In this issue:

Message to Members: Advancing the Impact of Science on Societal Issues

News to Note: Science Beijing Bureau, Researcher Intimidation, Stem Cells, Gene-Doping, Health News, New Zealand Sustainability, Lab Biosafety, Faculty Diversity, Journalism Award Winners, GE & Science Prize Winner

Advancing Science, Serving Society: Leadership Seminar, Science & Society Panel Series

Science Careers: Featured Jobs

Announcements: AAAS Council Reminder, AAAS Gallery Exhibit

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Sponsored by:

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Message to Members

Advancing the Impact of Science on Societal Issues

Dear AAAS Member,

You have participated in another vibrant year of achievements in support of our mission to advance science and serve society.

Our international impact grew through new engagements with China in publishing, education, and other initiatives including the opening of our Science news bureau in Beijing and the debut of the Chinese-language portal of our news service, EurekAlert! Our global human rights program corroborated on-the-ground reports of attacks and destruction in Myanmar (Burma) through analysis of satellite imagery. The mainstream media coverage of this geospatial tracking broadened political and public reaction.

AAAS continues to promote sound science policy, speaking out for the need for a global commitment to addressing the issues of climate change and sustainable energy solutions, advocating support for the unique promise of stem cell research, and working to protect the teaching of evolution in science classrooms. Our US Capitol Hill briefings brought science to public policy makers, including the issues of securing nuclear materials, inspecting food imports, missile defense strategy, and geopolitical threats to the US oil supply. The new Legislative Tracker provides online updates of science-related policy as it moves through the US Congress.

Advances in science education include a historic collaboration with US school boards to help ensure appropriate state-of-the-art curricula. We also hail the publication of the second volume of the Atlas of Science Literature for use by educators.

During 2008, AAAS will continue to advance the impact of science through an array of programs and initiatives that include our Annual Meeting in February, which focuses on science and technology from a global perspective.

We wish you a pleasant holiday season and thank you for your vital participation and support this past year.

Sincerely,
Alan Leshner, CEO, AAAS


P.S. Don’t miss Science’s breakthrough of the year. Read about the most important scientific advances of 2007 in the 21 December issue.

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News to Note

AAAS Board Deplores Researcher Intimidation
Citing "repeated attacks" by animal rights extremists, the AAAS Board issued a new statement in defense of the need for scientists to responsibly use animals in research, testing, and education. The Board was responding to recent incidents of vandalism and threats targeting researchers’ laboratories and even their homes, stating that biomedical research is regulated by strict standards and makes critical contributions to the treatment of human disease. Read the full statement.

Science Opens Beijing News Bureau
With its opening of a news bureau in the Chinese capital, Science is poised to give readers a remarkable vantage point on the S&T revolution that is reshaping China. Asia Editor Richard Stone will travel to both remote and urban regions to report on China’s booming research community. Read an interview with Stone.

AAAS Op-Ed: “Standing in the Way of Stem Cell Research"
In a 3 December Washington Post commentary, AAAS CEO Alan I. Leshner and developmental biologist James A. Thomson strongly argued that, despite new breakthroughs using skin cells, embryonic stem cell research is still crucial. The authors wrote that, while scientists can turn skin cells into multipurpose stem cells, they are “uncertain whether souped-up skin cells hold the same promise as their embryonic cousins do.” The commentary further noted that nearly 60 percent of Americans support embryonic stem cell research and “US stem cell policy runs counter to both scientific and public opinion.” Read the full text.

Science Journalists Receive AAAS Awards
The science of praising children, mysterious elk deaths, altered oceans, and a pioneering black chemist are among the news stories that won 2007 AAAS Science Journalism Awards. The awards, judged by independent panels of science journalists, honor excellence in science reporting for newspaper, magazine, television, radio, online, and children’s news (open to journalists worldwide). Read about the winners and the entries to be recognized with awards during the February 2008 AAAS Annual Meeting.

Essay on HIV-1 Resistance Wins GE & Science Prize
For his research into why Old World monkeys are resistant to HIV-1, Matt Stremlau has been named the grand prize winner and North American regional winner of the GE & Science Prize for Young Life Scientists. Since 1995, the prize has recognized outstanding molecular biologists at an early stage of their careers in four geographic regions: North America, Europe, Japan, and all other countries. This year’s awards ceremony was held 12 December in Stockholm, Sweden. Read about Dr. Stremlau, who currently works in the US State Department as a AAAS Diplomacy Fellow, and the regional winners. See the 7 December issue of Science for the grand prize essay.

Experts Urge Public Discussion of Gene-Doping
Although technology is in its infancy, scientists warn that future athletes may respond to companies peddling products for genetic alteration that claim to improve performance. The experts urge that now is the time for scientists, policy makers, and the public to discuss the risks and implications of gene-doping for sports and society. Read more about the 22 October briefing on Washington’s Capitol Hill, cosponsored by AAAS, and the call for updated policy to govern new uses of genetic testing and screening.

Reporters Detail New Opportunities for Health News
The 24-hour news cycle across multiple formats offers public information officers (PIOs) broader opportunities for health news exposure, according to a panel of top reporters and editors. The professional seminar convened by EurekAlert!, the global news service operated by AAAS, gave PIOs from medical centers, universities, and government agencies pointers on reaching the print and broadcast audience, including contacting journalists, submitting content, and placing expert spokespersons. Read more about the seminar and listen to presentations and Q&A sessions at EurekAlert!

New Zealand S&T Minister Describes Sustainability Goals
“We want to be the first sustainable nation on earth,” stated Steve Maharey, New Zealand’s minister of Research, Science, and Technology, during a 31 October seminar at AAAS. The government’s vision is a carbon-neutral economy in which emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide gases are balanced with offsets such as growth of more forests to absorb these gasses. The country’s smallness, relative isolation, and resilient population, Maharey says, present a unique opportunity for sustainability. Read more about the challenges in energy efficiency, climate change, and recovery of lost species and access the full prepared text for the talk.

Biosafety Expert Urges New Laboratory Guidelines
As US government and university research on dangerous biological pathogens expands, the government must reform guidelines in order to encourage lab accident reporting, a top biosafety expert said at late October briefings on Washington’s Capitol Hill. No-fault accident reporting systems would create a safer research environment by encouraging scientists to share their incidents as lessons learned. Read more about the AAAS briefing, including recommendations to standardize biosafety training and to engage the public in discussions about the importance of pathogen research.

Panel Reports That US Universities Overlook Minority Faculty Candidates
A new survey found that the US academic pipeline is leaking crucial S&T talent as relatively few Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans, known collectively as underrepresented minorities (URMs), and women are found among the faculties at top research universities. This is despite an increased percentage of researchers from minority groups who are receiving Ph.D.s in science-related disciplines, according to the panel at a 31 October Capitol Hill briefing co-organized by AAAS in conjunction with the US House Diversity and Innovation Caucus. Read more about the survey methodology and results and the effort to stop the loss of talented scientists along the path to tenured faculty.

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Advancing Science, Serving Society

Panel Series Presents “Science and Society: Grand Challenges”
Every Monday night in November, scientists, economists, policy makers, and the public came together in Washington, DC to discuss the role of science in societal issues. The first of the four panels urged US commitment on climate change and stressed the national security implications of inaction. During the series, expert panels also addressed meeting global energy demand, managing a pandemic, and containing the spread of WMDs. The AAAS Center for Science, Technology, and Security Policy, the Georgetown University Program on Science in the Public Interest, and the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation co-sponsored the series. Videos from the events are available online.

CSTSP encourages the integration of science into the formulation of public policy for enhanced national and international security. The Center facilitates communication between academic centers, policy institutes, and policy makers, working with experts on a wide range of security issues. Find out more.

Leadership Seminar Describes 9/11 Impact on US Research
Speaking on 16 November, the final day of a weeklong AAAS Leadership Seminar in S&T, director of Science & Policy Programs Albert H. Teich described how the US government’s response to the terror attacks continues to directly affect scientific research and education. He described several areas of concern. The Visa Mantis program caused substantial backlogs in processing applications of the foreign researchers and students essential to American research programs. Although the situation has improved during the past two years, some problems remain. Efforts to tightly regulate “deemed exports” have lessened but still affect the transfer to foreign nationals within the United States of technology (even in lectures) that is subject to export controls. The expansion of government control of information that is sensitive but unclassified (SBU) varies from agency to agency and has, in some cases, been applied to exempt research. Read more.

The AAAS S&T Leadership Seminar is a compressed version of the two-week orientation session given every year to AAAS S&T Policy Fellows before they begin their year-long assignments with US government staffs and agencies. To receive advance notice of registration for the 2008 seminar, 17-21 November, e-mail leadership@aaas.org.

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Science Careers

Start off 2008 with an exciting new career. Science Careers offers career advice, searchable job postings including many faculty positions, and many more free resources to help advance your career. Visit www.ScienceCareers.org today.

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Sponsored by:

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Announcements

New AAAS Gallery Exhibit Features Artful Flora and Fauna
Capturing natural features that escape the eye’s attention is the focus of photographer Bruce Hodge’s work. His “Unseen World” images include a lily-pad-speckled pond reflecting clouds and a scrap of ocean kelp washed up on a rock. Sculptor Andrea Uravitch combines a range of materials from delicate thread to hard ceramic to create her “Nature Magnified” collection of life-like beetles, frogs, and lizards. Together, the two artists invite viewers to stop and look at nature more carefully. The exhibit is open to the public Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. until 29 February. Read more.

Reminder: Next AAAS Council Meeting
The next meeting of the AAAS Council will take place during the AAAS Annual Meeting, at 9 a.m. on 17 February 2008 in Boston, Massachusetts, at the Sheraton Boston Hotel. Access details.

Mass Media Science & Engineering Fellowship: Deadline 15 January
Increase your science communication skills as a science journalist. Fellows work for 10 weeks during the summer at mass media sites nationwide, including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and NPR. To be eligible, candidates must be either: undergraduates in their senior year; graduate or postgraduate students; or within one year after graduation or defense of their thesis. An applicant’s field of study must be in the natural, physical, health, engineering, computer or social sciences, or mathematics. Students enrolled in English, journalism, science journalism, or other nontechnical fields are not eligible. AAAS selects 15-20 Fellows each summer. US$4,500 stipend plus travel expenses. Visit http://www.aaas.org/programs/education/MassMedia/ for an application and more information.

Minority Science Writers Internship: Deadline 1 March
Science is a global activity, but the demographics of the journalists who cover it do not reflect that diversity. AAAS offers the Minority Science Writers Internship for students who are interested in journalism as a career and who want to learn about science writing. Interns work for 10 weeks at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of Science magazine, the largest interdisciplinary journal in the world. The application for the paid internship is posted at http://www.aaas.org/mswi. Candidates must be college undergraduates at the time of their application.

Special AAAS Membership/2008 Annual Meeting Offer: Deadline 18 January
Do you have colleagues who are not yet members of AAAS? If they register in advance for the 2008 Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, they will receive a one-year membership to AAAS for free, along with all member benefits including a one-year subscription to the journal Science, access to Science and all of its archives online, and access to Science Express. International members will receive Science Digital. This offer is good for advance registration only, and expires on 18 January. Only nonmembers qualify. Share the news now. Register for “Science and Technology from a Global Perspective,” 14-18 February.

Consider a Year-End Gift to Advance Science to Serve Society
2007 has been an active year for AAAS. In addition to our hallmark programs, we took on many new initiatives that addressed critical issues in science and technology. To sustain this ambitious agenda, we hope you will consider AAAS as you assess your end-of-year giving, as it is through member contributions that we are able to promote science in all forms. For more information on the many ways to donate to AAAS, go to http://www.aaas.org/aboutaaas/giving/types/designate.shtml or contact the AAAS Development Team at +1 (202) 326-6636.

 

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About AAAS

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