diego, CA 92110-2492

Dr. Norman W. Storer Home: 619-491-0342

San Diego, CA 92103-2339

Committees, 2000-2001

Arthur Getis

Robert P. Metzger

Richard H. Rosenblatt

Ann Sturz