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The Online Newsletter of the
Board on International Scientific Organizations

Issue #6, June 2003

As mentioned in the last issue of BISO News, the board has begun work on its strategic and operating plans in order to make our goals more explicit, document our activities, and measure our progress. At its spring meeting, BISO members selected seven strategic goals and assigned target objectives to each one. The goals are to:

• Facilitate International Scientific Cooperation
• Strengthen Role as U.S. Secretariat for all ICSU Programs
• Build Capacity of Institutions and Individuals
• Build Constituency for and Strengthen Financial Support of International Scientific NGOs
• Expand and Improve BISO's Communication and Outreach Activities
• Clarify BISO's Relationship with other International Activities at the National Academies
• Enhance Documentation and Assessment of Activities

BISO members and staff are now reviewing the specific target objectives and creating an operating plan that more clearly indicates how, when, and by whom these objectives will be met. The board has asked each national committee to produce its own strategic and operating plans as input to the annual report and scorecard that BISO will prepare in January 2004.

As always, we welcome your comments on this newsletter.

Wendy D. White
Director, BISO

Table of Contents:

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL ISSUES

Request from NAS Foreign Secretary
The Foreign Secretary of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Michael Clegg, met with BISO members at their spring meeting. He participated in the strategic planning exercise and then issued a request of his own. He invited the national committees to help him shape his agenda for the coming years and asked that each committee send him a list of the three most pressing international issues facing its specific field. The national committees thus have an opportunity to influence the direction of those international scientific issues that have an impact on their field. BISO is currently collecting the responses and will compile these for Dr. Clegg and for reporting in the next issue of BISO News.

Fossils and Global Change
Allan Ashworth, member of the USNC for Quaternary Science, discovered the tiny fossil of a fly 300 miles from the South Pole. This finding could facilitate scientists understanding of what plant and animal life was like millions of years ago in Antarctica, as well as lead to insights in climate change. Ashworth’s findings were published in Nature and received coverage on CNN.

Open Science Conference on Biodiversity
DIVERSITAS invited the USNC to cosponsor the first Open Science Conference with the Mexican National Committee, chaired by Rodolfo Dirzo. The Open Science Conference will be the first major international meeting hosted by DIVERSITAS and will bring together national committees from other continents, as well as NGOs, and agencies (e.g. World Bank, UN bodies, and the Convention of Biological Diversity) with strong biodiversity interests. The latter might be interested in sponsoring sessions and supporting attendees from countries where they are particularly active in their own biodiversity and sustainability programs. The scientific symposia have not yet been decided but will focus on the three core programs of DIVERSITAS, which include: Core Project 1 - Discovering biodiversity and predicting its changes, Core Project 2 - Assessing impacts of biodiversity changes, Core Project 3 - Developing the science of the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

The meeting will be held in Oaxaca, Mexico in October 2005. It will consist of plenary sessions, symposia, paper and poster presentations organized by each of the three core programs of DIVERSITAS, sessions for junior scientists and students, outreach sessions for targeted audiences (e.g. teachers, general public, media) workshops, and fieldtrips. The first planning meeting has been scheduled for November 2003 in Mexico.

Soils and Microbial Risk
The USNC for Soil Science is planning a public seminar on microbial risk to educate and inform the science policy community and the general scientific community on specific microbial public health issues related to soil. The seminar will focus on soils as a habitat for microbes and how changes in the microbial environment might affect public health. Plans include looking at indigenous and introduced pathogens as well as ways to quantify the risk to the public from exposure to soil-borne human pathogens.

News from the International Visitors Office
Thanks to a commitment from the National Academies, BISO’s International Visitor’s Office (IVO) is now a reality. The IVO is busy collecting data from concerned scientists and engineers and reporting problems to consular officers at the Department of State (DoS). Working with the National Academies Office of Congressional and Public Affairs and with the NAS Vice-President, Jim Langer, the IVO hosted a meeting in June for educational and scientific professional societies. Participants discussed steps they were taking to alleviate visa problems and looked at new procedures just announced by the DoS. All readers should review the IVO website at www.national-academies.org/visas.

The DoS has recently announced that the validity of some Visas Mantis clearances can be extended to one year -- mostly for U.S. government-sponsored programs. It also states that 90% of visa applications are processed within 30 days. Indeed the IVO has seen a number of cases resolved and thus encourages applicants to “stay the course” during the difficult procedures involved. However, a cable to consular officers outlined new procedures requiring in-person interviews for almost all applicants between the ages of 16 and 60. As no new resources were allocated to handle this increased workload, readers should once again be prepared for delays as the interviews will have to be scheduled and completed before the security checks, if needed, are performed. Readers should also be aware that the U.S.-VISIT program will be implemented in January 2004. This program requires the fingerprinting and photographing of all people entering the United States on a visa.

Please note that the IVO now maintains a list of meetings held in the United States that are sponsored by international organizations; universities; and scientific, technical, and medical societies. It shares this list with Department of State officials on a regular basis to help them validate the claims of visa applicants who say they intend to participate in a given meeting. To “register” your meeting, please send the IVO (visas@nas.edu) the name, place and date of the meeting, and provide a link to the meeting’s website. The IVO website also has guidelines for societies that want to host meetings in the United States.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Committees Speak to Funding Agencies
Several of the USNCs met with representatives of funding agencies during their May 2003 meetings.

The USNC for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics heard from speakers about government funding opportunities for engineering in general and, more specifically, for mechanics. Esin Gulari, Director, Division of Chemical & Transport Systems and former Acting Director of the Engineering Directorate, NSF, discussed engineering research funding and priorities at NSF. She challenged the committee to consider three key areas when looking to advance funding in their field:

• Research Frontiers for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics
• Tools for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics
• Future Workforce Needs and Education

Kei Koizumi, Director of AAAS Research and Development Budget and Policy Program, described the overall federal funding picture for engineering research. His presentation can be found at http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/pr050203.pdf. Walter Jones, Director of Aerospace and Materials Sciences at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and Alan Kushner, Deputy Director of Research and Engineering at the National Transportation Safety Board, also gave overviews of opportunities for mechanics and engineering research funding in their agencies.

Enriqueta Barrera, Program Director for Geology and Paleontology in Earth Sciences at NSF and Mark Poth, Research Director of Competitive Programs in the Department of Agriculture Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service met with the USNC for Soil Science to discuss funding opportunities in soil science research, both basic and applied. In addition, Pat Leahy, Associate Director for Geology, U.S. Geological Survey presented a new initiative to the committee on a national soil geochemical database (see “Information and Data” for more on this). Karl Glasener, Director of Science Policy of the Soil Science Society of America, moderated the committee’s discussion with the agency speakers.

Philip Rubin, Director of the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences at NSF, spoke at the USNC for the Psychological Sciences committee meeting about the high profile that the natural and behavioral sciences are experiencing at NSF as demonstrated in the 2004 budget. NSF recognizes that the world is changing rapidly not only technologically but socially as well and has allotted funding accordingly. The areas of emphasis for this priority area are:

• Enhancing human performance,
• Agents of change,
• Decision making and risk,
• Spatial social sciences, and
• Modeling human and social dynamics.

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National Committee for Chemistry Visits NSF
In mid-May representatives from the USNC for Chemistry met with Art Ellis, Director, Division of Chemistry at NSF, and two of his colleagues to discuss ideas for projects of mutual interest to NSF and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). NSF has asked the USNC to help expand NSF’s database of international reviewers. NSF has created a website to solicit reviewers in general, but it would like to encourage more reviewers from outside the U.S. to broaden the pool of prospective reviewers and the perspective from which proposals are reviewed. IUPAC has an extensive network of contacts in 44 countries. These networks can tap experts in academies of science, chemical societies, and universities. Art Ellis is planning to attend part of the 2003 Congress and General Assembly in Ottawa to discuss this request. He will also discuss an idea at the Congress, facilitated by the USNC, to bring together representatives of funding agencies from all countries to discuss projects of mutual interest and possible new funding mechanisms for international projects.

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CAPACITY BUILDING

Calls for Applications

Travel Grants Available for ICME-10
Applications for travel grants are now available to attend the Tenth International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME-10), which will be held July 4-11, 2004 in Copenhagen, Denmark (http://www.icme-10.dk/). The National Science Foundation grants will support travel expenses to ICME-10 for K-12 mathematics teachers, mathematicians, and mathematics teacher educators from the United States. Representatives of the U.S. National Commission on Mathematics Instruction and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics will work with a selection committee to award the grants.

These grants provide a unique opportunity for mathematics educators from the United States to discuss issues related to mathematics education with their international peers, including mathematics educators from developed and developing countries. Participants will be able to listen to world-renowned scholars in mathematics and mathematics education and take part in small, focused discussion groups on a wide range of topics, including a special emphasis on the relationship between research and practice; education; reasoning, proof, and proving in mathematics education; the professional development of mathematics teachers; the shaping of mathematics education through testing; and information and communication technology in mathematics education.

More information is available at (http://www.nctm.org/icme10/).

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Opportunities for Young Scientists

URSI Student Paper Competition
The USNC for Radio Science (URSI) has announced the winners for its 2003 Student Paper Competition. In first place, there was a tie between Hosung Choo, University of Texas at Austin; and Melissa G. Meyer, University of Washington. Third place recipient was Vijaya Chandran Ramasami, University of Kansas; and in fourth place was Kezhong Zhao, Ohio State University. The annual competition invites graduate students in the field of radio science to submit a paper related to the field of one of the commissions of URSI. The selection of the winners is made by a panel of judges, based upon quality and originality of the papers. Each of the four was awarded a cash award at the 2003 North American Radio Science Meeting in Columbus, Ohio. Congratulations!

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International Collaborations

Psychology Survey
The USNC for Psychological Sciences (IUPsyS) designed a survey to learn more about the issues involved in international scientific collaborations. Several of the committee members conducted telephone interviews in order to research the focus of current collaborations in the psychological sciences and to eventually aid those doing international collaborations in doing them more efficiently. The USNC/IUPsyS is planning on holding a workshop to explore the issues resulting from the survey. The survey will be available this fall on the USNC/IUPsyS website.

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Mathematics Education Survey
The USNC for mathematics is concerned about "pipeline" issues and is conducting an informal survey of mathematics majors and graduate students in the United States to learn more about when and why students decide to become mathematics majors as well as when they decide to “drop out”. After reviewing these initial results, the committee will enlist the mathematics and statistical professional societies to develop a more formal questionnaire to explore why students do or do not pursue advanced education in mathematics.

INFORMATION AND DATA

Open Access and the Public Domain in Digital Data and Information
The USNC for CODATA recently collaborated with the international CODATA, the International Council for Scientific and Technical Information, ICSU, and UNESCO to convene a major International Symposium on Open Access and the Public Domain in Digital Data and Information for Science on 10-11 March in Paris. The symposium brought together leading experts and managers from the government and academic sectors in the developed and developing world, who are involved in the creation, dissemination, and use of data and information in public research. The National Academies Press will publish the proceedings of the symposium in print and online late in the fall of 2003.

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World Summit for an Information Society
The USNC/CODATA is also working with ICSU and the international CODATA on preparations for the World Summit for an Information Society, which will be held in Geneva, December 2003. The committee is coordinating U.S. scientific community input into the preparations for the Summit.

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Electronic Publishing and Its Implications
Over 400 people participated in the recent Symposium on the Electronic Scientific, Technical, and Medical Publishing and Its Implications. The symposium, which was held on 19-20 May at the National Academies, brought together experts in scientific, technical and medical (STM) publishing, both producers and users of these publications, to: identify the recent technical changes in publishing as well as other factors that influence the decisions of journal publishers to produce journals electronically; identify the needs of the scientific, engineering, and medical community as users of journals, whether electronic or printed; discuss the responses of not-for-profit and commercial STM publishers and of other stakeholders in the STM community to the opportunities and challenges posed by the shift to electronic publishing; and examine the spectrum of proposals that has been put forth to respond to the needs of users as the publishing industry shifts to electronic information production and dissemination. An archived version of the symposium webcast will be available via the National Academies Web site. A summary of this symposium will be published in the late fall, and will be available in print and online via the National Academies Press.

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National Soil Geochemical Database
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) are considering upgrading the national soil geochemical data, the most requested subset from the USGS National Geochemical Database. This data set is used on a regular basis to determine background concentrations of metals in soils, which are needed for remediation projects and risk-based assessments of contaminated land. The problem is that this data set consists of only 1,323 samples, collected in the 1960s and 1970s, representing approximately one sample per 2,300 square miles. While this data set is primarily from non-cultivated lands, the NRCS generated its own data set, consisting of 3,045 samples of agricultural soil from major crop-producing areas. The NRCS study analyzed only for five metals (lead, cadmium, copper, zinc, and nickel); therefore, the USGS and NRCS are studying the feasibility of a national-scale soil geochemcial survey, which would result in a sample density at least ten times greater than the current USGS set. There is also interest from Mexico and Canada in making this a North American survey. The USGS-NRCS project was officially “kicked off” in March with a soil geochemistry workshop held in Denver. Pat Leahy of USGS presented the project to the USNC for Soil Science at its May meeting. Tom Sims, president-elect of the Soil Science Society of America and ex-officio member of the USNC, is following up with USGS and NRCS on behalf of the committee and the society. USGS will be present at the society’s fall annual meeting to discuss the idea with interested parties. For more information, read the fact sheet on the USGS Website at: http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-015-03/FS-015-03-508.pdf.

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Psychology Resource File
USNC ex-officio member for the International Union of the Psychological Sciences (IUPsyS), J. Bruce Overmier, recently finished editing a set of 20 data files of information relating to the psychological sciences. The information has been compiled in an interactive CD-Rom and is an excellent resource tool for information about research, education, and practice in psychology. It contains a surveys, a section on ethics and ethical principals, presentations from IUPsyS International Congresses, and International Psychology Information Clearinghouse. IUPsyS Journal subscribers receive the CD-Rom automatically and it is also available for sale. For more information please refer to the IUPsyS website.

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Scientists React to Effect of Health Crisis on Education
Kevin Miller, a member of the USNC for psychological sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, spent the spring semester in Beijing. While there, he worked to set up access to U.S.-based intellectual resources for students whose education has been interrupted by the suspension of university courses due to SARS. More information about this effort can be found at http://www.psych.uiuc.edu/~kmiller/SARSsite/index.html.

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INTERACTIONS WITH ICSU AND ITS UNIONS

ICSU’s Future Focus
At their April 2003 meeting, BISO members discussed their response to the request from ICSU's Committee on Scientific Planning and Review to propose topics that should receive the highest priority for ICSU action in the coming years. In preparing its response, BISO contacted a variety of individuals and groups including NAS leadership, senior staff, national committees, American officers of ICSU unions, and appropriate government leaders. BISO members considered the responses received from these sources and proposed that ICSU broaden its program in capacity building and undertake new initiatives in the following areas:

• Ethics and the Conduct of Science
• Mechanism to Assess Opportunities and Challenges Associated with Scientific Developments and Their Potential Application for the Benefit of Society
• Global Census of Microbial Species
• Health Consequences of Global Change
• Impact of Demographic Changes
• The Science of Catastrophic Events
• The Water Cycle

Details about these initiatives are available by writing to biso@nas.edu.

ICSU is now reviewing all of the responses it received from union and national members. It will send a synthesis of these to its members for a second round of consideration and prioritization. BISO members will examine the proposals made by other countries and unions and determine a new response to ICSU at their September 2003 meeting.

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ICSU Releases Report on GMOs
ICSU recently released a new report, New Genetics, Food and Agriculture: Scientific Discoveries -- Societal Dilemmas. The report was prepared by G.J. Persley from the Doyle Foundation and addresses five key questions:

• Who needs GM foods?
• Are they safe to eat?
• Will GMOs affect the environment?
• Are the regulations adequate?
• Will GMOs affect trade?

Drawing on 50 science-based reviews (international/national), the report highlights areas of scientific convergence and scientific divergence, and identifies gaps in knowledge. Thus, the report is a tool for both scientists and decision makers, in making choices about GMOs now and in defining the research agenda for the future. In addition to the paper report, ICSU is launching a website that will allow users to access all of the information contained in the report and to link to the original studies for further investigation. The website content will also be available on CD-ROM for individuals who do not have easy access to the Internet.

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INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

NAS Designated “National Member Organization” for IIASA
In June, the council of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) accepted a request that the national member organization be transferred from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to the National Academy of Sciences. BISO will house the staff and national committee for IIASA, an international research institution located near Vienna, Austria, where multidisciplinary, international teams of researchers conduct research on issues concerning environmental, technological, and economic aspects of global change. NSF has provided BISO with one-year of funding and has expressly asked that a young and very active national committee be appointed.

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AAAS Speaker at USNC Meeting
At its meeting on May 11, 2003, the USNC for biochemistry and molecular biology (IUBMB) invited guest speaker, Elizabeth Kirk, from the International Division of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), to speak about the Women’s International Scientific Collaboration (WISC) program. The WISC program is a partnership between the AAAS and the NSF to increase the participation of women in international scientific research. The program began in 2000 in parts of Eastern Europe and Central Asia and has expanded to many other regions. WISC awards small travel grants to U.S. scientists to plan and design new collaborations with colleagues in Europe, the Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union, Near East, Middle East, Africa, the Americas, Pacific, and Asia. These activities are expected to lead to full research proposals that are submitted to the NSF or other funders. Each grant, up to $4,000 or $5,000 (depending on the region), will provide travel and living support for a U.S. scientist to visit a partner country. Although a female U.S. partner is necessary to receive an award, 50% of the foreign partners are male. As of May 2003, 467 applications were received and 136 awards were made in 54 different countries. The program organizers are interested in funding a foreign WISC program to bring scientists from developing countries to the United States to initiate collaborative research. The USNC/IUBMB is interested in becoming involved in a similar initiative and learned much from this successful model.

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U.S. Scientist to Give Proteomics Lecture in Cameroon
Ralph Bradshaw of the University of California, Irvine, has agreed to attend and present a lecture on proteomics research at the Federation of African Societies of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Congress in Yaounde, Cameroon in November 2003. The Congress will feature both fundamental biochemistry and molecular biology subjects as well as applied topics of interest to Africa such as infectious diseases, and food and nutrition. There will be three workshops respectively on biochemical education, bioinformatics, and drug resistance to malaria. Dr. Bradshaw is the editor of Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, which is the journal that published the Proteomics Workshop Report organized by the USNC for biochemistry and molecular biology (IUBMB) last November. He also served on the USNC/IUBMB for nine years and on the Executive Board of IUBMB for six years. The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the American Chemical Society, Division of Biological Chemistry, will fund his attendance at the meeting. His presence will represent the USNC and these societies well in promoting international collaboration in the biosciences.

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InterAcademy Panel General Assembly
The InterAcademy Panel (IAP) Executive Committee has announced that the Mexican Academy of Sciences has offered to host the IAP General Assembly in Mexico City December 1-4, 2003 with satellite symposia on December 5 and 6. For other IAP news, please see http://www.interacademies.net/iap.

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MEMBERSHIP NEWS

We like to welcome the following members to the national committee network:
Salah Baouendi, University of California at San Diego, USNC/Mathematics
Jennifer Chayes, Microsoft Corporation, USNC/Mathematics
John Jungcke, Beloit College, USNC/Biological Sciences
Krishnaswamy Ravi-Chandar, University of Texas at Austin, USNC/Theoretical and Applied Mechanics
Philippe Tondeur, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USNC/Mathematics

We would also like to thank those members who have recently completed their service:
Zdenek Bazant, Northwestern University, USNC/Theoretical and Applied Mechanics
Lynne Billard, University of Georgia, USNC/Mathematics
Patrick Kirch, University of California at Berkeley, USNC/Pacific Science Association
Donald Saari, University of California at Irvine, USNC/Mathematics and Board on International Scientific Organizations
Carol Shearer, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USNC/Diversitas
Ruth Williams, University of California at San Diego, USNC/Mathematics

We would like to announce the following changes in committee leadership:
Katherine Ewel, USDA Forest Service, has been appointed chair of the USNC for the Pacific Science Association as of June 1, 2003. Former chair, Michael Sissenwine, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, will continue on the committee as a member.

Milton Hackel completed his service as chair of the USNC for the psychological sciences on June 30, 2003. As of yet, no replacement has been made.

Donald Potts, University of California at Santa Cruz, has been appointed chair and Joel Cracraft, American Museum of Natural History has been appointed vice chair of the USNC for biology as of July 1, 2003. Former chair, Cynthia Beall, Case Western Reserve University, will continue to serve on the committee.

Jack Kirsch, University of California at Berkeley, has been appointed chair of the USNC for biochemistry and molecular biology as of July 2003. Former chair, George Kenyon, Michigan State University, will continue as an ex-officio member of the committee.

Gil Strang, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been appointed chair of the USNC for mathematics as of March 2003. Former chair, Don Saari, University of California at Irvine, completed his service on the committee.